Chased for money after account holder's death

MrsEd

Hi

I just wanted to share an unbelievable situation my brother is having to deal with. I will name and shame the company when I check exactly who it is (either 3 or O2 - Mum said O3!)

My brother bought a mobile for his fiancee probably around 5 years ago. He initially bought the phone and set it up in his name as it was a gift and he wanted to sort it all out for her. After she got the phone, it was transferred into her name and she was responsible for it.

Long story as to what happened in their relationship, but she got cancer, thought she'd recovered but then, after they'd bought house together, she was unfaithful, her illness returned, she married the other guy and then died.

My bro has understandably been through hell with this and you can imagine his upset and suprise when 3 years after her death, he gets a demand for £175 from the phone company for an outstanding debt!

They obviously have had no reply from 'the bill payer' and so, as they had his address on record, from when he took out the contract initially, they are chasing him for the money! Surely this cannot be possible? If any money is due, it would be due from her estate.

He spent hours (which he can't afford to do) trying to explain this to Indian call centre and they couldn't even decide who could deal with the enquiry.

Just appauled that this could happen. Any ideas on legal position? Are they just trying it on? He's worried that if he doesn't speak to the right person he'll end up with a CCJ without knowing.

Jon_01

First of all, commiserations, this is the last thing you need at a time like this.

As far as I know (and I stand to be corrected here), O2 don't do account transfers.
I'm thinking that when your brother transferred the acc all that happened was that they changed the payment method from his bank to hers and added her name to the acc so she could access it. For all intent and purpose it was still in his name, so now that it's defaulted they'll come to him for settlement.

MrsEd

Thanks Jon. I'll check with him when I speak to him next to see if it was in fact o2 or 3. That does sound feasible but then she died 3 years ago, so I find it amazing that they've only come now for payment and I would have thought that 3 years of the contract rolling on would come to more than £175 anyway so someone must have been dealing with it afterwards.

As I say, my bro was not next of kin as she left him and married someone else but it is not as if he can check with them as to what happened. This is the first he has heard of it. The bills all went to her after she took the phone on.

Jon_01

It's possible to change all the info on an acc but the original acc opener would still be liable for the contract.

As far as I know, only Orange offer customer account transfers.

MichaelCR

MrsEd wrote: »

Hi

I just wanted to share an unbelievable situation my brother is having to deal with. I will name and shame the company when I check exactly who it is (either 3 or O2 - Mum said O3!)

My brother bought a mobile for his fiancee probably around 5 years ago. He initially bought the phone and set it up in his name as it was a gift and he wanted to sort it all out for her. After she got the phone, it was transferred into her name and she was responsible for it.

Long story as to what happened in their relationship, but she got cancer, thought she'd recovered but then, after they'd bought house together, she was unfaithful, her illness returned, she married the other guy and then died.

My bro has understandably been through hell with this and you can imagine his upset and suprise when 3 years after her death, he gets a demand for £175 from the phone company for an outstanding debt!

They obviously have had no reply from 'the bill payer' and so, as they had his address on record, from when he took out the contract initially, they are chasing him for the money! Surely this cannot be possible? If any money is due, it would be due from her estate.

He spent hours (which he can't afford to do) trying to explain this to Indian call centre and they couldn't even decide who could deal with the enquiry.

Just appauled that this could happen. Any ideas on legal position? Are they just trying it on? He's worried that if he doesn't speak to the right person he'll end up with a CCJ without knowing.

Was the demand from a debt collection company by any chance ?

MrsEd

I believe it was actually from the phone company rather than an agency.

It sounds like from PP John, he may have been misinformed when he changed the name and details over & he'd thought this meant his ex was now acc holder when in fact that wasn't possible. He's away right now so I'll ring when he gets back and I'll see what can do to help sort it. Obviously it rakes up a lot of emotions having this come out of the blue, so not easy for him to deal with.

Thanks for replies - much appreciated.

Wintermute

I know the only reason O2 will do transfer of ownership is if the account holder has died, terminally ill or it's a consumer customer wanting to transfer an account to a business account (and only then under certain circumstances), other networks may be different.
What's really going to make a difference is who's name is the account legally in, if it's your brothers name then unfortunately he's still going to be liable for it, if it's her name then it will probably be worth speaking to the bereavement department at the mobile network in question because even if the debt has been sold on they should have processes in place for that or at the very least be able to offer advice.