T-Mobile just charged £15.20 for PAC Code

scottishgirl87

Boyfriend is in the last month of his contract with T-Mobile and so could upgrade from yesterday. Have looked around and found a much better deal elsewhere and so he has decided to leave T-Mobile. Phoned T-Mobile to see what he needs to do to not renew his contract and also request his PAC Code so he can move elsewhere when he decides.

After getting to the end of the call the woman basically told him that's £15.20 for his PAC Code, when he queried this she said basically he's already requested it so that's it. At no point before this was he told that they would charge him £15.20 to get his PAC Code now rather than wait until the end of his month with them.

Can they do this? I feel that he should have been told this was the case at the beginning, instead of once the deed was done and it's too late. If he had been told he would have simply waited on his contract running out before transferring over.

Guys_Dad

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

After getting to the end of the call the woman basically told him that's £15.20 for his PAC Code, when he queried this she said basically he's already requested it so that's it. At no point before this was he told that they would charge him £15.20 to get his PAC Code now rather than wait until the end of his month with them.

Can they do this? I feel that he should have been told this was the case at the beginning, instead of once the deed was done and it's too late. If he had been told he would have simply waited on his contract running out before transferring over.

He should have checked he was within his last 30 days before requesting PAC code. Got to take some responsibility for his own failure to do that.

Having said that, ring T-Mobile and ask them if they can cancel the PAC code and charge as he thinks he will stay with T-Mobile.

Then, when within his 30 days, ask for it again.

grumbler

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

Boyfriend is in the last month of his contract with T-Mobile and so could upgrade from yesterday. Have looked around and found a much better deal elsewhere and so he has decided to leave T-Mobile. Phoned T-Mobile to see what he needs to do to not renew his contract and also request his PAC Code so he can move elsewhere when he decides.

After getting to the end of the call the woman basically told him that's £15.20 for his PAC Code, when he queried this she said basically he's already requested it so that's it. At no point before this was he told that they would charge him £15.20 to get his PAC Code now rather than wait until the end of his month with them.

Firstly, our regulator allows networks to charge for PAC if they wish. However, I think it is not the case with your BF. He has to give 30 days notice to cancel the contract. If the minimum term ends in less than 30 days and your BF gets PAC today he has to pay for the next 30 days regardless of when he actually uses it. I guess a part of this period is already paid in advance and £15.20 is a pro-rata cost of the unpaid part of 30 days.

If he had been told he would have simply waited on his contract running out before transferring over.

Contracts don't 'run out'. They always require 30 days notice to cancel. He can keep using the current contract for 30 days and use the PAC a few days before it (PAC = 30 days period) expires.

scottishgirl87

Thanks for the replies, he is within his last 30 days of contract. We knew he would still have to pay for the last month of his contract, however, I was under the impression the £15.20 was additional to his usual monthly charge.

grumbler, I think you may be right in that it may be a part cost of his last month, although surely they would just charge him the full amount regardless?

Guys_Dad

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, he is within his last 30 days of contract. We knew he would still have to pay for the last month of his contract, however, I was under the impression the £15.20 was additional to his usual monthly charge.

grumbler, I think you may be right in that it may be a part cost of his last month, although surely they would just charge him the full amount regardless?

If that's correct, then sorry for the lecture.

However, they would be unable to apportion any charge for service as Grumbler suggests as (a) monthly rental is paid in advance, so he has paid up to the "end of contract" and (b) they could not possibly know when he would use the PAC code to enable them to apportion any rental.

Suggest you ring them, ask what the £15 was for, requesting that they remove the charge.

scottishgirl87

Guys_Dad wrote: »

If that's correct, then sorry for the lecture.

However, they would be unable to apportion any charge for service as Grumbler suggests as (a) monthly rental is paid in advance, so he has paid up to the "end of contract" and (b) they could not possibly know when he would use the PAC code to enable them to apportion any rental.

Suggest you ring them, ask what the £15 was for, requesting that they remove the charge.

Thats ok, Guys Dad. He had the phone on speaker when he was onto them and I heard the girl say it was £15.20, when he queried this she just said "you've already requested the PAC Code" but she never told him this when he began mentioning the PAC Code! That's what annoyed me most as I felt she should have said "to request your PAC Code today will incur a £15.20 fee". Think will try and clarify with them what exactly it's for.

grumbler

Guys_Dad wrote: »

However, they would be unable to apportion any charge for service as Grumbler suggests

They would.

as (a) monthly rental is paid in advance,

for the billing month, that can end not at the same day as the min term expires.

so he has paid up to the "end of contract" and (b)

Not necessarily and even if he paid up to the end of the minimum term, he may need to pay extra. If the min term ends in, say, 20 days, he has to pay for the extra 10 days.

they could not possibly know when he would use the PAC code to enable them to apportion any rental.

He pays to cover the next 30 days regardless of porting the number earlier or not. If he doesn't go over his allowances, he doesn't have to pay anything extra at the end and the final bill will be £0.

percypercy

I'm confused. Can someone help me? Is it before the last 30 days of your contract begin that you have to pay for your PAC code if requesting it, or is it during the last 30 days? My contract is up with T Mobile soon - 13th April - so it would be useful to know.

grumbler

percypercy wrote: »

I'm confused. Can someone help me? Is it before the last 30 days of your contract begin that you have to pay for your PAC code if requesting it, or is it during the last 30 days?

You don't pay for the PAC. You pay what you owe until the end of the min term or the end of the 30 days notice period whichever is later.

My contract is up with T Mobile soon - 13th April - so it would be useful to know.

You minimum term is up, not the contract.
If you want to leave as soon as the min term expires, request the PAC on the 14th of Mar and give it to the new network about on the 9th-10th of Apr. You will be charged for the airtime until the 13th, nothing extra if you don't go over your allowances.

percypercy

Thanks for the quick response grumbler. In fact, my contract is up on the 13th April - I've just checked. So, I guess what I'll have to is request it earlier than you suggested. However, I'm hoping they'll give me a decent enough offer for me to stay (see my recent post on the T-Mobile retentions thread) and I won't have to request it anyway.

grumbler

percypercy wrote: »

Thanks for the quick response grumbler. In fact, my contract is up on the 13th April - I've just checked.

I don't understand your point.
The minimum term can be up on the 13th.
The contract goes on unless you explicitly request termination.
If you do request it or request PAC you have to pay at least for the next 30 days even if you port the number out earlier.

So, I guess what I'll have to is request it earlier than you suggested.

Well, if you request it earlier than you will pay for more than 3 days (as per my suggestions) without being able to use the airtime.

However, I'm hoping they'll give me a decent enough offer for me to stay (see my recent post on the T-Mobile retentions thread) and I won't have to request it anyway.

IMHO you are likely to get the best offer if you get the PAC and they call you to stop from leaving.