Contract woes

stunno

A friend of mine's daughter took out a contract for an iphone in her name for her boyfriend, but with the direct debit being taken out of his bank. He told her that he could not get a contract because he lived in a flat, and yes, it is a pretty stupid thing to do, and she now deeply regrets it.

6 months or so into the contract they split up, fairly amicably, and he agrees to keep paying, then she finds out that he has missed 2 payments (not sure how she found this out). After harsh words were exchanged he pays the arrears and promises that it will not happen again.

Now she has found out that the scrote has missed 3 more payments and seems to be refusing to pay!

The contract is with Orange and has about 8 or 9 months left to go at £45 a month. Stopping short of sending the boys round to break his fingers (a last resort) has anyone any suggestions of a solution

TIA

Tony5101

I'd be very tempted to contact Orange and tell them that the phone has been stolen. At least then the sim will get stopped and the phone will become a doorstop.
Sadly - she's probably going to find herself liable for the remaining contract value.
Perhaps a little 'gentle' persuasion is going to be required to convince this loser to honour his part of the bargain...

Bingolingo

Tell her to get legal advice with a view to sueing him for breach of contract (the agreement to pay the bill in return for the iPhone and use of the contract) and ruining her credit rating.

With a bit of luck she might get her own back.

stunno

Thanks for the replies guys!

I think some form of legal threat will have to be the first shot at him, and hope that the spineless **** crumbles at the first hint of pressure!

sdduk

It sounds like he has NO intention of paying each month for the phone

I think the first thing she should do is ask for the phone and Sim back

if he doesn't give it to her then take legal action against him for theft

At the end of the day the contract is in her name so Orange will come knocking at her door for the remanding money left on the contract unless she pays it each month.

Hope she gets it sorted good luck

mobilejunkie

Multiply her losses and sue. There is no legal case - except a criminal one against her for fraud if she claims the phone was stolen as has been advised above.

SHE took the contract out in HER name - and has joined the long and constant line of people on here who then get in trouble because it is "for" their son/daughter/friend/man on the street or whatever. Give your car keys to someone else and you are in THEIR hands.

Try to block/cancel the contract, pay for the rest of its term and move on. That will be hard to do given that their credit stauts has now been wrecked for the next six years - but that is the only option.

thegoodman

mobilejunkie wrote: »

Multiply her losses and sue. There is no legal case - except a criminal one against her for fraud if she claims the phone was stolen as has been advised above.

SHE took the contract out in HER name - and has joined the long and constant line of people on here who then get in trouble because it is "for" their son/daughter/friend/man on the street or whatever. Give your car keys to someone else and you are in THEIR hands.

Try to block/cancel the contract, pay for the rest of its term and move on. That will be hard to do given that their credit stauts has now been wrecked for the next six years - but that is the only option.

I agree. The contract is under her name, why do you think he need to pay by law?
Also make sure all payments are made on time, it takes a long time to repair the credit file.

Bingolingo

thegoodman wrote: »

I agree. The contract is under her name, why do you think he need to pay by law?
Also make sure all payments are made on time, it takes a long time to repair the credit file.

There was an agreement between the two of them. All she has to do is find out how best to prove it and she can sue him for damages.

This is akin to a guarantor having to pay up for the person who had to provide a guarantee: the guarantor can recover against the defaulter.

grumbler

mobilejunkie wrote: »

...SHE took the contract out in HER name ....

I am no a legal expert, but I see two contracts here. It is difficult to prove the second, but the DD from his account can possibly be used as a proof.

Jellybean_Jo

This exact same thing happened to me. I know it was stupid, but I was young and naive. After two consecutive phone bills of £300+ (he must have been constantly using the phone) I blocked it. I couldn't report the phone as stolen because it was not; for Orange to register the phone as stolen, I needed a crime number from the police!
When I blocked the phone there was a further £600+ still to be paid, and because I'd blocked it the little scumbag refused to pay as I had broken our agreement by getting the phone blocked!! He did give the phone back but I ended up paying over a grand's worth of phone bills that weren't mine, having my credit score trashed for six years and not being able to have my own phone contract with them.

It's a real sucky situation, and I do have sympathy but from my own experience I would say all she can do is learn a lesson from it and move on.

stunno

Thanks for all of the advice everyone, very useful!

The story has moved on a bit since yesterday - or rather I have found out a few more details

The toerag is now saying that the iphone has been stolen (but not the sim card for some reason - a very considerate thief that) and he suspects his 'mate' did it so he hasn't reported it to the police!!

So, I believe that she can report the theft, the only problem being that we don't know when it happened