Vodafone.......

sistafromanothermista

This is for my lovely sister (previous threads of mine give a bit more background of me:wall:)

Long and short of it she is in a financial muddle. debts mounting and not enough money coming in. She has submitted a means test form to the council as the payments they are taking for overpayment of benefit are sending her further and further into her overdraft as they do not take into account mobile phone bills on the means test form...... That brings me onto Vodafone.

She took out 2 contracts 19 months ago totalling £115 pm (:eek: yes i know:eek:) at the time she could afford to do so.....now she can't.

She called Vodafone to try and reduce both plans they said they could reduce her minutes but the payment would stay the same as she is still in contract! It is now getting to the point where she is likely to default on both contracts in the next month.
Any advice on what her options might be?

Thanks

grumbler

I guess she has already sold both expensive mobile toys. And you are wrong that she could afford them 'at the time'.
I am sorry to say this, but unfortunately there are no any options. A default will be a natural end of this story and will help her not to repeat the same mistakes in the forthcoming 6 years.

Annie._2

Your sister was irresponsible to take out two contract which she could not afford.

If the phones are in a reasonable condition, she will be able to use the money to pay off part of the contracts, if she has been in the contracts for 19 months they should be 24 month contracts with only 5 months left.

Otherwise, the only other thing left will be to contact Vodafone, explain the situation and try and arrange for a payment plan. The result will be the same, a payment plan will be reported on her credit file and if she does not keep up with the payments, a default with the debt being passed to debt collectors.

Jimx26

Her best option would be to sell the phones to contribute towards the cost of the last 6 months of the contracts.

gjchester

Ann_S wrote: »

Your sister was irresponsible to take out two contract which she could not afford.

The OP said she could at the time, it was more a failure to future plan than immediate financial irresponsibiility... That said you are right in your comments

To the OP

Vodafone have not permitted tarriff downgrades in the minimum term for 3 or 4 years now so theres little chance of any discounting. It costs nothing to try again but thats probably a slim chance.

As others have said contact vodafone to see what the exit penalty will be there may be a little saving paying the early terminaiton fee, depending on prior reports it could be anything from 5 to 25% discount. Then if she still has the phones sell them and see what they make to use to pay them off.

Early Termination fee is likely to be months left x lin rental minus some discount, but it may nto be much at all.

sistafromanothermista

Thanks for all the replies.

Ann S--- 100% she was irresponsible, completely agree with you there.

Grumbler---- she hasn't sold them, 1 contract was for her 14 yr old son :eek: (why oh why?????) anywhoooo, you are also 100% in that she couldn't afford them that is evident now.....



As big sis though i guess i'll be there to pick up the pieces

Thankyou again to everyone who replied, i pretty much guessed she was stuffed. Luckily her contract is up in April so she can cancel then.

Mickyk

Worth a shot calling up and asking to move to the "Red Plan" it is cheaper, and they may just do it. Don't mention the price, just the plan.

Best case they put you on the £37pm x 2 saving £40pm
Worst case they put you on the £47pm x2 saving £20pm

mobilewizard

To be honest you probably won't be able to downgrade your price plan.

It's pretty much industry standard now that you can't change your plan until the end of the contract, due to the fact she would have paid a lot more than £119 per month for the handsets if she had taken them over an 12/18 month contract.

Mobile phone companies generally won't reduce the balance, so her only option is probably to default on the contracts, they will apply an early termination fee, but if they pass it on to a debt collection agency, they can usually come up with a reasonable repayment plan.

With regards to the above post, I would make sure if you're asking to move plan that you do ask them to confirm the price, or you'll be in the situation where they change the plan and keep the price the same.

Guys_Dad

mobilewizard wrote: »

she would have paid a lot more than £119 per month for the handsets if she had taken them over an 12/18 month contract..

So which handsets would have cost more than 18 x £115 (£1035 each)? Or even £690? Have Apple released yet another Iphone? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Im_just_careful

There are 5 months left.

I wonder if Vodafone would make 1 PAYG and make the remaining contract, say a year. That could make the monthly payment half the cost.

Is there anyone else in the family who is coming to the end of their contract who could take these over for 5 months ?

sistafromanothermista

Quick update; Vodafone wouldn't help at all (not that surprised really) so her boyfriend has sold his truck to give them enough money to pay the contracts until April (she will then cancel and go PAYG) and have enough ££ for christmas.

Thanks for all the advice.