Any advice? T- Mobile just sent me a letter demanding £665!!

emlouwat

Hi all- new to forum- desperate for some advice about how I can proceed with this issue.

its quite long winded and ill apologise now for boring the life out of anyone.

Right- In november 2008 I went to PC world and purchased a small Advent notebook for my (then 8 year old) son. Im not very computer savvy and asked the sales person about practical ways my son could connect to the internet. He suggested a T Mobile Dongle- said it would be a certain amount each month for 24 months.
Fair enough- we went with this deal.

No issues with the Dongle- it worked fine, paid every month by DD - no lay payments etc etc. In fact- by early 2010 we had purchased a home computer so very rarely used the notebook.

Come the end of the 24 month period I ensured that the DD was cancelled- to me the contract had run its course.

(some of you may see where I am leading to here)

In 2010 (about sept) I took out a MOBILE phone contract with T Mobile - again no issues. In Summer 2012 I decided it was more cost effective for me to just go with a PYG phone as I was very rarely using the TMobile contract one and also had a work phone that i could use.
I phoned T Mobile- they said I would need to call back on July 17th 2012 to cancel my contract. I did this on the exact day- however whomever i spoke to didn't action this correctly and I continued to be charged. I phoned up to complain- two people that I spoke to said T Mobile should have cancelled the contract (ON THE PHONE_ THE BROADBAND DONGLE HAD NEVER EVER BEEN MENTIONED AT ALL SINCE PURCHASE!) and to ignore any further correspondence etc- I did not owe them any money.

A couple of times since last september (i.e. since I cancelled the phone) I had received a couple of T Mobile bills that had a minus balance on them for -£10.72. I just assumed that these were continuing to relate to the phone and discarded them (as advised to do so)

I was horrified this week to receive a bill and letter for £665 - stating that they had made 'numerous efforts to contact me' (this is untrue) and that I owed them this amount.

I immediately phoned T Mobile and said that I had cancelled the phone on July 17th last year and that they had failed to end contract correctly etc etc. After much hanging on the phone etc etc a young man said that it wasn't anything in relation to the phone- but to the dongle from 2008!
He said I didn't give them 30 days notice at the end of the contract- I wasn't aware that I had to do this. I just thought that the contract would naturally have come to the end of its term (without arrears etc as i had always paid on time).

I asked why it had taken them 2.5 years to contact me about this?- they had my address and details all along? He said it can take them as long as they want.
I have asked for all paperwork (including the apparent numerous attempts at contacting me relating to this)
I have never received a specific letter indicating that I was rapidly becoming indebted to them because of the dongle- had I done so I would have addressed it immediately.

I don't know where I stand with this- who can I complain to? What I do know is that i don't have £665.

any advice would be appreciated.

apologies for length of post.

keith1950

Come the end of the 24 month period I ensured that the DD was cancelled- to me the contract had run its course.

He said I didn't give them 30 days notice at the end of the contract- I wasn't aware that I had to do this. I just thought that the contract would naturally have come to the end of its term (without arrears etc as i had always paid on time).

The contract for the dongle works the same way as a mobile phone contract and turns into a rolling monthly contract after the minimum term has passed , I don't think you can blame them for your lack of knowledge.

The best you can hope for is a goodwill gesture of , say, a 50% reduction of the £665.

Ask to speak to a supervisor and politely ask if they are prepared to come to some arrangement, stressing that you have genuinely not received any communication about this outstanding balance.

Looking at it from their point of view you must realise that they regularly see a number of customers 'trying it on' , so you need to convince them you are not one of these.

Ask them to check the usage on the dongle contract to verify , to themselves , that it was not in fact used after November 2010.

Good luck.

Buzby

The responsibility to cancel remains yours - there are no fixed length contracts for mobiles. The duration specified is the minimum term of service, nothing more. If you cancel a payment method then the virtual bills continue to accrue.

It s possible they texted alerts to the dongle - but unless you knew how or where to look for them you would be none the wiser - but that is not their fault.

All you can do is negotiate from a weak position as you will be relying on goodwill. Explain what happened, and ask if the bills can be recalculated due to there being no usage. They may refuse, but if you don't ask, you don't get.

Of greater concern will be the Default on you credit file - which will stay for 6 years and be treated as if it was a CCJ.

sillygoose

The whole bit about the mobile phone (apart from being the same company) is not relevant then and could be left out the story.

So in summary T-Mobile say you didn't actually cancel the dongle contract, stopped payment for 2 years, they have now realised and want paying?

I don't think contracts ever run the 2 years and just end, they switch to a rolling monthly contract after.

The term of the contract is not the length of the contract, its a minimum period you have to keep it up (so they can recoup the cost of the phone or dongle)

It seems the issue here is when you got the dongle you were not given clear or accurate info by the salesperson but it would have been in the small print somewhere in the paperwork that the contract rolls on.

I am afraid you probably are liable to pay.

sillygoose

All typing together from the same hymm sheet :rotfl:

grumbler

keith1950 wrote: »

The contract for the dongle works the same way as a mobile phone contract....

In fact it's the same way as pretty much any utility contract: landline, gas, electricity, cable TV etc. So, threre are absolutely no grounds for not reading the T&C and just assuming that mobile broadband contract is different.

im-lost

if the op hasn't received any bills in this time, then im sure they could quite easily say they had phoned to end the contract and believed this was the case because no bills had been received...

grumbler

What if it was online billing?

d123

im-lost wrote: »

if the op hasn't received any bills in this time, then im sure they could quite easily say they had phoned to end the contract and believed this was the case because no bills had been received...

So are you suggesting that they lie? What if it gets to court and they have to swear an affidavit?

Are you really suggesting perjury?

Do you remember this case?

R v Archer [2003] 2 Cr. App. R. (S) 86

Perjury by falsely swearing an affadavit about documents in his possession - three years' imprisonment.

Chimper

emlouwat wrote: »

I don't know where I stand with this- who can I complain to? What I do know is that i don't have £665.

any advice would be appreciated.

First read this advice from Ofcom

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2013/03/disputing-a-bill/

Then get in touch with T-Mobile. You can try emailing them at [EMAIL="executive.office@ee.co.uk"]executive.office@ee.co.uk[/EMAIL] or [EMAIL="executive.office@orange.co.uk"]executive.office@orange.co.uk[/EMAIL] - I know it says Orange but they're the same company now.

Hope that helps.

_Andy_

"who can I complain to?" - well, the company who provided the service, obviously