Cut off because of fraudulent activity

emskyxx

Hi there,

I need some advice please after having my mobile phone line disconnected after somebody fraudulently upgraded my account on Wednesday.

To try and cut the story short, on Wednesday at 2.15pm, somebody rang T-Mobile and upgraded my account from T-Mobile to EE. They paid off the remainder of my contract (I'm due to upgrade on 27th Dec) using their card, changed my address TWICE and arranged to have a top of the range phone sent out only account. As a result my SIM card is now useless (constantly no service)

I've had a nightmare speaking with T-Mobile/EE over the past few days. On Wednesday I was told that because I was moved over to EE, they will need to reverse this to put me back on T-Mobile, they said my SIM card would be back on in between 48-72 hours.

Today I called again and was told as its a fraud investigation my SIM card will be off for 28 days and to "go and buy a pay as you go SIM card and tell people you're on that number for now"

I said seeing as they've disconnected my line, surely this is just like terminating my contract, does this mean I can take a contract elsewhere and when they've finished their investigation say I don't want the line anymore? I'm so fed up with them, their customer service is terrible. I've cancelled my direct debit that's due to go out on Tuesday, it's probably not the right thing to do but I feel like why should they get money off me when they're no longer providing a service.

I was wondering if anybody is a little more experienced here who could offer me some advice.

Any questions, please ask.

Thanks

mobilejunkie

Cancelling the direct debit will almost guarantee that the option of taking another contract (or a lot of other things for that matter) from elswhere will disappear for the next 6 years.

Although mobile phone companies are generally abysmal it's not unreasonable for it to take a reasonable amount of time for them to investigate where fraud is involved. I would NOT cancel the DD, send a formal comlaint email (to start the clock ticking on the 8 weeks you'll need to wait thereafter before a formal complaint to CISAS) and see if they do sort it out in the meantime.

emskyxx

I understand the need to take time out to investigate the fraud, listening to calls etc. What I don't understand is why in the meantime I have absolutely no use of my SIM card as they have completely frozen it.

What's more frustrating is that on Wednesday I was told it would be back on within 48-72 hours so why am I expected to wait all this time for it to be switched back on?

I'd rather back out of my contract and go elsewhere as technically they are no longer providing me a service that I signed up for.

I will ring up and make a payment over the phone for last months bill but seeing as I've had no service since Wednesday I refuse to pay the next bill I receive.

Buzby

No, no, no - as you do not have a working SIM and service, you should be getting a line rebate to cover service not provided. If the bill does not reflect this, then call them to ensure is does.

Your old SIM will not be reactivated, and they will require a fresh one to be sent out - I'm surprised they have not offered this, but perhaps it is a change of policy.

They're protecting their interests - but whilst they do this, you will not be asked to pay for service not received as you had no SIM to provide it.