unfair cessation fee on Talkmobile

pyrwo

gjchester wrote: »

Regardless how you think the accounts are set upyou need to try and work it out with TalkMobile, , you may think if you'vereached a impasse, in which case then the next step is to complain to anombudsman (CISAS I think). However you need to try and resolve this withTalkmobile first, if you simply go to CISAS without trying all options withTalkMobile, the ombudsman will simply refer you back to TalkMobile.

I agree the consequence of approaches should be 1)Customer services 2) Complaints department 3) CISAS

grumbler wrote: »

What terms? My understanding is that they were(from their point of view) just usual calls from a mobile phone (dialed by acomputer).

The operator stated the terms broken are:
“7.5. You must not use or permit any other person to use and if you are a business customer ensure that your employees do not use the Services:
7.5.1. fraudulently or in connection with a criminal offence;”
and
“8.2.4. we have reasonable cause to suspect that this Agreement has been entered into fraudulently or we are satisfied that fraudulent or improper use of your mobile phone number is taking place;”

And the operator also said “due to the nature of the breach on the first account, all ties with Talkmobile are cut and the breach applies to any associated accounts, i.e. any account in your name.”

grumbler wrote: »

Re the 'volume', we have heard of much bigger volumes that providers were happy to charge their customers for.

And in this particular case, the volume would have been higher if the operator had not stopped the service.

grumbler

pyrwo wrote: »

The operator stated the terms broken are:
“7.5. You must not use or permit any other person to use and if you are a business customer ensure that your employees do not use the Services:
7.5.1. fraudulently or in connection with a criminal offence;”

And? What exactly was 'fraudulently'? And why do you think that the OP permitted allegedly fraudulent use? In fact the OP was the victim, but agreed to pay all the charges regardless.

and
“8.2.4. we have reasonable cause to suspect that this Agreement has been entered into fraudulently or we are satisfied that fraudulent or improper use of your mobile phone number is taking place;”

This agreement certainly has not been entered into fraudulently. And it's still absolutely unclear what "improper" or "fraudulent" use was if the customer doesn't mind paying all charges.

And the operator also said “due to the nature of the breach on the first account, all ties with Talkmobile are cut and the breach applies to any associated accounts, i.e. any account in your name.”

What's your point?

And in this particular case, the volume would have been higher if the operator had not stopped the service.

It's a norm for mobile providers to suspend the line or contact the customer if they see abnormal usage - simply because it's a credit agreement. I don't see any reason for terminating the contract and demanding the ETC (and have never heard of this before) if the customer pays all the charges.

pyrwo

grumbler wrote: »

And? What exactly was 'fraudulently'? And why didthe OP permit allegedly fraudulent use?

grumbler wrote: »

This agreement certainly has not been entered into fraudulently. And it's still absolutely unclear what "improper" or "fraudulent"use was if the customer doesn't mind paying all charges.

The two guesses are: 1) as suggested previously in this tread the operator was not the target of the fraud. I unintentionally have allowed someone else to use my phone and that someone else defrauded in those international calls a fourth partya broad (let say tricked them to buy PPI); or 2) the operator suspected I will defraud him by eventually not paying or not being able to pay an enormously huge bill.

grumbler wrote: »

What's your point?

The point is that the unclear "improper" and "fraudulent use” was the reasoning behind the operator’s action to disconnect and charge ETC on a second account/contract held with them on which no abnormal usage (or any usage at all) was made and no break of conditions detected/recorded.

Herongull

The phone company can not do whatever it likes - it, like you, are bound by the terms and conditions in the contract.

There seem to be 3 issues here:

1/ Whether your breaches of T&Cs (the non-fraud-related ones) allow them to terminate your account and charge termination fees? It is not clear from I have seen in this thread that the T&Cs allow them to do this. If it is isn't in the T&Cs, they can't terminate your account for what you did, even if they are not happy about it.

2/ The fraud-related ones do allow termination, but they will have to prove fraud on your part (either directly or as an accessory). They only have to show this on the balance of probabilities, but if you took them to the ombudsman or small claims court, you and they can argue this out.

3/ Termination of the second account. If there is nothing in their T&Cs that allow them to terminate this, then they are in breach of contract by doing this. They may not love you any more, but that is not grounds for termination. You can't terminate your contract just because you don't love them either.

grumbler

Herongull wrote: »

...

3/ Termination of the second account. If there is nothing in their T&Cs that allow them to terminate this, then they are in breach of contract by doing this. They may not love you any more, but that is not grounds for termination. You can't terminate your contract just because you don't love them either.

Both parties can terminate the contract by giving a month's notice. What they cannot do is charging the ETC unless the customer broke the agreement.