Three Mobile contract

Boothy54

I gave Three verbal permission to speak to my son about some technical issues he was having with a Three contract phone that was taken out in my name but he was using at the time.
About a year ago one of their reps rang him up directly and asked him if he would like to upgrade the phone. Without my permission or knowledge they apparently set up a new 2 year contract under my name.
I was never consulted about this by Three nor was I sent any documentation about this new contract being taken out. As my son pays for the phone from his own bank account I was blissfully unaware of this situation until this week when I started getting calls from Three to say the monthly payment is overdue. As I was under the belief that my original 2 year contract had expired a while ago I was more than surprised to be told that a new contract was taken out, put under my name and as far as they are concerned I am liable for any costs.
I have never signed any documentation giving my son authority to take out legal contracts on my behalf and I am now having to deal with call centre reps from outside the UK who seem to be following a script.
They keep telling me that I made my son an 'authorised user' of the telephone and as such this confers on him the authority to take out contracts for mobile telephones on my behalf!!!!!!!!!
Surely this cannot be legal?

Buzby

It is, you did make him the authorised user by allowing him to speak on the account holders behalf. I it always a mistake to 'front' a phone contract, for the reasons you've just discovered.

Regardless of this, the debt remains yours and it will be your credit file that gets fried, not his. You don't need to provide written authority, verbal or email is enough.

This is a private matter between you and your son - he either resolves it to your satisfaction, or drops you in it. If the latter, I would ask for the service to be turned off and a final bill sent. That'll show him who's boss.

grumbler

Boothy54 wrote: »

They keep telling me that I made my son an 'authorised user' of the telephone and as such this confers on him the authority to take out contracts for mobile telephones on my behalf!!!!!!!!!

I think you have to address all your exclamation marks to your son who abused your trust, not to '3'.

Surely this cannot be legal?

Surely it can. You either authorise someone to have access to your account or not. It's black and white, without any grey. The network has no means to keep track of all particular issues that the other person is authorised to deal with.

BTW, mobile contracts never 'expire' and have to be explicitly cancelled by the account holder or an authorised user.

Buzby wrote: »

... If the latter, I would ask for the service to be turned off and a final bill sent. That'll show him who's boss.

This demonstration can be very costly for the OP if his son refuses or simply can't pay this bill that will be as much as a yearly cost of the contract.

Herongull

Unless you can come to a satisfactory arrangement with your son, you've got to cancel this contract now!

You will have to pay the termination costs, but the alternative is to leave someone you can't trust to potentially run up huge bills by phoning premium numbers, using the phone abroad or just losing it and forgetting to report it ASAP.

If you don't have a £few thousand to throw away, cancel this contact and never allow anyone else to have a contract in your name (unless it can be capped like Tesco).

macman

Which part of 'authorised user' did you not understand?
He has in effect a power of attorney on your account, and has (mis)used it.
Mobile contract never 'expire', they just reach the end of their minimum term and then require 30 days notice to terminate them.

grumbler

macman wrote: »

Which part of 'authorised user' did you not understand?...

This one:

Boothy54 wrote: »

I gave Three verbal permission to speak to my son about some technical issues...

'Three' should have explained to the OP that his permission to discuss technical issues had much more serious implications than he assumed.

ZhugeEX

Boothy54 wrote: »

As I was under the belief that my original 2 year contract had expired a while ago

Contracts don't expire.

You have to cancel them yourself.

This whole other issue is moot as you'd still be paying for the contract anyway even if your son did nothing.

secretmsg

Nothing can be done now..Put a cap on other number so he wont exceed the bills or if it was me then i would have cancelled the line and make my son to pay it as he took out a contract without permission.

kingrulzuk

Boothy54 wrote: »

I gave Three verbal permission to speak to my son about some technical issues he was having with a Three contract phone that was taken out in my name but he was using at the time.
About a year ago one of their reps rang him up directly and asked him if he would like to upgrade the phone. Without my permission or knowledge they apparently set up a new 2 year contract under my name.
I was never consulted about this by Three nor was I sent any documentation about this new contract being taken out. As my son pays for the phone from his own bank account I was blissfully unaware of this situation until this week when I started getting calls from Three to say the monthly payment is overdue. As I was under the belief that my original 2 year contract had expired a while ago I was more than surprised to be told that a new contract was taken out, put under my name and as far as they are concerned I am liable for any costs.
I have never signed any documentation giving my son authority to take out legal contracts on my behalf and I am now having to deal with call centre reps from outside the UK who seem to be following a script.
They keep telling me that I made my son an 'authorised user' of the telephone and as such this confers on him the authority to take out contracts for mobile telephones on my behalf!!!!!!!!!
Surely this cannot be legal?

The best way is cancel the contract. Sell the phone and paywhat u get from the phone and the remaining money make ur son pay it.

It’s a good lesson to learn

cookie365

What would be Three's legal basis for deciding that 'giving permission to speak to somebody about some technical issue' relating to the phone is the same as giving them POA and allowing them to make amendments to the contract?

Techhead_2

cookie365 wrote: »

What would be Three's legal basis for deciding that 'giving permission to speak to somebody about some technical issue' relating to the phone is the same as giving them POA and allowing them to make amendments to the contract?

They don't need proof of power of attorney. Is it reasonable to assume that (having given permission for Three to speak to the son and the payments coming from the son's account and the permission not being revoked and the son being in possession of the handset and being able to pass security) that the son was an authorised person.? For what it's worth, In my opinion the OP and the son need to sort this out.