HELP! G/F has mental health issues & is in hospital-t mob bill of £502!Advice please?

DEBTMONKEY1A

PlusHi all, my g/f is in hospital - she suffers from bi-polar. I've just checked her bill-she's on an ancient 1 month rolling sim deal.

As she's not of right mind, she has not been thinking about how she uses her phone. She's made several overseas calls-including to mobiles, & has started video calling (she's NO data allowance!) & gone over her minutes.

Phoned EE (it's an ancient T Mobile plan) & got through to a nice guy (overseas call centre) who says nothing can be done until this Friday when next 'cycle' starts & bill is produced. Says they'll see what they can then regarding waiving some of the charges. They also have other Sim only rolling 30 day contracts that are all between £21 & £27 a month (If they won't budge on price I'll go BT Sim only as we have broadband with them so get a further discount on each plan & Amazon vouchers-very cheap!!!).

Does anyone have a direct UK call centre number? Thought I'd give it 1 more bash. Looked online but couldn't see one? The guy who's calling me back was nice but get the feeling their authority to do certain things is limited. It would be nice to sort it today-given her state of mind & that she's been T Mobile for years on time.

Anyone else had any experience of this type of situation? We can 'just' afford it but would probably ask if we can pay it over 3 months if they won't budge & get a cheaper deal.

Thanks! Huge stress all of this. She knows not to use her phone until Friday when new allowences come in.

Plus....the £105 of Amazon Vouchers will be nice lol!

mobilejunkie

You're very unlikely to get them to even discuss her account with you (asssuming it's in her name), in which case it will escalate. If she doesn't pay on time there will be a default on her credit file. Unless you (or someone) has a power of attorney because of her mental state I suspect you won't get very far, although since they have talked with you it's worth continuing the conversation.

DEBTMONKEY1A

Hi! Forgot to say we set up a seperate password & she gave permission for me to talk on her behalf. Re: the default-IF we have to pay it all we'll ask if they can let us do it over 3 months. If it has to be paid in full then we'll need to do that-although that would be a struggle. I used to work in the advice Industry & IF they agree then it would be an 'arrangement to pay' in worst scenario.....but cross that bridge later.

custardy

Would you not be better with a Giffgaff type sim which 'shuts off' once the bundle is used up?

DEBTMONKEY1A

Yes-sounds a good idea. I'msure there are android apps are there not-somewhere that can keep track? Or.....a setting on the phone???

custardy

DEBTMONKEY1A wrote: »

Yes-sounds a good idea. I'msure there are android apps are there not-somewhere that can keep track? Or.....a setting on the phone???

For data yes,but no sure one calls.
You could always install the network app on your phone to monitor your GF use.
I do this for my sons phone so I can see use/no's called etc.

pmduk

Any reduction in the bill will purely be EE's goodwill. For the future she should stick to PAYG. Most of the apps are for advice only and are inaccurate and can be over-ridden by the user.

dazzaofdagenham

Do you know the value of the bill yet ?

Is it something you could pay using a credit card and then pay off monthly ?

Then also change her contract to something that's includes video calls etc? You state she's on a old tariff....maybe worth looking at better ones ?

angryparcel

custardy wrote: »

Would you not be better with a Giffgaff type sim which 'shuts off' once the bundle is used up?

That is not 100% true with GiffGaff.
how it works is you purchase a goodybag lets say £10 one you get Get 2GB, 500 Mins & Unltd Texts
once you use up the 2GB and or 500 minutes you will get charged the standard tariff and this will eat into the £10 until that is used up and then the service will stop until you top up again.

but yes i agree a PAYG sim would be far better then you can control her spending as once it runs out then thats it

Nodding_Donkey

Tesco also do a 'capped' 30 day contract. It has inclusive minutes and data and you can set a limit that it won't go ver.

Not much help with this bill but it may help for the future.

jenniewb

OP, I can't advise on how to get around the bill issue, but in terms of using the phone further, as an immediate step I'd contact the hospital she is in- visit if possible and either get a new sim in the phone or give her a different phone/handset if this is not possible with a PAYG sim.

Try to make sure she has a way to contact people she needs to if this is why she still has the phone, if she is using it for data because it is helping her by all means look for a sim with this on too, but having known people with bipolar and how their mania can affect them, I'd be very wary as it can make it even easier to spend money even if she has no money to spend (as I'm sure you know).


It isn't something to change forever, it can be something she can work on and in future, add it into a care-plan for her so if she does need to be admitted again she can switch the sim or stick to a basic handset (not a smartphone). It's important to make sure she is aware that the steps are there to help her not to punish her and try to make it feel like these are her choices not someone else's. If she is at all able to talk through things. It can lead to her experiencing more trauma or build a rift between her and her care-givers or the professionals working with her if things are not explained and understood which can then make recovery take longer and for it to feel much harder if there are relapses in the future.


In terms of the current bill, the best thing to do I think would be to see if you can get to the CAB, obviously if she were there too this would also help but if she is in hospital this may not be possible. But within the hospital they should have a welfare team there who may be able to help and may even have experience with situations like this. But just like all other services they will have experienced cuts and it may be a long time before she can get an appointment so I'd try both options if I were you.


I hope your girlfriend recovers soon and that you're not too stressed out by this!