7 mobile phone contracts.. I'm screwed..

Suseka97

Acania said:

Deleted_User said:

Write to the phone company stating you are having financial difficulties due to Covid and you can only pay a certain amount.
State the amount and ask to pay over a longer period of time.
They should oblige hopefully. Do not just ignore and let the bills pile high or they will blacklist the phones IMEI and you will have a bad credit rating etc.

My credit rating is bad anyway. Having a default on it from phone company won't change anything. 

I've never heard of the blacklist IMEI thing. Pretty sure they can't do that considering the monthly fee I pay is paying towards the cost of the phone. If they disconnected my Sims and ended my contract and asked to pay full remaining contract they can't block my phone cause they are asking me to pay for it otherwise why not just take phone back and minus it from my bill. 

From what I read they don't really do long payment plans. And next week I'll owe them £800.. 

I think what you'll find they can do is block the sim so that you cannot use them.  When a family member of mine fell behind on his monthly contract, through loss of income, they blocked his sim which meant he could use the mobile's smartphone features via WIFI (Facebook, WhatsApp etc.) but he couldn't make calls or send texts.

sourcrates

I kept a phone from a defaulted contract, all they do is block the sim, nothing else.

I know everyone is suggesting talking to the networks, and usually that is the thing to do, but the amount of people who attempt this, only to either have conversations ignored, or be put through to a call handler who does not understand the full problem, is quite high.

The mobile networks are notoriously difficult to deal with when a problem occurs, and if you have no realistic way of making up the missed payments, then its pointless anyway.

As I said before, you may as well save yourself the hassle, we are talking seven mobile contracts here, its hard enough dealing with a single complaint to the networks, never mind seven, as you say, they don`t do payment plans, but debt collectors do.

Also, from the other protagonists, you should try to get your hands on either the handsets, or some financial contribution to the mess you are in.

Retireby40

Who are the family members who have the phones and use of them and what age are they? If your 25 are they for little brothers and sisters and cousins and grandparents or what is the story here? 

Sea_Shell

Are they all under one "umbrella account" with one DD, or 7 separate ones?

ditty1234

Acania said:

ceremony said:

Is it possible to cut the cost of the contracts by downgrading the minutes/data?

Your family members might moan but it could greatly reduce the cost. Ask them to contribute some to the bills if they want more than the most basic package.

I'm gonna look into that tomorrow. 

To Be honest Acania I think your family is having a ball. If they don't have any income, and most adults have some sort of benefits coming in, then they should have a phone suitable to their/your income. I have 3 sim only contracts for under £30. SO I think you need to do a bit of research, and don't take on contracts for other people again, in particular if you have already got phone contract problems. This is just a nudge for you to start looking out for yourself and your own life/plans, like saving up money for you!
So actually all I wanted to say was that you can probably get a decent phone contract giff gaff and pay as you go, and if you already have a phone then use that. Also since your the boss off all this, make sure you get your own phone number transferred to an other service before it is closed. Let everybody else know, but don't bail them out, unless there's a good reason.
And make sure that the other bills you will be paying are your bills to pay, and not everybody else's. This is why it is good to have a bit of savings. Try to let be a wake up call for you. There is a lot of help to get on here, in different threads. Best of luck.

tacpot12

Acania said:

andys15 said:

Get your family members to give you some money for them. 1/3 of your wages on mobile phones. Think some of your family members are too entitled. They must be all the latest phones. 

None of them work hence why I took it out of them. Nothing to with "entitled". 

If someone doesn't work, they are not entitled to a phone. 

Retireby40

Definately more to this story. A young 25 year old on £1200 a month decides one day that they are going to take £50-60 quid phone contracts out for 6 of their family members. Which family members we are yet to be told. All while these said family members don't work and seem to have no intention to work. No offence but this all seems abit strange to me. 

mamamu

Get phones back from family members and sell them and pay your bills. 

Unless you got them on contract but didn’t tell this to family members and gifted them as presents for birthdays/xmas.

Then you just have to face debt...

ryanm8655

Yep, without making assumptions and taking this at face value...I’d tell family you need the phones back as you’ve been furloughed and can’t afford to pay the bill anymore so are having to return them.

Then I’d sell them and stash it for when a DCA comes calling and after some time you might be able to use it to get a settlement offer.

How long is left on the contracts? Bare in mind it won’t just be the arrears you owe but the whole amount for the contract term.

Exodi

Acania said:

I'm not blaming the mobile company but...

Acania said:

I'm not denying or trying to get out of this debt but...

Acania said:

Are they allowed to give me 7 contracts like this anyway? Isn't there any negligence on their part?

I always think it's interesting how humans rationalise issues like this. These threads always go the same way - the OP's can never lay blame at the feet of those of which they share an emotional attachment and instead will blame anyone and everyone else.

At almost £60 per contract, I'm guessing these are top of for the range handsets. To those suggesting to downgrade the minutes/data, the service aspect will make up a negligble %age of the cost - the OP is essentially paying off 7 near-flagship handsets.