Tesco Mobile- actively cancel your account or payments taken

SamClutton

I have been a Tesco Mobile customer for nearly 10 years.  I just spotted that I had 3 payments going out to Tesco Phone Insurance , but we only have two phones in use.  I went onto my online account and found a phone taken out in April 2018 on a 24 month contract was still shown as active. I phoned Customer Services who said that I had to actively say that I wished to cancel the contract - for phone services, obviously device paid off at end of contract. I then phoned Tesco Insurance to cancel insurance on that device, which has also remained active. Phone and number not in use since upgrade. I have been paying £9.75 per month for a phone service that is never used since April 2020. I have been paying £11.75 in phone insurance on a phone I don't have since April 2020. The fact that I do have other payments going out on Tesco phone insurance, at different times of the month, meant that I did not spot that there were 3 separate payments until I checked by direct debits list on my banking app.  The bill for the devices and phone services is a total and I didn't spot the £9+ extra.  Poor vigilance on my part but Tesco must be aware that there is no activity against a number for over a year. I also wonder what would happen if I made an insurance claim on a phone from 2018. I can't help wondering if there are lots of other people in my situation, making reasonably small overpayments as part of larger costs and not spotting this and that Tesco's policy of not asking if you wish to cancel an old phone when you come to the end of a device contract is designed to exploit this. I have paid over £240 for a service I didn't use and insurance on a device I don't have. 

Neil_Jones

SamClutton said:

I have been a Tesco Mobile customer for nearly 10 years.  I just spotted that I had 3 payments going out to Tesco Phone Insurance , but we only have two phones in use.  I went onto my online account and found a phone taken out in April 2018 on a 24 month contract was still shown as active. I phoned Customer Services who said that I had to actively say that I wished to cancel the contract - for phone services, obviously device paid off at end of contract. I then phoned Tesco Insurance to cancel insurance on that device, which has also remained active. Phone and number not in use since upgrade. I have been paying £9.75 per month for a phone service that is never used since April 2020. I have been paying £11.75 in phone insurance on a phone I don't have since April 2020. The fact that I do have other payments going out on Tesco phone insurance, at different times of the month, meant that I did not spot that there were 3 separate payments until I checked by direct debits list on my banking app.  The bill for the devices and phone services is a total and I didn't spot the £9+ extra.  Poor vigilance on my part but Tesco must be aware that there is no activity against a number for over a year. I also wonder what would happen if I made an insurance claim on a phone from 2018. I can't help wondering if there are lots of other people in my situation, making reasonably small overpayments as part of larger costs and not spotting this and that Tesco's policy of not asking if you wish to cancel an old phone when you come to the end of a device contract is designed to exploit this. I have paid over £240 for a service I didn't use and insurance on a device I don't have. 

All insurance policies for most things in this life carry on unless you explicitly cancel them.  Not Tesco's responsibility to check you still need or want it.

matelodave

As said above, it's your responsibility to ensure that you close down your contracts.

Your wondering is correct, lots of people had been caught by not keeping an eye on either their contracts or checking their bank accounts to see where their money is going or other bills to ensure that they are only paying for what they use or need.

It's your money so really it's up to you to look after it. not TESCO - check your bank accound a bit more frequently and put important stuff like contract renewal and finish dates in your diary so they dont get forgotten.

macman

It's a separate service: an insurance policy fronted/branded by Tesco Mobile. It's entirely your responsibility to cancel it if you no longer require the cover. Doubtless the staff at the insurance company do not have access to your usage record, and nor should they.
Use of the number is not relevant: you don't stop paying the mobile monthly tariff if you don't use the phone, and the same applies to the insurance.