IMEI Blocking for non payment

theMC179

Hello all,

Long time anonymous reader, first time poster here.
Looking for some non-judgmental advice on what will happen if I fail to pay Vodafone mobile contracts.

Backstory...
Due to personal issues a few years back, I fell into a spiral of overspending and poor money management. What was once a golden credit score quickly became all but blacklisted.
I managed to default on every card and loan I had ever taken out to the tune of about £15000.
I remained (and remain) employed in a long term position, my employer being a market leader in buying and selling mobile phones.
Whilst still in this slump of erratic spending and ongoing personal issues, I continued to try to attain more credit.
Of course most lenders wouldn't touch me with a barge pole by this point, and rightly so in hindsight.
Unfortunately, one company which allowed me to take out credit in the form of 2 year mobile phone contracts was Vodafone.
As you have probably guessed, the only reason I took these contracts out was to sell the phone to my employer for a quick cash Injection.
I now have seven (yes, seven!) phone contracts with Vodafone which are costing me well over £300 per month.
I have since improved my money management but have spent several months living with next to no money after my rent, expenses and these ridiculous phone contracts have all been paid.
This has taken a toll on my health, mental health and relationship but through sheer determination I have kept up the repayments and got through each month, just about.
More recently, my partner lost her job so our income has dropped further, so I have taken on a second job in the evening, often working 15 hour days mainly due to the fear of defaulting on any one of these contracts.
I am really struggling to keep this up, but if a phone I sold to my employer becomes blocked, I will lose my long term position and honestly I don't know what we'd do at that point.

TL;DR

My question to this knowledgeable community is this - if I allow all of these contracts to go into default, how likely are Vodafone to block the actual handsets(s) that I have already sold to my employer?

If the answer is extremely unlikely or not at all, I should be able to find the motivation to keep both of my jobs up for a few months and work out more viable repayment plans with not just Vodafone but also my other creditors.

I have managed to pay some of the others off under partial settlements and at this stage I just want to feel like I'm making progress.

N.B I habe looked at insolvency possibilities in the past but these are not really feasible for my situation either as would result in loss of employment.

Any guidance regarding Vodafone's policy on non-payment would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks guys.

moneyman_34

I actually know the answer to this due to previous similar issue. What happens is your account goes to a DCA (debt colletion agency) they will start writing to you and it will remain with them for i believe 90 days. They will then send it back to Vodafone and they will then eventually sell the debt to a higher up DCA. This company will also keep it for a set time. Again if this cannot be recovered then it will go to write off which basically means the debt has now been sold to a company like fredricksons who will look for the funds. Your account can be barred or disconnected during this process but at no point will they blacklist the handset. What WILL happen is you will be charged the rest of the contract known as the ETF. 

penners324

They would block the sim card I would think. 
Sounds a dubious company to work for if they let get new phones on contract and buy them from you to sell on....

GrumpyDil

I'm assuming that op has sold the phones on but is still paying the contracts. Far from unusual for someone to take out a contract, including a phone, and to sell the phone on, whilst keeping the contract going.

I did this a few years ago where selling the unwanted phone meant the overall cost was cheaper than sim only. 

Jon_01

The network will blacklist the phone if no payments are made on the acc (or maybe just the first one).
Also some (EE I think), state that ownership of the device will only transfer to the acc holder after 6 months, giving them the option to blacklist the device as theft.

nyermen

penners324 said:

They would block the sim card I would think. 
Sounds a dubious company to work for if they let get new phones on contract and buy them from you to sell on....

Computer exchange (CEX / WeBuy) perhaps?  

Many stores are franchise, I sell bits to them quite regularly, so my account could look "high sales" (I also buy from them in equal amounts so...).  That said, you'd assume they'd keep an eye on staff sales (AML etc).
If it is them (or similar mobile sales company) then they normally do a stolen check with a company like mobicode (i think).  At that point, i would assume if a phone is subsequently blocked, it becomes an insurance situation?