ID MOBILE - Continue to take direct debits after contract ends

mcgregor08

Hi, has anyone had experience of ID mobile continuing a contract after the fixed period had finished?  I took a contract out on a phone that came with a data plan, but i never actually used the number.  I kept a previous sim only number and used that instead.  I was under the assumption that once the phone contract was paid off that it would stop charging.

The direct debit continued for 2 years at £20.80 per month for a sim card that was never activated.  They are now refusing to entertain the thought of a refund.  Theyve basically been pocketing £20.80 per month and would have been happy to do so until I noticed.

Is there anything I can do to claim a refund of almost £500.  Ive essentially ended up paying £1000 for the phone over a 4 year period

la531983

Nope, phone contracts roll over after the initial term unless you contact them to stop it. This is pretty standard. 

All you can do is rely on goodwill and chalk it up as an expensive life lesson to pay better attention to your finances. 

Neil_Jones

mcgregor08 said:

Hi, has anyone had experience of ID mobile continuing a contract after the fixed period had finished?  I took a contract out on a phone that came with a data plan, but i never actually used the number.  I kept a previous sim only number and used that instead.  I was under the assumption that once the phone contract was paid off that it would stop charging.

The direct debit continued for 2 years at £20.80 per month for a sim card that was never activated.  They are now refusing to entertain the thought of a refund.  Theyve basically been pocketing £20.80 per month and would have been happy to do so until I noticed.

Is there anything I can do to claim a refund of almost £500.  Ive essentially ended up paying £1000 for the phone over a 4 year period

Your "contract" is more of a minimum term than anything else.  It does not end on its own, you have to intervene to terminate it.

As for refund, well since its took you two years to notice in the first place that the payment was going out after contract end, that has to be your fault I'm afraid.  If you had cancelled it they wouldn't have continued to take the money. It is questionable though why you never used the plan from the outset.  If you weren't going to use it and you knew you weren't going to use it you should have cancelled it.  Not the provider's fault you didn't cancel it.

As it has taken you 4 years to notice the problem, you obviously haven't missed the £1k.

400ixl

As above, mobile phones like other utilities like broadband have minimum term contracts which continue then on a rolling month contract. They do not terminate at the end of the minimum term, you have to end them.

As you didn't end the contract then unfortunately you are not entitled to any refund. 

virgo17

And to put it another way. Would you be happy if, at the end of the fixed term period, your phone was suddenly disconnected?

Perhaps when you were on holiday abroad or dealing with some serious matter ?

mcgregor08

Lesson learned I suppose.  It was a phone and SIM contract, but I never activated the SIM, instead put an existing SIM card into the phone.  So when the term up was up at the very least I would have expected the cost to  drop to the SIM only part since the handset cost had been paid up, but continued to be charged £20.80 for what became a SIM only deal on 500 minutes and 500mb of data, which to put into context on a SIM only deal today would cost less than £5 per month.  One of those things just and my fault for not noticing but still a bit sneaky that they let an inactive number renew twice, I've cancelled it now and wont be using ID Mobile again needless to say.

d123

mcgregor08 said:

Lesson learned I suppose.  It was a phone and SIM contract, but I never activated the SIM, instead put an existing SIM card into the phone.  So when the term up was up at the very least I would have expected the cost to  drop to the SIM only part since the handset cost had been paid up, but continued to be charged £20.80 for what became a SIM only deal on 500 minutes and 500mb of data, 

Are you saying your contract stipulated a handset part and sim service part to the monthly contract amount?

 I've cancelled it now and wont be using ID Mobile again needless to say.

You should probably avoid almost all mobile providers then as the large majority operate on the same basis.