Phone contract ended and DD carried on.

julesqman12

Hi all. Not sure if this is the right place to post this. 
My son had a mobile handset with virgin. They then merged with o2. Since then his handset contract has come to an end without us realising, and he has paid over £300 via the direct debit they kept taking. We have tried contacting both companies and both say they can't help as there is no account.  Yes we can just cancel the direct debt and not pay more, but he wants the money back that has been over paid. What do we do and who do we contact? 
Thank you.

ButterCheese

I had the same issue; I took out Virgin Media broadband and they sent me a "free" O2 sim card, which I never even took out of the packet as I didn't need or want one.  The catch is that it is already activated when it's posted to you.  I saw it early and managed to claim back the first robbery payment of £24.  I rung them up and explained, after many minutes of arguing politely with the call handler, he had to go off and speak to his manager.  Eventually they agreed to cancel the contract and refund my money.

Ring them up and ask to speak to the most senior manager available.  I don't hold out much hope though.  You could argue that if they look on the call/data log that nothing has been used.  Even then you'll have a fight but it's worth persuing.  Also, check the small print and documents that came with the Virgin handset and see if there's any mentino on there.  It's probably written in somewhere that by accepting the terms and conditions of the VM handset, you are agreeing some sort of contract with O2 as well. 

ButterCheese

Also I don't see how they can say there is no account.  There might be no active account but I'm sure they can access historical record accounts if they want to

eDicky

Dai you mean that the minimum term of the contract ended..?

la531983

Easy. You put in a direct debit indemnity claim with your bank and get the money back.

DullGreyGuy

julesqman12 said:

My son had a mobile handset with virgin. They then merged with o2. Since then his handset contract has come to an end without us realising, and he has paid over £300 via the direct debit they kept taking. 

What do you mean the contract came to an end?

Every mobile contract I've ever seen is an indefinite contract with a minimum period, often 1-3 years. The contract doesn't end at the end of the minimum period but just goes onto a monthly contract and the line continues to operate etc. 

Did he ask for them to terminate it? What's happened to the SIM etc associated with the number?