1p mobile debiting my credit card without authorisation

fun4everyone

Update : 1pmobile ignored my attempts at contacting them for several days but this morning replied saying as a "goodwill gesture" they were refunding my money.  Funnily enough paypal had emailed me several hours previously saying I was getting my money back as they agreed it was an unauthorised transaction.  No idea what went on there but seems I will get it back.  Havent actually got it yet, can see the credit on paypal but nothing on my card or in pending yet but the fact it shows on paypal means I am sure I will get it.  End of story thanks for reading.

P.S.  Amex are absolutely great, I explained the whole thing to them and the lady told me to speak to PayPal first but assured me they would have my back if I didn't get anywhere with them.

MSE_Chris

fun4everyone said:

Update : 1pmobile ignored my attempts at contacting them for several days but this morning replied saying as a "goodwill gesture" they were refunding my money.  Funnily enough paypal had emailed me several hours previously saying I was getting my money back as they agreed it was an unauthorised transaction.  No idea what went on there but seems I will get it back.  Havent actually got it yet, can see the credit on paypal but nothing on my card or in pending yet but the fact it shows on paypal means I am sure I will get it.  End of story thanks for reading.

P.S.  Amex are absolutely great, I explained the whole thing to them and the lady told me to speak to PayPal first but assured me they would have my back if I didn't get anywhere with them.

Hi fun4everyone,

Keen to see this charge on your 1pMobile account as we may do a news story given it goes against their T&C's. Are you able to send anything related to it to chris.knight@moneysavingexpert.com and we'll take a look?

We're looking for screenshots that shows the extra charge and request for extra funds etc.

Many thanks,
MSE Chris

alanwils

Just today, 1p Mobile took, without authorisation, £7:20 from my bank account. Their last email message to me, in mid February, read "£7.20 will be taken from any new credit you apply". I did not apply any new credit as I believed the service would be "suspended shortly", if I didn't top up soon, as stated in the very same email message. 

My advice, delete your payment details asap

pothole70

fun4everyone said:

Also here is the last email I received from them before today

"The credit balance (£0.00) on your 1pMobile account was insufficient for us to take your 90-day spend commitment of £10.00, and your mobile service will therefore be suspended shortly.

We have taken the part-requirement of £0.00, and there is still £10.00 outstanding which will be taken automatically from any new credit you apply.

You need to make a top-up as soon as possible by logging into your 1pMobile account at www.1pmobile.com/login.

We strongly recommend you also select the 'auto top-up' option to ensure that you will always have credit available on your phone when you need it in future.

In line with industry guidelines designed to ensure the efficient use of mobile numbers, please note that if we have not received your top-up by 16 October 2024, then your 1pMobile service will be disconnected and your mobile number will go into the re-allocation pool and cannot then be recovered"

The last part is key, they told me I would be disconnected and that was fine, but they have now charged me instead

I received the same message and as I don’t use that number anymore I was happy for them to terminate it and give it to someone else, that was sent in January to cut off Feb 14th but then yesterday March 15th they took £8.73 from my PayPal account with no authorisation from me. I still have the number but no credit on the phone. I used to top up every 90 days my top up would be added to my balance when I had enough I would switch to the yearly tariff of £36 but now all has changed they can take £8.73 off the balance ever 60 days. 

I am now looking for a provider like the old days, when you topped up used your credit then topped up again, but all I can find is one month sim contracts.

Murmansk

pothole70 said:

I am now looking for a provider like the old days, when you topped up used your credit then topped up again, but all I can find is one month sim contracts.

The old days are no longer with us and mobile companies don't like customers who have a £10 topup and make it last for years by keeping the phone in their glovebox and using it only when they have a breakdown. 

I don't blame them for wanting to make some money out of customers after all there must be some cost to them of running an account. 

You could have an unlimited calls and texts arrangement with either 1pMobile or Asda Mobile for the equivalent of £4 per month and I'm sure there are others but the days of £10 lasting years are long gone.

Frozen_up_north

I have a monthly payment with 1p Mobile for £8 per month, and have not experienced any additional deductions. We find making changes to the monthly data amount not as straightforward as GiffGaff (1p Mobile do not have an app so change is via a web page), but the advantage for us is the EE coverage and also the included roaming in the Channel Is (which is not included with GG).

1p Mobile have 2 factor authentication, by email, which is to protect the account from unauthorised changes. A good security feature.

Ezlife

Me too - so irritating!

I signed up via MSE to use an old phone for cheaper calls only as a my main phone is more expensive - #mistake1 'too good to be true' as others have also found.

Email dated 12 June (ignored):

"The credit balance (£2.56) on your 1pMobile account was insufficient for us to take your 60-day spend commitment of £6.66, and your mobile service will therefore be suspended shortly.
We have taken the part-requirement of £2.56, and there is still £4.10 outstanding which will be taken automatically from any new credit you apply.

You need to make a top-up as soon as possible by logging into your 1pMobile account at www.1pmobile.com/login. We will attempt to take this shortfall automatically from any stored payment details you have with us.

We strongly recommend you also select the 'auto top-up' option to ensure that you will always have credit available on your phone when you need it in future.

In line with industry guidelines designed to ensure the efficient use of mobile numbers, please note that if we are unable to take the shortfall or have not received your top-up by 22 June 2025, then your 1pMobile service may be disconnected and your mobile number will go into the re-allocation pool and cannot then be recovered."

I recall going into my account to remove payments info, and cancelling my bank DD, however they have now charged my credit card which I don't recall using (appears as a payment method although auto top-up was also cancelled) - I never would knowingly agree to use my credit card for ongoing payments as I've had great difficulty cancelling them in the past.

Have now written to 'Penny' telling her I want my £10 back. 😠

I do so hate the sign-off at the end of each email, just rubs salt in the wound...

Regards

Penny

Frozen_up_north

You can instruct a credit card company to not allow a payment to be made to a particular company, it is often not as straightforward as using an app, but by law the CC company has to follow your instructions. This page explains the process:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/banking/stopping-a-future-payment-on-your-debit-or-credit-card/
Both PayPal and ordinary bank accounts are easier to see any direct debit payments and the PayPal equivalent, and very easy to cancel in both cases via a phone app.
Bottom line… do not give 1p your credit card details.

Ezlife

Ezlife said:

Me too - so irritating!

I signed up via MSE to use an old phone for cheaper calls only as a my main phone is more expensive - #mistake1 'too good to be true' as others have also found.

Email dated 12 June (ignored):

"The credit balance (£2.56) on your 1pMobile account was insufficient for us to take your 60-day spend commitment of £6.66, and your mobile service will therefore be suspended shortly.
We have taken the part-requirement of £2.56, and there is still £4.10 outstanding which will be taken automatically from any new credit you apply.

You need to make a top-up as soon as possible by logging into your 1pMobile account at www.1pmobile.com/login. We will attempt to take this shortfall automatically from any stored payment details you have with us.

We strongly recommend you also select the 'auto top-up' option to ensure that you will always have credit available on your phone when you need it in future.

In line with industry guidelines designed to ensure the efficient use of mobile numbers, please note that if we are unable to take the shortfall or have not received your top-up by 22 June 2025, then your 1pMobile service may be disconnected and your mobile number will go into the re-allocation pool and cannot then be recovered."

I recall going into my account to remove payments info, and cancelling my bank DD, however they have now charged my credit card which I don't recall using (appears as a payment method although auto top-up was also cancelled) - I never would knowingly agree to use my credit card for ongoing payments as I've had great difficulty cancelling them in the past.

Have now written to 'Penny' telling her I want my £10 back. 😠

I do so hate the sign-off at the end of each email, just rubs salt in the wound...

Regards

Penny

Update: my 1pMobile account has been closed and I can expect 'refund of £10.00 has also been processed and should be returned to your payment method within 3 working days.

Which I will look for on my next statement.

I'm still unhappy but not mad like this morning.