iD mobile refuse to back down

RhiBi

To explain the story, in December 2024 I was out of contract for a mobile I’d had for my daughter.

On January 2nd, I contacted ID to cancel.  I requested a STAC code as I didn’t want to keep the number.

Also on January 2nd I took out a sim only contract for the phone, giving the STAC code to talk mobile.  As far as I understood, that ended my contract with iD mobile.

I had a direct debit taken out of my account from iD on 6th January, so I contacted them again, and they told me it was a final bill.

I then cancelled the direct debit which I know isn’t advised, but I’ve read horror stories about mobile phone companies.

Today, I received a final demand letter from iD for £98.  I’d had no letter previous to this.

I again contacted iD and they said that the STAC CODE hadn’t been applied by Talk mobile and so my contract had not ended.

Nothing was communicated to me by either phone company, so I said that I wasn’t to know that it hadn’t all gone through correctly, and I did what I was instructed to do and therefore am not at fault.

iD would not budge.  I have had to pay the £98, and they said that I have to give 30 days notice to end the contract which would incur another £49 charge.  They did eventually agree to waive that and end the contract with immediate effect.

Where do I stand with this.  Which company would be at fault. Do I just put it down to experience or should I fight this?

Thanks

born_again

I would be asking why Talk Mobile have failed to follow due process & submit the STAC code to ID mobile. 
This would seem to be their error.

As they failed in effect your account with ID was never cancelled so they are owed £98, which Talk Mobile should be paying due to their error.

elsien

I presume you’ve kept the same number? In which case this would indeed seem to be down to talkmobile.

d123

elsien said:

I presume you’ve kept the same number? In which case this would indeed seem to be down to talkmobile.

If they used a STAC, then no, they will have started with a new number and wanted the old number terminated.

RhiBi

d123 said:

elsien said:

I presume you’ve kept the same number? In which case this would indeed seem to be down to talkmobile.

If they used a STAC, then no, they will have started with a new number and wanted the old number terminated.

That correct, the number should have been terminated and the account cancelled.

saajan_12

RhiBi said:

Also on January 2nd I took out a sim only contract for the phone, giving the STAC code to talk mobile.  As far as I understood, that ended my contract with iD mobile.

...

I again contacted iD and they said that the STAC CODE hadn’t been applied by Talk mobile and so my contract had not ended.

From the above key points in the sequence of events, what has each company done wrong?
- ID Mobile -> Provided a STAC code on request, it wasn't used, continued billing correctly (assuming the £98 and 49 match your contract). Nothing wrong. 
- Talk Mobile -> Failed to apply a STAC code provided (assuming you can prove this)

As such, your claim would be against Talk Mobile, as ID didn't do anything wrong. 

RhiBi said:

I then cancelled the direct debit which I know isn’t advised, but I’ve read horror stories about mobile phone companies.

Today, I received a final demand letter from iD for £98.  I’d had no letter previous to this.

As a lesson for next time, if you leave the DD in place but cancel with teh companies and monitor your bank accounts, you can at least know early if somethings wrong. If any of the horror stories you're worried about do materialise, then you can claim back any money incorrectly taken via the DD guarantee. However if you don't have one, the charge can get a lot higher as it costs them more money to chase you which they can charge for. 

savergrant

'I had a direct debit taken out of my account from iD on 6th January, so I contacted them again, and they told me it was a final bill.
.....I again contacted iD and they said that the STAC CODE hadn’t been applied by Talk mobile and so my contract had not ended.'

There is an inconsistency here....on 6th January they told you they knew you were leaving, then later they said they didn't. Query that with them.

tinker411

savergrant said:

'I had a direct debit taken out of my account from iD on 6th January, so I contacted them again, and they told me it was a final bill.
.....I again contacted iD and they said that the STAC CODE hadn’t been applied by Talk mobile and so my contract had not ended.'

There is an inconsistency here....on 6th January they told you they knew you were leaving, then later they said they didn't. Query that with them.

It's not necessarily an inconsistency. Knowing how iD works in this situation it's more ambiguous wording than anything. To clarify what I mean:

@RhiBi 'I had a direct debit taken out of my account from iD on 6th January, so I contacted them again, and they told me it was a final bill.'

bearing in mind January 2nd was a Thursday, if @RhiBi missed the cut off (5/5.30pm from memory) then the STAC would not, in normal circumstances, have been processed until the Friday for going through on the Monday (January 6th), which would be why the usual January 6th iD bill (or final online bill if you prefer) as, in theory, the bill could have been issued before the STAC was processed (as, IIRC, iD bills are generated overnight) while STACs and PACs are supposed to start processing from about 9am (depending on who you're off to).

What would usually happen then would be, once the PAC/STAC has been applied, would be that iD would issue another bill - by post - which would state that you've been charged £x for period A-B (billing date to leaving date) and will be refunded £y for the rest of the billing period (as you'll have left) which will be refunded into the account your DD came from within 32 days.

However:

@RhiBi 'I again contacted iD and they said that the STAC CODE hadn’t been applied by Talk mobile and so my contract had not ended.'

This is normal. If a STAC/PAC isn't used, for whatever reason, then the contract continues on. Due to this, it's Talkmobile who are at fault here, for not applying @RhiBi STAC in time so it remained unused and would explain iD's subsequent actions.

As such, I'd stick in a complaint to Talkmobile and see what happens.

Hopefully that all made sense as it's 5am-ish