Out of Contract so I Cancelled the Direct Debit

IEFBR14

Several years ago I bought a tablet for my elderly father so he was able to keep in touch with grandchildren and have video calls. I paid monthly, but the contract ended in 2023. He's no longer in a position to use it so I recently cancelled the direct debit.

The mobile provider, Three, has now put the account into collections. How can they be entitled to any further payment if no contract exists between us?

Perhaps I should have contacted them to cancel but I didn't see any need since there is no contract to cancel, and dealing with AI chatbots on 'help' lines is a nightmare these days. Advice?

la531983

Mobile contracts dont just end after the specified period, you still have to contact them to end the service as you go onto a rolling 30 day notice one. So nobody did this?

TadleyBaggie

Typically contracts with mobile providers and broadband providers do not just "end", you just reach your minimum term and you are now on a rolling 30 day contract. So it is still necessary to give notice to cancel your contract.

oldernonethewiser

It reads as though the minimum term ended in 2023 and there has been a rolling monthly one ever since.

Cancelling the direct debit does not cancel the contract so unless it has specifically been cancelled you still have to pay it.

flaneurs_lobster

Assume this tablet was bought with a mobile data plan? When you agree to one of these it's just like a mobile phone plan - you have a minimum term, usually 2 years, and then you are out of plan.

The contract doesn't end, you continue to receive the mobile service and continue to be billed for it, even if you stop using the tablet or cancel the direct debit.

If you didn't cancel the contract explicitly then you are liable for the provision of service until you do.

You are quite possibly still incurring charges.

Tablets with mobile data provision are quite unusual, did your father not have broadband at home?

IEFBR14 is a term I haven't heard (or used) in over 30 years - showing your age!

Grumpy_chap

IEFBR14 is a term I haven't heard (or used) in over 30 years - showing your age!

Although, it does seem as though the OP "did nothing" 😉

IEFBR14

Thanks for the comments, it appears to me that the term 'out of contract' doesn't in fact have the meaning that common sense would suggest. I will contact Three on Monday and terminate the contract-that-isn't-a-contract.

Used IEFBR14 regularly from 1978 to 2023

oldernonethewiser

There should have been notification that the minimum term of the contract had had passed.

Your father was never "out of contract", the terms of the contract changed.

littleboo

Presumably a mobile data service was being provided after the minimum term was completed, ie since 2023? If there was no contract, there would have been no service.

Maegi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6688863/out-of-contract-so-i-cancelled-the-direct-debit

Most telecoms providers (and many other industries) operate minimum term contracts not a fixed term contracts.

Incidentally, a contract is just fancy words for an agreement between two or more people. So even when using a PAYG service, you are still party to a contract by simply opting to use their services.

Maegi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82188553#Comment_82188553

No, the terms never changed.

They always were a minimum term of X months and after it become a monthly rolling agreement until either party cancelled the agreement/service.