Sorry this is long and complicated...
In August 2008 I got a phone for my son's father - let's be polite and call him Richard - as a birthday present. Apart from being a cool present, it was to help him stay in touch, as I was sick of him claiming he couldn't let me know that he couldn't pick our son up for whatever reason because he had no credit. I got it on an 18-month contract from Vodafone, with whom I was already a well-established customer.
After he'd had the phone a few months, Richard was sent abroad by his then employer for a week-long training course, and ran up a huge phone bill - which wiped out my entire bank account. I managed, with Richard's co-operation, to persuade Vodafone to transfer the monthly payment request to Richard's bank account so that wouldn't happen again, although the phone account was still in my name. Unfortunately at this point I stopped worrying about it.
In February this year Richard gave up a fairly well-paid engineering job and started working in a bar. Last month he got in touch with me to ask if I would pay his phone bill, because if I didn't, MY mobile phone would get cut off. I didn't pay, and my phone did get cut off for a couple of days (with no warning to me from Vodafone). Then Richard paid the bill and my phone started working again.
(My own mobile phone account is paid each month by direct debit and has never been in arrears.)
Last week I again found that I couldn't make calls or send texts from my phone, so I contacted Vodafone and was told I had been cut off again because Richard's account is in arrears (£44). I pointed out that when I got the phone for Richard in August 2008, I signed up for 18 months and that contract has now finished. However, they said that in January this year they contacted Richard about renewing and he signed up for a further 12 months. So if I want to terminate the contract I have to pay £40 for each month it has left to run! Or I can leave things as they are and have my own phone get blocked each month until Richard pays his bill.
After some heated discussion I persuaded them that they need to transfer ownership to Richard so he is solely responsible for the contract and his mobile account is not linked to mine. They agree that that is the right thing to do, but they can't do it without Richard's co-operation. They have sent him a message asking him to get in touch about transferring ownership, but not surprisingly he hasn't done so, and even if he does it's really unlikely that he would pass the credit check. As the £44 is still not paid, my phone is now blocked again.
So, apart from having myself admitted to the Sunshine Home for the Terminally Stupid for getting in this mess in the first place, is there anything I can do?
Well, nice idea Pete, but I am tied to Vodafone for another 9 months and I have mobile broadband with bells and whistles - it would cost around £560 to wrap up my own account, as opposed to £320 to terminate Richard's... They insist that by giving him administrative rights to his account (so that he could pay his bill online) I gave permission for him to make changes, including extending the contract, and unless he completes the transfer of ownership there is nothing I can do about it.
Alternatively they suggested I could report it as fraud - in which case the whole account, including mine, would be suspended while the police investigate.
Calm...
Thanks Espi but you are only reiterating what I have already been told - that the solution is dependent on Richard making the transfer of ownership. He was sent messages asking him to do this six days ago, by Vodafone and myself. To give you some idea of the type of person we are dealing with here, I also included a request from his son asking when daddy would come and play with him - didn't hear anything back on that one yet either.
In August 2008 I got a phone for my son's father - let's be polite and call him Richard - as a birthday present. Apart from being a cool present, it was to help him stay in touch, as I was sick of him claiming he couldn't let me know that he couldn't pick our son up for whatever reason because he had no credit. I got it on an 18-month contract from Vodafone, with whom I was already a well-established customer.
After he'd had the phone a few months, Richard was sent abroad by his then employer for a week-long training course, and ran up a huge phone bill - which wiped out my entire bank account. I managed, with Richard's co-operation, to persuade Vodafone to transfer the monthly payment request to Richard's bank account so that wouldn't happen again, although the phone account was still in my name. Unfortunately at this point I stopped worrying about it.
In February this year Richard gave up a fairly well-paid engineering job and started working in a bar. Last month he got in touch with me to ask if I would pay his phone bill, because if I didn't, MY mobile phone would get cut off. I didn't pay, and my phone did get cut off for a couple of days (with no warning to me from Vodafone). Then Richard paid the bill and my phone started working again.
(My own mobile phone account is paid each month by direct debit and has never been in arrears.)
Last week I again found that I couldn't make calls or send texts from my phone, so I contacted Vodafone and was told I had been cut off again because Richard's account is in arrears (£44). I pointed out that when I got the phone for Richard in August 2008, I signed up for 18 months and that contract has now finished. However, they said that in January this year they contacted Richard about renewing and he signed up for a further 12 months. So if I want to terminate the contract I have to pay £40 for each month it has left to run! Or I can leave things as they are and have my own phone get blocked each month until Richard pays his bill.
After some heated discussion I persuaded them that they need to transfer ownership to Richard so he is solely responsible for the contract and his mobile account is not linked to mine. They agree that that is the right thing to do, but they can't do it without Richard's co-operation. They have sent him a message asking him to get in touch about transferring ownership, but not surprisingly he hasn't done so, and even if he does it's really unlikely that he would pass the credit check. As the £44 is still not paid, my phone is now blocked again.
So, apart from having myself admitted to the Sunshine Home for the Terminally Stupid for getting in this mess in the first place, is there anything I can do?
Well, nice idea Pete, but I am tied to Vodafone for another 9 months and I have mobile broadband with bells and whistles - it would cost around £560 to wrap up my own account, as opposed to £320 to terminate Richard's... They insist that by giving him administrative rights to his account (so that he could pay his bill online) I gave permission for him to make changes, including extending the contract, and unless he completes the transfer of ownership there is nothing I can do about it.
Alternatively they suggested I could report it as fraud - in which case the whole account, including mine, would be suspended while the police investigate.
Calm...
Thanks Espi but you are only reiterating what I have already been told - that the solution is dependent on Richard making the transfer of ownership. He was sent messages asking him to do this six days ago, by Vodafone and myself. To give you some idea of the type of person we are dealing with here, I also included a request from his son asking when daddy would come and play with him - didn't hear anything back on that one yet either.