No Worries For Phone Bills If Stolen

How The Problem May Arise?

The phone company can hold you liable for a bill of hundreds or even thousands of pounds if you pay for your calls on a contract and unable to report the loss of your mobile phone immediately.

Anthea Guthrie, a common British consumer was unable to report to the company immediately when she lost her mobile. She told Radio 4's Money Box programme recently, "I believe it probably went missing during a visit to Bristol, that must have been on the Saturday. I realized it was lost on the Monday and rang T-Mobile." T-Mobile sent her a replacement phone and SIM card and she did not think much more about the old phone until she received a text from T-Mobile estimating her monthly bill. However, T-Mobile told Anthea because the calls were made before the phone was reported lost it was under no contractual obligation to waive the charges. Anthea refused to pay and so T-Mobile passed the outstanding amount to a debt recovery firm.  

Different Policies Regarding Credit Limits:

The main networks have different policies regarding credit limits, which in some cases could effectively reduce a customer's liability to the sort of fraudulent calls made. Mobile firm '3' says a typical credit limit on one of its contracts is £100 and if a customer exceeds that he or she will be asked to verify who they are or risk being cut off. 02 and Vodafone do not use credit limits at all and Orange says it does not cap calls. Veena Kanda, director for business development at the dispute resolution service IDRS said, "Mobile companies could certainly give clearer messages about what the cap really means." However, the phone industry says in order to stop fraud, customers should use the Pin security on their phones or ask their provider not to allow international calls from their handset

Make Cheap International Calls:

Consumers can consider making cheap international calls from their mobile phones or landlines. As making international calls is now so safe and reliable as well as affordable instead of paying high telephone bills. Consumers have to add access numbers before dialling abroad mobile or landline numbers.

Tweet

Share