My mobiles used by a friend not returning ..

[hasni80]

I took 2 contract phones in May , 2016 ( 24 months ) . A close friend of mine who owes me £1500/= approached me and told that he was banned from getting contract phones , so could I give my new contract phones to him to be used.. He promised he would pay monthly payment including any extra fee added to bills . So I had a Verbal Contract with him as follows;

1. Phones ( S7 and Iphone 6 ) can be used by him till contracts end.
2. after contracts end phones must be returned to me.
3. When contract ends upon complete payments I would deduct the total payments from what he owes to me. say ( £1500.00 - 1200.00 ).

Then he started using phone paying bills. But for last 3 months he went too far from my place and neglect paying bills.. As payments are paid by direct debit , the fees are taken from my account ,sometimes with bank charges.

Many times I contacted him and asked to pay bills, he now started to talk in a rude way saying do whatever I could do. I am really shocked and never thought he would behave in this way.

I am worried and do not know how to get him paid to phones and get back my phones . The contract ends in MAY 2018. He proved to me that He is a Fraudster now.

Please , advise me what action can I take against him to make him pay bills and get my phones back ? ?

Can I inform Action Fraud ? or Make a claim online in the Small Claim Courts ?

I will appreciate and thankful for advice and help.

[jaguarsuk]

Re: My mobiles used by a friend not returning ..

Hi and Welcome

Your verbal agreement is basically your word against his, so it's highly unlikely you could use that as the basis for a claim. If you have something in writing or he has admitted in writing that he had been repaying you then you might have more of a chance.

You can't report him for Fraud as he hasn't committed it, you have willingly given him and allowed him the use of the phones until now. As you have nothing written down and the contracts are in your name you will be liable to pay them.

I would contact the phone network and ask for the SIM cards to be cancelled plus handsets to be blocked as lost. That will mean he can't keep using the phone and adding additional charges. Also, he won't be able to take the SIM card out to keep using the handset. You will still have to pay the monthly line rental charge until the contract ends or ask the network for an amount to pay to end it early.

My posts on this forum are offered based on my experience dealing with a variety of life events. I have no formal legal training and if in doubt take professional legal advice or contact the CAB. If you follow anything I write on this forum you do so at your own risk and I accept no liability for any loss, costs or other out comes.

[slainte caragh]

Re: My mobiles used by a friend not returning ..

How long have the contracts been running?
What kind of contract do you have? (i.e refresh, normal 24 month contract etc)
What is the tariff and cost?

If you have been in contract 9 months or more you may be able to downgrade the line rental by 1 level (i.e £45 a month to £40 per month), if you have a contract where you have a handset cost and a different cost for the airtime, you can make ad hoc payments to clear this.

I know it isn't fair to say kiss the phones goodbye, and it's not something I like to say, but no company will get in to a dispute between friends.

Ask for an immediate IMEI bar to be added to the handset and ask that it be added to the account that no 3rd parties get access. If you have an account password, change it too.

hope this helps

Callie <3