Daughter has been silly!!

[Kitiara]

In June 2012 my Daughter decided that she would like to swap her Iphone for a Blackberry, but as the contract still had 18 months to run, she took out another contract to get the phone she wanted. She gave the Iphone to her friend who agreed to take over the payments for the remainder of the contract. My Daughter informed O2 of what she had done, and although she obviously was still the account holder, her friend was registered as the phone holder, and the direct debit came out of her friends account each month. Everything was fine until her friend got into financial difficulties and stopped paying O2. My Daughter has been trying to contact this friend for several weeks but it appears she has gone into hiding to escape her creditors as she owes money everywhere. My Daughter finally managed to get her address at the weekend, and also contact her by phone, her friend says that the bill is so high as there are some calls on there she is disputing (not sure if that's true or not, but that's the reason she is giving for not paying it). My Daughter has received a letter from O2 stating that if the balance of £194 is not cleared by 24th May, she will be liable for the whole of the contract amount in one go - around £1500, which she does not have. She realises she was silly letting her friend have the phone, but at the time they were good friends and there was no reason to doubt her ability to pay (she's working and earns a hell of a lot more than my Daughter does!)

Is there anything my Daughter can do to recover this money or at least get some time to go and see said "friend" and try to get the money out of her? What if any are her options please?
Thanks,
Kit

[leclerc]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

In June 2012 my Daugter decided that she would like to swap her Iphone for a Blackberry, but as the contract still had 18 months to run, she took out another contract to get the phone she wanted. She gave the Iphone to her friend who agreed to take over the payments for the remainder of the contract. My Daugther informed O2 of what she had done, and although she obviously was still the account holder, her friend was resistered as the phone holder, and the direct debit came out of her friends account each month. Everything was fine until her friend got into financial difficulties and stopped paying O2. My Daughter has been trying to contact this friend for several weeks but it appears she has gone into hiding to escape her creditors as she owes money everywhere. My Daughter finally managed to get her address at the weekend, and also contact her by phone, her friend says that the bill is so high as there are some calls on there she is disputing (not sure if that's true or not, but that's the reason she is giving for not paying it). My Daughter has received a letter from O2 stating that if the balance of £194 is not cleared by 24th May, she will be liable for the whole of the contract amount in one go - around £1500, which she does not have. She realises she was silly letting her friend have the phone, but at the time they were good friends and there was no reason to doubt her ability to pay (she's working and earns a hell of a lot more than my Daughter does!)

Is there anything my Daughter can do to recover this money or at least get some time to go and see said "friend" and try to get the money out of her? What if any are her options please?
Thanks,
Kit

Your daughter should do a subject access request to O2 for the notes on the account and she should contact O2 and state that as far as she was concerned the contract was being dealt with by the friend and therefore any useage on there is nothing to do with her as she was under the understanding that O2 accepted the other person for the remainder of the contract.

[Kitiara]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

Thank you for the advice leclerc, my daughter spoke to O2 last night and basically they don't want to know - they just want their money and as my daughter is the account holder, they are going to carry on chasing her. I don't even think there is much point with trying to go down the legal route to try to get the money as her friend will plead poverty and my daughter would get £1 a week - if she was lucky!

Is it worth trying again with O2, is there any other angle we could try with them?

Thanks

[wales01man]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

I may be a prophet of doom but,the contract is your daughters,the debt is hers iys her that needs to sort out a payment plan with O2 then try to get the money off the friend ,i cannot see O2 leaving this alone on the basis the phone is used by someone else if they allowed one every youngster would catch on and this will be common place, the friend being registered as account holder may have some bearing on the debt i suspect specialist advice is needed

[Inca]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

I'm pretty sure your daughter will be held responsible hun..and will have to pay until the contract ends.

[Kitiara]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

Thanks All!
I have offered to pay the bill for my daughter so she is not having to pay the full amount, but she is still going to try to get the money back from her "friend" via the courts, has anyone any advice on the best way to proceed with this? The phone is now blocked so at least there is no chance the bill can go any higher (also found out the b*tch has sold the iphone she was so desperate for too, so daughter can't even get this back to sell to pay the debt!) Hey ho .. daughter has learned not to be so trusting now!

Thanks

[Inca]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

So she will have to just pay the minimum monthly contract for 18 months?

[wales01man]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

How old is your daughter and her friend? she could write her a letter asking for payment and threatning action if she refuse to pay then it gets legal your daughter loses one friend and her othere friends might think badly of her,maybe she pays via you and puts it down to a lesson in life its a hard world out there we all make errors of judgement and mistakes its how us human beings are

[Kitiara]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

My daughter was 21 last Friday (the day this all kicked off , her (ex) friend is 24, the letter is a good idea, I will get her to do that and send it signed for, that way she can't say she didn't receive it. I think we will probably end up putting it down to experience and paying the £195 and the remainder of the contract - oh well!

[Inca]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

Get the mobile phone company to block the IMEI on the phone,,that'll knacker it completely..hopefully the new owner will go after the ex friend.
Kids do the most ridiculous things hun..then want Mum to sort them out. As I speak my 25 year old manchild is upstairs complaining to his girlfriend that I didn't give him enough sympathy when he got back from the dentists!!!

[bluebottle]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

Virgin Media have a nasty habit of cancelling contracts and then trying to extort the remaining contract payments from customers. If my memory serves me correctly, this is, possibly, a breach of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (UTCCR). Contact Trading Standards. If they hold the view O2 are extracting the urinary tract secretions, they can advise what to do or give O2 a call and ask them why they are not complying with the law.

[labman]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

I'm sad to say I can't see O2 have done anything wrong. Your daughter is very lucky to have someone like you to pay the debt for her and I hope she has learned a tough lesson.

She should not give up on her friend though - get the information you need from O2 to ensure the debt is 100% legitimate before you pay anything to them - they really ought to remove at least some of the charges given the circumstances, it's certainly worth an email to the CEO.

I would also be inclined to write to her 'friend' asking for payment or saying you will escalate it to legal action, applying for an Attachment of Earnings. While you may not get this in a court, it might be enough to encourage her to pay something at least.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

unfortunatly the above advice of, she is the account holder, she foots the bill is correct (please don't hate me) as the transfer of payments was between your daughter and her friend was a personal agreement.
When I worked in the Consumer side of the company, we would see a load of accounts where (for example) mum would set up the account for her child and the young woman/man would pay the contract..

How long has she been in contract and how long was the contract for?

[Inca]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

but as the contract still had 18 months to run

Tune in Puffalumps.......tune in msl:

[enquirer]

Re: Daughter has been silly!!

... applying for an Attachment of Earnings.

This is the stick to beat her with.