Hi Have been reading these forums we some interest but need some help on my next step My daughter recently got a letter from a debt collection agency asking for £763.80p for an old t-mobile bill, whilst she acknowledges that she does owe T-Mobile some money the ammount is far in excess of the amount she thought she owed. She phoned them to try and sort it out and they did an over the phone assessment of her finances ( Currently unemployed ) she offered them £10 a month, they said that was not enough and she should pay £20. After reading your forums I sent them your Subject Access Requst letter. There reply was as follows Dear / Sir Madam We write in refreance to your recent letter, the contents of which have been noted Please see a copy of all our notes on the system and also a copy of your final bill, provided to us by t-mobile. ( This is a one page Bill with no break down of charges ) We can confirm that we have not given your information to any other company, and there has been no fees added by Transcom T-Mobile do not retain copies of the original airtime agreement at there is no regulatory ""act"" that requires them to do so, being a service agreement of airtime and/or telephone handsets/equipment. All they sent was their breakdown of movements, a one page bill from t-mobile dated 4th March 2010 and a copy of a girobank slip. How would you procede from here Thanks Warren

Hi All I would like to take vodafone to task for continuously harrassing me for over 13 months for call charges made from China when my sim card was lost/stolen. The total charged to me was over 2k. The ineptness and frustrations of dealing with the people at vodafone have been incredible. What I want to do is bring pressure on the government by ordering the mobile phone industry to protect their customers similar to the security my Lloyds bank have in place. When an unusual amount tries to be debited from my card it is declined and I have to ok the release of funds with Lloyds, how simple and effective. Ok the time involved going through Lloyds security is abit of a pain but if it protects my money thats great. If the mobile phone industry are forced to be financially liable for events happening outside their precious terms and conditions and block sudden increases in usage, this will help victims like myself and doubltless other victims who have been bullied into submission. The mobile phone industry would soon get their own security methods sorted if they were hit in their profit sheets. My credit rating was attacked which I only found out when I was refused credit in another national store. Embarassing or what!! I would appreciate any thoughts and experiences, we the people cannot allow this to continue and bring dispair and misery to people who are at no fault but purely victims of a crime.

Hi all, Just looking for a bit of advice before I bring this up with my employer. I currently have a company phone and as I use this for personal use as well I have agreed to pay for any text messages sent. This I have no problems with however my recent phone bills have been ranging from £120.00 to £185.00. This is taken directly from my wages each month! I have asked for itemised copies of each months bills and have discovered that I am being charged for data usage on my phone. For example this month my bill was £185.00. From this £30.00 was text messages and the remainder was data usage. I have worked out from these bills that this data usage is in fact from sending COMPANY emails from my phone. My question is, how do I bring this up with my employer and then claim the money back from them. I have worked out I am owed approximately £700.00 for these charges over the past 6 months. Also as the money was taken from my wages and I have been taxed on this am I within my rights to ask for a company cheque or cash back rather than having the rebate added back onto my wages. Can people please advise how I should proceed? Thanks,

I upgraded my phones and paid 65.73 some idiot at t mobile also took a payment of 97.07 they are refusing to refund it back onto my card, what can I do???

Over the last 18 months I have been trying to clear my debts one by one and have been using Equifax to keep a check on my Credit File. I noticed on Friday that a default has been registered by BT mobility within the last few days. I took out BT broadband, phone & mobile out in 2007, the problem I had was not able to get a signal for the mobile so I rang BT and by mutual consent, the contract was cancelled altgough I kept the landline & broadband, (they reduced my DD payments at the time). Looking at my credit file it says normal payments up to March '09 and then from March '09 to Feb '11 "Query". In March '11, it says I defaulted, March '11 was when i switched to Talktalk (big mistake!). My question is: Why would BT not update my credit file from '09 to '11 and then update my credit file with the default in November 2012? (can they do this?)

A while back I signed up what I thought was a good deal with Virgin for a HTC Sensation for £17.99 per month. I didn't realise that when I signed up, if I cancelled at any time that I would be committed to pay the whole term of the contract which they have just informed me is £464. I'm now in real financial difficulties due to unemployment and I explained my situation to them over the phone, but they said that there's nothing they can do because they said I had already had a loyalty discount on the existing contract. They will not allow me to cancel without paying the £464 in full. Does anyone know of any way I can get of this situation?

Its thought that the move is to offset income losses following the recent caps on European roaming and call charges http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills/article-2226168/O2-roaming-charges-mobile-network-doubles-text-prices-outside-EU.html

Hi, I had a T-Mobile Mobile Broadband that was sold to me when I cancelled my phone contract in July 2010. It was £5.99/month (incl. VAT) for 24 months. I realized that in the last 6 months of my contract they charged £15.32 not £5.99. I tried to call them couldnt get hold of them, then busy life I gave up. (My wife gave birth and we were v occupied etc.) But I cancelled my direct debit. 4 months later I got a call from a DCA that I owe £60 to T-Mobile. T-Mobile never tried to call me even though my phone number never changed. I presume they had sent letters to my previous address which I moved 1,5 yrs ago. I called T-Mobile and they said My mobile broadband contract was 18 months not 24 months. I am 100% certain that it was 24 months I even remember the conversation with the sales lady, the reason it is £5.99 incl VAT is because it is 24 months contract etc. But they never sent me any bills, I haven't received or signed any contract. They say I had 18-month discount, not a contract with T-Mobile, hece they spiked up my monthly bill from £5.99 to £15.32. And I have to give 30 day notice to cancel the contract regardless. 1. Do I have to call them to cancel even after the initial contract period? Looking at their pay monthly T&C there is no wording saying I have to call them to terminate the contract support.t-mobile.co.uk/resources/sites/TMOBILE/content/live/DOCUMENTS/0/DO117/en_GB/PAYM_T&C_Aug12_200812_v1.pdf 2. How can I prove that it was a 24-month contract, I haven't signed anything and no invoices were sent to me 3. Even if I pay the claimed balance, will I have a record on my credit rating? I saw in one of the forums that if you accept a debt (I think if it is in the hands of DCA, it is marked as debt), regardless of whether it is paid or not, it will be seen in the credit history for 6 yrs. Regards, Alec

Hello there, I'm hoping some of you may be able to give me some advice before I proceed. I had a contract phone with three somewhere between 3 to 5 years ago. I cancelled the contract when I switched to another provider and thought no more about it. A letter was just delivered to my mother's house from three, stating that I owe them £360.54 and that they've 'restricted access to their services' until the full outstanding balance is paid. At the time of closing the contract I'm fairly certain I paid off the full outstanding balance - in fact it was probably paid by DD and should have been taken automatically. However I am now left wondering whether I didn't pay it off and they refused to close the account and have subsequently been charging me for however many years it's been. I've received no communication from them in all this time if that was the case. It may also be possible that the person I spoke to on the phone mucked up and didn't actually close the account, though again if that was the case why on earth would it take them years to contact me? The only other explanation I could come up with is ID theft, and some one using my details to get a new phone. The three phone number on the top of this letter doesn't look familiar, but then I can't say for sure that's not ever been my number as it was a long time ago. I've also always been careful in discarding old bills, and besides that the address used for this account is very old - so old it's when I was living at home. I don't have any of the paperwork any more, so it's not a simple matter of showing them their 'sorry you're leaving' letter. The bank account I used to pay them from has also been closed. I didn't want to contact them until I had an idea of where I'd stand if it was the case that I didn't pay off the balance at the time and they're continued charging me each month - could they really not contact me for years and then hit me with a bill for several hundred pounds for what would probably have been a missed payment of around £10? I was thinking of writing to them asking them for details about this account since the only account I had with them was closed several years ago and I was concerned about identity theft - would this be the wisest thing to do? Any advice would be gratefully received.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19968609

Hi,as the title suggests I have a complaint abut the information posted on my credit file by Virgin Mobile. I have sent a letter which they have not responded to. I was wondering if anybody has an email address other then the customer service one as they cant help... or should I send my letter again but recorded delivery this time? Any general advice about what to do if nobody responds would also be much appreciated as Ive never had to raise a formal complaint against anybody before. Thanks in advance for your help.

I have a contract with Tesco mobile I am only 3 months into this contract. there network has got increasadly worse I cant get a signal about 80% of the time . I have complained and been told that they can not garentee a good signal in some types of building . My type of building is a bog standard 3 bedroom semi. I also cant get a signal when out in the street . I commplained again they said it must be the sim and they are sending me another sim. I asked it I could reduce my tariff so I could afford to get another phone they said I cant reduce my tarif for another year. so I am stuck with this phone and net work that is no use to me . Has anyone got any idea's , could I challenge this as a breach of contract as they are failing to provide me with the service they said they would in my contract. Really ****ed off

Hi all Just a bit of info, maybe new info maybe not. I have just been to Turkey for a holiday Whilst there I made sure I had turned of mobile data roaming (didn't need it on as had wifi). But here is the pinch... I have been billed for calls I didn't make ... let me explain. I have a call reject list (several DCA numbers). Anyway, when you have call reject on the calls do not show on my phone (Galaxy S2) they go straight to voicemail (vm). This is fine whilst in UK because calls diverted to vm don't get charged, you will only be charged 10p to listen to your vm. However, go abroad outside of EU (Turkey is in band 5 - the highest) and unless you switch of vm and the call reject list before leaving the UK you will be charged, twice usually. Once for the incoming call, even if it is on a reject list and you don't answer and the second charge is for the divert to your mobile. Band 5 = £1.50 for each action. I have read that even if you switch your mobile on whilst abroad and your phone registers on the local network and you switch it straight of, the network knows you are there and you will get billed even if you receive a call and don't answer it and it doesn't go to vm. This is wrong because you cannot control people calling. It used to be that you only got billed if you answered the call, which you had the choice to do. Now whilst I am aware of this and even though it is a bit of a rip off, what I don't actually like is if you are pay monthly vm is turned on by default (some people may not know how to switch it off, I always forget) and the serious lack of info about this. I have been looking and I struggle to find much about it, it is usually a round about lot of info (typical for big company t&c's). Now whilst I say it's a bit of a rip off, I think it is extortionate and I am seriously considering switching networks at end of this contract (are the others any better I wonder). I am seeing some real horror stories on forums. yes I know people should know what they are doing but if the info is buried deep inside contract/t&c's etc it is difficult for people to find it. Call me cynical but that's why there is always so much text in these documents... to confuse the consumer. The new EU legislation unfortunately only covers usage within the EU, not companies based in the EU charging for out of EU usage. Anyway as I said earlier, just a bit of info I wanted to share and pass on. I hope I explained it clearly enough. I would like to hear other peoples views on this regardless of network. Maybe we can get legislation for out of EU usage introduced. Cheers Oscar

I was wondering if somebody could give me some advise please... Last week my daughter informed me her Blackberry 9860 (contract signed 22/01/12) torch was not charging. There was no physical reasons why it was not charging. The phone is in excellent condition as its kept in a case etc. We returned it back to T-mobile to be sent away, the sales chap even commented on its condition! Today we received a text informing us the phone was ready to be collected. We arrived to be told this was not a warranty issue, I was shocked to see the state of the phone returned from the return centre. The micro USB charging port has clearly been yanked out with a small pair of pliers, leaving it half in and half out and the edges all jagged. We have attempted to call Customer Service 55 minutes and been around the world, speaking 3 different people! Does anybody have any ideas what I could possibly do? its such a shame as I've been with t-mobile for over 13 years (when it was one 2 one). Thanks in advance...

My Galaxy S2 is currently with T-mobile for assessment as a result of a broken screen (under the glass) and the view of the shop was that as it was a broken screen it was automatically my fault. I am at a loss as to how they can know this without even seeing the phone. Hence why I was unprepared to pre-authorise a repair without knowing the cost first. I have no issue with paying if it is my fault (like I did when I put a phone through the washing machine or when I dropped one on a sharp stone and shattered the screen or when I left one on the car roof and drove off only to see it bounce in the rear view mirror!) but this time it was very different as the screen went black as if power had gone and it needed to be switched back on - i initially thought it was a power fault. The next day I discovered a crack in the screen. Following research I have found that there are issues with some Samsung phones overheating and this cracking the screen and, as my phone has gone very hot on a few occasions recently, think this was the problem. Any advice on how to respone if, as I expect they will, they say its down to me. For reference this is the first problem I have ever had with a Samsung Phone (apart from the self inflicted problems above) and up to now have been very impressed with T-mobile's customer service. Thanks in advance. A n d r e w

Recently, I asked MM for a settlement figure, which was quoted at £907. I need this settled ASAP as I can no longer afford the repayments of £200 per month. However, I was not able to settle at this time. After some rejigging of household bills, I proposed to repay the £900 by way of 4 payments of £200 and a final payment of £107. This would fully repay the debt and release security on my car. I offered this as I have already paid un excess of the amount borrowed. The monthly payment was due on the 1st, but due to major household expense, and a change of pay date, I had to delay this to the 23rd. When I spoke to an agent in MM, he refused my proposal and suggested that I increase the monthly amount. The exising amount of £200 per month is unaffordable, and I can only stretch this by 'putting other creditors aside' for a short period. Any advice would be very helpful. The loan was taken out in August 2011 for £1200, to be repaid at £200 pm over 18 months. You can imagine the total amount that would repaid and has been repaid already. When I questioned them about whether the BOS had been registered, they quoted a registration number and date. I am concerned they will try and take the car due to the amount of scare stories I have heard on here.

Here is an overview of new mobile phone roaming charge caps with effect from 1st.July 2012 The caps apply for travel within the EU although there will be notifications for non EU Cost of mobile calls per minute will be fixed at 23p (currently 28p) and this will go down to 15p by summer 2014. The maximum operators will be able to charge for recieving a call and sending a txt will be 7p. The cost of using internet will be capped at 56p per MB falling to 16p in 2014. Customers using mobiles outside the EU will remain unaffected by the caps,but operators will be obliged to send warning messages to users approaching £40 or 50 euro of charges.

Is anyone else being pursued by Tesco Mobile for £690 when they have never had any connection with them? If so, take a look at TheGuardian money pages 29th June (online) "Fraudsters sail past Tesco Security". Like the unfortunate Mr Firth in the article I am being pursued for exactly £690 and like him have never had an account with them. Like him I found Tesco complaints dept. ignored my letters and like him I got a letter from their debt collectors Frederickson International. Like him, Tesco know my name and address and date of birth and say they will continue to pursue me unless I tell them a lot of personal details. This is clearly because they don't have them already. So they allowed someone credit on a monthly account without making reasonable efforts to verify their identity. And because of their carelessness they have to pursue ordinary people for money which they do not owe. Tesco Mobile has put a note on my Equifax credit report showing I have 2 overdue payments. According to the article someone went into a store and took out an account in Mr Firth's name, and, it seems, probably mine as well. So I suspect that there are a lot of other innocent people out there in the same boat and if you are one of them please post a reply. I've found that there is quite a lot you can do, but firstly :- -- don't tell Tesco Mobile any of your personal details, no matter how much they threaten, they aren't entitled to know and the fact that they don't is going to show them up badly later on. -- deal with everything in writing, you will need all their correspondence and yours at a later stage. Will post more later if there are any replies to this.

Hi all, I am looking for some advice. I took out a 24 month contract in june 2011 for a brand new Samsung Galaxy S2. A month into my contract the phone developed a fault where the handset would get so hot you could not even place it to your ear. The phone would also freeze and it could not be used. At this point I contacted T-mobile regarding te fault. They said they would send me out a brand new handset free of charge. The faulty phone was picked up and they droped off the new one. The new phone turned out to be a reconditioned phone with scratches all over it. I was disgusted so I called them. They said that they only send out reconditioned phones as it is their policy. After aguing the toss they agreed to send me a brand new one. The new phone was delivered and yet again it was a reconditoned phone. So in other words a second hand phone. I was fuming and called them yet again. In the end I gave up as I was banging my head against a brick wall as they said that is their policy. This month I decided to fight them again after my reconditioned handset has developed yet another fault. Battery charging error and extreme over heating. Please could you advise where I stand with this one? Should it have been a brand new phone at the begining of my contract? Does this also mean they have breeched the agreement by sending a secondhand phone when I signed my agreement for a brand new one? Any advice appreciated. Phil

Hi guys, I really need you help on this one, please take the time to read my story and sorry in advance for the long story.. This all started 6 years back when i visited one of the Phones 4 U store's in Birmingham. I was interested in purchasing a contract and as such had Phones 4 U to apply a credit check to my bank to find out whether i was eligible for a mobile contract. I NEVER purchased and neither did I agree to any contract or any sale of any products with the company. I was reassured and advised by the manager of Phones 4 U that my details would be cleared from their systems and i do not have to worry about having my details being stored. Stay with me guys...this is where it gets worse At that time i was studying away from home in Birmingham and had no idea what I was about to find out. A couple months later when I came back home back to Wales where I live for the holidays, checking through all my letters and bank statements I found out that i was being billed for a mobile contract with Orange. Straight away I realized that Phones 4 U had set up an account under my details illegally with Orange from that credit check. I contacted my bank and found out that a direct debit was set up which I obviously never signed or agreed to at any point and was billed for up to two months for the fraudulent set up of the line rental. I had the direct debit immediately cancelled and i contatced Phones 4 U in frsutration as Orange would not speak to me even though this account was set up fraudulently under my name.. So after my contact with Phones 4 U due to their useless customer services I went back to the store and confronted them and at first point they tried to ignore my dispute. The manager recognized me and such apologized for the problem and clearly confirmed it was their mistake and error in setting this account. they made several requests to Orange to have this account terminated and which they stated it was set up in error. I have all their internal email correspondence with orange where they have tried to have this account disconnected. the manager reassured me for the second time, on this occasion guaranteeing that my details have been fully corrected and that the account has been cancelled and I would be refunded for the charges unlawfully made to my bank. Never did that happen and soon with a busy life I started forgetting about the situation. Then a year later i was getting debt collectors visiting my house and letters from debt collection agencies (more than one company) who were apparently instructed by Orange to recover a debt of 70gbp which was allegedly outstanding for the account (which Phones 4 U promised me that it had been fully resolved). Very p***** off from that moment as now my details were being shared and passed around. Things got even worse as a couple of months later I started getting harassed by Arrow Global, Fredrickson International Limited and Bryan Carter and so many other associates of theirs and not forgetting the other 100 companies who have harassed me before them. I have made so many complaints to these company's and even tried contacting Phones 4 U again who were investigating the matter once more. Another year has passed and up to date I have wasted so much time and money trying to fix an error that is not my fault and a debt that i do not owe. I am going through so much because of these companies are doing anything to fully resolve this problem. Orange has made no attempt to respond back to my letters and Arrow Global are just plain stupid. I have written so many request to them to prove their claim by providing an orriginal true copy of the signed agreement of the account and the debt they believe is owed but they ignore all the laws they are breaking and continue their harassment. They have made my life even worse as they have also had a Default addded to my credit file and this has been affecting my financial status for the pas 6 years. I have tried contacting CISAS and even ICO to report this but they are just as useless and don't really seem to care. CISAS never replied and ICO told me to write a final letter to both Phones 4 U and Orange. its been almost another month and Orange have ignored my letter but Phones 4 U replied saying that they are not able to get in touch with Orange and are in the process of dealing with this matter. Phones 4 U are just pathetic with their resolution process the customer service is so bad i really cannot understand how these companies are allowed to stay in operation. This problem has been dragging now for almost 6 years, am now at a position where i am just lost with all hope and cannot deal with this any more. I am so stressed out and Orange still owe me a total of 72.34GBP of my money for the charges they made on 2 occasions illegally and I want to take all the 3 the companies to court for all the problems they have caused and sue them for every penny. :-x:-x Any help would be greatly appreciated guys and thanks in advance!

Hello, First post and I have had a search through the forums and can't find what could potentially answer my query. So I'm writing here, hope some of you can help and advise on the best action to take. I had a sim only with Three in 2010, one month rolling contract. I cancelled this in March 2011 and paid what I owed. I have in June moved into my new flat and have just received a letter to say I owe £80+ on that bill. I had settled this and haven't heard from them since. They do write in the letter that they've tried to contact me but I have never received any letters from them. They have said that they may not have been able to contact me due to my change address but I have only just moved three months ago... This phone bill is from over a year ago.. Just slightly confused. They have also said that I should contact Lowell Portfolio if I want to set up a payment arrangement. I have checked my credit file, I reactivated my on-line one with Credit expert and have a default on the from Lowell Portfolio for the same amount in 2011?! Because I have not taken out any credit in the last year, I have not been checking my credit file and didn't want to pay £14.99 a month but wish I had done now as this could've been sorted out a year ago... Have read about Lowell and they seem awful and have read not to phone them.. I can pay the whole amount and if I owe the money I will, but not sure how to approach it as the advise seems to be not to contact them. Having been with Three, I know their customer service is shocking and they don't understand anything beyond a script that they read out. Hope you can help me and advise the best you can. If it helps, I can upload the letter that I got from Three. Thank you in advance

Just received this via a friend who, like myself, is ex-police - Mobile phone security Dear All If you receive a phone call on your mobile from any person, saying that he or she is a company engineer, or telling that they're checking your mobile line, and you have to press #90 or #09 or any other number, end this call immediately without pressing any numbers. There is a fraud company using a device that once you press #90 or #09 they can access your 'SIM' card and make calls at your expense. Forward this message to as many colleagues, relatives and friends as you can, to stop it. Many thanks for your time regarding this matter, take care and regards. Phil Corris Police Constable/Crime Prevention Officer Ext 496696 (Internal) 01524 596696 (External) Email [email protected] ..police.uk

Hi all.....as usual, a bit of advice is needed here as this is ridiculous now. After a credit app knock back , we did the usual thing and checked our Equifax report and noted it to be a bit "colourful". One of the reds is for a disputed Orange Mobile phone bill in January 2010, (Yes 2010!). A bit of history may help with the advice. We went on holiday (Africa), for 15 days, (2009) taking the Mobile phone and dongle with us. Being very aware of the costs of mobile/data when abroad, we purchased a local PAYG mobile and kept the data access to a strict minimum using the hotels wifi to surf and make calls over skype. Data and roaming on the phone was switched off, and the dongle SIM was removed when switched off. For the 15 days in country, of which one was on an isolated safari park, and the remaining 10 in two separate wifi hotels, we received a bill from Orange totalling over £2000.00. First bill was taken by DD for £500.00 whilst on the holiday. Bit worrying but because we run our own business we anticipated it was because of the busy period before we went on our jolly days. Next bill in jan 2010 was for £1569.00. Our holiday was from 28th Dec 09 - mid Jan2010. When I recieved the statement, I rang Orange to discuss the statement as it just had 3 sheets and no call information or details. Coming from a comms background and knowing the spamming culture of the country we had been to, I wanted to know the exact details of the calls made or the data downloads. I was quite specific in my reasonable requests...I wanted to know the Ip address of the local data transfer centre, the location of the local 3g node, and the geographic location of the alleged usage, and any other relevant information. I was generally passed between post and pole and assured the information would be sent to me. Orange responded by sending me 15 double sided sheets of statement listing the APN/Service Class as "business LAN access" with one "access" being 18 hours long!! No other details at all ie the information I requested. I then sent them a letter and e mails disputing the amount and to call me to discuss this urgently. 5 correpsondonces later I had still recieved nothing at all. During Feb and March 2010, my bank kindly rang me up and said "do you have your mobile with you at the moment because Orange are about to try and take £1569 on a direct debit from your account" I told my bank to refuse the DD and tag the refusal with the fact the account is in dispute. The bank refused it 3 times with the same reason. I started to recieve calls from Orange - two or three I think. Each time explaining at length my concerns and not wanting to accept the debt if the data card had been spammed or corrupted or faulty. The mobile and dongle were disconnected by Orange after the last call from them and my further request for information. I think my last words were, "if you can prove from the information you have that I actually made the calls, then I will pay it" And yes, you've guessed! The usual suspects appeared on the letter writing scene - Moorcrofts and DLS. They got the immediate fob off letter as my dispute is with Orange etc. and to be honest, they have backed off since my request for information is reasonable and relative. So we are in the same position that we were some two years ago! My belief is that I havent defaulted on payment, I have disputed the bill before payment. But Orange have tagged us in the Equifax report as defaulting. Both the debt collecting agencies seem to have dropped it, which in essence, could be an easy £1500 for them. So....what do we do now to get this removed from our credit report. Equifax have spoken to orange who have come back and said we have defaulted - (listed it as a dispute with equifax)- and we are still showing red. The annoying thing is that the payment records from Orange show us as regular payers, (between £150 - £300 pcm) Thanks caggers for any advice you can give. PS...it seems to me that there is a possible loophole in the data roaming billiing if the Telco does not provide the full detials of your 3g data useage...or maybe this is another post to be placed?!

The Family Mobile scheme looks really great. Very cheap call rates and SMS rates, automatic top-up, no minimum monthly spend, no expiry of credit. Also, they are partnered with IKEA so you expect that the quality is going to be good in every respect. I decided to get a couple for my kids who are going away for a few weeks this summer. I am so disappointed so far. The Sim cards arrived - without instructions, without PUK numbers, without the default PIN number. The website didn't work correctly so that it became impossible to activate them without help from the Family Mobile cust.service team - of which there only seems to be two (not their fault) - but it means a longer than 10 minutes wait on the phone until they get round to you. It took two phone calls of over 30 minutes each to get both sim cards activated. The website instructions are very poor and don't provide all of the info needed. Anyway, well and good, the sim cards work - although the website still shows them as being inactive. the Cust service rep told me that there are issues with the website (there certainly are) and that what I see may not reflect the true situation (it certainly doesn't). More worrying was the fact that I had authorised automatic top-up which means that Family Mobile has access to my money. There is meant to be an itemised billing service available and you are meant to be able to check online what the state of your account is - usage and so on. None of this is working. I have used one sim to send sms messages but there is no trace of them on my account console. In fact it is impossible to manage the account or to see how much activity - and how much expense is being incurred by your children - even though, being able to manage your children's accounts is one of the features of Family Mobile. The customer service rep said she would escalate it but didn't know when - or even if someone would call me back. Can I speak to a supervisor? No Can I speak to a manager? No Can I have the name of the department which will deal with the escalation complaint? The escalation department. Where are they? Not allowed to tell you. Who will deal with the compalint? Not allowed to tell you. Can I have the posta address of your office so I can write? No So where do I stand? You'll just have to wait. I decided to get the address of ttheir website - they have a legal obligation to carry the address. No address. I tld this to the customer service rep. She agreed that the address is not displayed. No company registration number. Nothing. It says that Family Mobile is owned by the Mobile Partners Group. Well I called them and got through to someone who says that he is the MD of the group. He told me that Family Moble has been sold to CDRator and that Family mobile should not be carrying references to Mobile Partners Group on their website!!! Is this true? I don't know. I am only relating the conversation which I had. I thought that IKEA had better know what is being said about all of this so I called them. they were concerned and will be investigating and calling me back. I contacted the phone regulator about the failure to display company information on the website. They have logged it as an industry complaint ???? (What does that mean?) I now have a contact email for the MD of CDRator - so I'll report back after I have heard from him. Meanwhile, the family mobile website is still not showing my account information accurately. I suppose that I will phone Trading standards as well - and T-mobile because Family mobile are offering T-mobile services. Has anyone had any good experiences with Family mobile? I'd like to know. Google searching doesn't disclose any problems. They seem alright I'd really like to clear up the issue of who owns family mobile too. It is all very strange

Hi Guys, Trying to help a good friend with a challenge She was living with a partner, he took out a mobile phone contract over the internet in her name, consequently he didnt pay the bill. Now Past Due collections are chasing her for the debt. Is there anything that can be done. Thanks in advance. David