Callands man threatened with bailiffs by Tmobile after receiving £1,000 bill for stolen phone

10:45am Thursday 21st February 2013 in News By Hannah Bargery

Pay up or we'll send round the bailiffs Pay up or we'll send round the bailiffs

A CALLANDS man was left stunned when he received a mobile phone bill for more than £1,000 after his phone had been stolen.

Andy Hewitt, of St Asaph Drive, realised his mobile had been pinched during a night out in Newmarket in October.

But after reporting the theft to T-mobile he could not believe it when a bill including numerous calls to Lithuania arrived.

The 47-year-old said: “I never normally use my phone to call anyone other than my mum, partner or work and there are calls to various numbers in eastern Europe within a 24 hour period.

“I have had a contract with T-mobile for more than six years and never made a call to that country before or ran up a bill anywhere near that size so surely they should use some common sense.”

Instead Mr Hewitt claims the phone giant have threatened him with bailiffs to collect the money and blocked his phone, which is vital for his job in the care department at Chaigeley School, until he pays.

He added: “It’s really upset my partner and it’s ridiculous the amount of worry it’s caused.

“There’s no customer care at all and staff have just told me I’m under contract so I’m obliged to pay it.

“I feel like I’m being bullied because they are a big company and why should I pay for calls that I haven’t made?

A Newmarket police spokesman confirmed the phone theft had been reported to them and an investigation was still on-going.

A T-Mobile spokesman said: "We are speaking directly with Mr Hewitt and investigating the case further."

Comments(16)

mr_BLUNT says...
11:03am Thu 21 Feb 13

**** foreigners. coming over here stealing our phones and jobs and benefits while expecting us to pay.

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silverlady54 says...
11:22am Thu 21 Feb 13

When our son lost his phone and reported it, the police advised him to get it blocked by the provider immediately, not just to report it lost, which he did within 24 hours. The provider then sent a replacement sim to go in a new phone which he had to buy.

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defor_dog says...
12:15pm Thu 21 Feb 13

as someone who has worked in debt collection I'd like to add my own view..

They wont send the baillffs around. T mobile have no legal powers to do that.

All that will happen is T mobile will pass the account on to a third party debt collection agent who will send letters of empty threats saying we "might" or we "may" or we "could" do this or we could do that... DCA's also have no legal powers to do anything.

If you get the gentleman inquestion to re read the letter TM sent him it will not say anywhere that they ARE sending bailiffs around.

Further more, bailifs can only get involved once this has been through the courts and a CCJ issued. THEN they bailifs get involved ONLY IF the CCJ has failed.

However, mobile phone debts never get to Court anyway..

Rant over.

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LJ says...
12:38pm Thu 21 Feb 13

defor_dog wrote:
as someone who has worked in debt collection I'd like to add my own view..

They wont send the baillffs around. T mobile have no legal powers to do that.

All that will happen is T mobile will pass the account on to a third party debt collection agent who will send letters of empty threats saying we "might" or we "may" or we "could" do this or we could do that... DCA's also have no legal powers to do anything.

If you get the gentleman inquestion to re read the letter TM sent him it will not say anywhere that they ARE sending bailiffs around.

Further more, bailifs can only get involved once this has been through the courts and a CCJ issued. THEN they bailifs get involved ONLY IF the CCJ has failed.

However, mobile phone debts never get to Court anyway..

Rant over.
It was a very useful rant

Will remember that if it ever happens to me

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Mr Andrew Mackie says...
1:02pm Thu 21 Feb 13

I am sick of phone firms trying to charge people for services they haven't had. And i am also annoyed when they lock your phone and they say you have to stay contracted to them for 12 months and then pay a unlock fee. It's not going to happen.

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MrTrigger says...
1:49pm Thu 21 Feb 13

I work for a debt collection company and find it hard to believe that a phone provider would threaten him with baliffs.

Defor_dog is correct the worse they will do is pass to a debt collector to vist your address but they have no powers

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defor_dog says...
2:49pm Thu 21 Feb 13

Even then the ONLY people who are allowed to visit your property WITHOUT an invite is a Police Officer, Postal person and someone lost looking for directions.

All DCA's say they may visit you as a way of scaring you into paying.

IF anyone ever gets a letter from a debt collection agent have a look it it - it will be full of words like "may" "could" "consider" etc. It will never say "will" or "are".

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old-codger says...
6:59pm Thu 21 Feb 13

Read your contract carefully,
Also any insurance you pay on it, The moment you reported it stolen is the moment you cease being liable, They should have blocked this phone and sim card immediately,
The are obliged to supply you with another sim card as you are contracted to them, The phone would have to have been insured to get a replacement.

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richiepooh says...
6:30pm Fri 22 Feb 13

Mobile phone calls are provided on a credit basis much like credit cards, as such you are protected under the consumer credit act.. Ring T-mobile and tell them much like fraudulent activity on a credit card they are liable for fraudulent use costs on the phone. now go away and switch service provider.

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MikeJT says...
6:08am Sat 23 Feb 13

MrTrigger wrote:
I work for a debt collection company and find it hard to believe that a phone provider would threaten him with baliffs.

Defor_dog is correct the worse they will do is pass to a debt collector to vist your address but they have no powers
Im not surprised. Its not the phone company who has threatened the bailiffs, its an ill informed, poor CS person who has threatened. There are people in these call centres who basically have a list of questions and answers. If they misinterpret your question...they get the wrong answer.

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The Maestro says...
6:23pm Sat 23 Feb 13

I worked for a mobile phone giant, if a customer rang up saying his/her phone had been stolen the first that would happen is the phone IMEI would be barred and incoming/ out going going calls would be barred, it was also at this point the customer was no longer liable for calls made while the bars were in the process of being applied, bars usual take up to 24hrs max. Check the contract T&C re call charges, if it says you are not liable ask T mobile to recalculate the bill.

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defor_dog says...
6:44pm Sat 23 Feb 13

Don't think it's an ill informed customer service person, more like WG getting another story totally wrong.

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old-codger says...
11:47am Sun 24 Feb 13

defor_dog says...
6:44pm Sat 23 Feb 13

Don't think it's an ill informed customer service person, more like WG getting another story totally wrong.”..


WG wouldnt do such a thing, Would they, :) :) :) :).

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kazz32 says...
3:17pm Sun 24 Feb 13

pay up, it,s only money.

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SAC_in_Warrington says...
8:07pm Mon 25 Feb 13

defor_dog wrote:
as someone who has worked in debt collection I'd like to add my own view..

They wont send the baillffs around. T mobile have no legal powers to do that.

All that will happen is T mobile will pass the account on to a third party debt collection agent who will send letters of empty threats saying we "might" or we "may" or we "could" do this or we could do that... DCA's also have no legal powers to do anything.

If you get the gentleman inquestion to re read the letter TM sent him it will not say anywhere that they ARE sending bailiffs around.

Further more, bailifs can only get involved once this has been through the courts and a CCJ issued. THEN they bailifs get involved ONLY IF the CCJ has failed.

However, mobile phone debts never get to Court anyway..

Rant over.
Thank you for that gem of information I appreciate you comments and worthwhile suggestions.

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SAC_in_Warrington says...
8:11pm Mon 25 Feb 13

kazz32 wrote:
pay up, it,s only money.
Why, should he?

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