Beware mobile users! If you loose your mobile phone, you should report it immediately.
Along with millions of other mobile users,Chris Newlove Horton lost his mobile phone during a Saturday night out, he gave little thought, as he looked around the pub the following day, of the potentially catastrophic effect on his finances, he is being chased by EE's(phone company) debt collectors for £4,107. It turns out that the phone was stolen and used to make calls to Algeria almost round the clock. He was unaware his contract made him liable for every call until the handset was reported missing – irrespective of the size of the bill. He says he has no prospect of repaying the money, and Citizens Advice has suggested he look at a debt relief order – a cheaper and easier form of bankruptcy.
Along with millions of other mobile users,Chris Newlove Horton lost his mobile phone during a Saturday night out, he gave little thought, as he looked around the pub the following day, of the potentially catastrophic effect on his finances, he is being chased by EE's(phone company) debt collectors for £4,107. It turns out that the phone was stolen and used to make calls to Algeria almost round the clock. He was unaware his contract made him liable for every call until the handset was reported missing – irrespective of the size of the bill. He says he has no prospect of repaying the money, and Citizens Advice has suggested he look at a debt relief order – a cheaper and easier form of bankruptcy.
Following a long campaign by Guardian Money (we first wrote about this issue more than a decade ago), the government is finally tackling the problem. After years of discussions between the mobile providers and the regulator Ofcom – and just days after Labour said it would introduce the same measure – culture secretary Maria Miller told journalists in Beijing this week that a deal had been struck to introduce a bank card-style limit to a consumer's liability – possibly as low as £50.
An agreement with EE, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone (O2 was noticeably absent) had been done, she said, and a cap would follow. "Government, Ofcom and the mobile operators will undertake detailed work to determine the level of the cap and the conditions that will apply to it with the ambition of introducing it in spring 2014," says the formal agreement, since published by Miller's department.
Despite the promise, mobile phone insiders are already questioning whether it will be ready that soon. The providers have been desperate to avoid a cap and fought off the regulator's half-hearted attempts to introduce one in the past. Guardian Money understands that the exact terms – the size of a liability cap and whether it should be linked to a time limit – are undecided and being hurriedly looked at.
Source: theguardian
