Complaint

[clairson59]

I recently discovered that Virgin Mobile have been charging me £38 a month for a loan agreement for an iPhone 11 which was apparently ordered via my account in August 2020. This was the first I knew anything about this. I raised a complaint and stopped the direct debit for the £38 because I am not, and never have been, in possession of the iPhone and did not order it or sigh any loan agreement. They claim they sent the loan agreement to me in August 2020 via email and their view is that because I did not respond to the email at the time it was assumed that I agreed to it. I never received the email. They claim they have investigated my complaint and uphold their claim that I was the person who ordered the phone. They are being vague about where the phone was delivered and who signed for it , claiming data protection rules. All I know is that I definitely did not order the iPhone or enter into any agreement to pay £1,368.00 for it on behalf of myself or anyone else and it was never received by me. I have never shared my VM account details with anybody so can only assume somebody gained access to my VM account illegally. They have concluded that I am responsible for payment of this loan agreement and say the debt for the outstanding loan is held on my account and they refuse to refund me the money already taken from by bank account. They closed my complaint before consulting with me and say I now have to go through the Ombudsman to take this matter forward.

The impression I get is they are accusing me of lying. I kept telling them the only VM mobile I have is the Sony Experia I have had since 2017 but they indicated that sim cards can be swapped phone to phone, insinuating I have the iPhone too. Which is totally untrue.

VM has falsely taken £456 from my bank account for a loan I did not sign for and are demanding the outstanding payments. I should not be having to sort this out and would like some advice/views

[-tony-]

speak to your bank - you can invoke the DD protection i would think where they will refund you but i cannot be sure so check with them

how can they possibly claim data protection if they are adamant the phone and agreement is in your name - there is no data protection if you can pass their security - if not then the account cannot be in your name

request all the data they hold on you and copies of the agreement - its a GDPR request - not sure how you do it but there is details on the complaint page i think

will also flag the thread to VM as something is clearly wrong with what CS are saying

[David_Bn]

Thanks for your post on our Community Forums @clairson59

I'd be happy to take a closer look into this for you to see if we can find out any further information on the goings on behind this

Check out the purple envelope in the top right hand corner for a private message from me

Kindest regards,

David_Bn

[Andrew-G]

If you are in dispute about a credit matter, then check your credit history with Experian and possibly the other main credit ratings agencies.  If you have stopped payments and VM are seeing the loan as yours (even wrongly) then there will be a credit default showing on your credit history, which can affect you (phones, energy, water, rent/mortgages, credit cards, car finance, even jobs etc) for the next six years.  If this is eventually found in your favour, you need to make sure that VM correct any entries that have been made. 

Sometimes the credit history will show other loans taken out in your name if you have been subject to identity theft.

[clairson59]

Thank you Andrew. I am well aware that this erroneous debt can affect my credit rating. Luckily, I am in a fortunate position financially, no debts, mortgage or loans of any kind and don't see the need in the foreseeable future.

If I genuinely ordered the iPhone and owe VM the money I would have no qualms about paying but the truthful fact is that I didn't. I don't like iPhones so I would never order one for myself and have never done so. Nor would I authorise somebody else to purchase one via my account. I would not jeopardize my security vetting status, thereby risking my job, by refusing to pay £1,368 if I indeed owed it.

They have allowed a stranger to somehow bypass their security checks. We hear daily about security breaches