In 2000, half of all adults had a mobile phone. Now that figure is 92%. So it stands to reason that there has also been a rise in issues that people have with their contracts, operators or the phone itself. Last year the Citizens Advice consumer service and CAB across the country dealt with over 2600 issues to do with mobile phones. James was one of them.
James called the Citizens Advice consumer service helpline about a problem with his mobile phone contract. He had switched phone companies about 18 months previously and at the time of switching, had asked if he owed the company any money. James was told that he didn’t owe anything so he cancelled his standing order. He then started receiving letters from debt collectors about an outstanding bill. James never received the bill in question and asked the debt collectors to prove that he owed them money. The helpline adviser suggested that James should talk to his old phone company to get to the bottom of this and offered to refer him onto Trading Standards regarding overcharging if this approach didn’t get results.