Stuck in EE contract

[Dramm]

This is for my son, who's been trapped in a contract for 5 years.

when he was at college (aged 17) a friend of his (aged 18) acted as guarantor for his mobile contract. She is named as the account holder, and his bank was set up to pay the charges. After he left college he tried to end the contract but could not as he is not the account holder (despite paying for it). He does not know her address and has been asking her on social media to transfer the contract to him. She does not reply and has not transferred the contract. Now 5 years have passed and he's still paying £60 a month (he has not used the phone for years). Whenever he contacts EE about the issue, they say as he's not the account holder they cant do anything. Earlier in the year he actually got some progress and managed to go through an account closing procedure - but last week EE took £60 out of his account, when he called them they said only the account holder can close the account. Can anybody please give some advice?

[Chris_B]

@Dramm  Is the billing address your address or the account holders address? If it’s the account holders address just cancel the DD.  Inform the account holder your going to stop the DD and she will then be held accountable for any none payments.   Your son is only paying for it he isn’t responsible if the bill isn’t paid as he isn’t the account holder.  

[Dramm]

Thanks Chris, unfortunately the billing address is our address, otherwise he would have done as you suggest. 

[James_B]

Hi @Dramm,

Welcome to the EE Community. 🙂

This is a tricky situation. It's important to note that it isn't possible to setup a guarantor for an EE account. The person who was credit checked is the account holder responsible for the contract, regardless of who they allow to use the phone or pay the bill.

Rather than asking them to transfer ownership, have you considered asking if they can make a quick call to EE to give 30 days notice of cancellation? This would allow your son to start a brand new account in his own name.

James

[chistery]

How about requesting a PAC by text? Transfer the number to a PAYG SIM and the EE contract will terminate?

[Mustrum]

@chistery  I just had that same thought.

[XRaySpeX]

It's not the person at the billing addy that is responsible for the contract; it's the a/c holder. So you could still cancel the DD & not have it fall on you but the a/c holder.

[Dramm]

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies, I'll pass all this on and see what happens.

[XRaySpeX]

Thanks! You're welcome 🙂 ! Glad I could be of assistance & hope it soon gets sorted.