His phone or a clone?

A customer approached TDR after being pursued for an amount owing on their mobile data plan. 

The customer had purchased their plan in February 2020. In October, he contacted his provider to dispute charges in his July invoice and usage since then. The customer was unsatisfied with the provider’s response. Subsequently his phone was stolen, so he did not pursue the matter further until he received a call from a debt collector some months later. He contacted TDR to make a complaint about his provider.

The customer said their bill was wrong, as the usage noted was higher than what he had used. He claimed his phone was cloned and that it was up to the telecommunications provider to confirm that it was his phone that had used the data and not someone else’s.

The provider and customer could not reach an agreement together. The matter was quickly deadlocked* and adjudication was requested by the provider.

After considering the information provided by both the customer and their provider, the adjudicator determined that the customer was liable for the outstanding amount. The terms and conditions accepted by the customer stipulated that the customer is liable for all charges whether made by the customer or someone else. The adjudicator referred to a previous case note where if the customer was convinced the provider was incorrectly billing them, they should have minimised their losses by addressing the matter at an earlier date.

* TDR may determine a complaint is deadlocked if it's been six weeks or more since the customer contacted their phone or internet provider and the customer still doesn't have a resolution that they are happy with, or if a complaint raised with a scheme member by TDR remains unresolved after 15 working days, whichever comes first. When determining deadlock, TDR will take into consideration the complexity of the issue, the desired resolution, as well as whether escalating the matter will assist in resolving the complaint.