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The product was for phones that had not been paid off-- if you get a phone on a 2 year contract, you dont "own" the phone until it is paid off
by shantnutiwari 5y ago
The product was for phones that had not been paid off-- if you get a phone on a 2 year contract, you dont "own" the phone until it is paid off
- tim333 5y agoNot usually the case under UK law at any rate.
- emaginniss 5y agoThe headline says South America. I don't think they use UK law.
- withinboredom 5y agoUK common law is pretty prevalent all over the world
- emaginniss 5y agoEnglish Common Law is prevalent, but that is the basis of the law and certainly not the specific codes and minor changes that have been made since 1950
- brummm 5y agoNot in Europe.
- jeroenhd 5y agoThe author works in the UK and there's one company listed on his LinkedIn that provides the services he described, which is situated in Cambridge. The description of the product seems to indicate that the software is written to allow carriers to lock out people who stopped paying, mostly targeting people who'd normally have trouble getting credit for their phones. Unless the company specialized in sales outside the UK and likely also outside the EU, I think this company is probably breaking the law, as are the carriers using their services. I doubt the people who buy phones on extended credit will have the cash laying around to bring up a lawsuit, though.
- AdrianB1 5y agoThe phone numbers generated for testing were in South America, but the app can block anywhere in the world from any country in the world, including UK. That stuff blocked random phones on the globe, if that is not clear enough.
- shantnutiwari 5y agoPerfectly legal in the UK-- the company was British. Customers were in Europe, America etc
- teh_klev 5y agoApropos the UK...it depends on the contract and how the phone is financed. Here's an example of EE's (UK company) "Pay Monthly Terms": https://ee.co.uk/content/dam/ee-help/help-pdfs/pay-monthly-network-terms-october-2018.pdf https://ee.co.uk/content/dam/ee-help/help-pdfs/pay-monthly-n... Section 10 explains ownership: Starting with...Section 10.1: "You may get Equipment from Us directly when You take out a Price Plan, whether for free or for an upfront cost. Unless We tell You otherwise, or You get Equipment under a Finance Agreement, We will own any Equipment provided to You by Us for the first six months of the Minimum Term." ...and it goes on.
- youngtaff 5y ago> We will own any Equipment provided to You by Us for the first six months of the Minimum Term. But yet they all make pains to separate airtime, and devices in the contract for example clauses that say you can't cancel the airtime contract if the phone proves faulty
- jfrunyon 5y agoHuh? So you're telling me that I can walk into the phone shop, get them to give me a phone with financing, and then not pay it, and... still own it? Sweet deal!
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y agoYes, just like you still own the phone if you take out a bank loan, use it to buy the phone, and then default on the loan.
- jfrunyon 5y agoBut you don't, not if you secured the bank loan using the phone. Which you did if you financed it through a carrier. Just like if I go to a bank, get a loan for a car, buy that car, and stop making payments... THE BANK OWNS THE CAR.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y agoI assume that isn't done because the value of the good is too low to justify the effort of repo'ing it.
- jfrunyon 5y agoCorrect. Which is why they instead simply disable the device (and this has been done for quite a long time, by the way, with banned IMEI lists, back before phones were useful for anything without a cellular connection).
- tim333 5y agoNormally they'd come after you with debt collection agencies / court cases rather than asking for the handset back. They want their £40/mo for 24 months, not a used handset really.
- marcosdumay 5y agoNot under Brazilian law either. I wonder where in South America those phones are.