Dear LPG, 

I have had a mobile phone for the past ten years or so and although at first, I didn’t really use it that much.  My son bought it for me, and I have always paid as I went if you know what I mean.  For those who don’t know what I am trying to say is that when the credit runs out I just go to the shop, pay £10 and wait until the phone tells me that the money is running out before doing that again.

When I first got it this was fine, because I hardly even used it and received more calls than I ever made, but over the years, I have learned what a marvellous tool it can be when you want to get in touch with friends and family who live in other countries.  Consequently, I use it a lot more now and have to top up the credit quite a bit more and add that tenner perhaps three times a month instead of the once per month that I used to.

I have also learned that the internet is the way to go, so instead of picking up the house phone when I want to talk to my son who is working in America for a few months.  We often chat for ages on the mobile without incurring any extra charges… or so I thought.  

The other day I happened to be staying with my sister and we had a nice chat with him until my phone suddenly ran out of money and I couldn’t understand why.    I later found out that my son set up my phone to use the data from my WI FI router when I am at home, but the money runs out quite quickly when I am using my mobile phone credit.  I think that LPG has already published a letter about that.  

My son explained that now I use the phone a bit more a contract might be the way to go, so I phoned the telephone company with the help of a friend only to find out that we could not do anything because when my son bought the thing he did so in his name and I needed his permission to make any changes of that sort.

It was a bit inconvenient, but I phoned him, and he phoned the service provider EE all the way from America, from where he managed to sort the contract and get them to transfer ownership of the thing into my name.   So, everything is in order now, but I just wondered what would have happened if I was unable to get in touch with him. 

I am now planning to buy my fourteen-year-old granddaughter her first mobile phone (her parents have told me what she might like) but I have learnt a couple of things that might be useful.  (I plan to buy it in the name of her parents)

The moral of my story is this…

1,    If someone buys you a mobile phone for a present, make sure that it is registered in your name just in case you need to change the contract in some way, and they are not around to help you.

 And

2,    If you are getting one for someone else, remember to make sure that they are the registered owner (even if you transfer that information after it is bought) 

…and the owner needs to know the passwords too.

OK, Lee