My father is 87 and until 2022 was still working as an accountant. This year he’s been showing signs of dementia with memory loss.
While helping him with his bank payments recently, I noticed he’s still paying a subscription for accountancy software that he no longer needs — or is capable of using.
The subscription from IRIS costs thousands of pounds each year and I believe he’s been a customer for 25 to 30 years.
I contacted IRIS to explain the situation and ask for an immediate cancellation of the contract — and for this year’s payments to be refunded. I’m getting nowhere.
The renewals department said we can’t just cancel and get a refund. I even tried messaging the chief executive through social media channels, but was unable to make contact.
Locked in: An software firm is refusing to cancel a customer’s subscription for expensive accountancy software and issue a refund after he began to show signs of dementia
My dad has only a modest pension, so paying IRIS is a huge drain on his finances. He needs money to pay for care now dementia has taken hold. Please help.
G. T., Berkshire.
Sally Hamilton replies: I was sorry to hear you had to work so hard to get someone to listen to your father’s plight. It is not simply a case of a customer wanting to cancel a subscription on a whim. Your father cannot use the product any more due to his health.
You were able to request the termination because you have power of attorney over your father’s affairs.
Despite your attempts to get someone at IRIS to look at your father’s case with more compassion, it repeatedly pointed to the terms and conditions of his contract. A doctor’s note confirming his dementia diagnosis failed to cut any ice initially.
When I contacted IRIS on behalf of you and your father, it responded with sympathy, acknowledging the difficulty of living with dementia.
It said it admired the ‘help the family is providing during this challenging time’.
Initially IRIS agreed to terminate the agreement early at the end of November (the current contract period runs from February 2023 to March 2024), so your father would not have to pay the subscription fee of £2,184.76 for December to March. Over a year, the fee would exceed £8,000.
I still felt that wasn’t enough given your father hadn’t been working or capable of using the software for the full contract period, so I continued on my quest.
IRIS has subsequently decided to refund the previous quarter’s (September to November) subscription fee of £2,184.76.
It is often difficult for people with dementia to keep track of their finances and they therefore may be more vulnerable to paying for unwanted subscriptions.
Paul Edwards, director of clinical services at charity Dementia UK, says: ‘Sometimes, people with dementia will accidentally sign themselves up for subscriptions or direct debits, they may also forget they have previously approved a regular payment, leading to them being overcharged.
‘When families and carers become responsible for a person’s financial affairs, they might discover existing debt or unwanted subscriptions and contracts.
‘It is vital that all suppliers have specialist support in place to combat financial abuse and harm.’
If you need advice or support about living with dementia and managing finances, call Dementia UK’s Admiral Nurse Dementia Helpline on 0800 888 6678 or email: [email protected].
Can’t get texts on my £40-a-month phone
I recently switched my mobile phone provider to O2 after many years as a Vodafone customer.
However, I have been unable to make or receive any text messages or phone calls from anyone but one number (my husband, also on O2) since I have had my new phone.
I called O2, which told me its technical team would investigate and respond in ten working days, but it’s been a month and it has not replied. Customer services now says that it cannot help further.
I now have a phone I’m paying more than £40 a month for, but cannot use for texts or calls.
Anyone who tries to call me gets a message that says: ‘This number is invalid.’ Please help me as this is causing me untold stress. No one seems to want to help me.
L. H., Yorkshire.
Sally Hamilton replies: The idea of being without the use of a phone sends me into a minor panic — I can only imagine how frustrating this has been for you.
O2 has dragged its feet on this one and all the while you’ve been without the use of your phone.
On joining O2, you opted to keep the same phone number and correctly obtained a PAC code from Vodafone to allow this to happen.
When a number is being ported from one provider to another, both companies are required to take action to ensure it’s done smoothly.
The PAC code from the existing provider essentially gives the new network permission to take over the number.
When a port takes place, your old network operator must update its systems so that any time the number is called in future, the incoming call is routed to the new provider.
I contacted O2 and Vodafone on your behalf to get things moving. Within a few days O2 got your phone up and running and has agreed to credit your account for the three months you’ve been paying, plus an extra month as a gesture of goodwill.
Further, I contacted Vodafone, which has now refunded you £57.41 — a charge taken in error after your contract had ended, that they had failed to refund, as well as an extra £50 by way of apology.
The source of the extremely lengthy delay in getting this sorted remains a mystery as each provider claims the other was at fault for errors in the changeover.
For anyone experiencing delays in porting a number, it’s important to keep chasing both parties as the error could, in fact, lie with either network.
- SALLY HAMILTON is away.
- Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email [email protected] — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.
