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My order was declined. Why?

  • 12 October 2018
  • 48 replies
  • 19377 views

Userlevel 1
Hi

Very frustrated ‘customer’ here. July 2018, My wife wanted a new iPhone SE through car phone warehouse and was declined for a £15 a month tariff with no explanation as staff are not informed of the reason. We have an excellent credit rating and there should be no reason to be declined. So I tried my luck to register the phone in my name and bingo! No problem. New phone. Happy wife.

2 months later, my phone was due an upgrade and I thought i would go for the same phone and tariff as my wife’s as we were happy with the phone,service and deal. I was declined even though I am a existing customer with again no bad credit history, good salary, mortgage no credit card debts etc, confused and annoyed I was told to come back and try again in 30 days after this application had expired.

So today I tried again and guess what , I was declined again!! Again no reason given, I have no financial issues whatsoever and stress I am a existing customer with my wife’s new phone with an option for a second line according to the cpw man.

Even more annoyed I asked for the ID customer service number to complain as the member of CPW agreed I had a strong case. So I rang the 7777 number.......many options but not one for actually speaking a customer service rep no matter which option you choose.

can anyone help me further either with a response from ID who can look into my contract application or at least a number where you can speak to a human not a automated service.

i only want to buy your phone ! I don’t understand why I was declined.

Dave
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Best answer by Michelle 11 January 2021, 14:59

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48 replies

Userlevel 2
Badge +6
Hi Dave, sorry to hear that we've not been able to accept your application in this case. There can be a number of reasons in which an order can be declined and not just due to credit rating.

We'd recommend that all the details used during your order are fully accurate and any payment methods are linked to the same address as that provided for the order.

You can call on 0800 049 0250 to speak with our Sales Team for a future application, but it's unlikely that the decision made in this case can be reversed.
-Phil
Userlevel 1
Thanks for your reply but I went the same phone with a different provider and was accepted in an instant. Your credit rating system has cost you a customer and needs reviewing in my opinion.
Davec, both my wife and I are in exactly the same position as yours, with a no explanation decline for an additional family mobile contract and us both having impeccable credit records and excellent finances. In attempting to speak to id mobile we have received very conflicting and inaccurate advice yet still no resolution. What is disappointing is that my initial no quibble accepted application and early good service resulted in me recommending id mobile to many others. I am now keen to just see out my contract and get rid. Id mobile you appear to have a real problem area here!
Userlevel 7
Badge +10
Do you already have contracts with us @Smac and purchasing an additional SIM?

There is a limit to how many contracts can be taken out per account holder and it may be that there was a failed security check preventing further orders rather than a failed credit check.

Mohammed
Thanks for your reply Mohammed.

I have one existing contract over three months old and was looking to acquire an additional phone contract for my son.

We have been advised separately by id mobile that it is possible to get additional family contracts.
Userlevel 1
Smac,
I too am in a similar position. I joined iD mobile in August and decided last week to get a cheap £5 sim only month contract from iD for my daughter. Everything with the online order seemed ok until the next day I got email advising my order was being cancelled due to a failed credit check (I have however 999 credit score on well known agency). Called customer services at iD and voiced my complete annoyance at this treatment as advisor could not give any specific reason for cancellation but logged my complaint giving me a reference number (no contact on this subject by iD to date). The advisor also suggested I try again as it may have been an error on input of information when applying, which I later did. Surprise surprise I got cancelled again.

There would appear to be a problem with holding two contracts in the same name, this being the only explanation I can see. I must also mention that according to Experian advisor, iD must give a better explanation of refusal on credit check grounds than you just didn't pass the check, as outlined in regulatory guidance .

I fully intend pursue a better explanation and seek to have any negative impact on my credit rating removed by this nonsense.
DavyG,

I am sorry to hear of your similar experience but at least now know for certain that I was not an unfortunate isolated case. As a family we have not previously had a problem with multiple family contracts and were therefore surprised to have this very harsh and certainly not customer friendly approach from iD.

Your comment as to Experian advice is of interest and I too am concerned over impacts on credit ratings.

What has frustrated me most is that with every contact there seems to be differing advice from their staff and a "russian roulette" approach to re-applications. We have been told yes do re-apply and it may possibly go through but bear in mind if refused this could affect your credit rating.

We have been told:

  • After the initial decline email, the application was still being processed and would be successful. It was not.
  • The refusal was down to three monthly payments not having been made. We waited till three payments made - STILL REFUSED
  • Try again after 6 payments and it MAY go through BUT may not.
  • A record would be put on the file and it would definitely go through next time. Without some confidence as to this I am unprepared to take the risk.
iD mobile need to get their act together and provide clear and comprehensive advice to both customers and their own staff as to multiple applications to avoid these ongoing issues.
Userlevel 4
Badge +10
Hi @Smac, @DavyG

In most cases it would be a maximum of 2 accounts per named account holder.

When applying for any line with ID Mobile, more is taken into account than simply the credit check alone.

Admittedly, it is a bit of a grey area when it comes to trying to pinpoint exactly what the refusal was based on, and no clear result is given in the notes by our systems that make things easier for our Customer Services Team to direct you with.

Could I ask what the 2nd lines you were both looking to get where? Did they include phones on contracts? or where they for a specifc SIM only plan?

We're going to pass this feedback on to some of our colleagues behind the scenes to try and find out some more on this subject. Our goal ultimately is to help eliminate the vague nature of responses on this issue, and provide better guidance for people in this predicament.

Kevin
Userlevel 1
Hi Kevin,

I joined iD in August 2018 on a sim only £10 p.m. 8GB data 500 min, unlimited texts (1 month contract) no porting involved, new number.

I wanted a sim only £5 p.m. 1GB data 500 min, unlimited texts (1 month contract) for my daughter, which is the contract I tried to buy online and was later declined by email advising I had failed the credit check process.

Still not received any further contact from iD on customer complaint, raised last Thursday on this matter, have now effortlessly signed up for Plusnet account for my daughter.
Hi Kevin, in our case it was a second phone contract in my wife's name for our daughter and a second phone contract in my name for our son.

We will be probably looking to start a new contract for our daughter with her previous provider. I would again suspect it will be effortless like DavyG has found.
Userlevel 4
Badge +10
Hello again @DavyG @Smac

We've had an interim reply from our fishing for information.

We've been told that usually, only 1 new contract (with a phone) would usually be able to go through in a 6 month period (in an individuals name). Though there can be some inconsistencies with that.

However, music to our ears is that this is apparently already an ongoing thing that our team behind the scenes have been investigating this already and it's one of several points of interest that as a company we're looking to get a more black and white set of rules on to help customers such as yourselves and others.

So whilst we're sorry we can't alleviate these troubles right now. We're confident and happy at least to know this grey area has not gone unnoticed by those that can make things happen for such an issue.

Kevin
Userlevel 1
Kevin,

The biggest issue I personally have is the way iD give their potential customers the idea that something is not acceptable with their credit history to allow the contract to proceed.
See below for standard response I received:

Sorry, but we are unable to process your order (reference)
Unfortunately you didn't meet the credit check criteria required for the contract you requested.
As we couldn't connect you on the contract you requested, no money/payment has been taken from your account at this point.
We know this isn't the news you wanted, but all is not lost - why not check out our flexible, great value Pay-as-you-go SIMs? You can buy one without going through a credit check, and our big value bundles start at just £5.
Your Credit Application
For your information, here is a brief summary of how we process each credit application we receive:
  • We use various credit reference agencies to obtain information relating to your address, identity and personal credit history.
  • We then assess this information against set criteria.
The decision to accept your credit application is based on whether your credit history meets these criteria.

Regards,
The iD Team

The first thing iD should be focused on during this establishment of better guidance on contracts, how many etc etc, should be the rewording of the response to customers like myself making it clear that it is a policy decision not to accept multiple contracts and by no means reflects credit standing.

I'm sure that you can appreciate that receiving a statement like your current response above, only raises I'll feeling towards your company.

Furthermore I would expect NO negative impact on my credit file as it should be clarified that the cancelled contracts by iD are nothing to do with my financial history.

DavyG
The above detailed iD standard response was the same one that my wife and I got. Following this reply to my wife's application (the first), the shock and disbelief made us immediately apply and check her credit record to ensure that there was no unknown fraud or similar activity showing that may have caused this.

After her contact with iD Mobile she was told that the refused application was no doubt that three payments had not yet been made on her contract but after three payments an application should go through successfully.

As I had made three payments on my contract, this encouraged me to make an application which was then refused with the same standard response.

It is encouraging to know that changes are afoot but this is a little too late for us that have suffered very inconsistent advice from your staff with now potentially adverse affects on credit records.

I too would like confirmation that there will be no negative impact on my credit file.

SMac
Userlevel 4
Badge +10
You've both made some great points there @Smac, @DavyG

I've raised the question about the credit score issue, and should hopefully have an update on this within 1-2 working days. I'll come back to this post by Tuesday of next week with the outcomes there.

Hopefully it'll simply be that our systems rejected the order before it got through to the stage of having to check your credit file etc, but again, we'll get an answer on that.

Separately too. We've raised the concerns over the wording of the automated emails that get sent out upon these rejections. Whilst we can't undo the frustrations caused to this point, we are indeed sorry for the turn of events and the efforts made to get answers on this. Ultimately, this has been a learning experience for everyone, and it's only natural that we'd want to learn from that and improve from that on our side, for everyone's benefit.

We'll catch up again next week. For now, have a great weekend.

Kevin

I have recently had this exact same issue and am unable to speak to anyone at ID as the customer service lines are not currently running. Can you provide any clarity on what the outcome was on the above cases. I would like to know whether I have experienced a credit check failure or whether this was actually a decline from ID’s systems as has been suggested above. 
 

I would really appreciate a response from ID on this as soon as possible. 
 

Many thanks, 

Ellie 

Userlevel 5
Badge +6

Hi @elliespells, thanks for getting in touch, and sorry to hear about your order being declined. Did you receive any sort of email correspondence explaining why your order wasn’t processed on this occasion? The most common reasons would be a failed credit check, a failed internal security check, or the fact you already have too many active lines with iD Mobile. 

If you still need us to shed some light on your particular case, just let us know and we’ll get someone from the team to drop you a private message.

 

Thank you,

Rory

Hi,

2021 and the same issue is ongoing - unbelievable. None of the proposed improvements mentioned by the ID mobile employees Kevin and Rory above have happened.

I was sent the same email - was equally astonished given an excellent credit rating (999) across all three agencies; mortgage, credit card etc. and - highest of ironies - a contract with Three mobile over many years (same company?!).

ID mobile customer services (a ‘chat’ agent… impossible to talk to someone on the phone) claimed incorrectly that the credit agency determines the outcome (false). Could not tell me what had prompted the fail, simply said ‘wait 30 days’.

Checked my credit reports and found Equifax had the wrong current address down - not updated (should have been changed 2 years ago). Asked for a correction, received confirmation this was done. 

Meanwhile spoke to an iD customer service team member who called me to respond to a complaint submitted on the website. They advised me to speak to the sales team, who they said could help me apply before the 30 days. I eventually (after 3 times of trying) got through to a chat ‘agent’ again on the live chat. They could give no further information or confirm what their colleague said. They only said I could ‘try’ but they wouldn’t know if it would be accepted as not sure if credit report corrections had been made.

Since Equifax had confirmed the change I reapplied - and again within 30 mins get the same rejection email. I have heard that even the way the address is entered can cause a ‘computer says no’ response: but the iD mobile form does not allow you to enter the address the way it appears in my report (flat number + building name on one line, street name on the next).

It is crazy that I am left powerless and concerned that (a) I can’t get a simple, rolling monthly, cheap mobile phone contract, (b) I don’t have the right to know why and (c) that this could impact my credit rating. I’ve read horror stories of refusals for mortgages etc. over less.

ID mobile are clearly losing customers. I’m beyond frustrated and unimpressed!

Userlevel 5
Badge +8

Hi @DavyG 

 

We can check the notes on your account to see if there are details confirming the reason for the rejection. 

We’ll send you a private message on here so that we can verify your details. 

To view the message sent.  Simply click on your profile icon in the top right, then go to your private messages. 

 

Thanks. 

 

Michelle 

 

Userlevel 1

This nonsense is still happening. 

i even went as far as paying for a credit check with the same company ID use, guess what? clean and serene.
i have lived at my address over 5 years
on the electoral register
no CCJ/IVAs

perfect payment history


i even went as far as calling Equifax to get some help from them, thir customer care person spent aroud to mins with me and went through everything. there is nothing on my credit report that should throw up a red flag. the most interesting part of the conversation was when they told me that this process is automated ID dont check these, it is cone by a computer, literally “computer says no”

Contacting your “customer service” team is a joke, they are not helpful, i was told by your operative i failed the credit check and i would not beable to reapply. 

I need this resolved and i need answers. i have a credit report from YOUR provider that says my credit is good, i have no bad debt and i pay on time so what the hell is happening. 

The next email i send will be you the ombudsman that regulates you and to every single consumer rights organisation i can find. The christmas holidays are right around the corner, i am single and we are in a pandemic, i have nothing but time. There is history of this ineptitude going back years on this forum alone, you are negatively impacting our financial history unjustly, this has to stop.

Userlevel 8
Badge +6

That’s not how credit checks work…

Every lender will have their own criteria that customers must meet in order to pass a credit check.

An example:

  • Lender A might have a policy that any customer with three or more credit cards gets automatically rejected even if their credit report and all three credit cards are in good standing.
  • Lender B might have a policy that allows any customer four more credit cards gets automatically rejected even if their credit report and all three credit cards are in good standing.

That is why you can fail a credit check with one lender and pass with another (for an identical product or service).

What harms a credit score the most is the hard searches shown on a credit report. The more you have done in a short period of time can look like desperation to lenders and so you get rejected.

So all this “my credit score is excellent” or I have a credit score of “999” means nothing.

Userlevel 1

Is this some sort of a joke? 
Been declined even though I have excellent credit score.

Finally managed to contact someone via chat, provided order number of declined request, in the hope they could resolve it…. no chance, they recommend trying again.

Queried that trying again could negatively affect my credit score if it is declined again. No help!

Was actually considering moving all of business phones to idmobile, around 100 or more, if this turned out to be a good purchase experience but thus far this company seems like some kind of a joke.

 



 

Userlevel 8
Badge +6

ID Mobile is for personal use, not business and they only allow a maximum of two accounts in your name.

Userlevel 1

That’s all fine, I was just explaining my long term intentions with regards to business.

But that does not explain why I was declined for my personal application.

I am *not* an existing customer.

Userlevel 8
Badge +6

No company will tell you why you failed their credit check. Also worth mentioning that your credit report score doesn’t mean anything, each business will have their own criteria that must be met.

ID Mobile do two checks as far as I am aware, an Identify check and a credit check. It’s possible that you failed their identity check? Maybe the information you supplied didn’t match those they used to verify your identity.

Userlevel 1

Thanks for your reply.

The problem I have is that the ID mobile email causes unsolicited alarm and concern since it specifically mentions credit checks:
 

Unfortunately you didn't meet the credit check criteria required for the contract you requested.

 

This prompts the customer into action unnecessarily investigating if their credit score has problem when in reality it turns out they do not. 

This is distressing for a would be customer and I would think more so for our distinguished elders.

This company needs to address this issue and return a more suitable message, along with improving their customer support to deal with such problems.

If it a problem with proving identity then they should say so.
If its a problem with credit score then by all means say so.

I suspect there is a more at play here.

Since I was passed through by a uSwitch deal that was way better than I found elsewhere, even better than directly visiting ID mobile site.
I suspect this deal doesn’t really exist or is no longer viable so rather than say such they ID comes back with some BS so not to get into trouble with trading standards.
This is why I am going to complain to ombudsman, I recommend other do the same.

Here is the deal I followed:
https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/deal/?id=132b4db39a093bb612f5de7f2c789abe4fa73683&splashpage=true 

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