Returning a device and cannot pay anymore

[Marjorie12]

Hi, we are paying $269.70 on two iPhone 12’s
Can I return the phones back and stop the services completely? Also, we are unable to pay anymore. What happens then?

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[Meowmix]

Hello @Marjorie12

You can cancel the service HOWEVER you will need to pay off the remaining balance of the phones. Since you are paying every month a device price, the remaining balance on the phone will be added to the final bill you receive.

If you are unable to pay anything at all and Rogers does not receive any payments or payments are missed, they will forward the account after a certain amount of time ( 1-3 months of non payment or any communication. ) to a collection agency and they will handle the account instead. This will impact your credit rating and will show up on a credit report agencies you apply with in the future.

So my suggestion, speak to Rogers credit operations or a manager on the line and see what can be done. See if they can bring down the amount of the plan and explain ur situation

[Pauly]

meowmix is correct, this is the normal situation. but speak to them they might be able to offer some help

[Marjorie12]

When you say that we need to pay off the remaining balance on the phone in the final bill, we might as well just pay it off and keep the phones then? The reason we are returning the phones is we literally cannot pay it anymore due to a devastating circumstance that happened recently.

[Meowmix]

Hello @Marjorie12

Yes once the device balance is paid off , the devices will be yours to keep. That’s how it works. You can sell them after and recoup some of the money back as u are selling it used.

Unfortunately there is no way of returning the phones after a while because you can’t pay anymore. You signed a contact which states you have 2yrs to pay the phone balance off. That’s like a lease or a contract with anything really. Unfortunately if you can not pay for the phones and ur account gets defaulted, as said above on my first reply. The account will be suspended and closed. Transferred to a collection agency and it will affect ur credit score dramatically and will be on ur file for 7yrs that you did not pay Rogers and they transferred the account over to collections. Any creditors that look in ur file while applying for credit will see this.

I would highly suggest and recommended reaching out to credit operations or a manager and see what they suggest. I know for a fact they won’t allow you to return the phone and stop paying but they may be able to give you a discount of some sort on ur account to help.

[Pauly]

We understand people have unexpected financial constraints, I experienced some financial problems a few years ago, but fortunately I bought my phones outright instead of financed them, so all I needed to do was cancel my line and I was not on the hook for device balance, I on purpose did this when I had opened my lines. I had some good advice from a relative about financial literacy and im so thankful, I know not a lot of people are fortunate enough to have this advice, but heck, once you cancel and pay off the phones you can then turn around and sell them privately and recoup some of the money. but if you default on your cellphone plan im not certain but they could "blacklist" the IMEI which might prevent anyone from using them? correct me if im wrong?

[Meowmix]

Hey @Pauly

They can not blacklist the IMEI if you don’t pay and the account goes to the collections. They will ONLY do that if you contact them and tell them the device is lost or stolen.

Unfortunately for many buying a $1000 outright phone isn’t a option this is why the financing is best at the moment. This is why when someone decided to finance or even use their CC for a purchase that big, they need to think long term if they can afford to pay it IF something happens right.

[Marjorie12]

Hi that’s awesome and good for you.
I just wanted to be clear: WE ARE NOT KEEPING THE PHONES. As I mentioned in the thread and the title, we are RETURNING the phones back so they can block all the IMEI for all we care. We are returning the phones back and stopping all services from Rogers. My question is what would they do then? Also, we don’t mind about the credit score if it drops its on 870 right now.

[Meowmix]

Hello @Marjorie12

Unfortunately there is no way of returning the phones because you can’t pay... Even if you mail out the phones to a warehouse of Rogers , the warehouse guys will get confused as they won’t know what to do with them..

They will either way cancel the account and forward the account to collections which then they will contact you by mail or call for the money. They could also legally contact your work / go after ur taxes as well to recover the money. Some agencies do this ( if you do not make a payment plan or contact them back).

By doing this ur credit of 870 will drop down to a 650/700. Which can instantly cause issues on any mortgages, rent ( they will request a credit score which will show this), pay loans, car loans, credit cards, any type of credit you have or will apply for in the next 7yrs they will see this as a red flag and most likely deny you or question it. Do you fully understand this? Just trying to clear this up as you may not understand the affect it can cause in ur life… it will automatically come up on ur Equfax and TransUnion account and won’t be removed.

Why not take a loan out, ask family or friends to help you out to pay off the device balance and close the accounts that way. It’s the easiest way which will impact ur life for the next 7yrs.

Here’s a example. If you can’t afford a car and you are leasing it or financing it, you can’t just simply return the car because you can’t pay for it. There will be penalties you have to pay for doing that and if you don’t pay those penalties, they will come after you for the money including having a collections agency come after you and not only bring down ur score but will contact you even if you get a new address or phone number. They have ways of doing this.

So think about all this before you decide to make a decision. Take all this and speak to a agency which helps with debts and they will explain it. We all have hard times during COVID which sucks. I get it as I know a few who have been through a lot and not able to pay. However it’s not worth ruining yr credit score and future because of this.

[Pauly]

Hello Meowmix. I did not know they can not blacklist a phone for non-payment this is why I asked if someone can confirm.

Secondly if someone wants a cellphone with Rogers no one's holding a gun to their head to buy a $1000 device. If I'm struggling financially I would buy a very very very inexpensive phone maybe in the $100 to 200 dollar range or maybe even a used one second hand. There's lots of choices the most expensive device does not have to be the default purchase.