Who will pay your telecom bills when you’re dead?

Although Hungarian media laws clearly regulate telecommunication services subscription cancelling, company practices differ in several details. After atlatszo.hu obtained a letter that calls upon a family to pay forfeit and to refund allegiance discount after a dead relative, Magyar Telekom informed us that it may be their mistake. The company finally gave upon the forfeit, but invoiced for telephone and internet usage for the period following the customer’s death and the subscription’s cancellation. In contrast with Telekom’s practices, UPC’s invoicing terminates with the end of the contractual relation which in this case means the date when the customer passes. This applies to Digi as well. In case of dying before a mobile phones instalment ends contracts may break up on the day of the death. If the phone is used afterwards, inheritors might settle the invoice, Vodafone informed us. Release is possible, out of fairness, they said. Contracts might break up on the death’s date, National Media and Infocommunications Authority informed us, although some companies are not familiar with the regulation yet.