How to cancel phone of deceased person without access to phone

[BradH123]

Hi,

I've been trying to cancel the phone of a deceased family friend that I helped take care of. The person is no longer with us and her phone that I was paying for got lost in the whole move of things.

I paid and created the phone so I have access to everything except I cannot find the phone, which means I cannot get passed the login 2FA since the only options are text or voicemail.

Is there any way to cancel the phone or do I have to call my visa and tell them to cut off payments to Public Mobile? I'm worried if I do this I will accidentally cancel my own phone as well.

Thanks,

[Chalupa_Batman]

The only concern with that @Terryscell is if he cancels it on his credit card, because the system itself is finicky, could that trigger problems for his other account because the credit cards are linked.  Chain reaction sort of speak. Hence he should speak to a CS Agent on dealing with this. But first I'm hoping he'll answer my questions so we can give him the best support and advice. 

[Terryscell]

BradH123, Sorry for your loss.

Suggest you go into your PM account and find the date of your own payments.

Find it on your credit card statement. Then cancel the other PM payment on your credit card.

Just make it clear to the credit card CSA that there 2 accounts, and you are only cancelling one.

[Chalupa_Batman]

Hi @BradH123 

First, I'd like to say we as a community are sorry for your loss. You must have been a great friend to her to help her out with this. I can imagine dealing with this after her passing can be challenging. With that being said, if I may ask a few questions to share the best advice, there are ways to help you but there may be other info to share with you.

You mentioned you paid her phone bill with your credit card. Clearly the bill had to be in your name as the credit card had to match right? If so, how long did she use the plan? Did you change her from the Legacy Rewards program to the new points system?

I'm assuming you too are on Public Mobile? The reason I mention the questions above is this. If you put her on a good plan that may not be around anymore and if that plan is on the Legacy Rewards, maybe not deleting the plan may be something to consider. Depending on the time she used the phone... example... 5 years.... that's $5 off the phone bill. Plus the $2 auto pay. $7 a month off the bill is pretty decent. Depending on what plan you have and how long you've been with Public Mobile and if you're on the points system vs Legacy...  you could always consider canceling your plan and keeping the plan she used. Once again, because we don't know all the facts I'm just sharing thoughts worth considering at a time where we only have one focus after a person's passing and that's to cancel everything. But because it's in your name, there may be value in keeping it. If you could, that's if your comfortable enough, willing to share just a bit of info that I asked above, we can share some wisdom we have here in the community. 

EDIT: I know you mentioned the phone isn't around at this time...  but we have ways to help around things like that.

[dust2dust]

Do yours and the other phone renew on the same night? If not then dial 1-855-4pu-blic and enter the other number and get the renewal date. Then in the evening before that date, log in to your credit card and pause it. Then unpause it the next morning. Or with that toll free number and if you know the 4 digit account pin of that other account then you can turn off autopay.
No need to leave the place.

[BradH123]

That is the whole issue. The only options that come up are text message or voicemail, no email option and without the phone a text message/voicemail do not help my situation.

[Yummy]

You have to gain access to her PM account. Then you can declare phone lost/stolen and in 90 days account will be closed due to no payment.

If you cannot gain access to her account then contact agent. Have death certificate ready to send them if they ask.

If you did not receive your code - Click on: ‘Didn’t get a code’ and you will get more options. Chose email.

[BradH123]

It was my credit card. I want to pause the CC payments but I that means I risk cancelling my current cell phone plan as well...which I do not want to risk doing. Think my best option may be to switch carriers and then cancel my plan and say goodbye to Public.

[dust2dust]

Did you use your credit card? Or theirs? If theirs then wouldn't that card get closed and cancelled? If yours then do you know the 4 digit account pin? If not then you could pause your credit card before the renewal date and it won't renew.