The pensioner’s son used his position as financial guardian to sign up for a $180-a-month contract and racked up a $4000 bill, financial counsellor Steve Symons said. The son was unable to sign up in his own name because he had a bad credit history.

“He had financial guardianship and they obviously didn’t inquire, this man is in his eighties and ended up with quite a large bill.

“In that case there was no due diligence.”

A report slamming the three major telcos’ for hardship practices worse than power companies, big banks and even debt collectors was released on Thursday.

The Financial and Consumer Rights Council report, Rank the Telco, said Optus, Telstra and Vodafone behaved worse than any industry ever assessed. 

Mr Symons said CAFS routinely saw people who were signed up to contracts they were unable to afford. 

Telcos often refused to waive debts, he said. The father and son are still indebted to their telco.

“They didn’t waive it, they wanted the phones and the tablets returned before they considered waiving it and those phones and tablets had gone.

“They can’t recover it from his father because he can’t afford payments, they don’t waive it just sits there.”

Salvation Army’s John Clonan said telcos should find out whether a person could pay before signing them up.

Mr Clonan said emergency workers for the organisation’s Doorways program often struggled to strike a manageable repayment plan on behalf of their clients. 

“The more vulnerable people are the ones who are hit and don’t look at their own capacity to pay.”

Centacare chief executive officer Tony Fitzgerald said a mobile phone had become as necessary as having water and electricity. “In our view there is an inadequate assessment procedures in assessing a person's ability to pay before they sign up to contracts. The ability to renegotiate contracts is a tough procedure to get through.”

Vodafone told Fairfax Media they were “surprised” by the report's findings and cited figures showing a “sharp downward trajectory” in the level of complaints. A Telstra spokesperson said the telco had an extensive range of assistance programs for disadvantaged customers. Optus refused to comment.