Thousands of people have been named in a list of debtors and bankrupts over the last two years for failing to pay their mobile phone bill.
The second largest mobile phone operator, O2 Communications Ireland, has taken an average of more than two people to court every day since 2002 for unpaid phone bills, some of which were as low as €250.
As people start clocking up calls on their new Christmas mobile phones, financial advisers have warned that the convenience of the mobile can get people into serious debt.
In a review of debt judgments published in Stubbs Gazette, The Irish Times has established that more than 2,390 people and businesses have been pursued through the courts by O2 since mid-2002. Its competitor, Vodafone, took legal action against just over 200 people and businesses in the same period.
Meteor, the newest entrant to the market, has taken legal proceedings against 214 people and businesses in the same time.
Many of the customers who faced litigation were young adults still living at home with their parents.
The judgment registered against their name could have a serious effect on their ability to get credit in the future, including securing a mortgage.
"The problem is that the mobile phone is so convenient. It's with you all the time and yet it's so expensive," a spokesman for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs) said.
"Then if you've a judgment registered against you, your ability to borrow going forward is seriously affected."
The spokesman said companies should be encouraged to use out-of-court settlement procedures, rather than clogging up the district courts with cases against their customers.
"The new consumer credit directive, if it ever comes, would encourage out-of-court proceedings."
He said Mabs advised people to negotiate with companies in writing as soon as they get into difficulties, rather than ignore final demands and end up having judgments registered against them in their absence.
A spokeswoman for O2 said the company would try to discuss the "variety of ways and options available to them to pay their bill.
However, if we cannot reach a customer and they have not contacted us to discuss what the problem might be, we are left with no choice but to suspend our service to this customer".
Before Christmas sales were taken into account, O2 had 1.57 million customers or 40 per cent of the market.
A spokeswoman for Vodafone, which has two million registered users, said litigation was "absolutely the last resort".
Asked about a case where a Dublin man was sued for a €147 bill, she said, "the principles are standard regardless of any particular amount. It is fair to say these instances are highly irregular and quite rare". The company tried "as much as possible to resolve credit management issues without resorting to litigation".
A spokeswoman for Meteor, which has 500,000 subscribers, said its policy on unpaid bills was to "reserve the right to collect monies due, while endeavouring at all times to facilitate our customers to ensure easy and timely payment of bills".
Financial adviser Eddie Hobbs said having a judgment registered against you was a serious dent to your financial wellbeing. "Unless you have a very good explanation for the next lender you'll be cut off from credit."
The kind of "lifestyle debt" that mobile phone bills represent was a real problem for younger customers, Mr Hobbs said.
"The percentage spend on booze or alcohol for the average 20-something can be 10 to 15 per cent of net income.
"Then they're using the mobile phone to organise this social life."
When companies embark on aggressive debt collection it was usually a sign they were facing "an increasing problem".
