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ISP debt demand out of the blue
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One other question to ask them is why the payments have been failing if your credit card has been working for all other transactions during that time and you weren't at or near your credit limit.
And I am one of the people who would have noticed missing transactions, I have all my regular payments recorded in MS Money and when reconciling statements it's obvious if either unexpected transactions are present or expected ones are missing. So you are to some extent to blame, as you could have done the same, but I'd agree that the bulk of the blame lies with Demon.0 -
http://www.ico.org.uk/~/media/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/default_tgn_version_v3%2520%2520doc.ashx&sa=U&ei=C4i8UayEIYua0QXmrIGQCw&ved=0CBsQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNFbCVyRVusCswwkP2sXG-HVk673kg
is relevant. It takes more than missing a payment to meet the definition
And I would still argue that it is very wrong to file a default until the customer has been notified of the problem.
Yes but these companies are not lenders. They provide a service, but they dont actually loan you any money/funds. Hence they're not regulated by CCA and no default notice is required.You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride0 -
If they are not lending, why are they putting data on to credit reference data bases?unholyangel wrote: »Yes but these companies are not lenders. They provide a service, but they dont actually loan you any money/funds. Hence they're not regulated by CCA and no default notice is required.
The guidelines are from the ICO who are solely concerned with fair processing of data - CCA does not make any difference or really come into play.
A moment's thought would indicate that if a company has failed to contact the customer to advise that they are unable to collect money. then it is automatically unfair processing of data under DPA to register a default.You might as well ask the Wizard of Oz to give you a big number as pay a Credit Referencing Agency for a so-called 'credit-score'0 -
I've been a Demon (or whatever) customer for ages too. On at least two occasions over the years, they have contacted me to tell me they couldn't collect from my card - and on both occasions the card details had not changed. I just told them they''d cocked-up the first time; I think I may have been a bit more forceful the second, as I've not had the same since (and there may have been an apology, I can't remember).
They're pretty consistent now, but some years ago they were pretty lackadaisical about collecting their monthly payments: they'd forget for a couple of months, then hit me with a charge for three at once. From discussion in the demon newsgroups, this wasn't that unusual. Didn't bother me then - though I'd have been as cross as you if they left it for 18 months, then asked for it, and used a credit reference agency. I'd get written (or at least email) confirmation from them that they have cleared any adverse credit report.
Would you stay with them if they offered, say, a year's free? Or six months?0 -
In case anybody's interested, here's what happened in the end.
Demon called me twice on Monday. The first brief call was to confirm I wanted my MAC code in order to leave their service. The second longer call was to discuss the debt and to give me an incentive to stay. It was a friendly, non-aggressive call which I was happy about.
When I asked how many customers had been affected, the representative said, "a lot"- I think this problem may have hit dozens if not hundreds of customers at the same time. So they had a blanket offer arranged, which was either to pay off 25% a month for 4 months, or to pay it all off in one go in return for a 20% discount. In the interests of getting the whole thing done and dusted and not letting it drag on, I opted for the latter. To be honest if it hadn't been for MSE forum posters telling me bluntly that Demon were within their rights, I'd probably have made more of a fight of it, so thank you for the temperate advice.
I made the payment straight away, and I will be following it up in the next few days to get absolute confirmation that the debt is now zero and that there was no adverse credit report action.
I'm leaving Demon, without question. Between 1995 and around 2008, they were a flawless service, I never had a single issue with them. I recommended them positively whenever anybody talked about ISPs.
However they have messed me around twice before in the last five years- once by leaving me without working email for over a week (damaging in my line of work), and once by 'upgrading' my homepages account in a so-called upgrade which involved wiping my entire web space and not telling me about it (also damaging). The last time, I specifically said to myself, "if Demon do something like that again I'm definitely leaving them". So this was the proverbial straw/camel situation. To be honest this 18-month-debt issue strikes me as such a balls-up that even if they'd been a perfect service up to now I'd probably still leave their service just for that.0 -
Oh and also, thanks again everyone for your helpful comments, of course!0
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They've clearly found you easy to contact, so they're acting inappropriately to instruct debt collectors without first giving you the opportunity to pay the outstanding debt directly to them."Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell" - Edward Abbey.0
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Thanks for updating us, too many people don't
I think you've made the right decision as far as not disputing it and getting it out of the way ASAP. I would most definitely check your credit reports though for any adverse entries.0 -
fluffnutter wrote: »They've clearly found you easy to contact, so they're acting inappropriately to instruct debt collectors without first giving you the opportunity to pay the outstanding debt directly to them.
Maybe i'm missing something, but op doesn't say they passed it on to debt collectors0
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