3 Mobile & Red Debt Collection Agency

themightyo

Well after spending the last 3 1/2 years clawing myself out of debt I get a letter delivered today (26/8/08) from Red Debt Collection. Apparently I owe 3 Mobile the princely sum of £36.44 from January 2005. If I don't pay by 24/8/08(?) they're going to send one of their field agents round to collect. My name is now apparently flagged as having defaulted on a credit agreement. Etc., etc., etc.....
January 2005 is the exact month I finally called it quits with 3 due to them being the absolute worst company I have ever had the misfortune to be involved with. I remember the phonecall well, because it took about 2 hours of brain-meltingly excrutiating explanations for the cretin in 3's "customer service" centre to understand that I was leaving 3, was paying my final bill and never wanted to hear from them again. This still didn't work, and I ended up getting the bloke in the O2 shop to phone 3 to sort all this out again when I moved over to O2. This occured on 21/1/05 according to 3, but the account wasn't closed until 31/1/05. Incidentally, I took my 3 mobile number with me onto my new O2 contract, and still have that number. Surely 3 wouldn't have allowed me to take their number if I still owed them money?
3 has NEVER contacted me regarding any outstanding charges, and neither 3 nor Red Debt Collection can tell me what I owe the money for - they both "just have an amount for the debt, no further information sir. For that I suggest you contact 3/Red Debt Collection, sir."

My questions are:
1) Where do I stand on this? I don't have any proof that I paid off the remaining outstanding balance to 3 even though I did, and 3 conveniently have no record of the phonecalls made by both myself and the O2 representative (other than the date the PAK code was given) with regards to the closing of my account.
2) I now live in Scotland, so does this affect my/their position?
1) I make a very reasonable day rate in my current employment, with paperwork showing the day rate, and that the full day rate is payable for each day or part of that I give my time to. Can I invoice these thieves for the time it takes for me to sort this stuff out, AND have recourse to chase them up when they inevitably refuse to pay?

Thanks in advance,
Andy

fermi

You are not the only one.

See this thread: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1111469

themightyo

So after a whole day of chasing around on the phone/internet, I have the following info:

*My credit check came back with nothing at all, apart from a payment plan under Vodafone/Singlepoint (which figures, as I got the phone from Phones4U). I phoned Singlepoint/Vodafone to see what was up and they confirmed that the stuff showing up on my credit report was related to a 3 Mobile contract started in February 2004, then changing over to O2 in the January of 2005. This shows that apart from a couple of months in 2004, everything was paid in full and on time, and even has "account settled, outstanding balance = £0" at three seperate months during the time I was under the Singlepoint/Vodafone agreement.

*3 have told me that they gave me my phone PAC on 21 Jan 2005, and my account was closed on 31 Jan 2005. I have proof that I paid 3 the sum of £58-something on 21 Jan 2005 as a card transaction, which coincides with me closing my account so I can get the PAC to keep my phone number.

*Neither 3 nor Red can tell me what the debt is for.



So, bearing in mind I can't use the CCA letter as it's to do with a mobile phone contract, where do I go from here?

Thanks,
Andy

RAS

I would write exactly what you have told us above and advise red/Lowell that if you want confirmationwithin 14 days that they have closed the matter, or you will write to the OFt, The Information Commissioner and Trading standards to compalin about their keeping false records, and chasing for debt that does not exist.

themightyo

Well I've just knocked up a quick letter to the swines.
Is this the kind of thing I should be aiming for?
Am I within my rights to charge them for the waste of my time? (I am self employed and have an accountant who deals with all the financial side of things, but he's off on his jollies at the moment, so I have no idea).
Is there anything else I should be adding?

Cheers,
Andy


Ref: ############


Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing with regards to your letter dated ## August 2008 concerning an alleged debt of £36.44.

Firstly, I would like to address the fact that you recommended that I contact you before 24th August 2008 or legal proceedings would be instigated for recovery of the alleged debt. Given your initial correspondence is dated ## August 2008, I find this an inappropriate amount of time to allow me to respond. As a matter of courtesy, I would request that you be a little more generous when serving ultimatums in any future correspondence, either to myself or to other individuals you may be dealing with.

Secondly, I request that any further communication between ourselves is conducted via post as I intend to keep evidence of our (hopefully short-lived) correspondences should they be required in the future.

Thirdly, it is my intention to invoice Lowell Group and any related subsidiaries etc. whilst dealing with this unfortunate waste of my company time, as I am in the full belief that I am indebted to neither yourselves nor the alleged original creditors, 3 Mobile. In the interests of fairness to my valued clients I shall apply the same tariff to yourselves as I do to my valued clients, as follows:

To be charged a fixed sum of £??? per day or part thereof, the following list is indicative of activities that will result in the raising of an invoice for my company’s time:
Answering a telephone call from any employee or contractor of Lowell Group and/or its subsidiaries/daughter companies/associates/etc.
Opening and/or reading any written correspondence from Lowell Group and/or its subsidiaries/daughter companies/associates/etc.
Composing written correspondence in reply to any correspondence from Lowell Group and/or its subsidiaries/daughter companies/associates/etc.
Answering in person calls to my home and/or business address from any employee or contractor of Lowell Group and/or its subsidiaries/daughter companies/associates/etc.

This list is not intended to be exhaustive and, as previously stated, is indicative of the kind of activities that will result in invoices being raised against Lowell Group and/or its subsidiaries/daughter companies/associates/etc.

Finally, I wish to state that I accept ABSOLUTELY NO LIABILITY for any debts you claim to hold against me. It has been confirmed to me by a representative of 3 Mobile that my contract with 3 Mobile was terminated on 31st January 2005, after having paid the final and outstanding balance on the 21st January 2005, and I have sufficient evidence to support these facts. I suggest that you cease any further attempts to claim this alleged debt from me, and I would request that you confirm to me within 5 working days from the date of this letter that this has been the case, that the matter has been resolved and closed, and that any entries against my name and/or addresses relating to this matter are removed from the relevant credit agencies’ data.

As a gesture of goodwill, I offer to waiver any charges so far incurred by Lowell Group and/or its subsidiaries/daughter companies/associates/etc. in the process of my dealing with this matter when this confirmation is received.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Oxley

vixi66

Please somebody do something about this 3 mobile rubbish, my letter today stated i owed the Red company £11, i know i don't,
I cancelled the contract years ago,terrible service and terrible phone !!
It did really upset me to get a letter like that and i felt sick when i read it, but how many people will actually just pay it !
I will be ignoring this as there is no debt to pay.
This is against the law to chase a debt that does not exist
SCAM !!! WARNING !!:mad: