Strange letter from a Debt collection agency! re:SKY

Karma67

After writing an email directly to James Murdoch yesterday I have had a reply today!!

Sky still say we owe the money :mad:

Here is the response email i received......

"I refer to your email of 6 December 2006 addressed to James Murdoch. I have been asked to investigate your enquiry and provide a response on his behalf.



May I firstly apologise to learn your original email has not yet received the courtesy of a response. It is our intention to respond to all customer enquires as soon as possible but recently we have received an unprecedented amount of emails and it is taking longer to reply than we would have hoped. I trust I can now convey our position on your enquiry.



On 27 September 2000 a contract was agreed to provide you with Sky viewing and we completed a Sky Digital installation at your property on 19 October 2000, under the agreement that you would subscribe to our services for a minimum twelve month period.



From our records, we have never received a completed contract and as such were unable to provide you with viewing services. We provided several weeks of viewing but have not received any payment for these services. In such instances an equipment charge is added to the account and we expect the equipment cost to be met by the customer as they did not fulfill the agreement.



When your partner opened an account, the engineer removing equipment does not waive the terms of your original contract. He would have removed the equipment in good faith (and without instruction to do otherwise), as new equipment was to be installed in it's place. A term of your original agreement also stated your household could only benefit from one reduced cost subscription.



To summarise, the outstanding debt of £300.00 remains due to Lowell Services LTD as the terms of subscription have not been met. Whilst I appreciate this was not the response you had hoped for, I trust you can accept my explanation.



Should you require further assistance in this regard, please contact me at the above email address. Alternatively, you can call my department number, 08702 414141, and ask to speak with me."


SO.....

What do we do now??? I am so cross!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Would the letter that Harrassed posted stating about proof of contract work in this instance???


HELP!!!!!!!

[Deleted User]

This is a dreadful state of affairs. Sorry I can`t help, but I feel so cross that this is happening to you. I am finishing with sky in three months and will be sure to send my letter via recorded delivery and to keep a copy. The company stinks. The letter that Harrassed posted on this thread looks excellent and has to be worth a try. Send it recorded and keep careful copies of everything

Karma67

Thanks kittie

I suppose sending the letter can't hurt! lol I just wasn't sure if it was 'relevant' as Sky saying the debt is owed because they didn't receive a signed contract
The worst they could do is refuse to stop chasing him for this alleged debt I s'pose *SIGH*

Harassed_2

I just wasn't sure if it was 'relevant' as Sky saying the debt is owed because they didn't receive a signed contract

That's what makes it relevant. No signed credit agreement - NO DEBT. Write to Lowell and tell them to go to court. State also, that any action that they take WILL be challenged and defended on the above grounds. If you do so, they won't get zip.

The relevant paragraph is highlighted.

I require you to supply the following documentation before I will correspond further on this matter.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order in payment of the statutory fee, PO Serial Number xxxxx.

Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

Stick to your guns and pay them nada. It might also be an idea to report them to your local Trading Standards, explaining that they're hassling for a debt for which no contract exists.

Karma67

thanks once again Harrassed

But sorry to sound thick BUT.....Sky say we owe money for installation and equipment because he didn't/ or they never received copy of the contract

as i quote from the email...

"On 27 September 2000 a contract was agreed to provide you with Sky viewing and we completed a Sky Digital installation at your property on 19 October 2000, under the agreement that you would subscribe to our services for a minimum twelve month period.

From our records, we have never received a completed contract and as such were unable to provide you with viewing services. We provided several weeks of viewing but have not received any payment for these services. In such instances an equipment charge is added to the account and we expect the equipment cost to be met by the customer as they did not fulfill the agreement."

The highlighted bits are the issues that confuse me ...they say that they 'expect' the cost of the equipment to be met by hubby as he did not sign/return the agreement according to them. I just wonder if they have found a legal loophole by saying the contract is viable as he had the equipment installed in his property therefore a 'verbal' type contract.

*SIGH*

I WILL send a copy of your letter (recorded delivery of course ) just wish i felt more confident about it working for us

Bossyboots

I haven't got time to re-read the whole thread right now so if I have gone off track please say and when I get back in a while I will have another look.

However, from what I can see from this page it would seem your partner had the equipment installed on the proviso that a signed contract was returned. By allowing the installation he has effected that contract and if he then didn't sign/send the credit agreement he broke it. Quite why they provided services in these circumstances is certainly an issue because had they not, he would have known beforehand that there was a problem. Surely Sky know things go missing in the post all the time and in a human office mistakes can be made. If he sent the agreement then it seems his best argument is that they supplied services so he believed they had the document they needed. Sky will probably argue that they supplied it in good faith as is their usual practice while awaiting/processing signed documentation.

I don't see how the letter suggested by Harassed is going to help. As you say they are claiming he didn't sign it as being the root of the problem. This might enable him to avoid any fees for the service provided after installation but by allowing the installation, as I say, he did effect the contract and was therefore obliged to stick by its terms. As far as I recall, you are disputing the contract itself, just the equipment charge for them not receiving the agreement.

Karma67

thanks bossyboots....

Yup you seem to have expressed my concerns exactly! He did return the agreement, they say he didn't....

so we are at a stalemate situation..Hubby refuses to pay as he said he returned them, Sky refuse to drop the alleged debt as they say he didn't ..

So what do we do now in your opinion since you think Harrassed's letter is not suitable for this situation?

Harassed_2

Stick to your guns. Tell Lowell to go to Court. Simple. My last post on this topic.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

Percy_Vere

Harassed wrote:

Stick to your guns. Tell Lowell to go to Court. Simple. My last post on this topic.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

A fairly typical post from harassed - I do question his motives, he clearly has an axe to grind with any organisation trying to collect outstanding money and get's very militant about it. Sadly his advice is often questionable because of this.

It is completey wrong to state that just because there is no signed contract they cannot enforce the debt and there is case law to back it up. Bossy Boots is correct in his/her post.

If for example you receive a service or goods as appears in this case then you are deemed to have agreed to the contract by accepting. A good example is Littlewoods catalogue debt which is often stated as being unenforcable. If you have taken delivery of the goods and even made a few payments then you are liable, signed contract or not.

To the OP - You have questioned the debt and had what looks like some sort of investiagtion take place. Your options appear to be:
a) Pay the full sum
b) See if you complaint can be taken to the next level in Sky's complaints procedure.
c) Ask for a reduced amount in full and final settlement from Lowell.
d) possibly a dozen other options I haven't thought about.

Best of luck.

Karma67

Harassed wrote:

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

I haven't been ignoring your advice...I just was expressing my thoughts and concerns about if the letter would help that was all.

Sorry if this has upset you