Problems with BT and an 'outstanding balance' - please help!

MemmaJ

My ex-partner and I separated in the beginning of last year. When he left, all the bills/accounts were transferred into my name and direct debits were transferred to my Bank Account.

At the end of last year, I recieved a Bill for over £200 from BT. I was very shocked at this, as my phone provider is Sky so I actually only pay BT for line rental.

I phoned them to discuss it, and was told that the Direct debit hadn't been "collected" (for want of a better word) since it was set up.
And that's my fault, because....?!

I told them I can't pay the full balance and would therefore like to set up a payment plan. They were supposed to be writing to me, and to be honest, I forgot about it...

Until a few days ago, when a letter - addressed to my ex-partner, not me - came from a debt collection agency, on behalf of BT.

I phoned the Debt Collection Agency to explain that BT were supposed to be dealing with it, and was told that the matter is no longer with BT and that they (the agency) either want to full balance, or a minimum of £66 per month. Needless to say, I said no!

I then phoned BT (even though he'd told me it was no longer in their hands), and had a very difficult conversation with someone who didn't understand what I was trying to say.
He told me that 'someone' had changed my payment option to 'cheque' and that's why the Direct Debit wasn't collected - to which I replied that I hadn't instructed anyone to do that, because I don't even have a cheque book!
I then asked if I could set up a Direct Debit for future payments, so that I don't get in this situation again... Went through all Direct Debit details, and he then told me that the outstanding balance would be collected using those details next month!!! I refused and told him to cancel everything he'd just done, and he then tried to get me to agree to let them collect £54 per month using those details to pay off the outstanding balance. Again, I refused - and then asked to speak to someone in the collections department, as that is who I spoke to at the end of last year when this all started....

He passed me through to the Data Integrity team, and I spoke to a really nice lady who was very understanding and sympathetic - agreeing that it wasn't my fault.
She went to speak to a manager, and when she came back she said it would appear that the reason I didn't recieve any bills is because they were being E-Mailed to me instead... So I asked her what E-mail address they have for me, as I've never recieved any bills by E-Mail... She looked on the system and came back with "oh... we don't have an E-Mail address for you"...!

I asked her about a Payment Plan, and she asked how much I can pay each month. I said only about £20 a month, as I'm a single mum and a student - but she said that the minimum they would accept is £44 a month.

I am so angry about all this - they have even admitted that it wasn't my fault, and they're still being difficult about repaying it!
Surely if it was THEIR error, I shouldn't actually have to pay it all back anyway?! Or they should at least let me pay it back on my terms, at what I can afford?

Does anyone have any advice on this, and how I can deal with it?

macman

Given BT's total incompetence over this, have you actually established that the original direct debits have not been paid from either your account or your ex-partners account?I would want to verify this before doing anything else.
The fact that the DCA letter came addressed to someone who is not the account holder indicates to me that this relates to earlier debts, for which you are not liable if the acccount was in your ex's sole name. They shouldn't even be discussing the debt with you if you are not the person they wrote to-the fact that you live at the same address is irrelevant.
But if they are valid, and you haven't paid any line rental in nearly 18 months, then you will need to come to some compromise with BT over paying back the amount owed, which you are still obliged to pay. How did you manage not to notice for all that time that you were not paying? Unfortunately you've not helped yourself by ignoring the bill for over 4 months.
Assuming that £20 includes your ongoing line rental, you're only offering to pay about £8 a month off-so it would take them over 2 years to recoup it.

BT_company_representative

Hey MemmaJ

This doesn't sound good at all and I'd like to help you. I'll need your account info so I can look into the details - i'll send you a PM with my contact information. Please drop me an email so I can take a look and see what is going on here.

Cheers
Sean
BT Support

MemmaJ

MacMan - I was suspicious when the letter (adressed to ex-partner) came from the debt collection agency, as it reminded me about my outstanding debt. So I phoned them, and they wouldn't talk to me. So my Ex phoned them, and gave them authorisastion to talk to me.
After that, they told me that the debt is from an invoice dated November 2008 - so I then knew it was actually my account (as we separated in January 2008), and informed them of that.

I also told that to BT when I phoned them afterwards.

The Direct Debit has not been collected from either account, I double checked that when I spoke to the lady from the Data Integrity Team.

As for 'not noticing' that I wasn't paying - as I said, I set up a Direct Debit so I assumed it was being collected. And I never recieved any paper bills (which was confirmed by the lady from the Data Integrity Team) because unbeknown to me, they had chosen the 'paperless' option for me meaning that bills are E-mailed instead. Except they didn't have an E-mail address for me!

macman

Then I wonder why the debt letter was still in your ex's name when the account had been changed nearly a year earlier? Unfortunately it looks like you are liable for the unpaid line rental, I would try and work out a compromise agreement with BT, maybe ask them to reduce the debt on the basis that they created this situation by failing to take the direct debits. Did you not notice that no payments were going out to BT on your bank statements?
I would have thought it would be possible to negotiate something between what they want and what you have offered, maybe you can make a small one off payment to get the ball rolling?