Sudden Arrival of O2 bill 2.5 yrs old of alleged debt.

O2Schmo2

Really unsure of where we stand here and would appreciate some advice.
My wife has just received a letter today - dated 11/09/09 from O2 stating that an outstanding debt of £653 is overdue from 24/3/07!!
They then go on to state "we know we haven't contacted you about this for a while..."
For a while:rotfl:2.5yrs later!!!!
The letter then states we can ring them to discuss with an 0845 number for O2 and that they would hold the alleged debt for 20 days or it would be sold to a chosen specialist debt purchasing partner Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd.
Obviously my wife was a bit shocked by this as she had no knowledge of this debt and has not received any correspondance from O2 in the past 2.5yrs - my wife did cancell a contract with them in 2007 over poor network coverage and service - she disputed the final bill at the time and sent in a income/expenditure - we never heard anything back and with the arrival of 2 further children in this time life has taken over in its usual way!
On ringing the O2 0845 number today my wife was told the debt had already been passed to Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd - 6 days after the date of the letter NOT 20 days!
On contacting Lowell P. they stated the debt was not with them and should not be with them - after some investigation (by Lowell P. O2 were not willing to investigate) they managed to trace the alleged debt and have agreed that it is highly irregular and have placed it on hold after my wife payed £1.01. Lowell will also look into the the debt and request information from O2 over the reason for the debt as we have had no breakdown and are obviously disputing it!

Where do we stand and what can we do - we have 5 children and are in the middle of moving house, my wife is still on maternity leave and we are struggling to cope.

Thanks in advance for any help!!

Damien & Angie:hello:

Silk

Hi Damien,
Why was your wife asked to pay £1.01 and has she paid it ?
I'm asking because a payment extends the life of the debt before the statute runs out

DUTR

1stly do you owe the money or not? the 5 children /maternity etc has little to do with if a bill is outstanding, O2 customer services is on an 0870 number, sure it's not a con letter?

DarkConvict

6 years is the time it takes for a debt to be written off, so legally it is still valid. But a breakdown would be your first start to see how they worked out the final amount.
As its in dispute and they have not contacted you they for one should not have tried to add any interest charges to the debt. If after advice from this forum others provide you still are required to pay then a common thing to do is a income/expenditure sheet showing them how much spare cash you have left at the end of a month (n.b. saving for holiday/christmas etc. is allowed as expenditure under reasonable living costs)

So if you can only afford £10 a week, then that's all you can pay them.

With regards to a debt collection agency, i am not sure if they should have passed it to them as the debt is in dispute so should be settled with O2 first. I would also advise if there is no quick solution to request all correspondence in writing only so you have a log of the details, incase they attempt court action to recover the debt, which is unlikely in my opinion.

OneADay

Article about Lovell Portfolio 1

http://www.saiweb.co.uk/uncategorized/lowell-portfolio-1-ltd

DarkConvict

OneADay wrote: »

Article about Lovell Portfolio 1

http://www.saiweb.co.uk/uncategorized/lowell-portfolio-1-ltd

Based on that, if they ring just say you don't owe any money to O2, you are not in debt to them.
It appears they might be the bottom feeders of debt collectors.

O2Schmo2

DUTR wrote: »

1stly do you owe the money or not? the 5 children /maternity etc has little to do with if a bill is outstanding, O2 customer services is on an 0870 number, sure it's not a con letter?

Sorry my mistake its 0844 847 1418 Telifonica O2 UK Ltd.

5 children means a lot in terms of living costs etc thank you very much!
And to not have stuck to their own statement within the letter regarding 20 days holding, who is holding the debt and not giving us any breakdown of the alleged debt:mad:

Very stressfull and query grounds for legal advice?

OneADay

Best option - get some legal context through trading standards http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/

They can give you correct guidance on what you should or should not do.

Silk

O2Schmo2 wrote: »

Sorry my mistake its 0844 847 1418 Telifonica O2 UK Ltd.

5 children means a lot in terms of living costs etc thank you very much!
And to not have stuck to their own statement within the letter regarding 20 days holding, who is holding the debt and not giving us any breakdown of the alleged debt:mad:

Very stressfull and query grounds for legal advice?

Hi you will probably be better getting this thread moved over to the Debt section as although it's O2 related there are people over there that specialise in this sort of thing
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=76