Help Needed!!!!!

EasilyAggravated

i dont work due to illness so im only in receipt of pittence benefits. ive also been suffering depression for the past 18 months.
i owe onetel some money and they passed the debt onto a company called buchanan clark and wells.
in my wisdom i decided to ignore the debt hoping that it would float away and leave me alone. well i was wrong and i knew i was wrong, but as i said above im suffering depression (todays one of my good days)
i just tried phoning to set up a payment plan, explained my situation and got the response
'we arent here to help you, we are here to collect a debt for our client, onetel'

im up the !!!!!! creek because its now being passed to a solicitor due to my ignorance. is there anything i can do to sort this out without it going there? ive exhausted all possibilities. onetel dont want to know because its no longer in their hands. buchanan clark and wells dont want to know because theyre a bunch of @rseholes.

lynzpower

Sorry to hear of your problems with onetel

I dont think you are the first with these issues with them.

Do you actually owe them the money? Or are you disputing it?

Lynz xx

skylight

They are not legally allowed to refuse a payment, so just send them one.

Take a look at National Debtline, they have budget planners and template letters for this sort of thing. Just do a realistic budget and a letter with how much you can pay and send the payment to them. (You must keep up payments) And next month, and next month too.

You cannot pay what you can't afford. The WORST case is that they take you to court - although unlikely as this costs them. Even if this happens, as long as your budget is fair and you have been paying them, the judge will not make you pay what you don't have.

EasilyAggravated

lynzpower wrote:

Sorry to hear of your problems with onetel

I dont think you are the first with these issues with them.

Do you actually owe them the money? Or are you disputing it?

Lynz xx

both, sorry it was a bit scarce in detail. i'll explain further

set up an account last august with them. got first phone bill for £2
paid that
second bill a little bit more
third bill jumped to over £60
fourth bill well over £100
so they say i now owe them £319.78

apparently calls were made at daft o clock in the morning.
my partner gave birth last july so anyone who has little kiddies knows that sleep is something that happens rarely.
ive tried disputing the amount but got nowhere, mainly due to indian call centres. however i wanted to set up a payment plan whereby i could start paying, dispute the amount and if they agree and ive paid too much back then we sort it from there.

lynzpower

EA

Have you had statements from them from these jumps in charging?

Are they numbers you recognise? Did you make the calls or is it an error on thier part.

they have to give you a breakdown what these charges are for.

CLAPTON

surely you have itemised bills or can access them on line and so see whether or not they are yours?

EasilyAggravated

CLAPTON wrote:

surely you have itemised bills or can access them on line and so see whether or not they are yours?

they gave me some spiel about not being able to send out itemised bills. however, with reluctance provided me with a computer print out that stated i had made !!!!!! load of calls at daft o clock to premium rate numbers.

CLAPTON

is it possible they were generated by your computer by a virus or similar ?

lynzpower

EasilyAggravated wrote:

they gave me some spiel about not being able to send out itemised bills. however, with reluctance provided me with a computer print out that stated i had made !!!!!! load of calls at daft o clock to premium rate numbers.

Are you CERTIAIN that you or your partner did not make these calls?

EasilyAggravated

lynzpower wrote:

Are you CERTIAIN that you or your partner did not make these calls?

is it possible to be more than CERTAIN?

we had a newborn, i know its not proof but anyone with newborn kids knows sleep is a rareity.

kuohu

There is useful advice regarding disputed premium rate calls on the Ofcom website here:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/landline/company/prs/

Hope this helps and good luck.