O2 + Debt Agency - Advice Please

powerful_Rogue

Was wondering if anyone is able to assist with the following situation.

My partner cancelled her contact with O2 on the 28th January as the 12-month contract had expired and she had gone onto three. In February a bill was received from O2 stating that £47 was owed. Looked through the bill and this was for calls made in January.

A few days later another bill was received stating she owed £188 and was to be paid immediately. Looking at the bill this was for service after the contact was cancelled. Once charge was for £145 dated February 2006 – March 2007!

My partner phoned O2 up and explained the situation and they stated they would look into it and call her back. A call was never received back so we thought it must have been dealt with.

All the bills has been sent to our new address which we moved into on September 2005.

Today my partner received a telephone call from the people that moved into her old house stating a man had come around asking about her and he had left a brown envelope.
We picked it up and it turns out to be from a debt collection agency appointed by O2 to collect the £188!

The note inside was handwritten and said

Moorcroft Debt recovery limited.
O2 - £188.43

I have called to see if you acknowledge this debt and wish to pay it.
If you do I can arrange weekly / fortnightly or monthly collections after negotiating the payment.
Should you wish to do this please call me, the number is on the card, and we can meet at a mutually agreeable time.
This is the final chance to make payments prior to court action.
Thank you. Graham.

You Must call within 7 days or it will be aborted.

So we called the male and stated that the £188 was in dispute at present. The male said that we needed to give him our new address so he could come around and get us to sign a form saying that the account was in dispute. We made it clear we would not give our address until this had been resolved with O2. Anyway, he made a few more remarks to try and intimidate and then put the phone down in a huff!

My partner phoned O2 and said that she is willing to pay the £47 as this is what she owes, but will not be paying any of the other charges. O2 said that the other charges were from when she phoned up and renewed her contract!

This went on for a good 20 minutes going around in circles. The male at O2 kept on saying that the contract was renewed on the 28th January – The date my partner phoned up to cancel. Apparently he has a note on the system telling him this.
My partner asked them to review the phone conversation in which she was told, “Calls to O2 were not recorded in January/February”

The male at O2 said he would send all past statements out, not that this is much help as they only go up till February and we already have them in front of us!
He said he would only send the notes on the account out if we paid a £10 fee (guessing this is Data Protection Act)

Also asked why a debt collector was sent to the old address, even though O2 had our new address for 10 months! How bad is that!

He was asked to contact the debt collection agency to tell them the account is in dispute to which he replied “its not in dispute, you owe us £188” and refused to contact the debt collectors.

What do we do now? We have a debt collector who only knows our old address threatening court action in seven days.
We have a company saying we renewed the contract when in fact we phoned up to cancel it.

Sorry the post is so long, but your help is greatly appreciated.

happyhunter

So O2 claimed you have renewed the contract back in January. Did they send you an upgraded phone at the time or provided an improved tarrif that was obvious to both you and them that they have renewed your contract?
Assuming they haven't given you any goodies then tell them why would you agree to renew a contract for further 12 months for no apparent reason.

maniac886

One way of proving this is if you look on your bills I am guessing they will have just charged you line rental. If you did not know that you had been upgraded then all the statements should show that no calls/text messages were sent from the phone.

h4zel

I am in dispute with O2 at the moment for a very similar thing... this was about 18 months ago now and I cancelled my contract with them and I even got a letter confirming from them confirming it was cancelled and that I owe nothing - zero balance :j

However, I had numerous phone calls and letters a few months later stating that I owe O2 £65!! :eek:

I advised them of the aforementioned letter (with the zero balance!) and said that I dispute the debt and for them to send me proof - which they didn't.. and they stopped calling and writing..

However, about 2 months ago I get a copy of my credit file from Experian and as clear as day there is a DEFAULT on there from O2 for £65!!!!!!!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

I have obviously written to O2 about this asking for proof etc. but to date they have not written back - I sent them 2 recorded delivery letters, one in May, one in June and so far NOTHING!!! :mad:

Any advice??

matrix999

Phone the following number and you will get through to one of Peter Erskine's Senior Customer Relations Team at O2's Head Office.

Peter Erskine is the Managing Director of O2 and his team of advisors can sort just about anything out - much better to speak to them than customer services.

The number is: 0845 3300684

Let me know how you get on.

HTH

powerful_Rogue

Many thanks to everyone for thier help and advice.

To confirm, I received a bill 14th Feb for £47.74 for previous calls etc. This I understand because this would have been calls made before the contract ended on the 28th Jan.

Another bill was then received on the 14th March for £188. On this they have put:

O2 25 - 14th Feb - 29 Jan 07 = £145

and some other extra charges. This was when I called them up and they said they would look into it and call me back. Nothing was heard so presume they had resovled it. No new handset was received and no other letters.

No calls/Texts were sent after the contract was cancelled.

I dont believe it when they say phone calls were not recorded back in Jan/Feb time. what an excuse.

Just stuck in the situation where O2 wont budge and moorcroft are on my back now.

Will try giving that number a call that matrix posted.

powerful_Rogue

matrix999 wrote:

Phone the following number and you will get through to one of Peter Erskine's Senior Customer Relations Team at O2's Head Office.

Peter Erskine is the Managing Director of O2 and his team of advisors can sort just about anything out - much better to speak to them than customer services.

The number is: 0845 3300684

Let me know how you get on.

HTH

Hiya!

Contacted this number and they were very helpful. They stated that they didnt have a recording of the call, but would carry out and investigation and let me know the result within the next five days.

They are also going to contact moorcroft to get them off my back.

Many Thanks

matrix999

powerful_Rogue wrote:

Hiya!

Contacted this number and they were very helpful. They stated that they didnt have a recording of the call, but would carry out and investigation and let me know the result within the next five days.

They are also going to contact moorcroft to get them off my back.

Many Thanks

Good Result!!

powerful_Rogue

Well I got a letter from O2 today.

I am sorry to hear of the difficulities when your mobile account was disconnected with termination charges. You say you were not aware your phone was in contract and I can appreciate the frustration this has caused you.

I can confirm your new contract started on 28 January 2006 anf that you received £100 as a resign credit. This was added to your account on your February 2006 bill. I have enclosed a copy of your new contract details for your perusal.

Your outstanding balance is no £188 and must be paid direct to Moorcroft Credit Services Ltd.

I hope this clarifies our position for you.

Yours Sincerely

Customer Relations Executive

In the letter they got my name wrong, they called me Miss B Rogue instead of Miss A Rouge.

They also sent a copy of the alledged agreement which looks like this

FROM: mr [email]rougue@rogue1983@O2.co.uk[/email]
TO: mycare@O2mail.co.uk

Caller Name: Miss Rogue
Call Notes: Called to disc. Gone to three
Deal Offered: O2 25 £10 off £100 resign
Deal Agreed: Y
12 Month Contract Agreed: Y

But at the top of this letter they call me MR! They even get my mobile number wrong.

There was a £100 credit on my bill, but this just came up as "promotion" had I had known it had anything to do with a new contract I would have phoned up straight away.

I really dont know where to go from here. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I have changed the name deatils, but I have used the same prinicpal. This is an issue my partner is having, so thats why it refers to me as a she.

powerful_Rogue

Any advice at all people?

matrix999

I hate to say this but it looks like your liable to pay the outstanding £188.00 as O2 have completed there investigation.

The name thing as far as io'm aware is irrelevant as you have acknowledged that the account in question is in fact your account and the money outstanding relates to a service you have received from O2.

Sorry for the bad news