Carphone Warehouse cancellation

Fed_Up_Being_Doormat

in summer 2007 I cancelled a phone contract held with Carphone Warehouse. Although the contract was cancelled via recorded delivery I no longer have the postage details as I have heard nothing further relating to the account. However when checking my credit report recently I found an entry stating I owe Carphone Warehouse over £700. As mentioned already, I have received no notification either from them or anyone else relating to this account and no attempt has been made to take payment from my account since cancellation.

Email conversation:

Me: Brief details of my query:
When checking my credit report recently I have discovered an entry from Carphone Warehouse claiming I am currently in debt to the value of £722 (full details at bottom). My phone contract which was held through the company was cancelled properly with all money which was owed being paid and I still have access to bank statements from the time to clarify this should I need to take this matter further. Since cancelling the contract I have had no correspondence from either Carphone Warehouse or O2. Company name: CARPHONE WAREHOUSE Account type: Communications Started: 09/01/2006 Default Balance: £65 Current Balance: £722 Defaulted On: 22/06/2007 File Updated for the Period to: 20/12/2009 Status History: The account is in default . You failed to keep to your credit agreement and have not responded satisfactorily to requests to bring your payments up to date, so the credit agreement has ended.

CPW: Dear Mr X

Thank you for your email.

I can confirm that this debt relates to the mobile number X. This contract was disconnected on the 10th February 2009 due to the bad debt on the account.

I can see that this account was not disconnected prior to this as we did not receive a disconnection letter from yourself to request this. As per the Terms and Conditions of your contract, we require a written 30 day disconnection notice before an account is disconnected.

Due to the above information, I have to advise that you will be liable for the charges on the account.

I am sorry that I could not offer a more favourable response for you.



Me: If the account was not succesfully cancelled could you please offer some explanation as to why I have not received a single bill in the past 32 months. In this time I have not changed address, email or home telephone number yet have received no communication whatsoever. The only reason I have noticed this account is still active is due to a credit check.


CPW: Dear Mr X,

Thank you for your e-mail.

As your account had been passed to a debt collection agency all monthly bills would have been passed to them.

As they had taken the account over it would have been the debt collection agency's responsibility to ensure you received your monthly bills.

If you have any further queries please reply to this e-mail or call our customer services team on 0870 111 7200.



Could someone please advise on what I can do from here as although no-one actually seems to want this money (which I don't have anyway) it throws up a problem on my credit report every month. Today it has prevented me setting up a £200 overdraft for emergency use. As far as I am aware I should still have been receiving phone bills from CPW if the line was still active, or at least the first month or two before they passed it to a debt collection agency. Also I have no idea which debt collection agency as they haven't contacted me.

Thanks for any assistance offered.

DarkConvict

If you were receiving bills, you should still have continued to receive them. If they stopped sending bills you could assume that the account has successfully closed as you heard nothing more from them.

For them to pass it to a DCA you generally get 3 months of arrears, so 3 months of bills, and a warning it will be closed and passed to a DCA with a default added. Now if only you had kept that recorded delivery number, in some cases the post office can track down the number as it is logged at the post office you sent it from. Since sending a letter there is a legal assumption that it has arrived, as such by not receiving bills any more you considered the account closed due to your cancellation letter.

in_the_Cotswolds

Do not call them. Always write so you have a paper trail. As a lot of people have found out things get "changed". And it stops "he said, she said".

Fed_Up_Being_Doormat

So far all communication has been through email (faster than mail and I can't even arrange a small overdraft for emergencies because of it). I am wary nowadays about dealing with things over the phone as I have been caught out in the past with offers made over the phone.

DarkConvict

Email is fine, it is written/recorded.

mobilejunkie

But (as I have read/understand things) isn't necessarily accepted in a court of law? When things are this serious a recorded delivery letter carries more creditibility and substance.

DarkConvict

mobilejunkie wrote: »

But (as I have read/understand things) isn't necessarily accepted in a court of law? When things are this serious a recorded delivery letter carries more creditibility and substance.

Not something i have heard of, but might be the case.

I think email would be better for the reason that a recorded letter, all you know is a 'letter' was delivered, could have been blank. But with an email stored on servers elsewhere you have no control over, they have an exact time/date and content of the email unaltered.

mobilejunkie

True. The problem is the judge would allow the copy of the letter and proof of receipt but (again, as I have read) has discretion as to whether or not to accept emails in evidence. Of course, just because I read it doesn't make it true - I've never had to rely on emails when going to court so will bow to those with superior knowledge.

MakeitgoRIGHT

Fed_Up_Being_Doormat wrote: »

in summer 2007 I cancelled a phone contract held with Carphone Warehouse. ...the contract was cancelled via recorded delivery.

You mightbe able to trace the records held by RM to prove that you did send a recorded letter to CPW. That would be useful evidence as there are few other reasons why a customer might send a recorded deliver letter to CPW. Would be good if you also had a copy of the letter sent, still on your computer, maybe.

If you can get this together, write to CPW and ask them to call off the dogs as all of this is costing you lots of time for which you will seek reimbursement if it continues. (Might work)

Meanwhile try a few legal forums for advice on the best approach. Always good to get a couple of good opinions.

CPW_cheats_customers

Hi
I have had a similar problem with CPW disconnections, Im convinced it is a scam so I want others to be aware!

Official Contract expiry = Jan26 2010

I rang CPW early December to find out what I need to do to disconnect. They said I cannot do anything until 24th Dec 2009 and I have to ring them and request a disconnection and details.

I rang them on the 24th Dec 2009, couldnt get through until around midday and was given the address to send the letter to and then told the disconenction has been registered.

I stopped getting bills too like the other users. Becuase of the Xmas period and work commitments, I could not post the letter until the 29th. It was recorded. I heard nothing and had no bills but I noticed last week that my line is still active!

So I rang them on Wed 3rd Feb asking whats going on and they said they had no letter!! and wanted proof of purchase! so Today I got the receipt and checked royal mail site and it was delievered on the 5th to CPW !!! The lady today said that all of a sudden they got a letter for disconnection yesterday and disconnection will be 1 month of receiving the letter!!!!! I suspect that this trick will work with most people but I was fuming and I challenged them, the girl from disconnections which said she was also from complaints dept said she will change it to tomorrows date (5th Feb)

Again I was (and still am not) happy that I was told to phone on a specific date to get the disconnection address and process and they wont do anything from the actual day they receive the letter! she said you have to give 30 days notice and the day I can phone is 4 days before which is why I was told to phone on the 24th Dec, I asked why I was not told I have to get the letter to them before the 26th to fulfil the 30 day notice and why I was not adviced to ensure it was recorded and first class and also the fact that because it is Xmas period that maybe I should be allowed to call earlier and she had no reply! I also asked why I couldnt be told earlier than the 24th Dec what the process was and no comment other than its policy!

They have tried to con me and I am sure that many more customers will have gone through the same as I have done, my advice is to ensure you get them to clarify their process and ensure you have enough days to get the paperwork to them, or even change the phone to pay-as-you-go for the minimum cost and theow away the chip! it will work out cheaper both mentally and by cost!

in the meantime i will endeavour to tell my story to the world of decent, hard working people who like me are tageted by companies like this!

Im going to cancel my DD to ensure they dont get money out of my account!

mobilejunkie

Cancelling your dd is financial suicide, whatever the rights and wrongs. Send a Letter Before Action stating the 30 days notice must run from the date they received your cancellation letter (5th January, assuming you sent it to the correct (Southampton) address and give them notice you will sue for the overcharge if they don't rectify their "error" (leave out the inverted commas) within 7 days. You have to know exactly what you're doing with any cpw company, be able to prove that you have done it correctly and play hardball if they try it on. This is all well established in all sorts of situations. Your actual mistake (to avoid all the hassle) was to fail to send the letter 60 days before your contract was up, asking for disconnection at the end of the contract period. You ave fallen into their usual trap of phoning them and believing that you actually NEED a so-called code and/or that you can't give notice until the last 32 days - it's a complete and utter lie (they lie a lot about many things). Proper research on here would have forewarned you about this (and many other) scams they continue to enjoy. This particular one has been going on for several years to my personal (and many others') knowledge.