Carphone Warehouse supposed debt

Deeks_2

Hi, sorry if this is the wrong forum.

I signed up for a supposedly free laptop deal at the carphone warehouse. To qualify I had to change my telephone and broadband provider to TalkTalk for a 24 month period.

When I changed bank accounts last august I started getting letters and phone calls from Carphone requesting money for the laptop.

Despite telephone calls and letters to them requesting a copy of the credit agreement, it has never arrived.

I should at this stage point out that the broadband subscription is £15, which is exactly the same as they have been deducting for the laptop. (which is why it never clicked when glancing over my bank statements). The broadband and telephone bills are all upto date.

So I am disputing the debt and want the money they have taken out of my account refunded. I am adamant that the laptop should be free and do not recall signing a credit agreement or having a credit check. However as it was over 14 months ago my memory is a but hazy.

The account has been passed to their debt collection agency who are requesting the full amount paid. They have at the moment put the account on hold while I consider seeking legal advice.

The debt they want recovered is around £170. They want it in full and have stated they will not accept installments if I chose to pay. Which I cannot afford. They also say they have contacted the Carphone warehouse who have advised them to proceed with legal action as they can prove the debt.

Do the carphone warehouse have a legal obligation to supply me with proof of debt should I request it?

Are there any actions anyone would recommend I take?

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Tixy

Have you done a formal request for the credit agreement (enclosing a £1 postal order)? Did you do this to Carphone or the DCA?

Deeks_2

Wow thanks for the quick response

I have sent a 2 letters to both the Carphone warehouse and the DCA but didn't send a £1 p/o

Should i resend? And to who?

Thanks

Tixy

As the DCA are now the ones chasing you they are the people to send it to.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=30355981&postcount=8
They have a right to charge you £1 for a copy.

If you still have no luck you might want to consider a subject access request (although that costs £10) but shows everything they hold on you.

So who have the DDs been going out to? Both the phone & the internet one to Carphone? Or is it one to talktalk and one to carphone?

Deeks_2

Hi, the DD for the laptop went to carphone warehouse. The broadband and the phone to talk talk.

When I sent the letter to the DCA, they put the account on hold till they spoke to their client. To which they now say their client has proof of liability so I presume the DCA don't hold anything.

Do you still think I should sent a formal letter and p/o to the DCA? If they are not willing to provide this and go ahead with their threat of legal action, where would I stand?

Thanks again

Deeks_2

Hi, I'm about to send off the letter as per the link above. However I'm a little confused after looking at the Unenforceability thread where it states in the first flow chart that if the account was opened after April 2007 then you should agree repayment plans with the lender/agent.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=30355981#post30355981

I'm obviously arguing that I have no account with them but was just wondering if the letter above is still valid as I got the 'free' laptop in 2008?

Again thanks for any advice.

fermi

Was this deal actually offered under a regulated credit agreement?

If it was then.........

For agreements prior to April 2007 a court should not enforce a debt where an agreement was not signed for a regulated debt.

For agreements made after that date that restriction has been removed. It is enough for the creditor to prove by other means that you owe the debt.

DarkConvict

If the laptop was free, and the agreements for it were telephone and broadband, these would be service agreements, not credit agreements. As such sending a £1 PO for a CCA would not do anything as no credit agreement exists.
A £10 SAR letter would probably work better.

But from your original post, i still don't see what is wrong. You changed provider, you got the laptop. Then suddenly you got letters demanding it back, why?

You can send them the prove it letter for free, they have to tell you what the debt is/how it occurred.

SmudgeUK

From what i can make out from the post is this:

The OP gt offered a free laptop, if they changed their home phone to talk talk (24 month contract)

In the post it says this was over 14 months ago, and they changed banks, now do i take it in the changeover the OP didnt inform talk talk, and therefore not paid after 14 months?

If so then are they within their rights to cancel the agreed contract??????

We need more info before we can assume talk talk is at fault here

Deeks_2

Thanks for the quick responses.

I find the whole thing very confusing to be honest.

In a nutshell, I went to the carphone warehouse with a friend who had signed up for the same deal some months earlier (and never has had any problems). They didn't have the same laptop in stock so offered me an alternative.

From what I remember I signed some paperwork (I cannot locate my copies) for the transfer to talk talk and had to phone them later with my mac address.

I don't recall doing any credit checks etc which I thought would be mandatory if taking out a credit agreement.

The reason they are demanding payments now is because I changed bank account and therefore the payments carphone warehouse were taking out of the old account defaulted.

They haven't asked for the laptop back. They can have it if they want as it died shortly after I had it for 12 months. I didn't bother finding out about warrenty etc as it was free and didn't work very well from day one so I just purchased another.

From what I can gather the DCA and CPW are saying there is a credit agreement and all I want them to do is to prove this. If I had inadvertly signed an agreement it was done very sneakily by the salesperson but I suppose then I wouldn't have a leg to stand on?

What is this prove it letter?

SmudgeUK

If you defaulted on the payments, cause you would have signed a 24 month service agreement with them, then i think they would have it covered in their agreement that if you didnt fulfill the full 24 month contract with talk talk then they could infact charge you the full sum for the cost of the laptop.


Seeming you havet got the paperwork anymore, you would need to subject access request talk talk, that wy you will get a copy of the agreement signed, and be able t ew the terms of the 24 month contract.......

bear in mind this costs £10.00 and without yo enclosing the payment, they dont have to send anything.