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mobile phone contract -v- credit report

I'm not sure where to post this - please move if its better handled somewhere else.

My mobile provider has listed late/missing payments on my credit file with Experian in relation to a contract that I've refused to pay for. The story is long and involved and I won't bother you all with it here, but I say they breached my contract and they say I have, because I'm no longer paying. That's all well and good if the provider has the gall to actually take me to court for the money, so we can let someone independent decide who is right. But my provider is well aware his case has more holes than a string vest and isn't prepared to go to court - they're just happy to wreck my credit rating. I know I can list a notice of correction against that entry on my file, but I really want it removed as its a rather unpleasant blot, appearing month after month as another late/unpaid payment. How can I force them to '#### or get off the pot', as the saying goes!
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Comments

  • Jon_01
    Jon_01 Posts: 5,901 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If they can show a valid reason for the default you can't get it removed unless you can resolve your issue with the network and they agree to get it taken down.

    Your other point about them taking you to court won't happen. All they'll do is pass the debt to a collections agency (who will then add their own costs).

    You need to get the matter sorted at some level with them asap.
  • robt_2
    robt_2 Posts: 3,401 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I'm not sure where to post this - please move if its better handled somewhere else.

    My mobile provider has listed late/missing payments on my credit file with Experian in relation to a contract that I've refused to pay for. The story is long and involved and I won't bother you all with it here, but I say they breached my contract and they say I have, because I'm no longer paying. That's all well and good if the provider has the gall to actually take me to court for the money, so we can let someone independent decide who is right. But my provider is well aware his case has more holes than a string vest and isn't prepared to go to court - they're just happy to wreck my credit rating. I know I can list a notice of correction against that entry on my file, but I really want it removed as its a rather unpleasant blot, appearing month after month as another late/unpaid payment. How can I force them to '#### or get off the pot', as the saying goes!

    Not really sure how people can help without the vital information to be honest.

    Regardless of what they did, you stopped paying.
  • Sorry, I didn't think that bit was relevant inasmuch as if their case was any good, they'd sue me! Still, the brief details are this:
    I signed an 18 month contract in exchange for a new Android phone with 3G. Due to a long-running problem with the handset, I can't get 3G. At all. And never have. The provider says they are waiting for an update from the phone manufacturer, which has currently been delayed four seperate times, each time with the message "we're still trying, it'll be out in another two months". After 8 months, I spoke to the provider and demanded a 3G phone in exchange for my one. They refused, but insisted that I still pay my contract. I stood by my guns, that I didn't have the phone I paid for, and refused to pay. I'm still telling them now that if they provide me a 3G phone I'll start paying again. That's it, in a nutshell.
  • robt_2
    robt_2 Posts: 3,401 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    The main problem is that your phone is separate from your airtime contract. They have (I assume) provided you with the service enabling you to make calls, texts, Internet (albeit slow) etc. Unless they promised you a 3G service (and handset) as part of the contract then you are stuck to be honest (and are in the wrong).

    It comes down to their customer goodwill - there is no point in either party suing - there is nothing to sue for.
  • Jon_01 wrote: »
    Your other point about them taking you to court won't happen. All they'll do is pass the debt to a collections agency (who will then add their own costs).
    Errrr, I think you forgot to add "though of course those costs are wholly unenforceable unless and until a court agrees with them" after your bit about debt collector fees.
  • robt wrote: »
    The main problem is that your phone is separate from your airtime contract. They have (I assume) provided you with the service enabling you to make calls, texts, Internet (albeit slow) etc. Unless they promised you a 3G service (and handset) as part of the contract then you are stuck to be honest (and are in the wrong).

    It comes down to their customer goodwill - there is no point in either party suing - there is nothing to sue for.

    I'm not convinced that the airtime and phone are as seperate as you say - I think they're indivisible parts of the same contract, in the circumstance where you 'buy' your phone direct from the airtime provider in exchange for a promise to pay for 18 months? Put it this way - if I buy a TV which has a 'free' DVD player with it, and the DVD player doesn't work, your version of events has it that I have no claim with the retailer, after all I bought the TV only (the airtime contract) and I got the DVD player for free (the phone).
  • robt_2
    robt_2 Posts: 3,401 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I'm not convinced that the airtime and phone are as seperate as you say - I think they're indivisible parts of the same contract, in the circumstance where you 'buy' your phone direct from the airtime provider in exchange for a promise to pay for 18 months? Put it this way - if I buy a TV which has a 'free' DVD player with it, and the DVD player doesn't work, your version of events has it that I have no claim with the retailer, after all I bought the TV only (the airtime contract) and I got the DVD player for free (the phone).

    I'm sorry if your not convinced, but that is the way it works. Your analogy doesn't work either as they are both physical items, as opposed to an ongoing service contract.

    It is neither here nor there anyway, as you didn't pay (either upfront or on HP) for the phone.
  • No you misunderstand. I'm not 'arguing' with you - if that's the way it is, then that's the way it is. I am still a little bemused, because the provider was happy to agree he hasn't provided what he promised he would provide but still believed I had to provide what I promised to provide. The cost of buying the phone was about £400, and yet I was given it 'free'. Obviously they wouldn't have given it free if I'd just asked for it with no contract, so it seems to follow that the phone is an inducement to accept the airtime contract and thus an integral part of the overall contract - it's (at least part of) the 'consideration'. Still, there seems to be an alternative view of that, so let's rephrase the original question:

    I'd like to pay the outstanding amount on my contract to remove the problem on my credit card file, and then I'd like to initiate my own small claims court summons against the provider for failing to keep the promises he made about the equipment. Are we in any better position yet? Because for the life of me, I'm not going to simply let my airtime provider completely fail to give what he promised and smugly demand that I don't have a choice but to bend over and take it :)
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Whether your network have breached the contract or not, that doesn't give you the right to breach it by not paying. Paying now will not "remove the problem on your credit file" - those late payments will be in place for six years after you close the account. As others have said if you leave it you will end up with defaults, debt collectors adding charges and possibly a CCJ. The correct course of action is to complain about the handset in writing by recorded delivery, once you have exhausted the official complaints procedure you could taken the case to the ombudsman (not court) - all the while you should be paying under protest.
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • Great. A company lies blatantly and completely fails to deliver what they promise. The customer? Oh, he's shafted. Tough doodies. Pay up anyway. What a wonderful flippin democracy we live in. Personally, I hope someone firebombs their offices
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