o2 - debt resolution

j.d.robertson501

Hi, not sure if this is being posted in the correct area but here goes anyhow...

About 2 weeks ago I phoned up o2 (im on a 24 month contract on Iphone taken out August 2009) as i hadnt paid my bill and it had then been passed to debt collection for about £810 (this the money to end my account). This was well above me so i phoned o2 straight away and they said If i payed £180 it would be fine as this covered my missed bills aswell as a reconnection fee and id be back on o2 which was what i wanted. I thought this was fair enough and better than 800 so I paid £100 and agree to pay the rest the next day.

However, I didnt pay the next day. I know it was stupid and i regret it but even though i had the money i couldnt really afford to spent the last of my money (im a student and didnt have any more coming in for another couple weeks) so I thought it would just be held for a couple weeks as is.

Now that I have been paid iv just phoned o2 again and they are saying it has been passed to westcott (i think thats the name) and im presuming theyl be demanding the full £810 again. (i havent received the letter as im at university just now and all my letters go back home.

The guy on the phone at o2 to made it clear that its out of o2's hands but i dont see how I cant receive the same resolution I did two weeks ago as its in o2's best interest - i pay them what i owe them and they maintain a paying customer.

I understand I need to see the letter first but I just wanted to get active about this as inactivity got me into this mess.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers.

DarkConvict

The harsh truth - Simply put you ran up a bill and failed to pay it ontime, you got into arrears and were disconnected and charged the standard termination. You defaulted and broke contract they are legally allowed to do this and mark your credit file which such information. You then offered to pay the next day and they agreed (this is surprising), nonetheless you still failed to pay and it was passed to a debt collector. You want 02 to take it back but they won't, this is because they do not have to and this way they will get paid in full and do not have to offer you a service.
Once you have defaulted you owe the contract length in full but will not receive the service due to the breach in contract (same applies to gyms).

At this point in time you have had plenty of chances to pay and stay within the contract. 02 has acted according to the contract so really there isn't anything you can do, you owe £810 and mobile companies do get CCJs so my advice is come to an arrangement to pay with the debt collector (do this in writing) and knock this down to a lesson learned for the future, student or not you are responsible for your finances and what contract you sign.

property.advert

Face up to the fact that students should know better than to need to show off with phones they cannot afford whilst still students.

We knew that when I was at uni. What happened ?

southoftheriver

So much for the support rather than judgment!

OP, you need to try and get hold of the letter asap to see what it actually says. As you predict it is most likely that they will want the full £810 or whatever is remaining as you were unable to keep to the terms of the original agreement. It might be worth getting in touch with your local CAB to see if they can give you any more advice about how to deal with this.

incesticde

southoftheriver wrote: »

So much for the support rather than judgment!

OP, you need to try and get hold of the letter asap to see what it actually says. As you predict it is most likely that they will want the full £810 or whatever is remaining as you were unable to keep to the terms of the original agreement. It might be worth getting in touch with your local CAB to see if they can give you any more advice about how to deal with this.

Flogging the iphone would help pay the bill...

RobertoMoir

southoftheriver wrote: »

So much for the support rather than judgment!
.

Sometimes people really need to take their medicine no matter how bad it tastes. True support is knowing that and telling them that they need to take it, not saying "There there... {{hugs}} just ignore the nasty medicine and you'll feel better"

DarkConvict

There is little encouragement we can really give, all you can do is try contacting 02 but mobile companies aren't great to deal with, your dealing with 02, and you already had a 2nd chance to pay. You could try hunting down a 02 CEO email address and see if you can get someone sympathic at 02 to help but i very much doubt it.

I'm a uni student too, had a N95 on £45 a month, could just afford it but realised the error of my ways after 18 months, I got to drop down to £20 a month.

The harsh reality you need to understand is you defaulted on the contract 02 do not have to give you back the service, they can now force you to pay without providing one. You offered to pay £180, so that along with the sale of the IPhone should be able to pay off about half the debt, that just leaves you with £400 or so to pay at probably £50-100 a month.

You made a mistake, you need to deal with it and learn from it. Understand the importance of contracts