BT are billing me from years ago

Rambosmum

HI,

I got a BT phoneline put in back in July 2007, I then cancelled it and moved to talk talk. I was young and naive and had not been told I was signing up to a contract, BT then billed me for £280. I wrote to complain as the person I spoke to on the phone when I signed up had not told me I was signing up to a contract, this was November 16th 2007. I received a phone call on 13th January 2008 asking me to pay my bills, I told the person I was disputing my bill and would not pay until this was resolved. He was satisfied with this and I heard nothing more from BT. I moved out on 13th December 2008, and kept going back to pick up mail until February 2009 when my housemate moved out aswell.

Then today I received a call from a debt collection agency demanding the money! DO I HAVE TO PAY?

Thanks for your replies!

Jen

Mark_In_Hampshire

The guy on 13th Jan 2008 was "satisfied" with this as he'd called to chase up the debt, and was told it was in dispute, not because the situation was OK.

Your situation has come up before. Personally I agree with you - you need to be told it's a contract. However the concensus of opinion that time was that all phone lines have some contract attached, that it's "buyer beware" and that you are indeed liable for the cancellation charges.

DVardysShadow

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

The guy on 13th Jan 2008 was "satisfied" with this as he'd called to chase up the debt, and was told it was in dispute, not because the situation was OK.

Your situation has come up before. Personally I agree with you - you need to be told it's a contract. However the concensus of opinion that time was that all phone lines have some contract attached, that it's "buyer beware" and that you are indeed liable for the cancellation charges.

I fully agree too.

wantmemoney

jenniwat001,
this all seems a bit odd. I'm no expert on this type thing but these are the questions I would be asking myself.

Why has this 'debt' company taken so long to contact you.
Who are they.
Do they really have legal ownership of a debt that you are supposedly legally responsible for.

I would not contact the company concerned until you have a 'battle' plan!

I'm for no minute disagreeing with what as already been said but I would advise you to post and ask on this forum:
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed-internet/

best of luck.

BT_company_representative

Hi jenniwat001

I would like to have this investigated for you to see what is happening. Send me an e-mail to the address in my public profile and I shall look into this for you.

Cheers

Stuart

Rambosmum

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for that. I shall email you this weekend.

Jen