mobile phone account opened by ex

Linada_2

Hi,
I am stuck in a rather bad situation at the moment, needless to say really.

I have recently received letters from a debt collection agency regarding a Vodafone account with an outstanding balance of £348.15.

I have never had a Vodafone account, and judging by the address they have for the account it has originally been opened by my ex, who had a Vodafone account. Evidently he had opened it in my name.

I take it CCA doesn't cover mobile phone accounts, so I hope someone can point me in the right direction as to what to do. Ideally i hope I can prove that the debt should not be in my name.

I am guessing the account was opened in early 2005, which is when i got together with this guy. When we split up, I did have some concern about accounts being left open. I talked to various suppliers, Vodafone as well, informing them of the situation. Vodafone told me they couldn't do anything without ex's cooperation, but would place a note against the account associated with that phone number.
Unfortunately I didn't think to get anything in writing. I was dealing with some fairly severe health problems, which are still ongoing, although to a lesser extent.

Current money situation is bad. Both my and my current partner are on income support for bad health and not much else. We are already paying £29 a month for his debts (2*council tax 1*rent arrears). So there isn't really any wiggle room.

I have told the collection agency about the situation, both in regards to doubting the debt, as well as inability to make any meaningful payments for the foreseeable future. I got a letter back threatening court and bailiff action.

The letter writers at the moment are: Red debt collections services, Lowell portfolio I, and Hamptons legal.

Fribourg

Linada wrote: »

Hi,
The letter writers at the moment are: Red debt collections services, Lowell portfolio I, and Hamptons legal.

Typical practice from them, they are all the same company, they play to scare you, and being open early 2005, and 2011 is around the corner, I would say, wait for a bit longer, to get those 6 years statud barred (my opinion) but lets see, what other member here say about it, do not panic, they want you to, so take it easy.

DarkConvict

Ive heard of this before, the generaly advice is as follows, although it is for at the time not 5 years later.

Inform vodafone of the problem, they cancel the sim card so they cannot run up charges. New sim is sent to your address
Ask for your phone back, if you cant get it back from him inform the police.
You continue to make the contractual payments as it is in your name. Otherwise the contract defaults for failure to pay.

In your case did you know the phone was taken out in your name, did you approve it? If you did sign it your stuck to paying out. If not you could have a case for fraud and use that as your defence if they continue to chase it. Say you told vodafone about this 5 years ago when it happened. You never signed the agreement nor knew about it, when you found out about it you informed vodafone and they said they would handle it.

However by your post and how you talked to vodafone, i get the feeling you were well aware of this contract and your liablity to pay it, so fraud is unlikely to wash after 5 years given you knew about it back then.

Linada_2

I never did sign anything with Vodafone. When i moved in with the guy, we agreed that household bills would be in my name. Landline, Internet, utilities etc. I never considered that to include personal stuff, for example his car bills stayed in his name.

*
Over the six months a lot of money issues appeared. It was the first time i was trying to handle a household, previously everything aside from personal stuff was paid as a monthly lump via a landlord.
When we moved in together he said he had issues with his bank (yes, red flag), and that i should handle the finances and his wages would go into my account, and we really should have a joint one(red flag 2). A few months later my savings were gone, and his only advice was to stop paying anything and not respond to anything(big red barn door being shoved in my face really). Meanwhile he had got a second car and was only working part time on a contract job, when he had bragged how much money he made previously.

In hindsight i was being incredibly stupid naive etc. I relied on the image of a big strong man, which in hindsight was utter *bleep*. I know he has other HUGE debts, which luckily are in his name, but stuff has been fluttering across my doorstep.

As i said, by the time we split up, i ended up with serious health issues. I felt rather left alone, legally and emotionally, and i was really jsut trying to keep myself together enough to sort out the very very basic essentials. I tried quite literally every potential avenue for help, but i got every door slammed in my face. Considering the lack of being able to hold a coherent conversation i can't mind them either really.
*

I have fortunately managed to sort myself out mostly. My health is a tad better, although mostly static; I managed to get an accounting qualification (don't laugh).

I'd just really like to get this sorted out and dealt with as much as possible. If it goes to court and they dock £1 of the benefits, oh well. But I'd really prefer this to be over in as little time as possible. 380 months is too long to be dealing with those guys.

DarkConvict

it may well be that over such a long time the debt was sold, so vodafone may not be chancing it themselves. When debt collectors own debts, they are often old and information not always available. Sometimes its as little as an amount, name, address and basic debt details.

If letters continue for a significant time, it well be worth sending the prove it letter to them. - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=11570893&postcount=2
If they get back to you about it with some proof, state it was fraud and it was reported to vodafone many years ago as you never gave consent for it and you can remember them stating they would deal with it, this been the reason why you do not remember nor acknowledge it.

If they provide no proof, just resend the prove it letter.

It is possible that this may fade away, the amount is not huge, sure they can go for a CCJ against it but whether they will I have not got a clue. They prefer to spend time/money on debts they profit from quickly, taking out CCJ against people/address they do not know if they are still there are not of great profit. I'm sure a debt of £350 vs. £50 court cost to them might be a bit of a risk.

We don't like people to hide/run from debts, but i do not consider this as yours to owe as your ex took it out in your name without permission and you informed vodafone about it many years ago.

Vodafone

Hi Linada

This is a horrible position to be in. I can completely understand you feeling isolated and alone.

If there's anything we can do to help, please feel free to get in touch.

You can send me an email from here with WRT135 in the subject line. Make sure you include a link to your thread and your username in the body of the email.

I truly hope this gets resolved for you quickly so you can move on.

All the best

Kirsty
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK