Wescot DCA

safesound

This morning I received (or at least hubby did) a letter from Wescot DCA advising me that I owe them £78.30 from an unpaid telephone bill. I'll give you some background and get to the point of what I'd like some opinions on in a sec.
On the 16th of September last year I moved house, so on the 16th of August I contacted said telephone company to inform them that the area I was moving to didnt have their service and that I would require a final bill and that I was giving them their 30 days notice. I even called them on the day of moving to confirm everything was okay and that they could go ahead and disconnect the line.
Fast forward a year to now when I received this letter.
I contacted Wescot who said they couldnt tell me what the money was for so I contacted the telephone company (notice how I'm not mentioning any names) to ask what the bill was for. Anyway after a load of messing around because we "dont have an account with them" (DUH) they finally told us that it was for the period 10 Sept to 16 Oct. We werent living in the property between the 16th of Sept and 16th of Oct but apparently they have no record of us giving them the 30 days notice (although they admit they have a call listed for the 16th of August) so they say we are liable for the full amount.
I offered them payment for the period between 10th and the 16th of September as in all honesty we were living there and did recieve there service but how can they charge us for a month after we moved out?
They refused to take part payment so I told them I'd see them in court which I'm quite happy to do. Which brings me to the opinions part of this post;

Is it reasonable to refuse to pay for the additional month (when we werent living there) because I did everything I was required to do (ie. give them 30 days notice), and how likely is it that a court will agree?

terriblesaver

I dont have a definitive answer this this but to strengthen your case, do you know if the company have their calls monitored or recorded? If you have adviused them that you are cancelling and they have not actioned it then the error is theirs and therefore you should not have to pay for something you have not used and cancelled as agreed in the contract. Try to get the problem escalated internally and see how it goes ... mutter about local ress etc in the right ear and hopefully they will see the error is not yours.

safesound

I mentioned recorded telephone calls to them and then went all quiet and changed the subject. I dont think they have a copy anymore as it was 13 months ago. Would this go in my favour, as they cant prove I didnt inform them or is it a case of me having to prove that I did? Hmmm... I wonder.

Toomuchdebt

I think you have a very strong case as you moved out and let them know and even rang on the day of moving.

Dr.Shoe_2

I would have put it in writing or at least got a name of the person I spoke to.

A similar thing happened to us. We were billed by nPower for a year's worth of electricity before we moved into the property. The bill was even addressed to "The Occupier" (!)

We just categorically refused to pay and it went as far as them threatening court action etc. So I sent them a copy of our tenency agreement by recorded delivery and got a phone call to confirm that they'd got it and that they were going to write the debt off. Fortunately, I had the foresight to take the lady's name because I got another call a few days later asking when I was going to pay and that the court date was set for a week alter!