Got a letter saying I owe money.....

kmb216

Hi all,

Im new to this so bear with me. But Id like some advice on some letters I keep getting. Accordingly I owe £498 to a Vodafone (which I did have one in 2006) But Im sure this was paid - so I thought Id sign up to one of these free trial credit reports for 14 days to have a look at when this is supposedly from......theres nothing on there from Vodafone.

I then thought it was getting very strange so I was going to email the company and ask for some sort of proof I owe it as dont think Id send nearly £500 to a PO Box address!!! I found the companies website along with alot of 'scam: beware' and 'avoid these people' forums.

Im not sure what I do next. They've sent quite a few letters but nothing else seems to become of it. Surely all my debts should show on my credit history? Im just a bit gutted as I did have a bad time when I turned 18 (18th birthday, lots of offers through your letterbox....you know how it is :S ) Ive worked so hard and tried to sort my CH out even have a couple of new loans I pay everytime and on time. Can anyone help?


Company sending letters are: Lowell Portfolio LTD and Red?? (working on behalf of Lowell)

Tixy

Usually the first thing we would recommend is to send the prove it letter to lowell - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11570893&postcount=2
That means you are not admitting that you owe the money and they would have to prove that the money was owed.

Lowell/ Red are a debt collection agency and do buy legitamate debts from creditors, so its not actually a scam as such. The problems often occur when they try to locate people and randomly try anyone with the same name as the debtor or similar stuff.

If this proves to be your vodaphone account then if necessary do you think you could prove that you paid the vodaphone account you had years ago? did you used to pay by DD? (you shouldn't need to have to prove this but just might be handy if you could at a later stage).

Vodafone

Hi kmb216,

I can understand the concerns you have here and would certainly like to take a closer look at this for you to see what's happened.

To enable us to do this could you email the details of your previous airtime account with us together with any references quoted in the correspondence you've received via the Contact us form here quoting the code WRT135 - FAO Lee in the subject line?

Once sent you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. So we can make sure it reaches us could you update the thread with this and we'll get back to you as soon as we can?

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

stapeley

As this letter is from a DCA , they could very well be fishing . Write back without acknowledging or confirming your name and details . NEVER RING THEM ! Just use their reference number and say you have no knowledge of a debt to their company and suggest they check their details. Never sign your reply .

Culex

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi kmb216,

I can understand the concerns you have here and would certainly like to take a closer look at this for you to see what's happened.

To enable us to do this could you email the details of your previous airtime account with us together with any references quoted in the correspondence you've received via the Contact us form here quoting the code WRT135 - FAO Lee in the subject line?

Once sent you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. So we can make sure it reaches us could you update the thread with this and we'll get back to you as soon as we can?

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Whilst that is remarkably helpful, it would surely be better if Vodaphone ceased selling debts to DCAs that are reputed to try collecting monies from people whose name is similar to that of the debtor.

honey10

well, personally i wouldn't hold out much hope of vodafone helping. they have owed me £300 for over a year, and im still nowhere near getting it back.

Culex

honey10 wrote: »

well, personally i wouldn't hold out much hope of vodafone helping. they have owed me £300 for over a year, and im still nowhere near getting it back.

Perhaps you should sell the debt to Lowells?

Vodafone

Culex wrote: »

Whilst that is remarkably helpful, it would surely be better if Vodaphone ceased selling debts to DCAs that are reputed to try collecting monies from people whose name is similar to that of the debtor.

Hi Culex,

I can appreciate where you're coming from here and would like to assure that we do try to resolve disputes when they arise.

What I would add is that as well as sending monthly bills up to the point at which an account has been disconnected we also send additional correspondence advising the customer of the status of their account and ask that they make contact with us within a certain amount of time to discuss matters further.

It is usually only in the event of no contact or settlement having been received would we refer matters to a debt recovery agency and record a default.

Part of your post makes me think that you've also encountered difficulties with us. Should this be the case and things remains unresolved you're welcome to email us as per the information and link above.

honey10 wrote: »

well, personally i wouldn't hold out much hope of vodafone helping. they have owed me £300 for over a year, and im still nowhere near getting it back.

Hi honey10,

I'm sorry to hear about this.

If you'd like us to take a look at this for you you're also welcome to email the details across to us and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Kind regards to you both.

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Culex

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Culex,

I can appreciate where you're coming from here and would like to assure that we do try to resolve disputes when they arise.

What I would add is that as well as sending monthly bills up to the point at which an account has been disconnected we also send additional correspondence advising the customer of the status of their account and ask that they make contact with us within a certain amount of time to discuss matters further.

It is usually only in the event of no contact or settlement having been received would we refer matters to a debt recovery agency and record a default.

Whilst the above seems merely good business practice, the difference here seems to be that, according to the original posting, Vodaphone did not record a default:

kmb216 wrote: »

Id like some advice on some letters I keep getting. Accordingly I owe £498 to a Vodafone (which I did have one in 2006) But Im sure this was paid - so I thought Id sign up to one of these free trial credit reports for 14 days to have a look at when this is supposedly from......theres nothing on there from Vodafone.

Had a default been issued in 2006, it should still be on the credit report.

Part of your post makes me think that you've also encountered difficulties with us. Should this be the case and things remains unresolved you're welcome to email us as per the information and link above.

No, Lee, I have never had any contract (not even PAYG) with Vodaphone and nor would I, for I still remember how shoppers at a certain branch of Sainsburys were arrogantly herded out of the way so that David Beckham might make a TV commercial for Vodaphone.

Vodafone

Hi Culex,

Whilst I'm sorry to hear about the circumstances through which you'd not consider joining us thanks for clearing up that you've not got any concerns of an account specific nature which need looking into.

In regard to the OP's initial post I would say that we most likely registered a default after the our internal debt recovery processes weren't successful in bringing the account up to date.

After this, and on the basis that default now shows in the name of a DCA, it would appear that the balance due has since been sold which would entail our default being substituted by one registered by them.

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK