Orange's super efficiency - Debt Collection

Lewa02

Hi All,

A quick question. I cancelled my orange contract about 2 months ago and have never received a final bill. Today I got a letter referring to 'previous communication' saying I had an outstanding balance of £19 and if I didn't pay in 7 days it would be referred to a DCA and incur additional charges. The usual. The letter was dated 23rd of May. I called them immediately to say I had never received a bill but was happy to pay the balance and finally get it sorted. The girl I spoke to said the account had already been transferred to a DCA and there was nothing she or the supervisor I asked to speak to could do about it. When I said I had never received a bill she said they had billed me electronically to an account I no longer have access to so no I probably haven't received it.
I have sent a complaint email to orange (which will probably be ignored) but am imagining that I will be contacted soon by this mystery DCA. I want to know where I stand when it comes to paying the money to the DCA and these 'additonal charges'. Can I ask them to hold off whilst I argue with Orange? I don't want it to affect my credit file.

Thanks

gjchester

Lewa02 wrote: »

When I said I had never received a bill she said they had billed me electronically to an account I no longer have access to so no I probably haven't received it.

That does not mean it wasn't sent and it's not due.

Did you not update them when your email address changed? Look at it form Oranges view, if they tried to bill you and it failed and the email address bounced the obvious assumption is someone trying to avoid payment.

You can ask the DCA to give you a precise breakdown, but if they have the right details and it's a valid debt then it may be too late, once the debt is sold on orange will probably be not interested in resolving it unless there is a fraud element.

Lewa02

I should have made it more clear - it is not an email account that they sent a bill to. I was registered for electronic billing so it got sent to my Orange account which I obviously couldn't sign in to as I was no longer with Orange. I have never been emailed when my bill was ready. I have no problem in paying it, as I have said both here and to Orange themselves, my issue is with the fact that they sent me a letter telling me to call them and pay a bill I had never seen before and when I did just that I was told it was too late, the DCA already had the account before I even got the letter and basically to go away.

gjchester

Lewa02 wrote: »

I should have made it more clear - it is not an email account that they sent a bill to. I was registered for electronic billing so it got sent to my Orange account which I obviously couldn't sign in to as I was no longer with Orange. I have never been emailed when my bill was ready. I have no problem in paying it, as I have said both here and to Orange themselves, my issue is with the fact that they sent me a letter telling me to call them and pay a bill I had never seen before and when I did just that I was told it was too late, the DCA already had the account before I even got the letter and basically to go away.

Sorry my mistake. Did you cancel the DD as soon as you cancelled the contract? Usually final paymants come out that way. Did you call and ask about the final bill= anything on your record that says you dialed in?

Sorry it's a negative but once sold on unless it a fraud case the original's debter usually does not care any longer, they've written the loss off.

arielcohen

They said they would give you 7 days to respond from the 23rd of may, it hasn't been even 3 days and they have already passed the debt over. I've never really been in this situation so cant advise anything other then try and talk to orange.

Lewa02

arielcohen wrote: »

They said they would give you 7 days to respond from the 23rd of may, it hasn't been even 3 days and they have already passed the debt over. I've never really been in this situation so cant advise anything other then try and talk to orange.

My point exactly!

"Did you cancel the DD as soon as you cancelled the contract?"

I didn't pay by direct debit, I had the contract so long that it was before the days of setting up direct debits automatically! I used to get a message saying my bill was ready to view online and then I would pay it as and when it was due. I didn't chase it because I was assured it would come automatically within a few weeks once the contract period had ended which was the 19th of April.

Thanks for the reply, negative or otherwise!

stclair

If you call Orange they will be able to tell you details of the DCA.

Then you can contact them to make your payment £18.00 is not much to get taggled up about.

Lewa02

stclair wrote: »

If you call Orange they will be able to tell you details of the DCA.

Then you can contact them to make your payment £18.00 is not much to get taggled up about.

Problem being that whenever I call, the automated woman asks me to enter my phone number and when I do this it says it doesn't recognise the number (because I'm no longer on the network) and hangs up on me. I don't suppose anyone would know a number that will let me talk to an actual person?! I would love to pay the ridiculous amount and be done with Orange forever!

grumbler

stclair wrote: »

If you call Orange they will be able to tell you details of the DCA.

Then you can contact them to make your payment £18.00 is not much to get taggled up about.

Firstly, it was £19 originally, not £18.
Secondly, it is definitely bigger now after "incurring additional charges".

And finally, it's not only about £s, it's about a default record in the credit history as well.

Lewa02

Thank you grumbler for completely understanding my point and my concern!

arielcohen

try grabbing another persons orange mobile and dialling 150 or if you cant do that try some of the numbers by typing orange into the search box here
http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

Good luck, keep us posted