Incorrect default on credit record- vodafone & Cabot

Old_Alan

Hi guys, long story so I will try and keep it as short as possible.

In March 2009, as my mobile contract with Vodafone was about to end, I contacted them to enquire about a new contract. I received a phone call from their rep offering a good deal on the understanding that if I did not like the new phone I could cancel immediately.

When the new phone arrived, it was rubbish, so I sent Voda a letter by recorded delivery the same day to cancel the contract. I also e-mailed them a copy of the letter.

Since then I have been pestered by no less than three different debt collectors who insist that I owe Voda some £289 for cancelling the contract.

Two of these I have got rid of by sending them copies of letters sent to Voda but the latest one, Cabot, who I have not heard from since February of this year, have registered a default on my Credit Report. I only found this out when I applied for a new credit card.

This is the first time in my life (am now 64) that I have ever been refused credit and it hurts.

I have contacted OTELO who do not want to know and have written numerous letters to Voda who will not even reply. I have also raised a dispute with Experian. I wrote to Cabot today telling them to remove this default OR ELSE but the question is, what can I do? I do not owe Vodafone or Cabot any money and never have.

Can any of you nice people offer any advice as I really do not know what to do next.

Thanks in advance,

Alan.

bottleofred

Hi Alan,

I'm sorry as I have no idea of the best course of action. Two MSErs who should be able to help/advise you are Tixy & Ermi, so if they don't reply to this you could send them a private message. I hope you get it sorted though.

Red

fermi

Do you have any confirmation from Vodafone that this debt and any associated default should never have existed?

Old_Alan wrote: »

I have contacted OTELO who do not want to know and have written numerous letters to Voda who will not even reply.

We have a Vodafone company rep registered here who can usually help in similar circumstances, so I've sent them an email asking them to take a look at this thread.

You've done the right thing so far in disputing the debt/default with Cabot direct and through Experian.

Old_Alan

Thank you for the replies.
Fermi, in answer to your question, no, I have had nothing from Vodafone to indicate the debt and default should not exist. I cannot even get a reply to my letters now.
Regards,
Alan.

DVardysShadow

Take the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office. Plainly, there is false data on your credit record.

fermi

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Take the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office. Plainly, there is false data on your credit record.

That is one of the next steps if other avenues don't produce results.

But the ICO is snowed under with work, so any complaint might not get looked at properly for 6 months or more. So it's probably a good idea to make sure all other potentially quicker avenues are explored before a formal complaint with the ICO. Wait for the ICO to deal with it, and the default will probably stay there for another 6-9 months or more.

Plus the ICO will only consider complaints when you can show that you have taken all other reasonable steps to resolve the issue, and allowed adequate time for the company recording the data to investigate and respond.

fermi

Old_Alan wrote: »

Thank you for the replies.
Fermi, in answer to your question, no, I have had nothing from Vodafone to indicate the debt and default should not exist. I cannot even get a reply to my letters now.
Regards,
Alan.

Well, you can start by emailing [EMAIL="webrelations@vodafone.com"]webrelations@vodafone.com[/EMAIL] with a complaint and link to this thread.

Hopefully that will get their attention. They don't like adverse publicity on forums such as this.

Your dispute letter to Cabot and the CRAs should in theory do the trick if they they deal with it in the way they should, but that is rare with debt collectors like Cabot. So having confirmation from Vodafone that the debt is void, and if possible having them contact Cabot to tell them this, is the obvious way have this killed off and removed PDQ.

If all that fails, then complaints to the ICO/FOS etc would then be appropriate.

Old_Alan

Thank you all so much for the replies and advice.
I will send an e-mail to Voda today and see if that works, if not looks like ICO is the next step.
Thanks again.
Alan.

timbstoke

There is a Vodafone rep on the forums - he'll probably check in tomorrow and give a bit of advice on who to contact and such.

Vodafone

Old_Alan wrote: »

Hi guys, long story so I will try and keep it as short as possible.

In March 2009, as my mobile contract with Vodafone was about to end, I contacted them to enquire about a new contract. I received a phone call from their rep offering a good deal on the understanding that if I did not like the new phone I could cancel immediately.

When the new phone arrived, it was rubbish, so I sent Voda a letter by recorded delivery the same day to cancel the contract. I also e-mailed them a copy of the letter.

Since then I have been pestered by no less than three different debt collectors who insist that I owe Voda some £289 for cancelling the contract.

Two of these I have got rid of by sending them copies of letters sent to Voda but the latest one, Cabot, who I have not heard from since February of this year, have registered a default on my Credit Report. I only found this out when I applied for a new credit card.

This is the first time in my life (am now 64) that I have ever been refused credit and it hurts.

I have contacted OTELO who do not want to know and have written numerous letters to Voda who will not even reply. I have also raised a dispute with Experian. I wrote to Cabot today telling them to remove this default OR ELSE but the question is, what can I do? I do not owe Vodafone or Cabot any money and never have.

Can any of you nice people offer any advice as I really do not know what to do next.

Thanks in advance,

Alan.

Hi Alan,

It's disappointing to see how things have escalated here but thanks for making me aware of them.

Following the excellent advice from the guys who've been on hand while we've been away I can confirm that I've got your email and so will get this investigated and update you as soon as possible.

fermi wrote: »

Do you have any confirmation from Vodafone that this debt and any associated default should never have existed?



We have a Vodafone company rep registered here who can usually help in similar circumstances, so I've sent them an email asking them to take a look at this thread.

You've done the right thing so far in disputing the debt/default with Cabot direct and through Experian.

timbstoke wrote: »

There is a Vodafone rep on the forums - he'll probably check in tomorrow and give a bit of advice on who to contact and such.

Thanks for assisting Alan with this one guys - it's appreciated.

Kind regards to you all.

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Old_Alan

Thanks for taking the time to look at this Lee.
Should you need any more information, I have copies of every letter, e-mail and telephone conversation regarding this matter, which I will be happy to send to you if you require.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Alan.