Orange Cancellation Charges

Marmeduke

Hi

My husband accidentially ran up a hugh bill with Orange which we were unable to pay off in one go. We offered to pay it off monthly which Orange accepted and we have been paying them £10 per month since July 2008. Shortly after we started paying, Orange cancelled the contract without any correspondence and passed the debt on DLC who have been trying to make us pay more ever since.

The original debt was for £677.43, but DLC are insisting that we pay an additional £210 full term contract charges, even though we personally didn't cancel the contract, Orange did.

We have checked our credit report and all that is logged on there is the amount for £677.43 and not this additional £210, which I am refusing to pay DLC, but they keep harrassing me.

I have also told them on several occasions, that we are paying Orange direct and the agreement was with them, but they won't pay any attention and just bombard us with letters.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Many thanks

grumbler

It is not clear what kind of agreement you have reached with Orange. Was the amount fixed or they kept adding monthly charges until the end of the minimum term? Generally, an early termination fee is the amount you owe them for the remaining months.
If you keep paying Orange by DD, they are the first party to be contacted and asked all the questions.

That said, debt collectors are allowed to add their own charges after purchasing the debt. I don't know if there are any caps on these charges.

Marmeduke

We agreed to pay Orange £10 a month to start with and then increase it as and when we could afford to. There was no talk of cancelling the contract and obviously we would have continued to pay the line rental as and when the monthly bill came in.

When Orange sent us a final bill, the line rental charges had been taken off, the next day the phone was disconnected.

As mentioned, at no point have Orange written to us to confirm cancellation.

Naf

Marmeduke wrote: »

We agreed to pay Orange £10 a month to start with and then increase it as and when we could afford to. There was no talk of cancelling the contract and obviously we would have continued to pay the line rental as and when the monthly bill came in.

When Orange sent us a final bill, the line rental charges had been taken off, the next day the phone was disconnected.

Disconnected, or just restricted?
What the networks usually do, is arrange to spread the cost of your high bill over a longer period, but they continue charging the monthly contracted line rental too. Generally the arrangements are for line rental plus an amount to reduce your large balance. If you pay enough towards the arrears they keep the phone active, if not then its restricted; but not disconnected.

Generally I refuse to deal with DCAs unless I have received notification from the original creditor of the balance, date of default and specific DCA it has been passed to. If the DCA contact me I tell them to go away until they arrange for that to be sent. Until then I continue dealing with the original creditor.

Were you paying the line rental too, or just the £10 initially?
I'd call Orange and ask when and why they have cancelled the contract (assuming you were paying line rental too)

Marmeduke

It was cancelled completely not just restricted and to be honest it was in 2008 and we just continued to pay the £10 a month as that was what we had agreed. The letters from DLC came out of the blue.

My husband has since set up a new contract with a different provider.

The only correspondence with have received from Orange is a bill showing the amount we owe (£677.43) and nothing more. Also as I mentioned, the credit report only shows £677.43 and not this additional £210.

I have told DLC on numerous occasions to go away and to pass the account back to Orange as they are the ones we had the agreement with. But they just keep sending us letters either asking us to up our montly payments or arguing how much we owe.

Surely if Orange cancelled the contract without no prior agreement or correspondence, we shouldn't be liable for the additional £210.

Naf

Marmeduke wrote: »

It was cancelled completely not just restricted and to be honest it was in 2008 and we just continued to pay the £10 a month as that was what we had agreed. The letters from DLC came out of the blue.

My husband has since set up a new contract with a different provider.

The only correspondence with have received from Orange is a bill showing the amount we owe (£677.43) and nothing more. Also as I mentioned, the credit report only shows £677.43 and not this additional £210.

I have told DLC on numerous occasions to go away and to pass the account back to Orange as they are the ones we had the agreement with. But they just keep sending us letters either asking us to up our montly payments or arguing how much we owe.

Surely if Orange cancelled the contract without no prior agreement or correspondence, we shouldn't be liable for the additional £210.

Which DCA is it? I managed to get one to drop it completely and leave me to deal with the creditor (Vodafone) when I told them I did not recognise anyone else's claim to deal with the account, that I disputed the amount and that I had received no correspondence from Voda with regards passing it on.

I suggest you continue paying direct to Orange, don't change anything to DCA. Don't deal with them over the phone; write to them stating that as you have received no correspondence from your creditor, you do not recognise their claim to administration over it. You do not accept the additional charges that seem to have appeared over and above the agreement you still have in place with Orange, and that you have no intention of paying any third party without written information from the original creditor.
See how they respond to that.

Marmeduke

Its Direct Legal and Collections. The very first letter I wrote to them stated "I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company"

I then informed them that my agreement is with Orange and I will only deal with them, but they keep ignoring me and still send me letters, which they have done since late 2008.

Naf

Then ask them for a copy of the credit agreement, default notice and a full statement and breakdown of charges both from the original Orange account, as well as any since they claim to have taken it over. Point out that failure to provide any of these indicates they are not acting legitimately and you will take legal action against them for this.