Arrow Global Advice Please

Aamberle

Hi - I wonder if I can have some advice.. Long story very short. End of 2010 out of the blue received a letter from Arrow stating we owed them £440.25 for an old Orange phone contract. They had brought the debt from Orange in Sept 2010.
I replied back 5 days later stating that this is the first communication I had recd regrding this debt. In writing I wholly disputed this debt.From back in 2007. I posted this off - Rightly or wrongly 2 months later I chased for a response, NOTHING.
The following month I received nothing- Then the following week they sent a letter saying sorry for the delay this is due to an admin oversight and that they are investigating this dispute and will be in contact soon ( This was Feb 2011).
Anyway fast foward I chased again in March and again in May 2011 for a reply/response. The letter I sent in May stated that it had now been over 6 months and they have been unable to provide any confirmation for this debt, that i wish to have this removed from my file immediately.
Anyway still nothing! Then in August 2011 got a reply stating that the case is still being investigated and they will put this on hold pending resolution!Great I thought...
So in October 2011 I sent yet another letter stating that I have still received no proof that this debt is correct ( no surprise as it is not) and that I want this removed immediately from my credit report. Please provide written confirmation that this has been completed or I will be contacting the ICO in form of a complaint.
finally a reply in Nove 2011 stating the following
We have queried your dispute with Orange who advised that the number XXXXX was disconnected at your request 05/2007. there is a note dated 23/5/07 stating you should have been temporarily disconnected on 30/4/07, however Orange processed an immediate disconnection and credits were applied of £74.83 to cover this error. There is then a further note dated 07/4/08 that you were to reconnect by 30/10/07 - As you did not reconnect the remaining balance is liable...
(However please note the default date on Credit expert states Aug 06 - I managed to find a statement from Feb 07 which stated nothing outstanding..and again refuted the claim. ) and sent this back off to them Nov 2011.
Then magically out of the blue last week I recived a letter - stating they are sorry for our ongoing concerns and they have again checked with Orange. Basically are standing by thier letter in November - copied and pasted the above in a new letter and the final paragraph states we will now make arrangements to place your account with an external agent to manage on our behalf. Our external will contact you in due course but should you wish to pay please call...etc etc. By now it has now gone up to £517.29 due.

Can anyone advise what to do now... We had no correspondance at all before the first letter - this is for my OH and I am with Orange and have been forever and they have never contacted either of us before. There were a lot of issues with the phone when we took this out mainly due to no network coverage where we used to live..Orange agreed to cancel as they understood OH could not run a business without a working phone, were actually very helpful and full of apologies at the time..and closed this down as it was not fit for purpose.Sadly the only name I had written down was Steve ..which clearly is not very helpful now trying to get this resolved.

For the record - whilst we have been rubbish with money ( see my DFW) if they had asked for payment at the time, we would of paid it ( probably on a cc but still paid it).And they were actually so apologetic that it was not workable that they were helpful..now see how silly we feel..
Also I did not write to ICO as was not sure what to write and was too ashamed to ask anyone...

Basically I know it is a long post - but do we actually have a leg to stand on or are we going to to pay this. They never wanted anything when we closed as it was there F*** Up and then 3 years later decide that actually yes we do....

Please help

Aamberle

Bump....Anyone ? With any advice please x

fermi

Does the so called explanation from Orange make any sense to you? Could money be owed on the account?

Plus have you queried with Orange yourself?

If you still believe the debt is erroneous, then just tell any further debt collector the same. Do not acknowledge any debt. And demand they provide any proof that the debt is owed in the form of evidence from Orange themselves, not some vague wafty letter with "Orange says this/that".

If they won't provide the above, then they can take a run and jump really.

Oh, and make sure you keep a copy of that credit file entry, so when it's come off you have proof of the original. Just in case a DCA tries to falsely enter a new more recent one.

Aamberle

Thanks Fermi - Do you think I should reply to this last letter asking for proof or what and see what happens. I have already placed this under query with Credit Expert and no I have not contacted Orange myself as I thought that they would no longer deal with this as they had sold the so called debt on..
PS I have never accepted the debt as I do not believe it is valid, we closed as agreed with Orange as the coverage was rubbish, never a signal etc and they agreed and apologised. How much I have learnt since then on MSE - always in writing :-).
Maybe my next step is Orange directly? I will cc Arrow on my letter to them..
Thanks again x

fermi

Aamberle wrote: »

no I have not contacted Orange myself as I thought that they would no longer deal with this as they had sold the so called debt on..

Well..... They seemed to be prepared to give Arrow further details of the alleged debt, so no reason why the cannot do the same with your own query.

Assuming Arrow were telling the truth........

Aamberle

Excellent..I will write to them this weekend...Thanks again x