Quick ending of a contract question

LovelyHair

Hello all!

I have a two year contract with Orange that is due to expire in summer 2013.

After hitting financial trouble, I stopped both using the phone and paying the bill in December and was cut off in January. I informed Orange of my money trouble and offered to pay them a token £1 per month until my financial circumstances improve. (They never replied to my offer though they accept the £1 cheque I send them every month.)

Anyway in March I began to receive requests for £800 or so from the debt collection agency Orange appeared to have sold my debt to, and I am stalling while I get them to prove ownership of the debt and debit the £1 payments Orange have accepted.

My question to you experts is this: given that I've been disconnected, can I really be made to pay line rental on a line that I haven't had access to?

Lovely Hair thanks fellow money savers for their responses...

Gordon_Hose

Yes. You signed a service agreement/contract that required you to pay the line rental. You didn't have access to it because YOU stopped paying. Orange disconnected you to limit the risk of you running up even larger bills whilst not paying them.

LovelyHair

Thanks for the reply Gordon.

I have never been able to get good reception in the area in which I moved to shortly before taking out the contract. Always had to walk out my house, up some stairs and half way down the street to make calls.

Might this mean I can escape the contract?

buscape

LovelyHair wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Gordon.

I have never been able to get good reception in the area in which I moved to shortly before taking out the contract. Always had to walk out my house, up some stairs and half way down the street to make calls.

Might this mean I can escape the contract?

No.

No network guarantees signal everywhere, they say as much in the terms and conditions.

If you've never had signal, why didn't you cancel in the cooling off period?

LovelyHair

I expected to be able to afford to move out soon afterwards, that's why.

Do you guys think I have an option that isn't to pay the amount the debt agency claim I owe plus the charges they say they are allowed to add?

Gordon_Hose

You could call them and see if they will agree to a lesser full & final payment. But it's hit and miss, it depends how they're feeling. If they do agree MAKE SURE you get their acceptance of a full & final IN WRITING before you pay them.

They may feel it is worth their while taking you to court to secure a CCJ for the full amount.

Alternatively they may let you pay the full balance in installments. Or you could just not pay it and hope they don't take things further. Risky though, considering you only took the contract out last year.

LovelyHair

I wouldn't refuse to pay it if they legitimately have a claim to it. I'd agree a repayment plan with them.

I just don't like the idea of paying them charges and would rather repay my debt to Orange and get some value from the money I'm paying.

Gordon_Hose

If Orange have sold the debt you'll have to deal with the DCA, who are the legal owners of the debt.

The DCA cannot add interest or charges, they can only go after what was owed when Orange sold it to them.

LovelyHair

The DCA seem really confident that they have the right to add some extras to the debt. They call them admin fees, I believe.

You think I can legitimately tell them that I'll pay them the amount Orange have said I owe (itself a seemingly arbitrary sum) and not the extras?

chanz4

The contracts do have the term that they can allow charges for recovery action, hence the dca one and yes this has been confirmed by the fos