ex-wife taking out BT account

irislili

hi all, i am a long time lurker but dont post very often but am after some advice............

my husbands ex-wife took out a BT account in his name last February, we know this because he was sent a letter of confirmation from BT and the postman delivered it to our address not his previous address (which is where it was addressed to) by mistake. I phoned BT and told them that he doesn't live there, they told me to get him to phone which i did. He told them that it was her mobile number on the order confirmation, it was her email address not his and that he hasnt lived there for 4 years. We heard nothing more so stupidly assumed that they had cancelled the order and thought no more about it.
Fast forward to yesterday, we got a letter from BT (again addressed to my husband at his prev. address and thankfully mistakenly delivered here) advising that the account was in arrears to the tune of £120 :eek:. My husband phoned them again and they have no record of him phoning last year but do have a record that I phoned and they are saying that he is liable for this bill even though he hasnt at the property for 4 years, he never took out this account with BT and notified them that he didnt live there. :mad:
the girl that my husband spoke to was going to pass it onto accounts to try to resolve but she was adament that it was my husbands account and therefore he was liable dispite the fact that we have phoned last year to say otherwise.
So, what do we do know? His ex-wife is to put it midly a little un-hinged at the best of times and has caused us no end of trouble (she did something similar with SKY and i just paid the arrears as it was easier but I cant afford to pay for her phone and why should I?) so talking to her will get us no-where. Sadly there are children involved so we have to tread very carefully aroung her - any ideas or advice?

elsien

Shouldn't there be a signature on the paperwork, which presumably won't be his as she's forged it. So if he can get then to send a copy of the original agreement, it should be quite easy to show its not him. Or more to the point, make them prove his liability.

irislili

we are still waiting for the accounts to phone us back, but that is one of the things that we asked the girl we spoke to yesterday and she seemed to think that it was done online and no signature was required.

krlyr

CAB may be worth a call. Do you have any kind of legal cover on your home insurance that could be used, perhaps?
Otherwise I'd perhaps call again and ask to speak to someone higher in the chain. Emphasise that the account has been set up fraudulently in your husband's name. Given that it is fraud, it may even be worth speaking to your local police - perhaps with some kind of reference number, BT would take your complaint a bit more seriously.
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud_protection/identity_fraud

krlyr

Also wonder if Experian could not only help with this issue but perhaps help avoid similar in the future? Don't know if BT/Sky/etc. would credit check but if Experian could log something on their system to disassociate the ex-wife financially then it may be worthwhile
http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/stolen-identity.html

DeeDee74

How strange the postman can deliver to wrong ADDRESS yet its your oh's letter... what a brilliant post man lmao.

irislili

DeeDee74 wrote: »

How strange the postman can deliver to wrong ADDRESS yet its your oh's letter... what a brilliant post man lmao.

we live in a very small village and we have an unusual surname, the postman is a neighbour but he doesnt always sort the mail.

Wellyboots6

Since moving house a month or so ago I took out a BT contract and haven't had to sign anything or prove my identity, so not sure how that will work with proving anything

I also get my old mail delivered here even though I haven't set up a forwarding address as the postman knows I have moved, and so brilliant postmen do exist

irislili

katy721 wrote: »

Since moving house a month or so ago I took out a BT contract and haven't had to sign anything or prove my identity, so not sure how that will work with proving anything

I also get my old mail delivered here even though I haven't set up a forwarding address as the postman knows I have moved, and so brilliant postmen do exist

thanks Katy ,
the thing is he wouldnt have been on the electoral role as living there so i cant understand how she managed to take out an account in his name, he has been registered at my address for the last 3 years.
And i agree we do have brilliant postmen here but like i said it is a very small community and every one thinks they know each others business.

couponqueen123

this is fraud so phone the police im sure she will pay up then but you shuld phone the police its identiy theft

irislili

because they have children together, i am reluctant to phone the police (we have had to before as she caused criminal damage to our car).
the trouble is that she did with Sky and got away with it, and she has done it again so whats to stop her from doing it again (and how do we know that she's not) unless we visit the police station.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply, lots to think about.