Roxburghe & Talk Talk Help needed

Graeme26_2

Can anyone help or advice me please? I currently have a problem with TalkTalk who have now passed the alleged debt to Roxbughe Debt Collection Agency . A company that many on here seem to be familiar with. This is my problem :-
In January I received a cold call from TalkTalk begging me to renew my contract. I had not done so until then as I was growing increasingly dis satisfied with TalkTalk . I was then paying £31 a month for very little in the way of improvement to the service from the time I joined them . The caller offered me their new TV package for £30 a month less £2 for the first year. Basically I wasn't too bothered about the TV aspect , the reduction being the attraction. The caller then fixed up a date for the TV package to be installed. The sequence of events is as follows.
1 / Talk Talk did not turn up on the day arranged ( so I wasted a day waiting for them) The caller it transpired had forgotten to book it !
2 / I rang them to see what had happened , New day arranged and this time their so called engineer turned up! Far from brightening my home it was a bitter disappointment, when he left I had no broadband working on Wireless through their new router and the YouView box proved to very poor. I then spent a merry 2 hours undoing his work and re installing that which I had. The You view box was packed away and never saw the light of day again. So I canceled the order, and TalkTalk sent me a letter along with a prepaid plastic bag to return the box, which I did . This is six months ago , I did get proof of posting but over 6 months this tiny slip of paper has got mislaid. As far as I was concerned TalkTalk had not honoured their side of the contract and we therefor had no contract.
3 / Come June I had a very good offer from EE which was far better than anything TalkTalk had ever offered and I decided to change provider. I cancelled my direct debit with Talk Talk at the same time as a friend had told that they were not the most reasonable of companies when people decided to give them up , apparently having a tendancy to sulk and throw their toys out of the pram. This proved to be true , the service changeover was on the 3rd of July and this was followed by a bill from TalkTalk of £495-66 pence. This consisted of £294-04 for contract breakage , £200 deferred charge for a You View box they now decided and £1-62 for calls made up to the changeover. I wrote to them pointing out that I had no contract , and that the box had been returned months ago. I also enclosed a cheque for £1-62 as I did owe this . They said this would be credited within 10 working days , it has not been.
4/ Letter received from TalkTalk apologising for the account inconvenience as they put it and credited the £294-04 contract fee. They said they could not credit the £200 as they had not had the box back ( This was the first I knew of this) , however over a period of 3 months they had not once contacted me to ask where it was . After much corespondance there last letter said a Team Manager would be in contact with me by phone within 3 days. That letter was dated the 21st August.
To cut a long story short their idea of a team manager turned out to be Roxburghe a debt collecting agency who TalkTalk had passed the alleged debt to. This was for £201-62 + the usually £30 added on. Now remember I had paid the £1-62 and as far as I am concerned still have. I have written to Roxburghe and told them that I do not Acknowledge the alleged debt. I have also written to the CEO of the TalkTalk group (The Hon Dido Harding) expressing my disgust .
I feel it is unreasonable to have expected me to keep a proof of posting receipt for 6 months especially in the light of having heard nothing from TalkTalk to suggest the box had not got back to them ( We only have their word for that) .
Is there anything else I need to do please.

Best wishes to your team Graeme26

sourcrates

Well you seem to have done all the right things, I too have heard horror stories about talk talk in situations like this, see what response you get from them, you do not have to deal with the DCA, they are only a 3rd party interloper and have no real part in this, deal directly with talk talk. If they still don't sort the mess out, complain to the regulator, I take it its a home phone/broadband contract yes ?.

Graeme26_2

Thank you very much sourcrates for your very useful info . I am most grateful to you . The original contract was for their Bright box TV , telephone and broadband. After the appalling installation of the TV and their router I cancelled the contract . They asked for their box back which I sent 6 months ago in the packaging TalkTalk sent for the purpose . End of contract . Now they have decided they have not had their box back after 6 months !!! and want to charge me £200 pounds for it. They did try and charge a contract breakage fee which they have since waived !! . I did owe them £1-62 at the end of the day which I sent them a cheque for . They acknowledge having received the cheque and said it would be credited in 10 working days . It has not been . Had the first harassment call off Roxburghe this morning at 0910 , basically I told them to get lost ! Once again thanks for your help !
Regards Graeme 26