Surname on £14 debt wrong

lhead123

Hi, my partner had a mobile phone contract. They had his name spelt with an E at the beginning of his surname instead of a B. He had told then numerous times to change it but they never did. He then got a new contract and left the old one to run until it's end. He phoned them 2 weeks before the end and asked for it to be cancelled and they told him he had to give 30 days notice. He argued that it was the end of a contract and he did not want it renewed and therefore he would not be paying anything past the end of the contract date. This had already gone as a DD anyway so we cancelled the direct debit.
We didn't hear anything since and the sim has not been used for over a year (about 6 months before the end of the contract).

A letter came through the door the other day addressed to the misspelled name asking for an outstanding payment of £14. We ignored it as my partner had already told them he would not be paying anything after the end of the contract.

We got another one through yesterday saying the phone had now been cut off (even though this should have happened at the end of the contract) and the debt would be passed on to a collection agency. I sent it back to the send with 'not at this address' written on it as technically no one with that name lives here.

Will they realise their mistake and change the name to chase the debt? Would a collection agency even be bothered by £14? Also will it affect my partners credit file as it's not his name?

Xx

arbroath_lass

Phone contracts don't normally have an end date. Just a date you can't cancel before IYSWIM. It will be in the T&C your partner signed up to that he has to give notice to end the contract.

Why not just pay the £14? Doesn't seem worth trashing his credit file over what is probably his own mistake.

Tixy

Likely to appear on his credit file, even with a spelling error, and yes if he doesn't pay likely it will be recorded as a late payment and then as a default.

What does the original agreement/T&Cs say about notice to cancel the contract?

lhead123

We don't have any paperwork from the original contract so I don't know what the t&c said.... I'm more wondering why they have left it so long before even telling us that he would be charged this money. And why they didn't tell him that he would be charged when he said he wasn't going to pay... Mainly because they didn't send him any correspondence to say the contract was ending, not even an upgrade offer, so he didn't know it was ending, we took a wild guess of the month when he phoned and they told him there was only 2 weeks left...

zerog

lhead123 wrote: »

We don't have any paperwork from the original contract so I don't know what the t&c said.... I'm more wondering why they have left it so long before even telling us that he would be charged this money. And why they didn't tell him that he would be charged when he said he wasn't going to pay... Mainly because they didn't send him any correspondence to say the contract was ending, not even an upgrade offer, so he didn't know it was ending, we took a wild guess of the month when he phoned and they told him there was only 2 weeks left...

Mobile contracts don't end, they have a minimum term. You usually need to cancel with a month's notice or thereabouts, i.e. 1 month before the end of the minimum term. If you didn't know that, now you do.

Telling someone over the phone that you are not going to pay has no effect, because when he took out the contract he already agreed to pay.

If you were going to get his credit reports (from all 3 agencies) anyway, then you might as well check whether it appears on there. If not then I guess you've got away with this one.

Tixy

I've never been sent anything to indicate that a phone contract was ending or to offer me an upgrade.
Whilst the fixed period of the contract might finish the contract doesn't actually end automatically at that point.

I'd missed that you said it was 6months after he stopped paying that a letter was sent. That does seem unusual, but also likely means that the default will already be registered on his credit file.

As he hasn't kept his paperwork then whilst he could get a copy of his agreement by doing a subject access request under the data protection that would cost him a £10 fee. But it will have said that a notice period is required to terminate the agreement.

weebit

Unfortunately, it's not in the interest of the phone companies to tell their customers when their contracts are ending or to offer an upgrade. They rely on their customers not realising this and to continue to pay the full price of the contract (which includes the cost of the handset).

If you missed the notice period by 2 weeks, then bad luck. You owe the phone company the money, so you should pay them. There is no point tarnishing your credit file for the sake of £14!

Miss_Marple_2

Hi - my advice would be to pay it then dispute it. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs, I can tell you that for the last month I have been reading the credit file and mortgages boards religiously as I go through the mortgage process myself and the most common complaint is not being able to get a good rate due to a default from a mobile phone company. It appears that they default you at the drop of a hat. Please do not allow yourself to get a default for the sake of £14.


I know it feels a bit like blackmail, but I have a default on my account for sticking to what I believed was right and all it leaves you with is an inability to get credit - it's not worth it. (Mine wasn't a mobile phone but the effect is the same)

matttye

Miss_Marple wrote: »

Hi - my advice would be to pay it then dispute it. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs, I can tell you that for the last month I have been reading the credit file and mortgages boards religiously as I go through the mortgage process myself and the most common complaint is not being able to get a good rate due to a default from a mobile phone company. It appears that they default you at the drop of a hat. Please do not allow yourself to get a default for the sake of £14.


I know it feels a bit like blackmail, but I have a default on my account for sticking to what I believed was right and all it leaves you with is an inability to get credit - it's not worth it. (Mine wasn't a mobile phone but the effect is the same)

Good advice mainly, but the OP's partner refused to pay six months ago when he had no right to do that. The damage may therefore have already been done.

sourcrates

Ah mobile phone contracts, don't ya just love em !! whichever company it is your with they will always insist on 30 days notice to cancel, that means if you wait till your contract end date you end up paying them an extra months line rental (nice little scam they have going there) they all have different interpretations of actually how you inform them you want to cancel, some insist its in writing, some insist you have to call them, some accept emails, now I don't know what the law states on this but I suspect it will say "in writing", you don't mention the company name but I suspect its one who insists cancellations are in writing, one of my personal hates are companies like this who change the rules to benefit themselves, you can either pay them there £14, or if your like me, tell em to get stuffed, I don't believe in "credit files" or "credit scoring" yes that's how the world operates these days but I prefer to use common sense, if your bothered about your "credit" and your ability to get it, then pay, its a small amount so your choice.

lhead123

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I've phoned up today and paid it off. My partner was not too happy when I told him it might show on his credit score and I'm now not in his good graces. But it's paid now so hopefully he'll come around soon! Xx