Vodafone debt

Silk

grumbler wrote: »

A dangerous assumption as it took you 18 months to pay it.

I think Vodafone have no leg to stand on even without legal advice. Any contract from a shop has to be signed. And luckily the sim has never been used that could have been used as an indirect proof of your acceptance of the contract otherwise.

My understanding is the OP was paying by DD for 18 months then cancelled the DD ....the debt will show from that date which is when it will have been passed to debt collectors and will have trashed the OP's credit rating.

The only defence Voda will probably use it that by paying the contract for 18 months the OP will have accepted the contract.

I think this is one for Lee to try and sort out as MJ says

mobile_user

Thanks for the response guys,

In the letter from CapQuest they state "failure to settle the outstanding amount will result in:
1) your vodafone contract being cancelled permanently (which ironically i can't do as Vodafone have currently not been notified by CapQuest that i have indeed paid in full, I have an authorization number from capquest).
2) a default being placed on your credit file which will affect your credit worthiness etc....

Since I have paid in full at the earliest opportunity after receiving the letter on Saturday, there will be no action on capquest part??

To add I have already sent an e-mail to the web relations team under advice from the consumer forums.

I had to pay before 12th January 2014 which i have done simply so that i can start a discussion with vodafone as they refused to discuss my account until the debt was paid.

grumbler

mobile_user wrote: »

...
2) a default being placed on your credit file which will affect your credit worthiness etc....

Default has possibly not been reported yet, but late payments definitely have been reported.

Since I have paid in full at the earliest opportunity after receiving the letter on Saturday, there will be no action on capquest part??

I am no expert, but I think you should have paid under protest and claimed money back from Capquest.

mobile_user

I did ask the capquest person i spoke to to add "paid under protest" on the receipt. So that i can chase the money now with vodafone. capquest were simply the collectors. They have no record of the contract or any details all they know is that i owe £X and it's owed to vodafone this i found out after talking to them.

Silk

Am I missing something here ......you say you took out the contract 3 years ago and stopped paying after about 18 months.
You then said you claimed back the money using the DD indemnity
How much is the debt supposed to be ? is it for the full contract or is it for a portion of it.

Assuming Capquest bought the debt then the default will already have been struck against you by Vodafone 18 months ago

Silk

mobile_user wrote: »

I did ask the capquest person i spoke to to add "paid under protest" on the receipt. So that i can chase the money now with vodafone. capquest were simply the collectors. They have no record of the contract or any details all they know is that i owe £X and it's owed to vodafone this i found out after talking to them.

So even though they had no proof of a debt you paid them :eek:

mobile_user

@silk,

I did take out a contract with vodafone for an iphone - that was legitmate but on leaving the shop they offered me an additional sim that i only recently found out was also on a contract. The iPhone contract was @£35 per month the "free sim" was @£15.50 per month.

I was only able to claim back a proportion of what i paid as I moved my bank account from Barclays to Nationwide. Nationwide did the direct debit indemity.

There was proof of the debt as that was provided by vodafone to capquest. There is currently no proof of purchase. I had to pay as Vodafone refused to discuss my account or cancel the contract until it was paid - there wasn't much choice. If i didn't pay there would have been a stand off with vodafone still charging me a monthly fee for a contract i don't want nor can I cancel and also the mark on my credit rating.

Silk

mobile_user wrote: »

@silk,

I did take out a contract with vodafone for an iphone - that was legitmate but on leaving the shop they offered me an additional sim that i only recently found out was also on a contract. The iPhone contract was @£35 per month the "free sim" was @£15.50 per month.

Yes I understood that bit ....this was 3 years ago

mobile_user wrote: »

I was only able to claim back a proportion of what i paid as I moved my bank account from Barclays to Nationwide. Nationwide did the direct debit indemity

And this was 18 months ago

mobile_user wrote: »

There was proof of the debt as that was provided by vodafone to capquest. There is currently no proof of purchase. I had to pay as Vodafone refused to discuss my account or cancel the contract until it was paid - there wasn't much choice. If i didn't pay there would have been a stand off with vodafone still charging me a monthly fee for a contract i don't want nor can I cancel and also the mark on my credit rating

If Capquest bought the debt they have to prove that it exists, Vodafone will have cancelled the contract when they sold the debt on to give a final figure.

I take it the two contracts, iPhone and the sim were shown as separate contracts and separate DD's

So assuming that they gave you a figure and then added charges to it what was the figure of the debt ?

Herongull

You never have to pay for "debts" you don't owe. Fullstop. So why did you pay?

VF are not allowed to do just give you sim and then "sign" you up for a monthly contact without your knowledge or consent. Unlawful. Fullstop.

If they refused to talk to you about a contract that doesn't exist, this is their problem.

All you had to do was follow the internal complaints procedure, get a letter of deadlock, and take to the ombudsman. Simples. See: http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/i-may-have-been-misled-by-my-mobile-phone-provider/

Paying them is rewarding them for breaking the law. Encouraging people to break the law is not a good thing to do.

Since you foolishly paid for a debt you didn't owe you can either:

1/ Take them to the small claims court

2/ Follow the above complaints procedure and then go to the ombudsman to get the money back.

You may have weakened you case by paying them - I wouldn't dream of handing over money just because someone asked for it.

You need to keep copies of all correspondence, and notes of phone conversations, send things by recorded delivery. If you paid under duress or protest you should have sent that in the letter (recorded delivery) and kept a copy.

You don't need a solicitor - both the small claims court and the complaints procedure are layperson friendly.

mobile_user

@Herongull,

If I didn't pay the threats implied by CQ would have been implemented. I could have withheld payment but that just instigates a stand off with no progress. What i did in paying under protest was at the very least was to initiate a dialogue with vodafone so that i could resolve this. Vodafone was unwilling to produce any paperwork relating to the account unless the debt was paid. How can I pursue this with the ombudsman or small claims court without any paperwork or indeed showing that I have been flexible in my approach to try and resolve the situation.