Vodafone - not daughter's debt

Pinkladylovebug

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT BUZBY'S POST ABOVE PLEASE COULD SOMEONE POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR THE CORRECT LETTER TEMPLATE TO DISPUTE THE DEBT BELOW?

My daughter needs to dispute a debt for an alleged outstanding Vodafone bill of £181.81 which apparently has been owed for the last three years, but she is adamant that this isn't her debt. She has only been with Vodafone once which is now and she has an ongoing contract with them.

She first found out about this alleged debt a couple of years ago when she received several letters from CapQuest out of the blue.

The funny thing is:

1) The first name and surname on the original debt letter is spelt completely wrong. Well if my daughter actually owed the debt wouldn't the spelling of her full name be written as per the alleged contract agreement?? The incorrect spelling of her full name is also documented on the letter she received yesterday from HL Legal which I will tell you more about shortly.

2) If she owed money to Vodafone, why was she allowed to take out another Vodafone contract if she already owed money on another???


When she first started getting letters from CapQuest a couple of years ago, she called them and they were really nasty to her so she gave her consent for me to spoke to them during the same telephone call. I told them that as they have only provided a reference number on their letter that my daughter doesn't recognise and as they haven't provided any further information about the alleged debt within the content of their letter or able to give her details of the mobile number used for the alleged debt of when the alleged contract was taken out, she will not be acknowledging the debt unless they forward copies of the original contract agreement.

My daughter also contacted Vodafone, gave them the reference number from CapQuest's letter, all of her personal details such as name and address and also the mis-spelling of the name stated on CapQuest's letter and she was told that they couldn't find no trace of the debt in either of the spellings of the names or reference number given or address. All that was found was the details of my daughter's current Vodafone account which wasn't in arrears and the reference number didn't tally with her current Vodafone account.

My daughter asked if the reason for not being able to find this alleged debt on the Vodafone system was because they had sold the alleged debt onto a third party and she was told that Vodafone would still have the details so that should she apply for another contract mobile with them she would be down as a bad debtor and be declined another account with them. This person also said that if she owed Vodafone she wouldn't have been allowed to take out her current contract with them which was taken out before she started receiving letters from CapQuest. Therefore, no way would she have been allowed to take out another Vodafone contract if she owed an outstanding balance on another.

My daughter contacted CapQuest back again after speaking to Vodafone to tell them that Vodafone had no record of the alleged debt and then she never heard anything again. That was not until yesterday (28/12/2013) when she received a letter from HL Legal Solicitors dated 21/12/2013 who are allegedly acting on behalf of CapQuest. I've read loads on forums which states that CapQuest/HL Legal are the same.

The content of the letter states that my daughter has failed to respond to a letter which was sent to her on 20/11/2013 by CapQuest. Sorry, but she hasn't received such a letter, and I know this to be true because the only letters she receives at home are her bank statements as she has no other debts or other correspondence sent and she doesn't receive a mobile phone bill as she accesses this all online.

The letter from HL Legal states that unless the account is paid in full or a satisfactory proposal for settlement is received by 03/01/2014 court proceeding may be issued against her without further notice.

It then details the following:

Balance of account: £181.82
Court Costs: £15.00
Solicitor's Costs: £50.00

Total: £246.82

Given that we have had the Christmas period and the Royal Mail isn't back to normal at present until after the New Year, they aren't giving her enough time to respond in writing to express that she continues to dispute this debt and that she wants them to send proof that she actually does owe this debt.

She is prepared to send a letter via recorded delivery tomorrow, but wondered if someone could please point me in the direction of the letter template which has the correct wording for disputing this kind of debt and requesting evidence of the original contract agreement.

Thanks. x

Apples2

I'm not sure what you are all getting in such a tiz about. Your daughter has opened someone else's letter as the name is completely different.
Your daughter is not the owner of this debt.

Capquest will simply be sending threats out to anyone with similar sounding names hoping one of them will be crazy enough to pay it.

If you are still concerned, check your daughters credit file and see if this other person with a completely differently spelt names debt is indeed on there and in default. I'll wager there is nothing on there.

If you remain concerned about this other persons debt, you could send a "Prove it" letter
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11570893&postcount=2

As for the ridiculous chants of Court cases against someone with a different name, the rest of us can chuckle at it but we appreciate it seems scary to your family.

Vodafone

Hi Pinkladylovebug,

Thanks for making me aware of your daughter's concerns.

To enable me to get this looked into further, could you ask her to email me with her details via the link in our profile here?

All she'll need to do is copy and paste the link into her web browser and it'll take her to the Contact us form on our website. To make sure it reaches me could she also quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line?

Once sent she'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. So I can make sure I've got it could you update the thread with this and I'll get back to her as soon as possible?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

Pinkladylovebug

Thanks Apple2. She had already checked her credit file and its not documented on there.

Lee (Vodafone), this is the reference number she has just received via the automated email from Vodafone: WRT135 - MSE [#5637257]

Thank you both for your help. :-)

fatbelly

CCA requests have their use but they are not appropriate if you are contacted by a debt collector regarding a debt that you do not recognise. In that case use this letter (and see post #2 of the thread for more explanation)

Letter when you know nothing about the debt

Vodafone

Hi Pinkladylovebug,

Thanks for coming back to me.

I've received your daughter's email and will get back to her as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

Pinkladylovebug

Thanks Lee. I'll let her know.

Thank you too Fatbelly.

Vodafone

You're welcome Pinkladylovebug.

I did manage to get to her email yesterday.

Once she's come back to me I'll get back to her again as soon as I can.

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK