Phone company chasing me unfairly - advice needed

Nicwharton

Hi, I'm new to this and not too sure what else to do.

Two years ago my phone was stolen, and the thief had ran up hundreds of pounds worth of phone calls on my account. At the time, I was told by the billing department of my phone company that I was not liable for the charges because the crime number etc corresponded with the time and date the phone as stolen. After a couple if weeks I left it at that, happy that my issue had been resolved. However when my bill was due they still took out the money. The same day I tried to find out what was going on and was just told that it was my fault and I had to pay. Left with no other choice I recalled the direct debit until I could sort out the situation with the phone company.

After I sent them two letters and got no response, they sold the debt on to debt collection agency after debt collection agency, and every time I have disputed it with them it has mysteriously disappeared. I can only assume it is so.d back to orange for them to then sell it on again.

The last one I dealt with was Westminster solicitors in feb 2013, and after they left it alone I sent letters by recorded delivery to orange again as a formal complaint into why this matter was never investigated. From that I never got a resonse, and assumed all was over with as a year has now passed.

This week I received a letter from Lowell saying that they have now bought the debt and are to seek £1380 from me.


I know in the small print of phone contracts it does say that you are liable for any charges up until the point of a cancelled contract, nd mine were ran up in the few hours I between, however my problem is that I was actually told the charges were wiped, and orange claim to have no evidence of this and have ignored me every time I have asked for voice recordings of my calls. Had they not told me that the charges were wiped I would have seeker to resolve it through my phone insurance and one of this would ever have happened.

Anyone any idea how to move forwRd and stop this all, it has caused so much stress on myself and my family being harassed for money I don't have, and had also defaulted my credit rating.

Nicwharton

I have since checked my credit file and it is showing as d's every month for the past 2 years. As far as I'm concerned this should not be on their either as an investigation should be ongoing and no decision should be made to default me until a decision has been made. Although I assume this is the problem in itself because they have already done this. How long will this stay on my credit. File, will it be 6 years since the first month, or because it looks like it's rolling on month after month will it just keep following me? How do I go about getting this off my credit file?

forgotmyname

Is the whole bill for the calls you did not make or charges for the rest of the contract?

The contract would still have needed to be paid. Did you pay the rest of the contract off?

Nicwharton

The whole £1300 is for the cost if the bill plus the rest of my contract. At the first instance I had to cancel my contracts direct debit just to stop them taking the bill amount off me each month, however all the way along I have said that I am happy to pay for the outstanding amount on my contract as it was me that cancelled it and know I have to pay it.
However when I say this they just insist that it is the whole cost I need to pay and then ignore me.

I think my main problem here is that they have told me what is more than likely wrong information on the phone and have then tried to ignore that fact, and have never responded to me when I have requested the recordings of the calls as proof (as if they hadn't told me this info it would never have gotten this far) and then just continue to sell on the debt.

Nicwharton

Can anyone advise on the above? Or perhaps have I put this in the wrong forum?

Eonel

I'm afraid the only advice I can give is with the power if hindsight. You should not have cancelled the direct debit - they had already taken the big payment & the amounts would have reverted to normal. You would then relentlessly pursue a complaint over the unwarranted payment until it is resolved - keeping your credit record intact.

As it stands today, it is your word versus theirs on the agreement to drop the charges and your credit record has taken a beating.