Debt I "dont owe" being chased by debt collectors

extratype

I got a phone last summer, from day 1 the handset did not recognise any sim card, I do not know if it was a faulty sim slot as when I put the sim into another phone it wasnt recognised so put other sims into the original phone and they didnt work but were recognised by other phones.

I phoned company and was just told to take to a store but the nearest branch was 50 miles away as I got it on a holiday and they refused to help, I contacted executive office and got nowhere, so cancelled direct debit and sent emails with no replies

The whole time the phone has been in storage in brand new condition so I have not used it, and I was happy to still be in contract provided I did not have to pay the time when the phone and sim was down but as I got nowhere I lost it.

Fast foward to about 9 months later I get a letter saying I owe like £1200 (for a £20 odd a month contract!!) despite no other contact before now and so I ring up the company who talk to me in a tone of everything I say as just another person making excuses, or saying to me that the contract covered the SIM and not the phone so even though the phone was broken I had to go to manufacturer and I had to still pay for the contract whilst I had no phone, and that despite even the sim being faulty it was up to me to get the situation sorted.

She said as a "goodwill" gesture she will hold off further chasing for a week and I have to get back to Virgin to get them to investigate(despite me saying if they ignored me before what difference would it make now, could they not get back for me so I had backup)

So what legal rights do I have?

MrSilk

£20 a month x 24 = £480, I'd question the alleged charge of £1200. Did you request information from Virgin Mobile on the charges in writing?, it may be that the DCA has added some sort of charges to the account.

Legal rights; you signed up to a 24 month contract to rent the phone line, not the phone; so there is no questions that the debt is valid. Cancelling a direct debit does not make the debt/account go away!!

extratype

Thanks, but the sim was not making or receiving calls from day 1 either meaning the line wasn't working.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

extratype wrote: »

Thanks, but the sim was not making or receiving calls from day 1 either meaning the line wasn't working.

...or? There's got to be an "or".

MrSilk

extratype wrote: »

Thanks, but the sim was not making or receiving calls from day 1 either meaning the line wasn't working.

... Or you required a replacement SIM?

mhmmhm

MrSilk wrote: »

... Or you required a replacement SIM?

Agreed. Someone on the phone should easily have been able to sort out a replacement SIM for you. Going back to the shop wouldn't have sorted this out.

JasX

Yup +1 this sounds like a replacement sim job 2 minute call to ask them to drop a free replacement one in the post would fix it, newer phones are not always compatible with older sim cards.

Per the above tho you sign a contract to have use for the line whether you actually make use of it or not so the debt under the contact will be valid. You might be able to try your luck on the goodwill side but I wouldn't hold your breath.

MrSilk

Cancelling the DD wouldn't go in your favor, if you attempted to contact VM about it, was it in writing? do you have proof of this?

I'd also check your credit report, more than likely you'd have a default from it by VM, which would stay on your file for 6 years.

MrSilk

extratype wrote: »

and that despite even the sim being faulty it was up to me to get the situation sorted.

Yes, it's your contract, they provided the SIM. If it wouldn't work, then it would be up to you to notify them and ask for a replacement SIM.

extratype

MrSilk wrote: »

Yes, it's your contract, they provided the SIM. If it wouldn't work, then it would be up to you to notify them and ask for a replacement SIM.

Which I DID do, they just ignored my emails and when phoning just told me to try another phone or that it was self error, also it was a new sim and a microsim type so unlikely that it was not compatable, and none of my spare sims worked, I tried Orange, Vodafone, 3 none worked but all sims apart from the one I got worked.

Well actually the problem was the sim showed as unregistered at all times and they didnt understand when I told them just telling me that the sim was activated so shouldnt show as unregistered and the issue must of been with me, no one understood that the sim was faulty

There was nothing else I could do really, I phoned them up, I emailed them and got nowhere, I tried other phones that didnt work so what else was there?

brianposter

As long as you have reasonable evidence that you tried to get things fixed, you can argue that there was no contract as they can hardly start charging before you have a telephone that works.
Unless the contract specifies what you must do when something goes wrong, the other side cannot simply tell you what you should have done.
If you can show that they failed to reply to your emails that should be good enough.
So do not ask what you should have done - tell them everything that they have done wrong