T-mobile debt collection agency over deadlock claim

fishy107

hi sorry for the length of this post, but i need advice and i couldnt describe my situation in fewer words, ive recently had a problem with debt collectors and need advice. i have a £700+ phone bill from my contract when it was stolen, from someone downloading stupid wallpapers and things. now after a dispute T-mobile has sent debt collectors after me and they say they will be arriving next next monday. Although according to OFT this is still against their powers AKA illegal as the dispute is still on going and my dad wants to goto court about the bill, as my dad has offered £200, but T-mobile rejected the offer, which is precisely what the deadlock is defined as, which goes against OFTs regulations

"2.12f: Visiting or threatening to visit debtors without prior agreement when the
debt is deadlocked or disputed.
By 'deadlocked' we mean where a debtor (or debtor’s adviser) agrees there is a debt and
has offered a repayment programme which has not been agreed by the creditor or debt
collector. We are not saying that any offer must be accepted but we have seen cases
where offers are disregarded and a debtor is told that 'we are sending field agents'. Many
debtors are unlikely to understand this term and are likely to view the visit as a threat
designed to make them offer more money when they can pay no more. Some letters appear
to be designed to give this impression.
By 'disputed' we mean genuinely disputed. We are not seeking to protect 'won’t pays' but
those who are being pursued for a debt they do not owe or genuinely believe they do not
owe. Debt collectors who can show that the debt is due and that any dispute has been
looked into and the debt confirmed will not be in breach of this provision."


i understand that they cannot enter the house unless i give permission to (so im not even going to open the door, as once they have been given permission they can enter as they wish without permission.) but will they be able to take the car parked outside on my driveway? or vandalise anything? do you think i should print out the oft guidelines,highlight them and stick them on the outter see-through porch door? (and btw are they allowed to open my porch door which leads to my main door?)

please any help would be much appreciated

c___2

Geez thats shamful.

1) Immediatly contact OFCOM and report them. They are categorically not allowed to do this.

2) Typically you will received a letter from a debt collection agency if it has been referred to debt collection. These agencies don't go round knocking on doors as their first resort because it costs them money. When/if you get this letter it will probably sound scary but don't get too paniced. Contact them on the number on the letter and explain whats happened. Usually these agencies won't want to break any guidelines and especially any laws - you can fax them proof the matter is still in dispute. You also have an option here to refute the claim and advise them you will be seeking to take the matter to court. As long as you inform them of this they can't send people round, instead they'll either drop the claim (if it'll cost them too much to recover), or file for court processding.
The only time you have to fear these debt colectors is when you agree to pay and don't, or a COURT finds in their favour and you refuse to pay.

3) If you have home contents insurance, you may have legal cover included. If so there will be a legal helpline you can call for more specific information. You can as a last resort ask them to deal with it for you (but there may be excesses to pay and conditions), but the phoneline advice will be free.

If they havn't sent you anything in writing informing you debt recovery proceedings will or have comenced they can't do much to you. In fact they shouldnt be threatening you like this.

About your claim, i assume you went through ofcom and adjudication and the result was a deadlock? If you havn't done this then you should, without it its vague wether it is a deadlock or not.

Fear not, I personally had a claim against them and won, they tried similar tactics untill i reported them. Then the apologies started and i won £500 in damages!

Good luck.

Human_Writes

As previously mentioned you can refer the dispute for adjudication assuming you haven't done this already, T-Mobile use CISAS as their alternative dispute resolution service.

http://www.cisas.org.uk/index.asp

If your dispute has been ongoing for more than 3 months which I'd assume it has as they've now instructed a Debt Collection Agency, according to CISAS' rules you can approach them directly and ask for adjudication.

Looking at CISAS' case studies which are available on their website, the general rule appears to be they rule in favour of the company on this specific issue, usually mobile phone contracts have clear terms advising that paying for lost or stolen calls and charges is the consumers responsibility prior to the point that they report this issue to the network.

fishy107

thanks all for your help. will contact OFT to get specific ruling on deadlock and hopefully this longed out process will finally be resolved , will keep the therad updated on my progress