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Help Buymobiles.net claims i owe them money.

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  • mobilejunkie
    mobilejunkie Posts: 8,460 Forumite
    It's unclear why they are asking for the money. Did you get a phone and not return it? Is it was early terminations of the contract? If it because you fell foul of Buymobile's t&c regarding being charged for the handset if the contract with the network is terminated before the minimum term is up? Who do they represent and what exactly are they claiming FOR.

    Get them to put that in writing otherwise you have no-where to go.
  • Hello, they are claiming that I owe for the line rental owed on the incorrect new line they ordered from T Mobile, they have since advised I did not cancel it within the initial 7 days, despite me contacting both Buy Mobiles and T Mobile to cancel the line within 24 hours of the order being created.
  • In fact, I have just received another mail, they are claiming the cost of the handset against the incorrectly raised new line, this despite the handset being switched to the correct upgrade order.
  • mobilejunkie
    mobilejunkie Posts: 8,460 Forumite
    edited 30 May 2015 at 8:05AM
    Then there are two claims. You need to write to Buymobiles explaining what happened and that it was due to their error, which you were told by them was corrected at that time. Give the dates and any names of who you spoke with (I'd have got it in writing but if you haven't that will have to suffice, though is not real hard proof).

    Buymobiles were taken over by A1Comms some time back; not sure whether before or after your dates, but it may have led to this being missed.

    Ask for written confirmation that they will correct the amounts showing as owed. The debt collectors are probably working on behalf of the network (clarify) who have a separate claim so you need a written correspondence trail from Buymobiles to send to them for them to notify their debt collectors of that fact AND ensure they remove any adverse entries on your external credit files. Stay reasonable as without written proof your position isn't that strong, though you should at least be able to show that a) the kept phone was transerred to an upgrade contract at the time they told you the original contract had been cancelled due to their error b) you haven't had any previous contact from them before this claiming that you owe them money and c) the upgrade contract was NOT terminated early.

    Assuming this is all down to Buymobiles' error you may have to claim the network money owed from them but it's all pretty messy and it won't be easy to erase any adverse external credit entries.
  • Cheers Mobile junkie, the debt collectors are working on behalf of A1 comms. This is still being investigated by them and hopefully they can now see what I have been telling them.
  • anna2007
    anna2007 Posts: 1,182 Forumite
    I thought I'd post details of my own experience with this bunch, which has just been resolved with Burlington Group today.

    I had two T-Mobile contracts cancelled due to their 2013 price rise (after taking a complaint to the ombudsman), one of which was purchased via Buymobiles.net. In May, almost 2 years later, I received a demand for payment from Burlington, £198 to recover A1 Comm's costs for early cancellation of the contract. I had no contact from A1 Comms/Buymobiles.net in that time. I emailed Burlington a copy of the CISAS decision, explaining that it was T-Mobile who had cancelled the contract after the ombudsman found them to be in breach of contract.

    Last Friday, I received a second demand from Burlington, asking me to contact them urgently as I'd ignored their first letter... I sent the following by email:
    Please find below an email sent to your company almost two months ago, with attached correspondence from the telecommunications ombudsman CISAS, which confirms that T-Mobile was responsible for early termination of the contract connected to the mobile phone handset on which you claim an alleged debt. T-Mobile cancelled this contract on instruction from the ombudsman, having been found to be in breach of contract, and the ombudsman's decision clearly states that the cancellation was to be without penalty to myself.

    Unless you can provide me with proof of debt showing that I terminated the contract early, I request again that you cease any further recovery action against me and confirm in writing that the matter is now closed.

    This seems to have done the trick, as I received this reply from Burlington today:
    Thank you for your email,

    Please accept this as a formal confirmation that the account has been closed and no further action will be taken.

    We apologise if you feel this caused you any undue concern.

    A letter confirming the closing of this account will be posted to you in the next 10 business days.

    I honestly didn't expect it to be resolved quite so easily, and had already drafted my formal complaint to Burlington. But if early termination's brought about by T-Mobile's breach of contract, and I've met my obligations under the contract, the minimum term that A1 Comms is relying on surely no longer applies, and they can't reasonably say I'm liable for early termination. I would have thought the same applies for anyone's who's bought their way out of a contract by paying an early termination charge - the network provider accepts the ETC payment in lieu of the customer seeing out the minimum term, so the minimum term no longer applies?

    Both A1 Comms (as a credit broker) and Burlington Group (as a DCA) are on the FCA register, and broke a fair number of FCA rules in my own case. I didn't get as far as speaking to the Financial Ombudsman Service, but they should be willing to accept a complaint against either company, as they're both authorised/regulated by the FCA.
  • mobilejunkie
    mobilejunkie Posts: 8,460 Forumite
    Since they didn't attempt to contact you before handing it over to debt collectors and ignored your response it made their case very weak as a court would see it as unreasonable. In my view that is a seperate issue from the general situation, where you do have two contracts and cancelling one doesn't negate the other.
  • anna2007
    anna2007 Posts: 1,182 Forumite
    If that's the case, it can only be a good thing, as they seem to flout the debt recovery rules and ignore customer contact as standard practice, going by other posts on the forum. I don't see it as a separate issue at all, if it makes them back down so easily.

    I accept that there are two agreements in place, my point was that in making a demand for payment, A1 Comms is relying on a clause in their t&c's which is dependent on the customer ending the contract within the minimum term. I didn't end the contract early, T-Mobile did, on instruction from the ombudsman. If T-Mobile had accepted my initial notice to cancel the contract, A1 Comms could claim I ended the agreement early, but I wouldn't let them away with that one either.
  • mobilejunkie
    mobilejunkie Posts: 8,460 Forumite
    The fact they waited two years after the event to contact you would not appear reasonable in my view - had they done it immediately they may have been able to present a stonger case.
  • anna2007
    anna2007 Posts: 1,182 Forumite
    If they had sent a demand letter out the day after cancellation it wouldn't have helped their case, as they don't have a valid claim. It would be barmy to try and recover losses from the customer, when they're a result of the network provider's breach of contract with that customer.

    I received a letter from Burlington this morning, repeating yesterday's email - pretty fast for a DCA. Time to put in a complaint to A1 Comms over their debt recovery procedures and misuse of my personal data - an apology and some compensation will do :)
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