Buymobiles.net (A1 Comms)

Browner75

Hi Forum Users

I am after a little advice please, on whether this can be pursued. I just happened to browse my spam/Trash bin and come across this email. I have received no actual mail in the post from this company, and not noticed any previous emails, but then my spam is usual binned the after a day or so and don't normally check this. This was an order placed for a samsung phone that i could not get on with so i sold the phone (as i couldn't get used to android and went back to iPhone) and paid the contract off. Nothing was advised by Tmobile that I was doing anything wrong, And I certainly wasn't advised by Buymobiles.net at point of purchase nothing was obvious. you only have to look at emails from them and everything is just links to click here and there.

buymobiles.net
Ref: 292****

FINAL LETTER OF DEMAND PURSUANT TO THE CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES 1998 AND ANNEX B OF THE PRACTICE DIRECTION-PRE ACTION CONDUCT

Dear Mr Paul Brown,

We refer to previous correspondence and note that, despite numerous requests, you have failed to pay us for the products provided to you, given you have been disconnected by your service provider.

As a result, it is our policy to provide you with one final opportunity to settle the debt prior to legal action being commenced. This letter is therefore being sent pursuant to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 and in accordance with Annex B of the Practice Direction – Pre Action Conduct. We should highlight that should you fail to pay pursuant to this letter we will either commence court proceedings or alternatively we may pass the debt on to a third party which will then in turn commence a court claim to recover the monies due. This letter should therefore be taken seriously. Please see details below of the amount due to A1comms;

Amount due £456 or Return of Goods

Return Address;
A1comms Ltd (F.A.O The Collections Team)
Contract House
Turnpike Business Park
Alfreton
DE55 7AD

Details of our terms and conditions are fully particularised below;
1 The Debt
1.1 As stated a total of £456 is due to us. Please note should payment not be forthcoming and a claim is issued we reserve the right to claim statutory interest at a rate of 8% in respect of each of the amounts from their due dates following our payment requests, to the date of actual payment.
2 The Claim
2.1 In anticipation of forthcoming legal proceedings, we will summarise our position below.
2.2 You entered into a contract with us when ordering the phone and tariff from our website. After you placed an order you will have received an email from us acknowledging that we have received your order. Once Goods were dispatched to you, having passed security checks, you will have been sent by email a Dispatch Confirmation. This is when the contract was formed between you and A1 Comms Limited.
2.3 By proceeding to confirm the order on our website you indicated agreement to our terms and conditions, a copy of which you are directed to on the website.
2.4 These terms and conditions note the following:
2.4.1 “By ordering goods you agree to be bound by these Terms...”
2.4.2 Clause 4.5 – “If you purchase Contract phone or Sim-Only we will often charge you less for those Goods than the amount we would charge if you were buying them without a Network Contract (the Retail Price). You acknowledge that us providing those Goods to you for free or at less than the Retail Price is conditional on you not downgrading your Tariff or ending your Network Contract during the Minimum Term.”
2.4.3 Clause 4.6 - “Except in circumstances where you cancel your Contract and your Network Contract in accordance with clause 9, if your Network Contract ends before the end of the Minimum Term or if you downgrade your Tariff then:
2.4.4 Clause 4.6.1 - Within 7 days of the downgrade or end of the Network Contract you must:
(a) Pay us the difference between the price you paid for the Contract Phone or Sim-Only and a sum equal to the Retail Price including VAT, plus the market value of the Promotional Products plus VAT; or
(b) If the contract Phone or Sim-Only and any associated Promotional Products are in good working order, fully functioning and intact you can return them to us”;
2.4.5 Clause 4.7 – “If you do not make the payment required under clause 4.6.1 then we will be entitled to take back the Contract Phone or Sim-Only and any associated Promotional Products and you must return them to us as soon as we ask you to do so”.
2.4.6 Clause 4.8 – “If you fail to return any Contract Phone and Promotional Products under clause 4.7 we will commence proceedings to recover the cost of the Goods from you including but not exclusive to invoicing you for the sums owed”.
2.5 As a result, you are clearly in breach of the contract. As stated, the total amount due currently amounts to £456. Please note should proceedings be issued interest can be claimed at the statutory rate of 8% from the date each amount fell due to the date at which settlement is received.
2.6 Payment of the Goods can be made using debit or credit card by contacting us on the telephone number 0345 413 6212.
3 The Next Steps
3.1 You have ignored numerous requests for payment. As a result, we are left with no other option than to commence legal proceedings in 14 days unless payment is received in full. In the event that proceedings are issued, we or the third party will seek to statutory interest, and seek to recover any legal costs of bringing the claim in addition to the balance discussed above. Any legal proceedings could result in a county court judgment being entered against you which if unpaid, could impact on your ability to raise credit in the future.
3.2 Finally, we are obliged to advise you that you may wish to take independent legal advice in respect of this matter. Free independent advice and assistance can be obtained from several organisations. If you require any advice on this please contact us for details.

We look forward to hearing from you as a matter of urgency.
Collections Team
cd@a1comms.com

I'd like to know can they do this, how its been done? Why haven't I received anything in the post to this effect? What sort of company operates in this manner?? if it was in the building trade Dominic Littlewood would be featuring them on Cowboy Traders or Anne Robinson on Watchdog.

If anyone could advise or assist in this matter it would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Paul Brown

mobilejunkie

It's nothing to do with T-Mobile. You had a separate contract with Buymobiles and you have breached the t&c (whether you read them at the time or not).

grumbler

Recent threads:

Issues with buymobilephones.net after leaving T-mobile after their price rise.

Help Buymobiles.net claims i owe them money.

Kernel_Sanders

Who said you could pay off the contract and who did you pay ?

Ksands

Same happened to me.

Well I had a phone call regarding post and email they had been sending me since October.......

After checking all post and emails and having not had any from them at all. I called back very disgusted at the way they do business. How can they call someone up telling them they owe them many hundreds of pounds saying this is an ongoing matter since October so now needs sorting ASAP before it goes to a debt collecting agency! It's like they've snook up behind you and put a knife to your throat.

Please let me know if they tried the same tactic with you?

caverncity

Hi has this problem been sorted as it has just happened to me. Ta

Silk

caverncity wrote: »

Hi has this problem been sorted as it has just happened to me. Ta

The OP hasn't been on since the day they posted

gr1340

Any news on this, I have received an email from them today?

If the worse comes to the worse, the phone today is worth around £140 so I guess I would offer to pay that rather than send it back.

mije1983

gr1340 wrote: »

Any news on this

Nope. As said in the post above yours:

Silk wrote: »

The OP hasn't been on since the day they posted

There are other A1/Buymobiles threads in the forum with the same situation though.

caverncity

I offered the phones current value and they accepted it. account closed.

techman2015

same happened to me, threatening final demand which had been preceded by just one email a year earlier. I emailed the letter below, which is factual, and received an speedy and pleasant apology and confirmation that they had closed my account with no debt outstanding - hope this helps

Dear A1 Comms,

I am aware of one previous conversation with you I think about 12 months ago but am VERY concerned that you have attempted to contact me on numerous occasions without success.

Would you please provide me with copies of emails and letters relating to this, and dates/times of phone calls so I can understand how we have reached this point which is obviously very distressing for me.

I spoke to someone some months ago and explained that to my knowledge I entered in to ONE contract with you which was for an O2 phone for 24 months. The service from O2 was appalling and the phone was never able to receive pictures/photos, despite hours spent in store and online to 'gurus' and having it reset several times. Eventually the phone broke and they refused to repair it. This was immensely frustrating as I am self employed and needed my phone for work, so I bought out of my contract by paying in full for the remaining few months.

Several points:

• if you are saying I entered in to TWO contracts and not the normal one contract I think this is very confusing, not standard industry practice, and should be made VERY clear at the outset - this does not mean small print.
• there is no possible way that the model of phone I had can be worth £283.50 It was two models out of date when I got in over two years ago and will be 4 years old from launch this May. These can be purchased on the internet for around £45 today.
• It is O2 who owe you the money as they were paid IN FULL, EARLY. I have never heard anyone threatened for paying in full early.

Please can you confirm that you have reviewed this in light of the above and the matter is now closed. If you wish to proceed please provide all correspondence as requested, including original contract, so I can provide this information to my WHICH legal representative and OFCOM.