Do I need to hire a solicitor to deal with Vodafone?

jneves

Hi Sarah,

My issue is that we got contacted yesterday afternoon again by the collection agency, contradicting what you said yesterday morning. I'll reply later, I'm just tired of being lied to.

Thanks,
João

boo_star

jneves wrote: »

Hi Sarah,

My issue is that we got contacted yesterday afternoon again by the collection agency, contradicting what you said yesterday morning. I'll reply later, I'm just tired of being lied to.

Thanks,
João

It may take a few days for them to put a lead on their attack dog.

If they're still barking at you in a couple of weeks then I'd consider approaching Vodafone again.

jneves

boo_star, since the ombudsman deadline went over (April 28) every single person from Vodafone always tells us the account is closed. And then a debt letter/sms/calls comes through. This is the 3rd instance since then.

For instance, in the last reply from Vodafone that Sarah refers to they claim once again the account is closed. The debt collection agency claims the account is not closed, has been put on hold and that they'll bother us again if the hold on our account is removed.

I've been up from before 4am because I made the decision not to insult everybody at Vodafone like I felt like doing yesterday when I realised that Sarah's comment above asking for further communication was after we reported them that the collection agency was still bothering us with no reply from Vodafone (I had wrongly assumed that my partner had just not reported the situation to Vodafone yet).

It might be the IT guy in me, but my current suspicion is that most systems on Vodafone report our account as closed, but somewhere they forgot to remove it from some kind of debt reporting. This has been a multi-layer failure from the start...

Thanks,
João

Nodding_Donkey

Why mess about contacting Vodafone?

Contact "the ombudsman" (CISAS?) and tell them the terms of the original ruling haven't been complied with.

MothballsWallet

Would it be a good idea for the OP to send the collection agency a "cease and desist" letter?

(OP, never contact one of these collection agencies by phone, do everything in writing.)

jneves

Nodding Donkey, we did that and have been sending them all the documentation as soon as it arrives. No developments from that side so far.

MothballsWallet, that would make sense. Is there any format/template I can/should use?

Thanks all, just getting all the suggestions makes the situation easier to handle.
João

MothballsWallet

Joao - you could try The Law Depot site's letter builder here.

There are others available, I think there are some on other boards on MSE Forums, you can try a Google search for "cease and desist letter uk" or "cease and desist template uk" to get some possibilities (stay away from the sponsored links - they'll probably charge you when you can find templates for free).

I did find some guidance on MSE Forums here - please look over any you do find to make sure they sound reasonable for what you want to do.

jneves

Just an update that we got an email saying (again) that our account is closed and that the debt collector contact was an administrative error. Fingers crossed for a couple of months, given the previous experience.

Thank you all, I'll update only if something fails...