Advise on Orange (EE) Default

ShaunOReilly

Hi there,

Just really looking for some advise regarding a default placed on to my credit file by Orange (EE)

I have only recently started to take note of my credit file, and noticed that I had a default from early 2014 from Orange, with an outstanding debt of a whopping £48.89. I immediately called them and queried this. It turns out it was from an old Orange contract from around 2013, and was for two months worth of missing payments. Foolishly, I paid the amount BEFORE I even bothered to ask for the bills as proof (Silly I know)

I them emailed the credit query team, and kindly asked if they would consider removing the default as I had paid the amount in full as soon as I noticed it. They responded with a point blank 'No' as they had sent me a default notice via post, which I never recieved as I had moved house.

At this point I thought I would just accept the default, but I did ask them to send me proof of the bills just for my peace of mind and so that I could see why I had paid the £48.89. I was advised to call the customer team and they would send me them out via post.

Now .. once I got through, the customer advisor could not bring up any bills, and could only send me a 'Statement of account' to show the invoice amount of £48.89. I then asked 'What date did this account begin?' Again, he could not tell me.

What I would like to know is, If Orange can not provide me with the bills to show why I have been charged £48.89, thus leading to a default, and they don't even know when the account was actually created, is there any chance that I could take further action to remove the default?

The only proof they have is an Invoice stating I owe £48.89. As I said to the customer advisor, I could Invoice my neighbour for £50, but if there is not an explanation of WHY I am charging them £50, then surely it is invalid?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I did call experian and they suggested requesting a DSAR.

Ben8282

More to the point, did you actually default the old contract back in 2013? Is this one of those 'I called them to cancel the contract then immediately cancelled the direct debit' type problems?

ShaunOReilly

The contract itself was a pay monthly sim, where by you only paid for what you actually used. If the usage was zero then the payment was £0.00. I actually took this out in phones4u thinking it would help my credit by just having a contract that I never intended to use and therefore would 'pay' £0.00 each month.

I was willing to accept the default as I don't really think Orange would charge me fraudulently, but considering they can't even provide me with the bills to show the charges, and they themselves do not know when the account was even set up, I really don't know whether to accept the default and leave it, or fight my case.

Ben8282

Now that you have paid your options are very limited. You are probably right that Orange wouldn't charge you fraudulently but they could well have charged you in error.
Can you think of anything that this amount could represent?
Did you really never ever actually use the SIM card that the contract was for? That sounds a bit, well, odd. Surely a CONTRACT SIM card has a fixed monthly payment with so many inclusive minutes and texts and so much data. Can you really get a CONTRACT SIM card with a £0 monthly payment and nothing inclusive included? I don't think so. You must have been paying something each month.
Did you give the required notice when you cancelled the contract? Did you actually cancel it? Did you receive a final bill? Did you have a direct debit set up? Did you wait for all outstandings to be taken before you cancelled this direct debit?