I have been paying Vodafone but they have now passed it to a debt company

jagger86

Hi


The quick story is - I have been making payments to a debt with vodafone but today received a letter from a debt agency. No warning or contact from Vodafone!


The long story is - I have had a lot of issues with Vodafone mainly due to the fact it is near on impossible to get any kind of answer from them when I call. It all goes back to a bill I disputed a while ago and they told me they would re-calculate it and apply a credit so meanwhile I cancelled the DD. Anyway few months later I discovered there was a large balance outstanding, well larger than what I thought it would be. I was only on a sim only deal for £20 a month so had no idea how this happened. I never received any letters or bills from them. by this time I was also made redundant so had so much other stuff going on I forgot about chasing up the phone bill.


Since Christmas I have been addressing my various debt issues and I was paying Vodafone £40 a month which is all I had budgeted for a phone allowance. I then realised that I was getting nowhere doing this as there were always extra charges on top of the sim only deal so there was hardly any being paid off the debt. So I left and have PAYG now so I can pay £40 a month off the debt. At this point I believed to owe around £400. Again never had this in writing but this is just what experian says.
I rang to make a payment this month but because I have now left it was the most long winded process and they said I couldn't set up a direct debit over the phone as I didn't pass all the security questions. One of the questions being - what is your latest bill amount? I haven't received a bil!!!!


I have last week written to Vodafone (as phoning is pointless) and have asked them to send me a breakdown of what I owe and if we can put a payment plan in place as I have been paying £40 but the balance does not seem to be going down.


Today I have received a letter from a Debt Recovery Agency saying that I owe Vodafone £650!!!


Any advice as what to do next as I Vodafone have never written to me and are my £40 payments even being acknowledged??


Thanks

sourcrates

Hi,

Just set up a payment arrangement with the DCA.

If you dispute the amount, send the provit letter.

jagger86

Thanks for your response. Is the DCA the debt company? Will they accept a lower payment if I pay it in full. I have just started a new job and have more spare cash now.


I was just wondering how it had increased from £400 to £650 when I have been making payments more than anything.

jagger86

Also sorry what is a provit letter?

sourcrates

DCA (debt collection agency) yes.

Debt collectors are always willing to do a deal, but if you have a dispute about the balance, ask them to provide evidence.

Letter when you know nothing about the debt or wish to challenge the balance they are asking for :

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247

Vodafone

Hi jagger86,

I'm sorry to hear that you've not had the best of experiences with us.

If you'd like me to look into things for you, email me via the form here.

To access the form you'll need to enter the code WRT135.

As well as stating your query in the question box, please also quote "MSE Forum".

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post it on here and I'll check I've received it.

Kind regards,

Lee

Vodafone Social Media

fatbelly

Which DCA are they using?

sourcrates

To be honest your probably better off dealing with the DCA.

Have vodaphone sold your debt or do they refer to "there client" ?

jagger86

They are using Avantis or Advantis I think. The letter has been thrown away by mistake due to toddler using it as a colouring book!...so need to call them and ask them to send it again.

sourcrates

jagger86 wrote: »

They are using Avantis or Advantis I think. The letter has been thrown away by mistake due to toddler using it as a colouring book!...so need to call them and ask them to send it again.

I would just wait until they write again.

You are only on letter no 1, lots to come yet !!!!

jagger86

Vodafone wrote: »

Hi jagger86,

I'm sorry to hear that you've not had the best of experiences with us.

If you'd like me to look into things for you, email me via the form here.

To access the form you'll need to enter the code WRT135.

As well as stating your query in the question box, please also quote "MSE Forum".

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post it on here and I'll check I've received it.

Kind regards,

Lee

Vodafone Social Media

Hi Lee
I have completed the form quoting the code this morning but I have not yet received an email with a reference number.


Thanks