BT have sprung unpaid bill on me

Arrit

Hopefully, this is an appropriate section to post in. Couldn't find one in the essential money section.

I received a letter from a debt collection letter from Fredrickson International Ltd regarding a balance of £154.84 owed to BT.

I spoke with BT and was informed they believed I still owed £123.87 from the account I had with them which was closed on Feb 16 when I moved house.

I informed them that I had paid all my bills via direct debit and anything owed would have been taken via that. BT said that the direct debit was cancelled before the final bill (something I did not do myself, if this happened it was BT who canceled it).

I then asked why I had not been contacted before now if they believed I owed them money. When I moved in Feb I set up a mail redirect for 6 months (10/02/16 - 09/08/16) and am still using the same email address as when I was a customer (my credentials still work to log into the BT site).

I was informed that I was contacted via an email in Feb saying I had a bill. All this email does is inform you have a bill and I expected to have a bill since that was the month I left BT and for it to be paid via Direct Debit the same as all the others. This is the last email I have received from BT. I have had nothing via email about the bill being overdue or unpaid.

I was then told that I was sent a final notice by post on Sept 17. This was sent to the address they had on file which was the property I moved from on Feb 16.

The BT representative then continued to inform me that my only option was to arrange a payment plan with the collection agency since the account was now with them.

I would have settled any outstanding debt with BT if they had contacted me but a final notice to an address I moved from 19 months before isn't acceptable.

BT had numerous ways to contact me if there had been a problem with the payment. A letter in the first six months I moved would have been forwarded to my new address, I would have received any emails they had sent and they also had my mobile number.

BT have made little effort to contact me and now any money that I may have owed them has been increased by the admin fees the collection agency have added.

Actions I have taken

Contacted the collection agency first - they placed the account on hold for 7 days while I talked to BT.

Talked to BT as detailed above - told the since it was a valid bill and not an overcharging error there is nothing they can do as it the account is with the agency now.

Raised a formal complaint with BT using the resolver tool

Is there anything else I should/could be doing?

What do I do about the agency if the complaint takes longer than the seven days they have paused the account for?

Thanks in advance

Buzby

BT do not cancel DD’s, the customer has the ability. After 1 year - 366 days - any DD that has no charge expires automatically. The bank can tell you the date of cancellation. The obligation to pay a supplier remains, even if a DD exists and they didn’t take it (unfair, I know). As they didn’t contact you - you have have some mitigation, however, BT report transactions to a CRA and you may well be in default too. You need this sorted first.