Carphine warehouse, mobile contract, credit score, debt

Nathynoonoo93

2014 i went to carphone warehouse to upgrade my phone to a new one.
The staff said if wanted a new phone i would have to get a contract. So i thought ok well ile do that then. Not 5 mins later they then realised i could actually upgrade, so i did, i upgraded to a NOKIA Lumia 735. The staff in CPW apologised and assured me the contract would be sent to the cancelations team and forwarded to o2 UK and also be cancelled on they're end too.

All good. Got new phone on an upgrade. Paid roughly £18 a month for the next 2 years for tariff charges only.
2016 i get a letter in post from o2 UK stating that i owe them over £400 for a mobile contract opened in 2014. I knew staright away what it was.

I phoned them to try and sort it out but the contract profile on o2's system dosent have any security questions setup, has a different ref number, and a different phone number to ones i have and used. The only thing that is connected to me on it is my name.
Because of this can not get access to the contract to sort it out.

I phoned carphone warehouse and questioned them on itand they admitted it wasnt cancelled.
Even after admitting they messed up and apparently understanding my situation they were/are still not willing to settle the debt. Ive phoned them with no outcome numerous times, emailed theyre cancellations department and i get ignored.
O2 UK sold the debt to LOWELL Debt recovery agency, i ignored them for over 2 years and now theyre solicitors have had a county court claim form sent to me asking to admit to £377 debt.
I have wrote back but in defence and doubt they will take me to court as it will cost them alot more than £377.

Another end result is that my Credit file is ruined because of this, and i cannot get credit anywhere if i ever need it. Tryed an argos card but failed its that bad.

Can i take them to court ( carphone warehouse ) and make a claim or be compensated??

I spoke to CAB and they said either take them to court or wait for them to take me. According to CAB i would wipe the floor with them as they are in "breach of contract"

Any advice, tips or tricks you guys can give before this gets serious.

Thankyou.

mobilejunkie

You wouldn't "wipe the floor" with anyone without proof - and I doubt you have that unless CPW have confirmed it in writing.

It doesn't necessarily cost much to go to the small claims court so your assumptions about that may also be incorrect - though usually debt collectors don't go that far, they could. Either way your credit files are wrecked for 6 years after the debt went unpaid (it's not clear whether they ever took any direct debit payments from you in respect of the "cancelled" contract). If they did and you took no action at the time it would also weaken your case.

Personally I'm not a fan of the CAB; talk is cheap but courts aren't as simple or clear-cut (assuming the advice is sound in the first place). Also whatever they told you is interpreted in your own particular way and may not be exactly what they meant. In any case, it doesn't get you very far.

What they have advised is the basis of your problem; to take action against CPW requires proof of cancellation (not just what someone may have told you in a shop or by phone). Also there is no "cooling off" period on contracts taken out in store. Without proof you can only really now pay up and suffer the loss and credit file problem for the 6 years or ignore it. Neither is great - if you ignore it can't be any worse unless they commence proceedings - at which point your costs will increase if you lose. However, the additional costs if you then paid up before it goes further than the summons might not be as great.

Taking legal action against them is only a runner IF you have written proof that it was cancelled or written confirmtation from CPW that it should have been. It was all done through CPW so the network isn't involved in this. If you instigate a legal claim and lose you will have done the debt collectors' job for them.

Nathynoonoo93

Thats makes sense thankyou.
Ive been advised to go to CPW and ask them for any copys of transactions, contracts signed or not, upgrades, reference numbers, the lot from them as they keep it all on file because of some legislation. I did once go back to the store and spoke to them in person, they lloked the contracts details and told me that it DID go to the cancelations team but thats where it stopped.

Maybe getting these copies could help after reading what you have wrote.

d123

Nathynoonoo93 wrote: »

2014 i went to carphone warehouse to upgrade my phone to a new one.
The staff said if wanted a new phone i would have to get a contract. So i thought ok well ile do that then. Not 5 mins later they then realised i could actually upgrade, so i did, i upgraded to a NOKIA Lumia 735. The staff in CPW apologised and assured me the contract would be sent to the cancelations team and forwarded to o2 UK and also be cancelled on they're end too.

All good. Got new phone on an upgrade. Paid roughly £18 a month for the next 2 years for tariff charges only.
2016 i get a letter in post from o2 UK stating that i owe them over £400 for a mobile contract opened in 2014. I knew staright away what it was.

I phoned them to try and sort it out but the contract profile on o2's system dosent have any security questions setup, has a different ref number, and a different phone number to ones i have and used. The only thing that is connected to me on it is my name.
Because of this can not get access to the contract to sort it out.

I phoned carphone warehouse and questioned them on itand they admitted it wasnt cancelled.
Even after admitting they messed up and apparently understanding my situation they were/are still not willing to settle the debt. Ive phoned them with no outcome numerous times, emailed theyre cancellations department and i get ignored.
O2 UK sold the debt to LOWELL Debt recovery agency, i ignored them for over 2 years and now theyre solicitors have had a county court claim form sent to me asking to admit to £377 debt.
I have wrote back but in defence and doubt they will take me to court as it will cost them alot more than £377.

Another end result is that my Credit file is ruined because of this, and i cannot get credit anywhere if i ever need it. Tryed an argos card but failed its that bad.

Can i take them to court ( carphone warehouse ) and make a claim or be compensated??

I spoke to CAB and they said either take them to court or wait for them to take me. According to CAB i would wipe the floor with them as they are in "breach of contract"

Any advice, tips or tricks you guys can give before this gets serious.

Thankyou.

BiB

If they were to take you to court and got a CCJ against you any costs incurred would be added to your total owing, so it wouldn't actually cost them anything.