Three (3) Appointed A Debt Collection Agency :(

furriephillips

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong category.

I've changed banks in the past few months and I now have much greater visibility of my finances. !I noticed that an Direct Debit for an old contract I had with Three (3) - the mobile phone people, had been migrated to the new account... !I had left their service years ago, as their network was useless where I live, and I literally couldn't use my phone in my home, so I deleted the DD.

I started getting calls from people proporting to be 3, telling me I'd missed some payments & I thought they were scamming me, as I thought my getting a pac code & moving to a new phone network was equivalent to cancelling my contract. !The last person mentioned a number that I didn't recognise, but said it was for a 3G dongle... !One I probably haven't used more than a few times.

Today I've received an email from carsuk.org - a debt collection agency, appointed by Three, to recover the outstanding balance owed on my account £28.60

I could just pay up, then get on to Three and cancel the errant service, but I am angry that they've been taking my money for years, for a service I have not been using! :mad:

What recourse do I have? !I tried logging into three.co.uk with my phone number, but I cannot get a password reset, because my number is no longer associated with Three.

Can I use GDPR to have them supply me with all my details/records, including service usage logs? !Then use that evidence to make a case for a refund, since they didn't cancel the service when I moved away and likely haven't seen a longin on the 3G dongle since 2011 (a bit of a guess by me, as I cannot find any emails from them, as my email archive doesn't go back that far)?

Any suggestions welcome

[Deleted User]

Porting your number our does cancel the contract yes but you’ll be liable for any early termination charges.

You also mention a mobile dongle.

So what are we dealing with here?

Unpaid fees on a mobile phone or an unpaid contract for a mobile dongle?

furriephillips

As yet, I am unsure & don't want to say anything to them, that might trap me.

I had a phone contract & possibly also had a 3G dongle, which I thought was part of the same contract.

I cancelled the phone contract when I ported my phone number to a different provider (I believed).

With them quoting a number I don't recognise & me not being able to log in to their site or reset my password, using the number I ported away, I can only assume that it's the 3G dongle that they've not cancelled when I left them.

I believe I only went to the 3 network off the back of a recommendation from a colleague who started working with me in 2011, and I would have left them ASAP (their coverage was atrocious, in the location I wanted to use it) - so, no more than 2 years after, and I've apparently been paying all along; right up until I noticed their DD in my new bank account.

Ethically, I don't like what they've done - I bet they knew I was an inactive user & I've never had an email from them asking if I'm OK. Yes, that's a little utopian, but I'm annoyed & I'd rather shout about skeevy business practices & shed light on the darkness, than quietly pay.

Willing2Learn

Sorry, but I don't understand how you can keep paying a Direct Debit for so many years and not notice? I would have realised in the first month. I know we are all different, but you really need to reconcile your statements on a monthly basis, then this sort of thing would not happen.

Hope I am not coming across as rude. It is meant to be helpful as it is meant to be encouraging you to be more aware of your statemented transactions.

[Deleted User]

Well ethically you ported a number out mid-contract and owe them money still.

Cancelling a phone contract won’t cancel a contract for a dongle - they’re different devices on different contracts

furriephillips

Little bit rude, but I'd class it as harsh but fair.

TL;DR Give me a break, I'm trying to dig myself out of a hole.

I have gradually become disabled over the past 15 years - a spinal injury which has progressively got worse & causes me not to be able to use my arms properly, above waist height (to brush my teeth, I need to be sitting down, using both hands and one of them braced against the wall/sink) have been [STRIKE]fighting [/STRIKE]sinking-into depression, living alone, with no support, friends, family, and considered too young to be "vulnerable" & slipping through the cracks.

I've been drowning in debt for at least 10 years, just recently moved from FirstDirect, to Monzo, which gave me a much clearer idea where my money's been going (take-away/junk food). I cannot really prepare my own food or wash my own dishes. I've been living in a hovel, because I cannot safely pick up anything I accidentally drop on the floor - because my arms are useless - I cannot get up if I fall down, which I've done a lot.

Try engaging a cleaner, when your house is already in an awful state - they take one look, then run away.

Since moving to Monzo, I've cleared my shortish-term credit card debt & stopped using a credit card for purchases. I've moved some longer term debt (£7k) to a 29 month 0% and set up a Monzo saving pot, to make sure that I can clear the balance of the debt when the 0% period is up.

My last fall down the stairs (a couple of months ago) resulted in a fire-brigade & ambulance visit and shortly after, a kind samaritan helped me tidy the house to the point where I was able to engage a friendly cleaner.

furriephillips

The port out was done AFTETR the contract was over.

[Deleted User]

No offence but the story isn’t needed.

You owe the money for the dongle though yes?

System

I'm disabled, three knackered discs in my lower back which are inoperable so I know exactly where you are as because I continue to try to work with it from time to time I end up in the same state as you. It isn't a reason not to keep on top of your finances. It isn't a reason to be in debt.

If you didn't cancel the contract with the dongle then you owe the money, most likely the number you don't recognise is the one assigned to the dongle. If you cancelled the contract on the mobile phone before the minimum term was up you owe what was outstanding. Cancelling direct debits doesn't cancel contracts, it does guarantee you ending up with a debt collection agency though.

The fact you have utopian beliefs and don't believe you should be held to a contract you entered because you chose not to use it doesn't alter the fact that the money is still owing.

It is up to you whether you choose to pay. Chances are if the debt collectors come knocking on the door and see how you're living they may write it off as unrecoverable if you have no assets.