Surprise BT defaulted account

Catch_0x16

Hello all,

Upon trying to get credit recently, I was shocked to find that I had large blemishes on my credit file that effectively stopped me from ever passing a credit check. One was an unsatisfied CCJ for a parking fine I didn't know about (filed to an old address) which I've pursued having set-aside (result tbc) and the other, which I'd like to discuss here, was a defaulted account with BT (broadband).

I've been a BT customer (broadband) for around 6 years, at both my current and previous address. When I moved house to my current address, BT set me up with a new account. I've been in my current address for over two years now.

When I learned of the defaulted account (£50 - one bill) I immediately phoned BT to see what was up. Initially their customer service agents said that it was clearly an error, and asked me to raise an issue with Equifax (via Experian) to have it remedied. Yesterday I received word that BT had confirmed to Equifax that it was in fact an accurate record and should stand.
Concerned, I spoke to BT yesterday to find that after more digging, my old account (for my previous address) had a missed payment for it's final bill. I've asked how this was possible, and they assumed I must have cancelled the direct debit my self (I've done no such thing).
BT now claim there is nothing they can do, and that the record is accurate and I'm now at odds as to what to do? I can't leave this on my account as it is damaging my credit rating immensely.

At all times I have had a direct debit with BT and at all times they have known my contact details, and would have been able to have contacted me should I owe them money. I have NEVER received notification from them that I owed them money, or that I had missed a payment.

One of the points I made in my defence for the parking ticket CCJ is that I can only pay bills/tickets I know about, and that if they are not served to me it is unfair to expect me to pay them. And that under the Consumer Procedure Rules they must make efforts to contact me should they believe I no longer reside at the address they are using. I feel that given I notified them of my change of address, and continued as a customer with them at my new address I have fairly good grounds to say that they have not followed their own due diligence. Do these rules apply for this sort of thing too?

Please help, I'm at my wit's end and am really struggling to see a path out of any of these issues. It seems like at every corner I'm being blindsided by unexpected litigation and honestly I'm losing the will to live.

Thanks all

Guy

D3xt3r5L4b

One default for £50 will make minimal difference all things considered.

The CCJ is what’s doing the most “damage”. 

phillw

Catch_0x16 said:

One of the points I made in my defence for the parking ticket CCJ is that I can only pay bills/tickets I know about, and that if they are not served to me it is unfair to expect me to pay them.

How did the parking ticket go to the wrong address? It should have gone to the address the vehicle was registered to. You might be able to get away with it if you moved around that time, but having a vehicle registered to an old address could be a bigger can of worms.

As for the BT £50 default, you've clearly exhausted complaining to them so I would ask for a deadlock letter for the ombudsman. That might either make them change their mind, or the ombudsman might side with you. If they ask what the complaint is then it's not just the £50 default while you were still a customer, but also the failure to give you correct advice when querying it. My advice when complaining though, always blame the companies systems and training and not people.

sourcrates

Good for you for quoting from the civil procedure rules, it is a companies responcibility to make sure court claims at least, are sent to the correct address for the debtor, however the system is totally flawed, and parking companies in particular simpley use the last known address on file, and obtain judgement in default in a large number of cases.

Dealing with any large organisation such as BT, can be a nightmare, defaults can be removed from credit files, but you have to have a very good case as to why the debt wasn`t paid on time, the fact BT knew where you were, but failed to follow up the debt, may go in your favour, best you can do is send a written complaint and follow the complaints procedure to the end.

However, as above, its the CCJ that is the problem, one default is not good, but its effect will reduce with time, a judgement will be a judgement for 6 full years.

Catch_0x16

Thanks all. Tonight I shall write a formal letter of complaint to BT (I've raised one over the phone but nothing in writing yet) and state that I intend to contact the ombudsman. At the same time I shall also request a deadlock letter.

I have already submitted my Witness Statement and N244 regarding the CCJ. I'm very nervous about this one in particular as I'm way out of my depth and can only hope that the judge looks favourably on my case.

xlnc99

FYI - i was in a similar position with BT over a phone contract. Marked me down as a default, i wrote a few e-mails to BT, including a long list of all the management team, CEO, executive team etc. The next day got a call and email from BT saying they have removed the default.

xlnc99

However, i am confused. Do you have a default from BT or a CCJ from BT?

Catch_0x16

Hey, so some good news today. I received a phone call about an hour ago from BT following up on the complaint that I opened on the phone through a manager within the customer care team, after the initial staff member told me there was nothing more that she could do.

They have investigated it further and have concluded that it was an error, and have advised Equifax to remove the default from my account. Great news! One down, one more to go... :')

@xlnc99 - I can understand your confusion. The defaulted account was from BT, the CCJ is from a parking company called 'Civil Enforcement Limited'. The CCJ is a funny story (when I resolve myself to look on the bright side...), the parking in my local hospital is free, but one must enter their numberplate on a machine inside the hospital. I'm sure I did this, however, received a fine (sent to an old address) and subsequent CCJ (also sent to the old address). Furthermore, the hospital have stated that they have no wish to prosecute me, and agree I was there on hospital business. So in essence, I've been taken to court, for failing to pay for free parking, by a company representing a hospital, that doesn't want to prosecute me - shoot me, someone please shoot me       

Takmon

sourcrates said:

Good for you for quoting from the civil procedure rules, it is a companies responcibility to make sure court claims at least, are sent to the correct address for the debtor, however the system is totally flawed, and parking companies in particular simpley use the last known address on file, and obtain judgement in default in a large number of cases.

They use the address that is held by the DVLA for that vehicle and i don't see how that is flawed because people are supposed to update this when they move? Where else do you think they would be able to get someone's address from?

If your suggesting that they intentionally send it to addresses that may not be correct in the hope of winning court action then that is ridiculous because they much prefer making easy money from the large amount of people who voluntarily pay after they send a few letters and taking it to court then having to enforce it is much more costs and less likely to get a payment as the amount is larger.

Catch_0x16

One thing that did catch me out, and I'm keen to hear opinions on is:

When I moved I immediately contacted DVLA to inform them. They issued me a new driving license with my new address on it and I naively assumed I'd done my bit (I'd told them I'd moved afterall). As part of my witness statement I sent an enquiry to DVLA asking for the exact date that I'd told them of my address change. They responded with a letter saying that the vehicle's registered address has never been changed and is still my old address. I've been in this house for two years and was understandably concerned. I was unable to find my V5C (when I got divorced recently my desk drawers were 'packed away' and God knows where it is), so submitted a V62 with my new address. However I'd like to add that I could've sworn I submitted the V5C, I remember trying to find the local postbox - is it ever like the DVLA to mislay this kind of thing? I didn't realise I was meant to call them, identifying myself as Mr Automobile and tell them I'd moved house too. Ignorance isn't innocence, but this was quite frustrating to say the least.

Takmon

Catch_0x16 said:

One thing that did catch me out, and I'm keen to hear opinions on is:

When I moved I immediately contacted DVLA to inform them. They issued me a new driving license with my new address on it and I naively assumed I'd done my bit (I'd told them I'd moved afterall). As part of my witness statement I sent an enquiry to DVLA asking for the exact date that I'd told them of my address change. They responded with a letter saying that the vehicle's registered address has never been changed and is still my old address. I've been in this house for two years and was understandably concerned. I was unable to find my V5C (when I got divorced recently my desk drawers were 'packed away' and God knows where it is), so submitted a V62 with my new address. However I'd like to add that I could've sworn I submitted the V5C, I remember trying to find the local postbox - is it ever like the DVLA to mislay this kind of thing? I didn't realise I was meant to call them, identifying myself as Mr Automobile and tell them I'd moved house too. Ignorance isn't innocence, but this was quite frustrating to say the least.

Searching on google for "moving house DVLA" or similar and the first result is a government page giving step by step instructions on where you have to change you address and links to how it can be done online so you don't even need to ring them or send anything in the post. 
I'm not sure how simpler that could make it and if you failed to even do a basic google search then you can't really blame anyone but yourself for not making any effort to find out what you should do when you move.