Overdales / Lowells

babydr

Hi all 

I have received a Notice of Acting (pay up or taking to court) today form Overdales Solicitors aka Lowells. Alleged debt dates back to Jilu 2020 - took out a contract with 3 Mobile, cancelled within 14 day cooling off period via phone call / webchat as zero signal mobile phone signal in my area. Did not / could not  use mobile at all. Spent hours (during first lockdown when call answering times were in excess of 2 hours ) explaining contract cancelled as within 14 day period to 3 Mobile yet they continued to charge my debit card. So cancelled my direct debit. Subsequently they sold debt to Lowells. I have not engaged with Lowells at all. Debt is £344.24. Any advice what  my options are please ?

With Thanks  

babydr

Forgot to mention - asked 3 mobile to escalate cancellation request as a formal complaint to either resolve / obtain letter of deadlock to take to Ombudsman but they failed to do this too - just sold debt to Lowell

MEM62

babydr said:

I have received a Notice of Acting  

babydr said:

Any advice what  my options are please ?

I assume you mean letter before action.  In which case you write to them, explain that you cancelled within the cooling off period and enclose proof of your cancellation request.  If a handset was also provided you may need to prove that was returned as well.    

fatbelly

It sounds like you are describing a letter before action,, giving you 30 days to reply using a standard form.

If so, use the form, and how to reply is outlined here.

https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/

babydr

I thought it might be a Letter before Action - but there is no reply form.
All this for measly £10 per month SIM only contract 🥴

fatbelly

babydr said:

I thought it might be a Letter before Action - but there is no reply form.
All this for measly £10 per month SIM only contract 🥴

If there's no reply form it's not a formal pre-action protocol letter.

You could ignore, or send a prove-it. It's unlikely that Lowell have, or could even get, paperwork to prove this. I've dealt with. them on a mobile phone debt that was disputed and they gave up in the end.

sourcrates

babydr said:

I thought it might be a Letter before Action - but there is no reply form.
All this for measly £10 per month SIM only contract 🥴

I would send a complaint to Lowell, detailing what you have told us, also CC a copy to 3 Mobile as well for good measure, as they should never have bought a debt that was in dispute in the first place, from what you have said, you did nothing wrong, and appear to be a victim of bad customer care, and inadequate systems put in place by 3 Mobile.

Lowell are cretins, but, they will back down if they are confronted by enough evidence to the contrary of what they are attempting to prove.

If you deny this account for long enough, they will see its not commercially viable to continue pursuing it, and they will write it off, I have had success in this area on more than one occasion, on behalf of various people, including my own brother, but you must be a thorn in their side, they want you to roll over, don`t.

Makes no difference if its 10 quid, or 10,000 quid, its the same principle.