Lowell claims I owe them outstanding debt

fatbelly

The detail of my dispute is that it's not my debt. How do you expect me to prove a negative?

phonicbrewer

Today I received another letter from Lowell which is very vague followed with a very small print accompanying paper with more account numbers and purchase dates which I certainly do not recognise.  One of the account numbers also included a device plan (assuming a mobile phone!), certainly not me!

Prompted me to contact O2 to see if they are able to assist with the going ons and they did not have any information on the account on me at the given address.  O2 passed me over to Lowell to discuss the allege debt further because I didn't recognise the account numbers etc...long story short, turns out I was a victim of identify fraud!  

Kudos to the Lowell chap on the phone who kindly helped out, placed the account on hold pending further investigations.  Should now only hear from them again when the investigation concludes. 

fatbelly

What happened is that Lowell couldn't find the true debtor so decided to try to pin it on you.

The only people guilty of fraud are the ones who work for Lowell

phonicbrewer

You are correct @fatbelly having now sat back and analysed what went wrong and the unnecessary stress it has caused me over the festive period.  In hindsight both O2 and Lowell have failed in my opinion for not carrying out proper checks, a mobile phone is sent to an address approx. 600 miles away from the applicant should certainly have aroused suspicious.

I wonder if it is now possible to sue someone (O2 and/or Lowell) for this! 

sourcrates

phonicbrewer said:

I wonder if it is now possible to sue someone (O2 and/or Lowell) for this! 

A slight overreaction maybe, but understandable, but this is the standard of debt collection in the UK today.

The issue`s you are likely to have is that both companies have large litigation departments, Lowell has its own subsidiary firm of solicitors called "Overdales".

Both would tie you up in legal arguments for years possibly, and the costs would rise exponentially.

The complaints route would be quicker and possible more productive.