Wescot Credit Services and ntl 'debt' (merged)

Steffee_2

I too have to contact Actis Credit Service for my debt clarifications. Do they have a website?

fourmi

Have something similar.
70 quid throught wescott via telewest. i set it up in an old flat, and then xferred the account to the landlord when i moved out 2 years ago. apparently he cancelled the service, and hasn't yet (in the interim 3 weeks) paid the final balance. I'm with twest in an adjacent street now, and wescott i guess put two and two together that i was that person. Twest said speak to wescott, wescott kept interupting me, and not letting me explain (i guess all folk are villians as far as they are concerned), I suggested that i was tryin to communicate with them, and if they kept interrupting me then I wouldn't be able to do that, the rep said you are agitated, i suggest you call back goodbye. I asked her to escalate my call, she wouldn't i asked her to xfer me to someone else, she wouldn't and in the end she cut me off to hold without notice for 10 minutes. I stayed on hold (i suppose they can't hang up, on a call when i am seeking resolution) and eventually she pooped in and said she was xfering me to hger manager. so THEY CAN'T HANG UP ON YOU! worth knowing, as presumably if it does go to court, its bad if you are trying to resolve, and they hang up on you or similar. I then got in touch with twest again, and they said that if i could prove that i wasn't in that address in july 04 (let alone july 2002), then i wouldn't be liable. I've just faxed off a couple of council tax bills, and provided them the name of the landlord who took the account over.

HOPEFULLY this will be resolved, but Wescot were particularly unpleasant. I think the longer you go round in circles, the more "recoveries" that rep can't notch up, and the more helpful they become (via escallation or otherwise), but be prepared for a long argumentative call. Just remember, only you can end the call, not matter how they say it, or whether or not they put you on hold. It might also be worth talking while on hold, and explain your position, and the conversation will be being taped. "I've rung up wescot, as a show of good will to try and resolve this dispute, the rep has tried to get me to end the call and has now put me on hold, I don't want to end the call, i wish to resolve this..." and explain yoursside to the tape.

Hope that helps..
cheers
ant

Simon6776

Hello folks,

I have also just received a Notice of Debt Recovery from Wescot, for £71.91, supposed on behalf of their clients Gio Internet. I am positive I owe Gio nothing, and I don't even recall ever actually using their services.

The phone numbers given are constantly engaged, and the contact number for Gio is a 10p per minute call rate, so after 15 minutes of being in a queue, I gave up. I have e-mailed Gio Internet, asking for details of the debt, or confirmation that it does not exist, and I have drafted a letter to Wescot as follows:-

I am writing to advise you that I have absolutely no knowledge of this ‘debt’, of which I have received no prior notification from your ‘clients’, Gio Internet, who’s services I do not recall ever actually using.

Your Notice of Debt Collection (copy attached) contains no details of the alleged ‘debt’, or of when it was supposed to have been incurred. Until you can provide me with further documentary evidence of this ‘debt’, which should include the date(s) which it was incurred, copies of any contracts / agreements between myself and your ‘clients’, and details of the goods and / or services I am supposed to have received, I have to inform you that I have no intention of making any payments to you.

If you are unable to provide documentary evidence of this supposed debt, then please do not contact me again.


Any further suggestions or definative advice on this would be appreciated. If this is some sort of scam, then surely some legal action can be taken?

Vitesse_2

Hi, I have also received a demand from Wescot for a debt owed to Gio Internet. The amount is the same at £71.91! The difference is that I do actually owe the amount...

About 18 months ago I took out an account with Gio, paying by direct debit. After a few months they stopped taking the debit, but I was still able to use the service (their logs will show this). After a couple of months I had noticed the money wasnt going out but didn't query it with Gio. Eventually the service was cut off and I went to another ISP. I'd kept the money back for a while but have recently spent most of it on my daughter's brownie holiday! Oh well. I'll probably pay up.

If you are positive you have never used gio, or a company they have bought, you are surely OK. Possibly they are chasing someone in your area with a similar name?

BTW Gio internet is about to go under. Will Wescot pursue a debt if their customer is bankrupt? Also, their demand quotes a premium rate number, but not it's cost. Surely that's not allowed?

cheers, Steve

Simon6776

I have actually just spoken to someone at Wescot, who said that their information from GIO shows me as using them from June '02 to Jan '03. This corresponds with the date I started with my current Broadband ISP (June '02), and I have documantary proof of that (14/06/02), so why would I have used GIO 56K, when I had a brand shiny new Broadband service to play on? The person I spoke to has put the case on hold, while they go back to GIO, to ask them for statements of account activity, which should show as none.

I'm now starting to doubt myself. Maybe I did sign up with them for a short while? I remember trying out several dial up ISPs before eventually switching to Broadband, but I would have been certain to cancel each one before moving on, so the account, if it exists, will show no activity. Even so, why didn't they write to me directly, rather than going through a debt recovery agency? They must have had my address to pass it on to them. I think there is a procedure which has to be followed for debt recovery, and this isn't it. I'm sure they have to inform the debtor by letter before taking recovery action, and they have not done this, so I believe they wouldn't have a case in court.

roderickw

Hi,

I'm another Gio Internet ex-customer who Wescot contacted today for 79.90. My situation:

Was a Gio customer June-Nov 2002.
Paid via Worldpay each month.
I contacted Gio at the end of Nov 02 as their service was unusable and cancelled my account and Gio cancelled the worldpay payments.
I've received no communication from Gio since the account was cancelled.

I've spoken to my CC company who made the payments to worldpay, according to them its not their issue as I havn't been billed by CC for the erroneous amount.
I've mailed worldpay and I'm now waiting for their response.
I mailed the contact point at Gio for worldpay transactions, the email has been returned as undeliverable.
I've tried to speak to Wescot but their lines are either engaged or you wait in a queue. After 15 mins on their premium line I turned to Google.

It seems that Gio must have sold their debt to Wescot in the last couple of days.

Is/was there any relationship between Gio and NTL and if so is the info about the NTL credit agency relevant?

Good luck all,

Rod

jiji

I have also received letter demanding £127.84 for Giointernet which I am not using present but used in the past. But I did not understand why Giointernet did not ask for money intally from the customers than going to debt collecting co. Any body advise appreciated. Thanks.

Simon6776

This all seems to stem around the sign up date of June 02. What could be the significance there? Does anyone remember, when they signed up, was there a minimum contract period? It's starting to come back to me now, I tried out several of the cheap dial up ISPs in a short space of time. AlphaPhe, One Tel, V21, and it seems, GIO. AlphaPhe went bust, and V21 were so over-subscribed that the service was unusable. The same must have applied to GIO. Does anyone know if GIO were part of V21 at any time? After failing to find a reliable dial up ISP, I took the decision to go Broadband, and only kept my original PAYG dial up as a back up, which was, and still is, Eurobell.

There has to be a significance in June '02. Something smells very fishy here.

roderickw

Hi again,

I've spoke to Wescot, Martin Colquhoun, who was polite and helpful so I must have been lucky based on other posts.

Wescot only have limited info from Gio, ie the record states that I owe for 2 months but not which ones. The rep is sending a memo to Gio asking for them to send copies of the outstanding invoices to Wescot and myself. When I asked how would the situation be resolved if Gio goes/has gone bust he was unsure.
Wescot confirmed that they have only started working for Gio in the last couple of days.

One thing to watch out for, at the start of the conversation the rep also asked for telephone number and employment status to verify id. Obviously as they don't already have this information I didn't provide it.
The last thing I want is them hassling by phone.

Good luck,

Rod

digit55

Hi
I have the same ,Thing is i am still with giointernet and still paying each month without fail.just rang wescot on the number above and was put through to payments, I now have to copy my bank statments for the last 3 months to show them I am still paying.how can gio internet get things so wrong .