The title just about says it all. I was mugged in Barcelona in December of last year around 4am and lost my iPhone, £1250 Rado watch (which I know I shouldn't have been wearing out at night in Barcelona, but when you've worn something every day you don't really think), and £200 cash. I didn't really mind about the money or phone (was shaken up but unhurt) but was gutted about the watch as my wife bought it for me as a wedding present.

Anyway, the next morning (around 10am) I called O2 to report the phone. All I got was "This number has not been assigned to this client". I received this message from at least three different phones, yet was definitely the right number.

Anyway, I flew back that night (arriving at around 1am once I'd got the bus back from the airport) and called O2 at around 08:30 the next morning. They told me the phone hadn't been used.

About a month later I got the shock of a lifetime...a bill for about £1150 which was almost entirely made up of calls made after it had been stolen. I had travel insurance and mobile phone insurance. They gave me £300 for the watch, which was an insult but better than nothing but nothing for the calls made as I "hadn't contacted my provider in time". I was about 12 hours late.

I have been paying monthly amounts off to keep O2 happy just while my insurance company looked into it...when it came back to say they could do nothing, I wrote a letter to O2 explaining what a good customer I had been and that they could see from the bill that I could not have made these calls...my previous 24 months (ish) had been around £50 a month. I offered a settlement figure of around 50%...

Anyway, I never got a reply...the first I heard back from them (around a month later?) was from Moorcroft. I've dealt with these pirates before...but I'm shocked that O2 would pass it over without even so much as replying to my letter.

Moorcroft want a settlement of £780 which I can't afford or £50 a month until it's gone.

Any help???? Anyone been in a similar situation? Apologies for long post...

Did you buy the phone direct from o2 or carphone warehouse

Direct from O2 in February 2009. Never missed a single payment.

Ok

Were the calls made after it was reported stolen or between it being stolen and reported stolen

They were made as soon as it had been taken off me (which I discovered when I received the bill). My point to the company was that I tried and tried to contact them from Spain within the 24 hour period but their system would not accept the call. I guess I could probably prove this from friends' mobile phone records but that would be a long-shot.

I had hoped that O2 would clearly see that I never used my phone abroad or ran up so much as three figures a month, let alone four in a day...

Any advice on how to deal with Moorcroft?

Write to moorcrap. Stating the account is in dispute and they are to return it to the original credtor. Write to o2 stating the account is in dispute. And outline your complaint that you tried to 3 times and each time their system failed to accept your call. Tell them you have prove from mobile records. And that your happy to pay for calls up till the first call you tried to make.

See what they say

Thanks. I have emailed the people whose phones I used to see if they can still access December's bills and whether I can use them....hopefully shouldn't be a problem.

You will need to provide them with the proof, this isn't the sort of thing they will just take your word for so I wouldn't write to them until your able to enclose a copy of the bills.

Tell moorcroft to pee off whilst its in dispute, wether they take your word or not, make sure you record that you are stating so and they have to return to original client. Or write recorded delivery with similar and keep copy xx