Phone Contract Problem

[DawseyY2K]

This Morning I woke up to a nice letter. Notice of debt collection IMPORTANT. your outstanding balance is £501.54

Very confused I saw the debt was from Hutchison 3G UK limited. Thats three phone. Bare in mind I havnt had a phone contract or with any company for something like 2 years.

My first reaction was too phone 3 and find out what the hell was going on. Back in November 2005, like 2 years ago! I lost my 3 phone, reported lost/stolen paid my dues and canceled everything. Far as i was concerened that was the end of that.

Turns out I have to give 30 days notice on canceling my account, which according to them I havnt done. I dont own a 3 phone or sim card and havnt been using the service since I lost the phone.

To get to the point apprently because i didnt give them 30 days notice, which I told the lady on the phone I did do, but in all honesty I dont remember it was like 2 years ago, they said they had no record of me canceling the contract. And for the last 2 years have been charging me a monthly line rental, something like £30 a month.

I told them I canceled the contract in novemeber 05 when I reported the phone stolen. Check your record no calls have been made, nothing been used on that contract since I lost it. I told them I dont own a 3 phone or own a simcard. They wouldnt have any of it. There trying to charge me for a service I havnt been getting.

I told them how come I havnt been getting monthly bills, apprently they have been sent out according to there records on a monthly basis.

I told them to use there common sence if I had been reciving monthly bills I would of seen contract was still active/something wrong and canceled.

They wouldnt have any of it, got a address I can send a letter of writing too in Glasgow. I may have better luck, then the indian call centre.

Any advice would be very helpful, maybe a template I can use?

End of the story is there trying to charge me for 2 years a monthly bill that i havnt been using. unable to use due to not having a 3 phone or simcard.

Its shocking there trying to charge me this money, they cant get away with it.

please help

[DawseyY2K]

something that's just dawned on me, If i had a 12 month contract, dont they expire and finish. They must need to contact me to extend the contract or make a new one. Surely they cant just keep charging me for 2 years, then out of the blue inform me of the charges? Not that even did that, I had to contact them to find out what was happening.

[gyzmo]

In answer to your last post, most contracts include a clause stating that it will continue unless you inform them otherwise.

In answer to your first, it will be a matter of who has the more likely story. This will require some proof, which neither of you seem to have. I would dig around for any letters / emails / phone bills that might show you did indeed cancel. Also, try producing something from your bank, such as a cancellation of a direct debit.

I think the absence of any follow ups from the unpaid bills will go some way to proving that their systems are, well, crap following what you are saying.

Without any kind of evidence whatsoever, you may have a fight on your hands. Getting some evidence should be your first priority. You need ammunition before going into battle.

[buzby]

No the contract period is a MINIMUM so after that expires, you can terminate, but until you do...

However, if you are not paying any bills, they kindly terminate for you - so there's somethong not right !

[gyzmo]

I believe that is what I said....

[DawseyY2K]

However, if you are not paying any bills, they kindly terminate for you - so there's something not right !

The women actually said something like that on the phone. But that fact is it took them £500 before they did that? surely that should of been done maybe 6 months later not 24?

They also mentioned the only reason its got brought back up recently or refreshed, must be due to some sort of credit check thats happened recently.

I still don't understand how i couldn't of got any monthly letters. I said this to the lady on the phone, she said according too there records they were viewing letters getting sent out even around January 07. I'll have to double check for un-open letters but i'm sure i would of noticed monthly bills from 3 over the last two years. It seems to me they have some problems or there out right lying.

I'm not sure what kind of evidence I may have as direct debits stopped sometime before I lost the phone. When I reported the phone Stolen and asked for everything to be canceled and as mentioned before I paid up my dues by credit card over the phone.

They said to me on the phone that when I reported it stolen the phone and sim was blocked but no cancellations were made by there records.

Do you think when I write the letter to Glasgow I should tell them my story of reporting the phone stolen, canceling and paying dues. As far as i'm concerned contract was ended there. I refuse to pay a debt due to a mistake made on your end, i.e. not canceling my contract, or maybe leading me on to think my contract was canceled?

What do you think would be the best way, as i'm fearing if I have any proof, other then maybe getting hold of the credit card statement paying that fee.

The only other evidence I can think of is there log of me reporting it stolen/lost. Why would anyone in there right mind continue a contract without owning a 3 phone or sim card. I find it very frustrating there trying to charge me these fee's. Would it be worth contacting someone like trading standards, see what they say?

[gyzmo]

You could try - some authorities have debt advisors who can advise on whethe there is a case or not. You will be best off having some technical help and support anyway, so you have nothing to lose.

[dolphin939]

Hi my partner got a letter last years from wescot about a phone he had in 2004 saying the same thing it was a t mobile contract. He got the phone in oct 2004 and took it back within a week, no trace of it at car phone warehouse and hes left will a bill of 454.

[bed32]

If what you say is correct then I'm sure you will win this one eventually.

As a next stage I would suggest (a) sending an S.A.R. and (b) writing to them and making a formal complaint so that you can get this to their ADR.

It is likely that the Subject Access Request will show up some inconsistency in their story

[chesham]

3's customer service over the phone is absolute rubbish, however writing to their address in Glasgow can be quite good. I wrote to them on behalf of my partner - when we got a new 3 phone, they barred it a month later due to "suspicious activity" and requested bank statements, copies of passport etc. When we rung and asked them why, they were absolute crap - so I wrote a letter to them, and their customer service charter states they reply to leter within 5 days of receiving it, and sure enough they did - and they credited the account and apologised.

You coul always get in touch with OTELO if you have no joy, leaving it for 2 years and then telling you that you owe them money is a bit out of order. I would put it down to crap systems.

[buzby]

Originally Posted by gyzmo

I believe that is what I said....

Perhaps, but it is relevant to note that you hadn't when I orignially viewed the forum, and corroboration in support of any standpoint is often useful.

[gyzmo]

Originally Posted by gyzmo

In answer to your last post, most contracts include a clause stating that it will continue unless you inform them otherwise.

Corroborating will mean looking at the contract (which I do not have). The post was also unedited.

[buzby]

I'm not sure which pedantic point you're now trying to make, but I'll make an effort to correct your misunderstanding, in reverse order. The post being 'unedited' has what relevance in this regard? I use an offline reader to store all these threads, and respond accordingly (at the moment however, I'm 'live'). As to your reference of 'corroboration', I was corroborating your standpoint, not what was in the contract, however since most contracts in the mobile world operate in this way (minimum term) it is not the major issue you appear to wish it was.

If your only point to posting is "I said that first". I'm very happy for you. Now can we move on to things more productive than the childish game you started? Thank you.

[gyzmo]

Whoa - calm down. I apologise for any misunderstanding.

It appeared to me that you were making a correction on something that I said - a correction which I believe was not necessary, hence my first post.

I seem to have some misunderstanding here. You said that I had not said what I did say at the time you originally viewed the forum, which sounded to me like I had edited the post at a later time. You then talked about needing some corroboration to support my standpoint. I thought you were asking for some evidence to support what I was saying - that is the contract which I do not have.

as for pedantry, I have found that being pedantic minimises mistakes. As for being "childish", well that is your view to which you are entitled, and yours to take offene at if you wish to do so about my posts.

I do agree with stopping this - it is merely misunderstanding. Lets not get personal. Best Regards.

[DawseyY2K]

Firstly thanks to everyone who's replied.

Originally Posted by dolphin939

Hi my partner got a letter last years from wescot about a phone he had in 2004 saying the same thing it was a t mobile contract. He got the phone in oct 2004 and took it back within a week, no trace of it at car phone warehouse and hes left will a bill of 454.

I Think its wescot whos contacted me (letters at my other address), what did you do? or in the process of doing? Worrying its happened to someone else, would suggest its not been a mistake, especially if it happened with a diffrent company. Must be a trick they use to get money out of people.

As a next stage I would suggest (a) sending an S.A.R. and (b) writing to them and making a formal complaint so that you can get this to their ADR.

It is likely that the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) will show up some inconsistency in their story

thanks for the advise, but forgive my stupidity whats a Subject access request and ADR?

[bed32]

S.A.R - Subject Access Requests - are often mentioned on this forum. Under the data protection act you have a right to know all the information a company holds about you. You find this out by issuing a "Subject Access Request" to which the company has to respond (within 40 days) with a copy of all the information they hold about you.

This is very useful when you are in any form of dispute with a company because you then know everything that they know about you, and you can find out what they think has happened on your account.

In this case you should find some records of any calls you have made - including the one notifying them that the phone was stolen. If they are not there then you can argue that the information they hold is incomplete - if they are it is obvious that they knew the SIM had been stolen and they had not issued a replacement so they can't reasonably charge you.

They should also produce copies of all invoices they have sent. If they don't produce copies for the period in dispute then they can hardly try to charge you now.

ADR is the "alternative dispute resolution" or something like that - it is supposed to be an independent arbitrator that can look into your complaints with the company. I am not sure how effective these are in practice.

Now while you are going through the complaint / ADR process the debt is in dispute and they cannot chase you for it. They will of course but (a) don't talk to anyone on the phone about it and (b) keep a log of all contacts

[DawseyY2K]

Too quote an update of myself in another thread, from a guy who had a similar problem.

Originally Posted by DawseyY2K

What a joke, I've had a very similar problem. The only difference is the outstanding debt there saying I owe is £5