02 default for £10 final bill

[jim142008]

Hello,

I had a contract with 02 for about 3 years paying large bills (some £100+ per month), all on time by DD. All bills were correctly received to my address. At the end of the contract, I had a charge levied of £10 for a final bill, for which all correspondance did not make it's way to me and unaware, I hadn't paid. They have given me a default and I would like to challenge it - could anyone suggest a post or any guidance on where to start?

I have started a conversation with their support - please find two excerpts from their reply:

"I've looked into this further for you and can see that we sent a letter and 2 emails to you in June 2007, advising of your outstanding balance. I'm sorry if you didn't receive them, they did advise of the £10.11 outstanding."

"The account will still show a default as we're legally bound to load an accurate record of the payment history of an account. However, please note that your account will show as satisfied from the date payment is received."

It all seems quite unethical for an amount that should have been written off bearing in mind the faultless account and the sums spent with them.

Many thanks in advance.

[Brassed off]

Hi Jim and welcome to CAG

I have asked for your thread to be moved to the Telecoms - Mobile or Fixed forum.

Good Luck

Bo

[BankFodder]

Why didn't they deduct the final amount by direct debit. Did you cancel the DD?

[mkandy]

Same response i got in relation to default i have from them. They have absolutely no interest in removing it, brandishing a 'legal requirement' to record it.

[davethorp]

Perhaps if you asked them where in law there is the requirement to record it and see what (if anything) they come up with.

Feel free to ask the CRAs the same question too

[jim142008]

Thank you for your replies everyone (and for moving the post). I will have a look back at the date the DD ended and will have to get this bill as still haven't seen it.

Can I just check that by CRA's you are referring to people like experian (with whom I got a report and first found out about it)??

[orfoster]

I had exactly the same problem, I had to take them down the small claims route to get the default removed. I think you will have to have a look for "car2403" his thread on this forum with O2, he is currently going through the court process with this. I believe O2 have made it company policy now not to remove defaults and also the CRA's are asking why they are doing so willy nilly.

car2403 -v- o2 (& Wescot DCA)(Default removal)

[BankFodder]

Have we anything in writing that the operate a pilicy not to remove defaults?

Still waiting to hear from the OP in this thread as to why they did not make the final payment by deducting from the DD?

[car2403]

Originally Posted by orfoster

I had exactly the same problem, I had to take them down the small claims route to get the default removed. I think you will have to have a look for "car2403" his thread on this forum with O2, he is currently going through the court process with this. I believe O2 have made it company policy now not to remove defaults and also the CRA's are asking why they are doing so willy nilly.

car2403 -v- o2 (& Wescot DCA)(Default removal)

Ah, fame at last...

[jim142008]

Sorry for the delay, I had an important exam. I am chasing O2 for all details, including the unseen bill and the date of the DD being cancelled - and will post once they get back to me. I have ended phone contracts before and only followed the same steps as usual and so I am also puzzled as to why it wasn't taken by DD.

[2Grumpy]

Your bank should know when the DD was cancelled ...

[fredbassett]

You may be interested to know that Experian state ' Low value defaults should not be recorded on accounts and records with an original default balance between £1 and £10 will be processed but set to private. Records set to private are not viewable to other lenders or consumers on request of their credit file. Accounts with small balances, which are not collectable, should be recorded as settled at the appropriate arrears status code. Can you confirm the axact amount of the default as the CRA's round down the balance i.e. if you owe £10.11 then they will round this down to £10. If the original default balance is £10 then i'm not sure why you are seeing it on your credit file and would take the matter up with them. You won't find this £10 'rule' documented in the Information Commissioners 'Default Guidelines' document, however its probably worth speaking to the Information Commissioner as they can insist that an unfair default is removed, especially if you can prove a perfect payment history prior to this final bill. Good luck

[buzby]

Experian are quite entitled to create this policy, as lets face it - it is their ball. How OTHER CRAs threat this £10 limit is up to them, and there is little point in losing sleep because they will not. It shows how 'ludicrous' these policies are - especially with O2 falsely asserting there is a 'legal requirement', when they REALLY mean, "you agreed we could when you signed the contract" which is completely different.

The more consumers decide that a mobile phone contract is not worth compromising their financial creditworthiness over, the sooner these tactics will be reined in.