Does anyone know which area of law the solicitor would need to specialise in?

Have you had credit refused since those defaults were registered? i.e bank a/cs, mortgage, mobile phone contract, loans etc?

A couple of credit cards I think. Knowing it was there I haven't really tried for credit... I think a couch at DFS, but I can't remember if that was before or after.

Is this the only adverse information on your credit file?

Apart from a late payment in the last 3 months. Yes.

I now have a letter stating explicitly that T-Mobile removed the default that they filed on 28th April 2009, but they can help me no further and to "Contact Lowell financial to update thier records accordingly".

My first intent was to see a solicitor about damages but I'd first like to know about the likelihood of a succesful case. Has anyone else taken legal action in a similar situation and won? Would I actually receive monetary compensation?

Many thanks.

In March 2011 this is still ongoing.

I contacted Lowell and thier repoonse was 'oops' as they had recieved notice from T-mobile in 2009 but hadn't acted on it. The file is now updated as setlled/satisfied. Obviously this is as much use as a chocolate teapot.

I've sent a request to T-Mobile asking for a copy of the original default and the request to Lowell in 2009 to remove the default status, but I'm not holding much hope as I have noticed that the defaults begain in 2006 when Lowell took on the debt. I cant actually find a default from T-mobile.

Does anyone have any clue how to approach this, as a phone contract dispute at age 25 is now at age 31 stopping me from obtaining a mortgage. To say I'm frustrated would be understatement of epic proportions.

Many, many thanks to anyone that can help.

Many thanks for everyone's help so far. Is there possibly a template letter for this somewhere?

I couldn't read through the whole thread, but I was in the same situation, except yell were billing me for a category I never requested.

Believe it or not, consistent demands to speak to supervisors at yell and spending possibly 5 hours total badgering them yielded results for me and I was credited the full amount I 'owed'.

Might be worth a call.

That debt being £15 which ocurred in error because of a billing mistake by T-Mobile, who after almost five years eventually capitulated and removed the default.

Now however after acessing my credit account online after quite some time to make sure the default was removed, I've discovered why I can obtain absoloutely no credit accounts.

The pond life at Lowell have been seemingly issuing defaults on a monthly basis for the same £15 for quite some time.

Obviously this is wrong, but how do I go about rectifying it asap?

Any and all help much appreciated.

Thank you.

I now have a letter draughted and would greatly appreciate review before I send it.

ACC No: XXXXXXXXXX

7th March 2009

T-Mobile (UK) Ltd

Hatfield Business Park

Hatfield

Hertfordshire

AL10 9BU

Dear Sir or Madam

Prior to the current request, I sent an S.A.R with an enclosed cheque for £10, on 20th August 2007, and was informed in a letter received from X,dated October 6th 2007, enclosed with some of the requested data, that more was to follow, and someone else from within T-Mobile would be in contact with me to disclose the additional data requested, however no additional contact in either written or verbal form was received.

The S.A.R was sent with view to receiving and viewing a copy of the original “default” notice issued by yourselves in relation to the default that appeared on my credit file in May 2006 for outstanding sum of £15.

I have let this matter sit to this point as I have only irregularly pursued credit, but now in my current pursuit of a mortgage, it has come to light I have been illegally defaulted twice more for the same debt by a debt collection agency trading under the name of Lowell, I understand that the actions of Lowell are probably not under your instruction, but they are the cause of me now resuming correspondence with T-Mobile regarding this matter.

Now having reviewed again the information you did send me, I noticed that you had a copy of a revised final bill dated 18th Novemeber 2005 for £15.58; unfortunately I never recieved this bill, and niether did I receive any notification of the subsequent default.

At the time I received a demand for £277.07 from BC+W on the 2nd November 2005 who were acting on your behalf to recover the (to my knowledge) final bill amount, which I paid in full shortly thereafter, and considered the matter closed.

I have also noticed the bill prior to this dated 18th September 2005, requests the amount of £292.60; with the use of simple maths, if you take the amount requested by yourselves on 18th September for £292.60, and deduct the amount of £277.07 paid to BC+W, you're left with the sum of £15.58.

As I stated previously, I never received the bill dated 18th November requesting £15.58 for a “revised” final bill amount, and now it seems that this revision was down to a lack of communication or clerical error on behalf of BC+W and/or T-Mobile, and I was then defaulted for this paltry amount despite having paid BC+W the sum of £277.07 in good faith to bring the matter to a presumed end.

The fact that a company as large as T-Mobile could make such a mistake is not unimaginable, however the fact you could damage a customers credit history (and in light of lowells actions) almost in perpetuity for the sake of a miscalculation or miscommunication is in the least, both reprehensible and insidious, and would invite you to look at your procedures regarding such actions as in need of prompt review.

So now further to having no copy or recollection of a revised final bill (an oxymoron if ever there was one) or default notice, I require you to substantiate this data with all possible expediency.

1. You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement you refer to. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit). Your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose a £1 cheque in payment of the statutory fee, Cheque number XXXXXX.
   
2. You must supply me with a signed true and certified copy of the original default notice
   I would request that this data is provided to me within the next 14 days, if you are unable to provide this data then I must insist that it is removed from my files as unsubstantiated.
   
   

Actually I did pay, then payed a final bill, which I paid through BC+W, THEN didn't pay a £15 admin charge.

A delayed thanks for answering.

I was deafaulted for £15 on 10/05/2006, for £15 by T-Mobile for an account already closed with BC+W, they then sent me letter requesting £15 admin costs, I ignored it, then it came back and bit me in the ass as a default.

You can see the whole story here

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed/110594-t-mobile-buchanan-clark.html

Here

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed/117158-just-recieved-r-t.html

AND here

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/117488-mackenzie-hall-texted-like.html

Just looking over my credit file at checkmyfile.com after being refused credit by DFS, I came across this

SO it seems Lowell are now telecomms suppliers, and have kindly issued two more defaults, the incredibly cheeky thing about this is, I've recived no correspondence from them, not even at the original address the account was registered at (my parent's house).

I'm now looking to get this sorted as I'm getting a bit fu**ed off that, despite earning over 80k a year between me and my wife, I can't even get credit for something as simple as a poxy sofa at DFS for the sake of a debt issued by T-Mobile for all of fifteen quid.

Any help with this is greatly appreciated as it's getting in the way of my life now as I was looking at trying to get a mortgage in the near future, and I can't even get a couch, let alone a house.

Many thanks in advance

I don't know why there is the increase in the estimate - E-ON will probably say it is something in their billing system - possibly time of year ? Unless you think the actual readings are incorrect or you are overcharged for some other reason I don't see what you will gain over this. You have the start and final readings so the correct bill can be raised. By all means contact E-ON again as they may be able to interrogate their system over this. I don't know about an energy version of OFCOM - possibly Energywatch but I cannot see why they would want to be involved.

No I have the sart readings, then I have the end readings which the letting agent provided (no one from e-on confirmed in person) 11 days after me vacating.

Put it this way, disregard the adjusted final bill, if you were getting bills for under £300 per 3 months, then one popped up for £421 for two months, wouldn't you wonder what the f**k had occured?

But ok, energywatch, thanks.

I think you have to forget the £421.00. The final actual reading will re-calculate the amount due for the period - presumably you are paying for the previous underestimated bills.

Well, no, if I'd have got a final reading for £460, I'd have still questioned it, but what I really want to know is where they got the exponential increase on previous bills from?

Besides the reading was given by the estate agent 11 days after after I left and taken at face value , which is also bollards in my book.

Is there an energy version of OFCOM? (not addressed to you specifically).

Thanks for everyones advice.

To all those suggesting that the final reading caused the high bill; the final 'reading' given by my estate agent given 11 dyas after I vacated the property, only placed an additional £40 cost on top of the estimate; how can they estimate for £421 in the first instance of the final bill that they got all previous bills wrong and now need to bill me out for additional costs?

Also, this is for electric only.

Ok, so basically all the bill amounts have been guesses, the only true figure is the total of all these previous bills plus the last one to a confirmed reading. that would give the value used over the whole of the period.

 

I'm surprised that the initial estimate on the final bill was as accurate as is was, only £40 out isn't bad considering there have been no other readings.

 

The honest answer to your question is that the final bill would have been lower if when you had received the previous estimated bills you provided an actual reading for the supplier to bill too. This would have meant that these previous bills would have been higher though... so really it's swings and roundabouts.

So the original estimated final bill use of £421 for a months usage, compared to no more than £300 for 3 months usage seems accurate to you?

The actual reading only increased it by £40.

How many of those bills that you quote were done to estimated readings and how many to actual meter readings (either reads that you supplied, or ones taken by a meter reader)?

First one was based from reading, all others except the final adjusted bill based on the estate agents were estimates.

I moved in to my previous address on 22nd march 2008, and vacated December 22nd 2008, in this time I received the following bills:

23/3 - 6/5 - £50.86

6/5 - 4/8 - £296.16

4/8 - 4/11 - £271.22

4/11 - 22/12 £421.22

Then when estate agent came along and phoned them with a reading for 23/12 on the 2nd January 09, a new final bill came in for £461.22

My problem is why have my previous bills been all been under £300 for a 3 month period, for my final bill to come in at £421 for a period of under a month.

I tried calling them and asking why, but all I could get from Claire, and then Jamal the supervisor (the fact that Jamal was even less articulate than claire but had somehow become her supervisor didn't instill much confidence), was that the huge increase on the final bill was because of the actual reading being given by the estate agent (not me) meant they had to adjust the previous billing amounts, and those amounts were being added on to the final bill.

What claire/jamal failed to grasp was that the bill with the actual reading only changed the cost from £421 to £461, it still doesn't explain why e-on estimated that I used £421 of electricity in under a month compared to my estimated usage of under £300 in the previous quarterly period bills.

So now I'm at a loss as, e-on seems to be staffed by fools, but I need to appeal to someone to get this ridiculous bill decreased.

Any ideas?

The other point was that the letting agent, phoned in with a reading for 23/12/08 on the 2/1/09, and somehow the reading of a third party that they have taken without verifying themselves in person have somehow increased my final bill by £40 on top of the already ludicrous estimate.

That can't be right, can it?

Many thanks in advance.

Ok, so I still have only part of the S.A.R I requested, and it's been WAY over 40 days now, at this point what action should I take?

Thanks.

There is no chance of Mac Hall taking you to Court for a £15 debt. The only time Mac Hall will be in Court will be as a defendant.

 

NEVER SPEAK TO THEM EVER

 

Keep everything in writing. Make them prove you owe the money.

Ok, thanks

What's the wording on the demand you paid?

Can you scan and post it here?

 

I can't, unkowingly of the reasons to deal with them by post at the time, I dealt with BC+W mainly on the phone, and eventually paid the final sum after disconnection of £278.77 on 8 November.

BC+W never contacted me again. so I considered it settled.

Then I got a bill dated 18 November from T-Mobile, requesting £15.58, I don't have the letter anymore, but it had the bill, which I now have a copy of and a cover letter demanding the money for administrative costs.

I asked for an S.A.R from T-Mobile recently, and all I got was past bills, and a promise of more to come and now all of a sudden they're chasing the uinpaid default.

If you paid them on the basis of 'full and final settlement' then I don't see how they can stick an admin charge on afterwards.

do you still have your correspondence from when you paid?

 

Yes I do.

Once you have a default, it's very difficult to have it removed.

 

I would suggest that you pay T-Mobile directly and then request a copy of the default notice to see if it meets the prescribed terms.

Ok.

I was always slightly curious since I payed thy're final 'we're gonna kill you and your dog if you don't pay us' demand when it got passed to BC+W two years ago, but then they sent me another letter after that was settled demanding £15 for admin costs, which I ignored, and became what I defaulted on.

Is that lawful? Could I catch them out on that?

I recieved the text this morning, and called, I spoke to the stroppy little prick on the other end, who are now chasing my outstanding debt from t-mobile for the grand sum of £15, they're saying they require payment in full.

I asked if I payed, would the default be removed or satisifed, he said satisfied, I said contact T-Mobile and see if they're willing to remove it should I pay, because if they are, I'm more than willing to pay, if it's just to state it as satisfied, I'm not so willing.

.

He said he'd send an email, but if they chose to, they could take me to court to claim the money.

So, question is, can they take me to court for a debt I've already defaulted on? Could it become a CCJ?

Thanks.

Yes they acknowledged reciept of the £10.

Thanks.

Ok, thank you, how do I go about squeezing all of that out of them?

In the letter dated 6th October it states:

I've forwarded your letter to a colleague who'll send you any additional information that's detailed in your letter.

Also, the letter which I sent (which I have copy pasted below), specifically says to the Data protection officer, yet I recieved a reply from someone in customer relations.

I'm not sure where I stand, but I'm feeling very fobbed off, and I'm wondering if they have granted me any additional leverage in my attempt to remove a default?

20th August 2007

 

T-Mobile (UK) Ltd

Hatfield Business Park

Hatfield

Hertfordshire

AL10 9BU

SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST FOR COMMUNICATIONS DATA

To the attention of the Data Protection Officer

Dear Sir or Madam

This is a subject access request for disclosure of information under Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998. I was a subscriber from 13th April 2005 to 1st August 2005, and my account details are as follows Account Number: ****

Account Name: ****

Account Address: ****

Please send me the information which I am entitled to under section 7(1). In accordance with that section, please provide a statement:

• confirming whether any personal data is being processed;
  
• describing the personal data processed;
  
• specifying the purposes for which data is processed for each category of data, and the recipients of any data disclosed[1];
  
• detailing any transfers of data outside the UK in whatever form or by whatever means;
  
• naming the person responsible for the data protection compliance.

This information should include any personal data comprised in, linkable to, or which can be associated with the following identifiers:

• All records relating to telephone calls made from or to the telephone number ****
  
• All records relating to electronic services and text messages made from or to this same telephone number;
  
• All records relating to billing information, including subscriber data relating to my account.

In particular, the following types of personal data are sought:

• "communications data" as defined by Section 21(4) and Section 21(6) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000;
  
• any data processed by switches, cells, Message-Transfer-Agents(MTAs), monitoring-systems, voice mail, or other software or hardware devices under your control, which is retained and/or disclosed in hardcopy, electronic media, backup devices, transient storage or otherwise including location information;
  
• case notes on incidents, events, disclosures, collections, modifications or faults;
  
• records of disclosures to other parties, including emails;
  
• the logic of any automated decision processes[2];
  
• the sources of the personal data.

As required by the Data Protection Act 1998 section 8(2), please provide an explanation of the purpose, meaning, and context of the information. This includes geographical information for any location data that is retained.

You are required to supply this information as soon as possible, no longer than forty days. If possible, I request that the information be provided in electronic form, as allowed under section 8(2) of the Data Protection Act 1998. If this is not possible, please provide it to me in hard copy. If you are not providing me with copies of all records that you hold related to this request containing personal information because of an exemption in the DPA or for any other reason, please inform me of that fact.

I understand that you are required to properly identify any applicant for access to personal data. Please promptly advise me by electronic mail via: ****@gmail.comor telephone **** whether any further information is required from me, or whether the information contained in this letter and/or my personal cheque for the sum of £10.00 for the access fee is sufficient. Please advise me by telephone of any further information you require.

If you believe you are not the data controller for any of the above data, please provide the contact details of the organisation you believe to be the controller and explain why you have reached the conclusion why you are not the controller.

Yours faithfully

 

 

****

20th August 2007

 

T-Mobile (UK) Ltd

Hatfield Business Park

Hatfield

Hertfordshire

AL10 9BU

SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST FOR COMMUNICATIONS DATA

To the attention of the Data Protection Officer

Dear Sir or Madam

This is a subject access request for disclosure of information under Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998. I was a subscriber from 13th April 2005 to 1st August 2005, and my account details are as follows Account Number: ****

Account Name: ****

Account Address: ****

Please send me the information which I am entitled to under section 7(1). In accordance with that section, please provide a statement:

• confirming whether any personal data is being processed;
  
• describing the personal data processed;
  
• specifying the purposes for which data is processed for each category of data, and the recipients of any data disclosed[1];
  
• detailing any transfers of data outside the UK in whatever form or by whatever means;
  
• naming the person responsible for the data protection compliance.

This information should include any personal data comprised in, linkable to, or which can be associated with the following identifiers:

• All records relating to telephone calls made from or to the telephone number ****
  
• All records relating to electronic services and text messages made from or to this same telephone number;
  
• All records relating to billing information, including subscriber data relating to my account.

In particular, the following types of personal data are sought:

• "communications data" as defined by Section 21(4) and Section 21(6) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000;
  
• any data processed by switches, cells, Message-Transfer-Agents(MTAs), monitoring-systems, voice mail, or other software or hardware devices under your control, which is retained and/or disclosed in hardcopy, electronic media, backup devices, transient storage or otherwise including location information;
  
• case notes on incidents, events, disclosures, collections, modifications or faults;
  
• records of disclosures to other parties, including emails;
  
• the logic of any automated decision processes[2];
  
• the sources of the personal data.

As required by the Data Protection Act 1998 section 8(2), please provide an explanation of the purpose, meaning, and context of the information. This includes geographical information for any location data that is retained.

You are required to supply this information as soon as possible, no longer than forty days. If possible, I request that the information be provided in electronic form, as allowed under section 8(2) of the DPA 1998. If this is not possible, please provide it to me in hard copy. If you are not providing me with copies of all records that you hold related to this request containing personal information because of an exemption in the DPA or for any other reason, please inform me of that fact.

I understand that you are required to properly identify any applicant for access to personal data. Please promptly advise me by electronic mail via: ****@gmail.comor telephone **** whether any further information is required from me, or whether the information contained in this letter and/or my personal cheque for the sum of £10.00 for the access fee is sufficient. Please advise me by telephone of any further information you require.

If you believe you are not the data controller for any of the above data, please provide the contact details of the organisation you believe to be the controller and explain why you have reached the conclusion why you are not the controller.

Yours faithfully

 

 

****

Many thanks.