Hiya,

I need your help.

I found my flatmate on flatshare.com, so I don't know her very well. She is moving to Australia for 2 years I think.

I just found out she hasn't paid up the eletronic bill, that is £400 + last month, actually it would have been more since she moved out mid of this month. She also owes me £250 council tax.

Obviously I don't want to pay up her mess, I just sent her a few emails explaining the debit collector is going to visit us, and we are going to have issues etc. But I don't think she would care because she is moving to Australia anyway. I am wondering in the worst case, can I just pay say £300 to scottish power, and ask them to chase after her for the rest, because it is her name on the eletronic bill anyway. Do you know scottish power's policy on this? Obviously both of our names are on the tenancy agreement, but her name is on the utility bill.

I have heard since both of our names are on the tenancy agreement scottish power can chase after me for the whole amount. Because i might be the easier one to find, as I live in the UK. Then what can I do if she doesn't pay me back the money, that is the eletrnoics and the council tax bill? That is something like £500 in total.

I am seriously in doubt, even though I take her to county court, I wouldn't be able to recover the sum, as they simply wouldn't be able to chase after her in Australia.

Anything you could suggest?

Happy new year.

KJ x x

Hi rebel11,

Thanks for the advice, I wrote an email and sent it to him, don't think I will ever hear back from him! Just hope my case gets resolved. I am prepared to wait for a while and see what the customer service team say. If nothing has been solved, I will have to take them to court. Seriously I don't need another mobile contract!

Hope you had a nice Christmas.

Kittenjane

Don't just cancel the direct debit - that will cause you even more problems

 

This sounds like a new contract so there might be some way of sorting this

 

Sounds like the call centre is not the way to go, might be a letter to the shop (hand delivered?) - you might have some kind of cooling off period

 

Despite what the call centre said, you went into the shop to ask for advice about replacing your stolen phone & came out with a new contract that was not the best for you.

 

An Orange shop did the same with my son.

 

You might find the email address of someone high up in 3 if you search

 

Meanwhile, wait for more advice about how to proceed, but meanwhile look at the terms & conditions about cancelling the contract in the first few days.

Hiya,

Thanks for the advice, I have decided to wait and see what their customer service team say. Emailed this Mr. Dyson as suggested, don't think he will ever get back to me. He has got the job as CEO this year, and with a focus of customer experience, but it seems three is still OFCOM's top complaint list.

I think I might have to go to court to release myself out of the contract, but that should be the last resort with them.

Unfortunately there is no cooling off period now, it is just 7 days exchange, not even return policy you see. Next time when getting a mobile, I would seriously think of getting it online, then I would have cancelled under distance selling act.

Hope you had a nice Christmas

Kittenjane

you can see my other post, I have written everything in detail.

Just asked for an iphone with unlimited internet, was told the only way is to take a new contract.

basically, I later found £3 add on could have been purchased, an extra £5 per month would change my new contract to an iphone contract you see.

three store is rubbish! I just got conned into a contract!

but you should be protected under distance selling act.

Don't worry if they don't take it back, you can take them to communication Ombudsman Services after 8 weeks, or just request a deadlock letter and take it to communication Ombudsman Services.

My old mobile was robbed off me about 3 months ago, and I walked into a three store to enquire about a smartphone, wanted unlimited internet to go with ihpone, and was advised I could only get that by a contract! I explictly asked to keep my old numbers, that guy told me that there is a way and didn't explictly told me anything about he was going to ask me to swap sim card!

I only found out later when I spoke with 333, that I could have added £3 per month to my old contract to get unlimited internet, and £5 to one plan which I got more voice minutes, and can also use the iphone as a modem!

I came to speak with the manager about the issue, and he simply was very rude and told me that I wouldn't be able to do anything relating to this because I signed the contract! "You have taken a contract with nothing, there is nothing we can do", "can't you see I am dealing with other customers"... etc.

Let's do the maths,

My cost should actually have been

£25/m*18m+£499=£949

Now my mobile cost is actually

£20*18+35*24+£99(you need to pay for £99 extra for an iphone) = £1299

I am £350 worse off.

I propose to pay one month's bill £35 and £400 to cancel the contract, and then opt to purchase £5 add on to my old mobile account, and upgrade it to an one-plan, which still makes me £35 worse off had I been given all the information!

Blank refusal.

Their customer service team in India do not speak English! They say "you asked for a contract, they gave you a contract" I never asked for one! I asked for using unlimited internet! I enquired about transferring my contract to a third party, they said "you requested a transfer" I said I just "enquired"! You can't possibly reason with them!

Talking with customer direct, they broke one act - mispresentation act 1967, one regulation - customer protection from unfair trading regulation 2008 under misleading! Yet they are so assertive, so rude, and would treat me like rubbish!

I emailed the executive office and got an automatic reply. After numerous attempts with 333, finally three decided to put my case through to a senior manager, he promised that he would call me back in 24 hours; they never got back on time ....

I had to make a great effort to get them forwarded my case to customer complaints team!

I feel three mobile has ruined my Christmas. Do you guys have any ideas what I should do?

I am thinking just cancelling my direct and mail them back the phones!

Hi, thanks for the help. I sent the letter and today received a call from 3. They apologised and said that after looking into the facts, I was right and I was told that my contract was cancelled, except that it wasn't, but apparently it is now! It looks as if it's sorted and I have not had calls from debt people for a couple of days so fingers crossed. Thank you all again for your help and Merry Xmas to all.

sorry didn't see your issues get sorted, mine hasn't yet. but congras! Good to know that. Merry Xmas!

Hi, wonder if anyone can help with this. I've been on contract with 3 for a long time, but had a new phone on 24 month contract due to expire in june 2012. I also have a phone for my daughter and pay her bill too. However, quite suddenly the service was reduced on my phone to such an extent that i was getting texts 2 days after they were sent and could not make any calls at home, the nearest i could make a call was about a mile away. my daughters phone is used at uni so hers was not a probem. I got in touch with 3 and they said they would moniter my phone for a week and see what happened. After, they got back to me saying there was a problem so i said i wanted to cancel the contract for my phone only. The lady agreed to this and sent an envelope to send back the phone, charger and battery but i was to keep the sim. I pressed the woman on the contract being ended and she said yes. All good until last week when i had 2 calls saying i owed them line rental and i disputed this but they said the contract was not ended. Today i had a call from a debt collection agency and he said i could pay him a fee and he would return the matter to 3 and i could dispute again. I told him in no uncertain terms what to do with his fee, but do wonder where i stand now? Any ideas? Thanks.

I know what you feel, they treat us as cash cows.

I think you could give customer direct a call and then ask for their advice. with my case, they advised me three mobile actually broke the law!

I have read posts online about they will continue to charge you 1 month extra if you cancel your contract, it is like 30 days notice. But that is only if there is no fault at their end, you need to speak with the customer service saying you cancelled because there is no signal reception, etc, and you could never use the phone. You will be speaking with the call center staff in India, they can be tough to deal with. My experience is that talking with them is a big waste of time, I had to make a big fuss to get my complaints to be forwarded to customer complaints team.

Obviously, if three mobile would like you to pay them, they will have to take you to court, and you can argue your case there. It is likely they will just drop their case, because they will need to pay legal expenses £150? maybe to take you to court, and there is a good chance they will lose.

But I have heard that they can be very intimidating, so if the debit collection agency harrass you, you need to be firm, because the law protects you! Say if they phone you in middle of the night etc. that would be an offence on their side; or even call you during unsociable hours, that is also an offence.

Good luck, i hope you get your issues sorted out.

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