Possibly, just don't know why she apparently made £192 worth of payments between June 2012 - August 2012. They upgraded her on the 7th June and she can't have been that far behind. All of this is irrelevant though now as I'm not sure how to proceed.

we finally had the documents from O2 and within the documents it says that the last financial payment was an 'ad-hoc credit card payment' for £80 made on 10/8/2012. I can't work out why she apparently made £192 worth of payments in June, July, and August 2012. Three of them don't even have references attached to them - They just say IVR payment ref. Can I please have some urgent advice with how to proceed? I need to get this thing back by the 20th, and it appears we're just within the 6 years.

Ok, so the form says 'do you agree to this case being referred to the small claims mediation service' ... What do I put here? I read other threads and they have said I tick yes? Also, I need to act on behalf of my girlfriend - Can I please have some advice on how I fill out the remainder of the form if I'm acting on her behalf? Also, I'd read on other threads to always tick yes to mediation as it demonstrates a willingness to prevent it from going to court and resolve amicably?

Hi All, Just an update. Received the N180 form from the courts and I have until the 20th to file it with the solicitors and the courts. I know the information received from O2 could be irrelevant, but I have tried to follow it through with them so I know what information they are passing on to Lowells. As part of the SAR, they sent through a zip file, which they said contained further notes and that a password for that file would be sent. Waited a week, and after receiving nothing, chased once more. I was informed that the password was sent on the same day - Which was BS as I'd not seen it, but they did sent it again. I've attached the notes to this thread as it appears all they contain are the most recent notes relating to this case, including discussions they have had with Lowells after a similar request for further information they made on O2. There's a part in the notes that says that as the account is over 6 years old all invoices have been destroyed but please find attached a screen print of all payments made by the customer (This is clearly to Lowells) - We have not received any of this information. O2 are saying that the last upgrade was done on 7/6/12, so I really need this screen print of the payment history. (If one actually exists and they didn't just send Lowells a blank bit of paper) To me it looks like they're stalling and being obstructive towards providing me with the relevant information. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is any of this grounds to make a complaint? Need to know if I should be acting on any of this in any way, or whether I should just fill out the N180 and proceed to mediation? Account Notes_Redacted.pdf

Hi Andy, thanks for the quick response. Having checked, the claim history says the following ... That sounds fairly straight forward then. I guess we should receive imminently. Any thoughts on what O2 have sent us?

Hi all, so after almost 30 days I have received the below response from O2 regarding the SAR ... Any thoughts on this? I haven't received a password for the zip folder, so I have contacted them again to remind them to send it. One question I have is that there is a letter from them dated 2013 assigning the debt to Lowells, that Lowells have sent to me. Surely they should still have some signed agreement as it's still within the six years? Who knows, maybe there's more in the zip file. At this stage, can anyone please indicate whether I should be waiting for this form to fill out? Or is it something silly where I have to obtain it myself?

Yeah you're absolutely right. Re-read it and it's their copy. I guess we'll see ours from the court shortly.

We today received a letter back from Lowells directing us towards mediation, and giving us a questionnaire to fill out. I'm guessing (as per similar threads) that we just tick yes to everything and push towards mediation. What baffled me though is that they have already filled out everything for us... In the 'your contact details' box they have entered Lowell Solicitors. Is that normal, or have they sent me their completed form that should have gone to the courts?

Had the letter back from the courts yesterday acknowledging our defence and advising that the defendant has 28 days to respond... Hopefully they give up at this stage!

Surely in some way it would be more financially beneficial for them to drag it out and then chase you for this extra fee. I think they knew this company was going into administration and this probably happens all the time. Sounds more like something you'd see on Watchdog! Can't be a fair contractual term surely to charge ten times an original fee for a negative review... that again makes it in their interest to receive a negative review. Absolutely batty.

Well there's not quite 6 years between o2 closing the account and farming it out to Lowell's. But neither of us look like being able to at this stage demonstrate when the cause of action begun. So as per the advice I received above, the onus is on them to prove when the last payment was made? I haven't posted a defence yet as I was waiting to see what they came back with, but I'll give it until tomorrow to see what further advice I receive here. If I see no contradictory advice I'll post the SB defence tomorrow.

Just received the standard response from Lowells yesterday... I've redacted and attached as PDF's... In one of the letter's they say details of what the amount is for can be found on the other side of the letter, but there wasn't anything detailing that at all. Can I please have some advice on how to proceed? Should I just proceed with the SB defence? letters.pdf

yeah, I just wanted her details from O2 as back up

O2 have come back to us and asked for paperwork containing her name and address on (from when she held the account originally) before they can proceed with the information request. Is that normal? The account is over 6 years old and surely people move about and don't hold paperwork for that length of time? I'm a bit hazy when it comes to data protection but surely legally there are other ways to corroborate data and demonstrate you are legally entitled to that data? Any advice. I'll have a look to see if we have anything at home as I made her keep all her old paperwork when we first moved in together. Just thought their request to be a bit unfair given the fact people do move and don't keep paperwork.

Thanks guys, I'm feeling a lot better about this as I completely agree. I'd expect Lowells to come back eventually and say the 6 years ran from the 30/4/13, but we all know that's not legal.

Yeah noted.... Will do, thanks for your help. We're going to try O2 again over the weekend and still request her information over the phone quoting article 15, but this time I won't say what it's for etc. you never know, we may end up getting someone a bit different

right, I should be ok anyway as I haven't admitted to any figure?

I don't admit any of it now, is there any way you know of amending it? If they refused the part admittance how could they take it all the way if it was clearly statute barred? Surely the case would still be on dodgy ground if they went all the way to court? What about seeing it play out and then offering a £1 token payment? I never said which part I was admitting too ...

Yeah I think they'll be bugger all information available and obviously we can't wait the 30 days for O2 to respond. I guess I'll wait to see what Lowell's respond with. Any advice for me on what I should do about the fact I ticked I'll be defending part of the claim? Am I right in thinking I should just let this play out and still go down the statute barred route if Lowell can't provide any more info?

I just spoke again with O2 and I have to say it was a bit painful and the guy I spoke with didn't seem to really understand the law. I explained our situation and that we require all information on my girlfriend, and I specifically need to know the last payment date on her account. I gave them the security password and everything seemed fine. It then got a bit hairy when he said that they only held records for two years. This is when I obviously went into detail about the law etc and I would complain to the information commissioner as they are denying her right to all the information they hold on her. (At that point he was kind of intimidating that they couldn't give me any information about her account - Only that one definitely existed in the past) I did get a little peeved when after telling them their commitment should be to hold records for 6 years and that they would be breaking the law, his response was well as the account is more than 6 years old they would be breaking the law anyway if they held it for longer than 6 years. The guy seriously didn't know what to do... Eventually he said we could apply for a SAR by phone (Which is what I have already done via E-mail). It transpires that they may have records in their "archive" but in order to get that we would need to go down the route of a SAR, and they would require my girlfriend to do that as the address has changed and the mobile number on the account is no longer active. At one point we were in a bit of an impasse as he wasn't really sure how we could get her information as her details have changed.... It looks like they don't hold much info on her as the account is over 6 years old? Thoughts anyone?

Just a quick update - the CPR 31:14 has gone off to Lowells. I have called O2 and they seem to still have a record of her account, but there was a security question on the account. I now have the answer so I'll call them this back afternoon and give them the security question answer. So hopefully I should have some decent information later today.

Hi, I completed the AOS on the MCOL website... I haven't called O2, I sent them a SAR request from her e-mail account to the E-mail address I found through the CAG forums. I'm assuming if we called them I'd have to get my girlfriend to do it as it was her account.

Earlier today ....to be fair I did ask for advice and not all my questions were addressed. I find it odd how they make you choose between contesting all or part of the claim prior to being in receipt of all the relevant information. I feel like there should be general option to stay the claim for 28 days whilst further information is sought, but we are where we are. How someone can rock up one day and take you to court out of the blue is crazy. Courts are meant for genuine cases, not get rich quick schemes for lazy half arsed armchair solicitors looking to make a few quid out of ignorant people. I'll send the CPR 31:14 letter off asap and update the thread once I see a response. Thanks and apologies if I jumped the gun by sending the AOS the way I did. I was caught in two minds as to whether I can 1. obtain any information from O2 regarding last payment date in order to use statute barred as a defence and 2. whether or not she was still contractually obligated to pay at least some of the contract. Agree the fee is too high, it's probably at least two or three times what the phone was worth, and she was probably into her third contract by the time it was suspended.

bugger, I already said I'm challenging part of the claim. That's what I don't like about these claim forms - they make it sound as though any response "may" only result in a CCJ. I'm guessing that if we can challenge it and we negotiate a settlement that if needs be we can pay it off within the 30 days to avoid a CCJ. I have entered myself as a litigation friend. One other question I have is that when I send the CPR 31:14 do I have to send that to the court as well as the solicitors?

As I'm acting on her behalf it's asking me whether I'm a litigation friend? Should I just tick that box? I haven't been appointed legally or anything