Hi there Not updated lately as juggling contact with 3 and an 8 month old, and she wins most of the time. Anyway here is the latest correspondence and then I have a question or two after. The letter below was sent on 7/1/07 via email....................... Dear Mr Spalding Thank you for your response on 4th January 2007 and please find my comments below. With regards to your email about my registering of my email address, this was not possible through the internet for some reason, so I have finally had to contact your call centre and register my email address with them. This has now been done today. On the 20th December 2006, I sent your company a letter with regards to Harassment by Telephone and requested that your company refrain from contacting me in this way and that should I receive further telephone contact from yourselves, you would be in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and that I would make an official complaint to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading. Today I received such a call from your call centre in Mumbai, from the Finance Department at 11.33am and I am now advising you that you are in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will be making an official complaint. I was informed by your customer service scripted robot that my account is going to be passed to a Debt Collection Agency. I have already informed you that my accounts are officially in dispute. I must point out that if you are proposing to pass my accounts to a debt collection agency and/or issue me with a Default Notice on these accounts - I need to make you fully aware that I am disputing the sum owed and, as such, you must refrain from any further action until this dispute is fully resolved. If you do not stop any of these actions and proceed by making any adverse comments on my credit reference files, I shall be forced to take legal action against you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A copy of this email will be posted first thing on Monday Morning. I await a speedy and hopefully positive response from yourself. Regards Bloc. ............................................................................................... This is the response back from Mr Spalding........................................ Dear Bloc I am today in receipt of a package which contains two of your handsets and letter disputing your outstanding balances. As requested in your letter, I've refrained from contacting you by telephone so have responded via email. I have noted that a reply was sent to you regarding the previous letter sent to 3, which should now have been received by yourself. However, I've listed the contents of this letter below for your convenience. Firstly I'd like to apologise for the problems you've had over the last few months in regards to your accounts, and I'm sorry you feel disappointed with our Customer Service. As you said in your email, you are entitled to voice whatever opinion you have, and It is not our intention to harass our customers, however sometimes it's easier to deal with a customers query by telephone rather than letter, which is why attempts were made to call you. I have put a note on both your accounts however asking you receive no further calls. Further to your points on your email dated 20 December 2006, I can confirm the following for you: 1). In the revised bill for account ********, the correct amount owed is £***.**. As another month's line rental and usage has been added, as advised on your bill dated 11 December 2006, the total amount outstanding is currently £***. 2). You have advised you wanted to cancel both your accounts in October 2006. We haven't been able to do this as we need thirty days notice to cancel a contract, inside the last 60 days of the contract ending. At present you are unable to close your account ********* as you have only served six months of a twelve month contract, and if you were to close this account you would be required to pay an early termination fee. As of today's date this amount stands at £**** however, this amount does reduce daily. On account ********, as this are on month six of an eighteen month contract, an early termination fee would also apply. Today this figure stands at £****, and there is £*** outstanding to be paid on this account. If you wish to pay these figures then you can do so by calling or customer services line or by writing to us with a cheque enclosed for the appropriate figures, however as these amounts reduce daily it is worth calling our Customer Service team to get the correct figures. These fees are to cover the cost of the remaining line rental on your accounts from today's date to the minimum due date stated in your original contract – any other outstanding costs for usage will also need to be paid. If you have any further questions or queries regarding this issue or any other you can call us anytime on 333 from your 3 handset (Free of charge) or alternatively form any other number on 08707 330 333 (National rate), or again reply to us in writing. Thanks for contacting 3. Yours sincerely, Stewart Spalding 3 Customer Services .............................................................................................. I then sent back a response........................... Dear Mr Spalding, Thank you for your speedy response, however I am disputing certain points within your response. Please find my concerns listed below. 1. With regards to cancelling my contracts, I have already given your 30 days written notice in Oct 2006 2. I was not informed by your company that a termination fee was applicable should I wish to cancel my contracts 3. Due to not requiring your communication service and the fact that both accounts are restricted, I would appreciate it if, on your behalf, you would cease further monthly bills, as it is unfair to charge someone for a service that (a) they don't want/use and (b) you have restricted them from anyway 4. I would appreciate it if you could send me copies of both of my signed contracts ASAP Please note that I WILL not be calling your Customer Services Team due to the way the service I've received and also due to the fact both handsets are restricted and it is impossible for me to do so. Regards Bloc ......................................................................................... Dear Bloc Thanks for your email regarding the outstanding balance on your account. As requested previously, I am responding to your query in writing rather than contacting you by phone. Upon reviewing your account I've noted that a dispute was raised in October 2006, which has now been resolved by our Billing team. A credit of £*** was then added to your account on 14 October 2006, which can be seen on your bill produced in November 2006. As this dispute has now been resolved and all outstanding amounts correct, we will continue to contact you by telephone and letter until the balance is paid. This may result in the account being passed to an independent Debt Recovery Agency for the debt to be collected by them, which is standard practice. I have noted that your September bill was incorrect, as we had credited your account for line rental rather than charging you. Your October bill was then produced, which was incorrect, but was recalculated to reflect a correct amount, which was shown on your November bill as stated above. Even though your account balance was disputed, we would not cease contact with you regarding it. All contact made was justifiable and we were in not in breach of any act. If you feel that you need to take this further, then this is your right as a consumer. I can confirm that the outstanding balance on your account is £*** and is currently overdue. If you would like to discuss a payment plan for this amount, I'd urge you to contact our Collections team on 08707 330 432. As a gesture of goodwill, I've organised to credit your account with £*** which will bring your outstanding balance to £***. This will be added immediately and will reflect on your February bill. If you've got any further issues or questions, you can contact our team on 333 (free) from any 3 handset or alternatively 08707 330 333 (national rate) from any other phone. Thanks for contacting 3. Yours sincerely, Stewart Spalding 3 Customer Services .............................................................................................. Dear Mr Spalding, Firstly may I re-highlight to yourself that I have personally requested that you or anyone else from your team refrain from contacting me via the telephone, this will be why you shouldn't be able to contact me in this way!! With regards to your recent email, I sent written correspondence to HEMEL HEMPSTEAD notifying you of 30 days cancellation to both mobile phone accounts and that would be why it is NOT logged as a telephone request. Is there no communication between yourself and other offices?? Secondly, I have received this morning two letters from two different Debt Collection Agencies requesting full payment on both accounts. Firstly NEITHER company is aware of the dispute that I have with yourselves, and even though you feel it isn't a matter of dispute, I DO and this should be acknowledged and respected and you should have copied all correspondence to these companies when passing my details on. Also you stated that £*** would be credited to my bill, however the Collection Agency is NOT aware of this and I would appreciate you informing them ASAP. May I also remind you that in an email dated 7/1/07 i wrote ................................ "I was informed by your customer service scripted robot that my account is going to be passed to a Debt Collection Agency. I have already informed you that my accounts are officially in dispute. I must point out that if you are proposing to pass my accounts to a debt collection agency and/or issue me with a Default Notice on these accounts - I need to make you fully aware that I am disputing the sum owed and, as such, you must refrain from any further action until this dispute is fully resolved. If you do not stop any of these actions and proceed by making any adverse comments on my credit reference files, I shall be forced to take legal action against you under the Data Protection Act 1998." Obviously the above was ignored and I will be taking matters further. I would appreciate a speedy response from yourself regarding the above points. Regards Bloc ........................................................................................ The above was the latest correspondence and I haven't had a response as of yet. My question is due to me disputing my bill and stating this to Mr Spalding in letters and email and as you can see from the above that he has passed both accounts to TWO separate DCA's, ieven though he thinks the account is in dispute, I do, so with that is he in breach of the Data Protection Act as quoted in my email to him?????? Please could someone inform me of what my next step/stage should be??? Regards Bloc

Hello, Having BIG problems with 3G Mobile at mo:mad: . In communication with a Stewart Spalding via email, as have requested that their bloody call centre in Mumbai, where all the scripted robots work, refrain from calling me under the Harrassment by Telephone. This has had an effect, except for the muppet that called on Sunday from the Finance dept (who had a serious ear bashing from me) . Anyway, disputing my bill with 3 and have received email from Mr Spalding today saying that if i were to cancel my contracts (i have two phones with them) I would have to pay termination fees. My question/query is that i only ever signed ONE contract in 2003 for the original phone and number, (which both have changed) at a High Street store which has now ceased trading. I have never been given a new contract or been sent any paperwork whatsoever after this contract expired. So with that in mind........ Can they expect/request me to pay cancellation fees or not??????:-? :? Also is there any form of letter I can send in which I can request that they legally supply all signed contracts I have with them?? Advise please....very much appreciated Bloc

To any of the MODS, Also could this thread be moved to telecoms mobiles forum as just realised its in the wrong place? Sorry for the inconvenience. bloc

I have disputed my 3 Mobile account and have been harrased be 3 Mobile over the phone. I have sent them letters to Glasgow disputing my account balance and also written to them telling them I wish to end two accounts (2 phones different numbers). I have also sent the telephone harrasment letter from the library section on 20th Dec, and have today had another call from their MUMBAI call centre from one of their scripted robots, who informed me that this was their final call and that if I didn't pay my account would be passed over to a Debt Collection Agency. Even though I have written disputing the account balance do I need to send them an official letter saying account in dispute? Also should I send this which I have amended as it referred to bank charges? Re: Account no. XXXXXXXXX Account holder. XXXXXXXXX Address. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Whereas I have been a customer of 3 Mobile for XXXYEARXXX and whereas I consented in my contract with you to the disclosure by you of certain data to third parties, at no time did I consent and neither was it within the contemplation of the parties to the contract that I did consent to the processing by you of that data in any manner which would be unfair or inaccurate or which in any way would breach The Data Protection Act 1998 Therefore Take Notice that I require that you cease from processing within 7 days of the receipt by you of this notice or else that you do not begin to process any personal data of which I am the subject insofar as that processing involves the communication or passing of personal data of which I am the subject to any third party, and insofar as the said data relates wholly or in part of contractual breaches. This Notice is given on the grounds that the processing or continued processing by you of the said data will be likely to affect my credit rating and my reputation and cause substantial damage and/or substantial distress to me and my family members. In addition to that which may already have been caused and that as the processing of the said data in the way referred to in this notice would violate the Data Protection Act 1998 to do so would be unwarranted. Any thoughts would be welcomed. bloc

Oh I also had another letter dated 4th Jan providing part of my SAR request back but was missing statements from Jan 2006-Dec 2006 so will ring them to request this is supplied asap. Bloc

Today I have recieved the following: a) Letter from Barclaycard dated 5th Jan 07 saying that my my request is being dealt with. Signed Katrina Downs CRM, Enc We value your feedback leaflet (which has gone in the bin). b) Letter from Barclaycard dated 5th Jan 07 which says the following: Dear Bloc, Having reviewed your request for a refund of charges I would like to take this opportunity to confirm your Barclaycard account was opened on 13th April 2005 and since that date you have incurred a total of 13 x $24.00 and received the equivalent of 2 x £24 in refunds resulting in a total of £264.00. Please note, although a further 4 x £12.00 has been incurred on your account since the OFT recomendation, you would not be entitled to any refund as these represent the amount the OFT consider to be fair and acceptable. (do they really, i think not) Following your conversation with David Prunty on the 28 December 2006, I can confirm that he has calculated the refund you were entitled to ion relation to the charges incurred between May 2005 and August 2006 and processed a credit for £120. However , as you were entitled to a 50% refund of charges incurred during that period, I have today applied a further credit of £12.00. The credits will be reflected on your January statement. Our position remains that we believe it is fair when cosutomers break the terms of their agreement with us, we recover the costs. Therefore, I am not prepared to consider any request for further refunds. As previously advised, when your Barclaycard account was opened, you signed and agreed to our Terms and Conditions and this included details of our charges. The information provided at application stage clearly explains our obligations to our customers, as well as their obligations to us. If we make any changes to our Terms and Conditions we provide details of these to our customers. (well if I hadn't contacted you, would you have contacted me to inform me I was entitled to a refund? I think not so don't lie) I appreciate that this is not the best outcome you expected, however I trust that this information I have provided has clarified Barclaycards postition. Should you have any further questions blah blah blah, FOS crap. Yours sincerely Tracy Burgess CRM I am going to wirte to them and refuse their offer of refund and say that i will only accept it as partial payment, but will continue to claim for the outstanding balance. Is this right? Bloc

Hello to you all, Sorry not been around much recently but been busy with the little one, firtsly Happy new year to you all. Just to update i sent the following letter with help from Tanzarelli my partner: Barclaycard Barclays Bank PLC 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP 3rd January 2007 Request for repayment of charges Dear Sir/Madam, CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT NUMBER: **** **** **** **** My request Following my telephone conversation with you on 28th December 2006, in which you informed me that I have 10 charges at £24.00 and 1 charge at £12.00 and 3 charges which have been refunded to me and thank you for the goodwill gesture of £25.00, however I feel it necessary to write to you. I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account over the last 2 years. I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to Over Limit Fees and Late Payment Fees and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. If you say that they are not, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs. Additionally, it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary. Please also note that this did not state that £12 is acceptable, as I believe this to also be unlawful. You will also be aware that the OFT has said “We are not suggesting that default fees should be set at £12, and a court will certainly not consider that a default fee is fair just because it is below the threshold”. You have already agreed to refund me £120 to my account and I will accept the sum offered only as part settlement and on the clear understanding that I will pursue recovery of the remainder, with a County Court claim if necessary. Your responsibilities I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law. I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary. I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them. Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now. What I require I calculate that an outstanding balance of £227 plus interest is still to be refunded back to myself. A detailed schedule of charges will follow when I receive the information that I have requested from you in my Subject Access Request. Please note also, that as of today’s date, you now have 30 days to supply me with this information. Additionally I received a letter from Mercers Debt Collections Ltd dated 11th December 2006, which stated “Default Notice served under section 87(i) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974”. This default occurred merely in respect of unlawful charges levied by you or was the result of impecuniosity caused directly by the taking by you of penalty charges which you had applied unlawfully to my account. In addition to full payment of the sum mentioned above, I require that you remove the default entry from the register. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the entry will not be acceptable. My targets to resolve this matter I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets. I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment. If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments. After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline. Yours faithfully, Miss Bloc Cc Barclaycard, PO Box 5592, Northampton. NN41ZY

Hi all, Just had a call from Barclaycard (David Prunty), He has just said to me that he was ringing in regard to my SAR letter of 18th December 2006, plus letter dated 23rd December 2006. He said that as my account was opened in August 2005 he is copying the list of charges and sending them to me. In total there is 13 charges at £24. He then said that due to the OFT's ruling of charges over £12 they will refund the difference to my account, so my account is in credit now. However I am still going to reclaim the rest of this money as I still believe this to be unlawfull. Prelim letter to be sent off tomorrow. Lets get this show on the road!!!!!!!!!

Many thanks to both of you (Zootscoot and Tanzarelli). Really appreciate all the help. Currently off work with stress and got six month old to look after so when i do find spare 5 mins I'm trying to get this sorted, so thats why very appreciative of any help. Hope everyone on site has fab crimbo and a wicked new year. Bloc x :razz:

Thanks loads for that. I did write a letter to Barclaycard on 14th November saying that my account was in dispute, I was acting on the info posted by Michael Browne above. However it took me a while to get round to sending the SAR, this was sent 18th Dec. I will send those letters though but which address do I send them to as the one on the statements for Barclaycard is a PO Box and I want to send this recorded delivery? Has anyone got the address for the head office? bloc

Hi Tanzarelli, I have tried pm'ing Dave the administrator but his inbox is full, so pm'd zootscoot to see if he could help. I was wondering do I need to send a 'Notice pursuant to s.10 of The Data Protection Act 1998? Any thoughts anybody? bloc

Please could someone help with this as I need to wrtie to Barclaycard and tell them they shouldn't have put the default against me, I need to ask you all what I should put in the letter to them, Any ideas please please please help??????????????? I am getting very worried about this. Thanks bloc

thanks for the response bong.

I have just pm'd one of the site helpers livelylad, as the only other mod about was bookworm and i could not send a personal message to her as don't have skype. Hope he can help bloc

Sent SAR off today with £10 fee to Barclaycard. When post arrived however there was a letter from Mercers Debt Collections ltd. It said: Important You Should Read This Carefully Default Notice served under section 87(I) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 I was under the impression that if my account was in dispute then they could not enter a default against me. I have previously writen to Barclaycard to tell them that my account was in dispute. I am really peed off about this. What should I do? Please help? bloc