Just so you know, this Mobile network (MVNO) called The People's Operator or TPO which uses EE backbone, have changed everyone's Pay Monthly contracts, December 1st 2015, without telling them, and then charging them £50 for 1GB of data. Customers are only getting the bills now, and complaining!! Anyone affected needs to complain to Ofcom asap, treating customers unfairly etc . Links below: https://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/formal-phone-company http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/complain/phone-and-broadband-complaints/contracts/ http://www.ombudsman-services.org/complain-now-communications.html http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act (Consumer Rights Act 2015)

Hello, this is my first posting – apologies if I ask obvious questions, but I'm new to the world of debt collection! Any help would be hugely appreciated. (Apologies, too, for the long post) I'm being chased for a debt from Three Mobile, which I don't believe I owe. The first I heard about the debt was an e-mail from a debt collecting agency – I had moved abroad, and so Three didn't have my address. (I therefore didn't receive any letter from the mobile phone company requesting the money.) After receiving the e-mail, I replied to the debt collection agency that the debt was in dispute and contacted Three to tell them I didn't accept the debt (it appears to relate to charges made after I cancelled my contract), giving my reasons and asking for an explanation/evidence. I also asked for details of how to make a subject access request. Three replied regarding how to make a subject access request, but did not respond to my request for clarification about the debt. I heard nothing more for almost 2 years, when a letter was sent informing me that if i didn't contact the mobile company to discuss payment of the debt within 20 days it would be passed to a debt collection agency. I replied within a few days, referring to my first letter, again making it clear that I didn't accept the debt, and again asking for explanation as to why they believe I owe this money (I still haven't had any bill relating to the charges) and evidence. The mobile phone company ignored my response and sold the debt to Lowell Group, who are now chasing me for the money. Apparently the mobile phone company has also put a 'default' on my account, which will negatively affect my credit rating. My questions are: - Is it legal to sell on a debt which has been disputed and for which no explanation has been given? And is it legal to put a default marker on an account, when the debt is disputed? - What action is Lowell Group entitled to take against me, and how should I respond? - How can I set about having the 'default' marker removed from my credit rating? Many thanks for your help.

Hi everyone, I'm a new member and can I start by saying what a great job I think you all do on this site. I have gleaned some invaluable information in the past for other matters, and have gained some good information for this matter as well from other threads. Unfortunately cannot find a situation that exactly matches mine, but please bear with me if the info I'm asking for has already been covered elsewhere. Arrived home from a week away on business this morning to find a County Court Claim Form (Northampton CCBC) with the issue date 24/01/14. By my reckoning, that gives me just a couple of days to decide what I'm going to do and acknowledge. The Claimant is Lowell Portfolio, via BW Legal solicitors, and the claim is for an old Telefonica O2 mobile phone contract I had some years ago (2008 or 2009), and is for over £2000(!). The history of the debt is that I had been with O2 for around 5 years when I received a bill of approx £800 one month, where my usual monthly bill was in the region of £35. I obviously called O2 at the time and was told it was due to excessive use of premium rate and long distance numbers, which I assured them I had not used. Anyway, they refused to reduce the bill or look at spurious charges, and I refused to pay the bill under those circumstances until they got back to me. Unfortunately that entire conversation was by telephone, and I never followed it up in writing. To add to the vagueness of my situation, I was in the process of being made redundant at the time and had so many other things to worry about, so over the course of the next year or so I just forgot about the O2 contract - which had been cut off after non payment of that bill anyway. Adding to this, I had to move back to the family home after the redundancy, and have moved a couple of times since, so I have absolutely no idea where any of the original paperwork would be for the contract or the renewals, or any of the statements/bills for that period. Due to everything that was going on at the time, I cannot even remember exactly when it happened, but it would have been late 2008 or early 2009 at the latest. The figure of £800 (approx) is something that sticks in my mind though from the bill in question, so I'm unsure why the claim is now for over £2000 - even taking into account the added fees on the claim. Anyway, I'm in need of some extensive advice please on this matter, as I have to admit I have very little knowledge at all of any of the processes or available options involved here, and I think most of the threads I've read seem to deal more with credit agreements rather anything like this. Is it worth even defending the claim as I have such sketchy recollection of it and no paperwork? Or is it worth contacting Lowells at all with a view to a settlement? And if I decide to defend it, what should my next actions be after acknowledging (ie which letters to send etc.)? I really hate to admit to such ignorance, but as much help and advice anyone is able to give will be greatly appreciated. If you use small words and speak slowly, I should just about get it . I have attached a scanned copy of the claim form (personal details removed) to this post, to show exact wording etc. Thanks to anyone who has ploughed through this, and thanks in advance for your help. [ATTACH=CONFIG]49178[/ATTACH]

The story (hopefully not too long) 1. In 2007, I ordered a mobile phone on a 12 month contract (with O2) from e2save.com. The phone arrived but not in brand new condition, I then sent back to e2save by recorded delivery and was confirmed over the phone the contract would be cancelled. 2. Since then I did NOT receive any bills from O2 which assured me the contract was indeed cancelled. 3. Until a year later in 2008, I started to receive claim letters from debt companies saying I owed O2 about £500. I replied by letters and explained the situation. The claim letters stopped. 4. From 2010, I started to receive endless claim letters again from Lowell group for which I just ignored 5. Recently I received court letter for which I made a full defence and then a letter from Lowell's solicitor who asked me to provide the original receipt of recorded delivery for returning the mobile phone in 2007. They said O2 did not have record of receiving the phone. Unfortunately, I didn't keep the receipt and related documents as I have moved home a few times in the past 6 years. BTW during this time, I have been a O2 customer (mobile, homephone & broadband) What should I do as next steps? It seems I will have to go to the court in the next couple of weeks. People please please help me... Thanks a million!

I took out a 24 month contract this time last year. I moved into my new house a couple of months ago and most of the time there is no signal whatsoever. I have to go up into the attic just to get one bar, and even that fluctuates. There is also no signal at my parent's house. What are my rights? Am I able to end the contract early? Thanks.

Hello All, I need a bit of advise. I lost my phone in Sri Lanka as it fell out of my pocket in a cab and then the cab drove off before I had realised. I read the website, which stated i needed to contact the police within 24 hours and obtain a crime reference number. I was not sure if Sri Lankas crime reference number was sufficient and so I contacted a friend in the UK to ask if they could contact lifestyle services group for advise. The advisor stated that I should contact my airtime provider to block the sim and then I can wait until I am in the UK to get a crime reference number if I felt the sri lankan police could provide what was required. They also said I had two weeks to log a claim from the incident. As I was using as sri lankan sim, I did not need to contact the airtime provider as I still had the UK sim. Within 24 hours of my arrival back into the UK I logged a claim and went to visit the police station. Today, I have found out my claim has been rejected because I did not log a claim with the police within 24 hours and therefore did not meet the terms and conditions. As you can imagine I am left furious as I was advised by there representative of what to do and now the company have rejected my claim. Lifestyle group services state that at first they look to see if the terms and conditions have been met and accept/reject on that basis. An appeal considers any personal factors. Thankfully my friend noted the time, date and person he spoke to and they have the recording available. I have appeal, forwarded the email correspondence between my friend and I when I was out in sri lanka and explained why I could not log a call within 24 hours to themselves and how I was advised that I could sort out the police reference in the UK. I am awaiting a response from Lifestyle services group which could take 5 working days, but am expecting rejection as I dont see how they can give fair consideration when they are a profit making organisation. Do you think I will have a chance to take them to a small claims court?

Hi this is my first posting on here so apologies if there is a similar post somewhere else. I need some help and haven't a clue as to my next step. I was in the Manchester Deansgate branch of House of Fraser on Wednesday and used the loos, this was around 1815, not sure if noting the time is relevant but it may be, as I went to wash my hands I put my phone by the side of the sink (without going into too much detail my phone fell out of my pocket), as I did this I realised the whole area was swimming in water, I'm not talking about a few splashes, it was a significant amount of water, so picked my phone straight up. The whole phone was waterlogged, even under the screen, there was that much water. My phone is now still waterlogged to the point I've gone out to buy a replacement as I know it's dead. I went to speak to the manager, they were as clueless as me, but took note of my email and said they would get back in touch with me the next day to see what can be done from there. I heard nothing, until today when I received an email with a letter attached this is the lettter: Dear Amanda Further to your visit to our store earlier this week, I am sorry to hear about the problem that developed with your mobile phone. Unfortunately there is little we can do to rectify this situation. Our toilet facilities are regularly checked and cleaned and I understand that the amount of water near the wash basins at the time was no more than the splashes you would expect due to normal use. That point aside, we also cannot be held responsible for where you chose to place your phone as it is not unreasonable to expect water to be on the surfaces adjacent to wash basins. I realise you will be disappointed, but unfortunately we are unable to take the matter any further on this occasion. Yours sincerely Jon Shorrock Firstly my name isn't Amanda, it's Hannah. Secondly, not even a goodwill apology. Do I have a leg to stand on to push for a goodwill settlement? Needless to say in the mean time, HoF have lost my custom. I'm 24 and I live in Hull where the main department store is HoF, so that is a considerable amount of custom lost. Any help would be appreciated.

hi quick question took out a contract 4 days ago in store with p4u on orange but it still doesnt work when i got it home i set it all up dead excited like you do and threw any waste packaging or so i thought away when i try to call anyone it says the sim is not registered i have phoned orange but they have told me p4u should have registered it as orange themselves only register over the phone for themselves and car phone warehouse. i have been into phones 4 u and they rang trying to register but apparently the number of the sim is not connected with orange. in the beginning when the credit thing went though p4u had to call orange for authorisation and p4u were told they would be called back after 20 min. another member of the p4u team said dont wait just phone back again so they did and staright away was given a code for it to go through. what happens now and where do i stand on cancelling contract as not into being messed around. thanks any bit of help would be much appreciated

Hi a few months ago I received a letter from Fredrickson asking me to contact them regarding a personal matter, I checked the web and found this CAG forum so binned it. the next day I received a letter saying I owed their client Arrow Global £2229.27 I figured from this board that it related to Orange, I sent them a Prove it letter and received a reply saying it was on hold. Yesterday I received another letter from Freds which says, "We refer to your recent letter or telephone conversation with this office. Please find enclosed account dicuments, provided by our client as requested. we hope this clarifies matters and look forward to hearing from you with proposals for the discharge of this account. " Attached is a statement from Orange showing payments from 2002 up to 2006 when the last payment wasn't made. (£2229.27) I have previously been chased by Moorcroft for this back in 2006 after I was cut off by Orange for non payment. The charges are for one month when I was in Munich ( my usual bill was £40 average) these charges had run up through excessive charges whilst roaming including paying for received calls and text messages. I informed Moorcroft that I would only deal with Orange and sent Orange a letter stating I was not prepared to pay these excessive charges as they should have capped my account before allowing it to run up to such an excessive amount, I offered to pay for calls made and sms sent but not received (around £500) although still very excessive) I didn't hear anything until this year although I was aware it was still on my credit file and preventing me getting a loan or finance. At no point have Freds ever mentioned Orange up to now. My feeling is that the account is still in dispute with Orange and I am still prepared to pay them a reduced settlement but I am not going to pay a DCA one penny. I have also read that the law has changed and phone companies are now required to set an agreed limit on roaming charges or cut off services at €50 This was my original argument with Orange, also roaming charges were capped significantly after this. What is my best course of action? I intend to send Freds a letter saying you have attached a statement from Orange, how is this related to arrow Global, and that the account with Orange is in dispute and has been since 2006. and also to write to Orange again. Do I need to ask for an SAR first or do I just write again with my original dispute? As the EU have been fighting to change these charges is there any way of having them cleared as they were deemed to be excessive by the European commissioners?

I decided to purchase a PAYG 'phone on the Vodaphone website and pick it up from their Wakefield store. They promised to email me when it was ready to pick up- so far i've heard nothing. If I decide it's not for me, I want to be able to return it to another West Yorkshire store for convenience. I have emailed them THIRTEEN times for a simple answer to this question!!!! Due to a current disability, email is my only form of communication. They come back assuming that I have already bought a 'phone and/or that it is faulty, go on about contracts and one even asked for my details to verify my identity so that he could go into my account!!! They all had foreign names, so I assumed (as it happens correctly) that it was run by an overseas call centre who either can't speak English properly, are unintelligent or simply enjoy winding potential customers up! Their own customer forum stated that I should email them again and ask for a UK based manager to look into this for me. I did as I was asked and received further nonsense replies. After going back onto the forum to ask what to do next, I have been ignored. When I sent a separate email to ask why I hadn't received notification as to if it's in Wakefield or not, I received a very rude reply to the effect of "how should we know if you haven't supplied the order number, find it and ring us up (which they know I can't do)". I have replied with the order number. Is this a true representation of what to expect from Vodafone and should I use another provider?

Hi, I'm new here and was wondering if someone can help me in dealing with this problem. I recieved a letter from advantis credit who are claiming to be appointed to collect payment of a debt which I owe to Global Arrow. It also states that the "debt owed to arrow global assigned by Orange". Now I had an account with Orange in 2005/2006 (cant remember exactly) and I to my knowledge the account was paid and closed when I took out another contract. It doesnt give any more details over then the amount which is £400!!!! Now my questions are How do I get them to tell me where this debt is from and what I owe it for and why Orange have sold this debt with out telling me (this is what I assume they mean by it was assigned to Global by orange). They also called me on my mobile (which I have no idea where they got the number from) and asked me to confirm my details (which I refused), to which they lady on the phone replied I will post you a letter and then hung up! What is the best thing to do here, should I send them a "prove it" letter that I have heard so much about in previous threads regarding these matters. Obvousily I dont want to end up with a CCJ for a debt I'm not sure I have, particulary when I havent heard from the company for nearly 5 years. I have checked my credit report (via experian) and there is no sign of this account from Orange?? Many Thanks for any help Chris

I issued notice to my mobile phone company more than 30 days before the end of their minimum contract period and they told me that this 30 days notice starts from the last date - effectively tagging on an extra month to the contract. I told them that i did not think this was very fair and they said "not our fault that you did not read the small print.." Fair enough - but I said I thought it was fairly underhand and that if they were providing good quality customer service they would make this clear upfront. So below is the email stream.. removing names etc to protect the innocent/guilty etc. I hope this helps someone else to avoid these dubious charging practices... So after a phone conversation it starts with them sending me a copy of the contract with a link to the T&C;s on their website and I reply: Hi .........., Thanks for sending this through. Can you please direct me to the relevant clause of the T&C’s as I have no wish to trawl through them all. Regardless of if I have signed up to this “extra month” - as I expect I have. In reality therefore a 25 month contract and not a 24 month contract - I do believe that this process is pretty underhand. ..............should be making this very clear to your customers in an upfront manner and not tucked away in the legalese. Why is it tucked away? Are .......... aware that customers won’t like it? Frankly the fact that you don’t appear to empathise with my position on this is beyond me. It is quite clearly not an example of great customer service to not make such a clause very clear up front when a customer signs a contract. To tell me that I should have read the small print and it’s not your fault that I didn’t is...............well words escape me.. After 10 years or so with ........... – for it to end this way leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.. I look forward to your reply and further comments they reply.... Hi ..... Please refer to 9.2.2, I understand your comments below but in the contract it does clearly refer you to the website for T & C we don`t take the customer through the full terms and conditions when re-sign as it is a large document but the customer are able to read these in their own time. Thanks .... I reply....... Hi ..........., Sure it does – but I am saying that this should be made explicit to customers not left for them to wade through legalese and work it out for themselves... In any case - From what I read there is nothing which says that the termination period of 30 days can only begin at the end of the contact period It seems that if I serve notice 30 days in advance of the contract end date then I will have in fact complied with these terms. Here is the clause – please point out the part which says that the termination period of 30 days can only begin at the end of the contractual period? 9. Duration and Termination 9.1. This Agreement shall commence on the Commencement Date and shall continue for the Minimum Term and thereafter throughout the Wireless Service Period until the same is brought to an end by means of a Termination Notice or as provided in clause 9.6. 9.2. A Termination Notice may be given by either party and the Agreement terminated forthwith if: 9.2.1. the other party is in material breach, and the breach is capable of remedy and the party in breach shall have failed to remedy the breach within thirty (30) days of written notice specifying the breach and requiring its remedy, or the breach is not capable of remedy; or 9.2.2. bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings are brought against the other party, or if an arrangement with creditors is made, or a receiver or administrator is appointed over any of the other party’s assets, or the other party goes into liquidation. 9.3. A Termination Notice may be given to X or its agent X as applicable, under the circumstances set out in clause 18.2 at any time by the Customer and the Agreement terminated 30 days thereafter, if X increases prices or tariffs in respect of Airtime from the Charges set out in the Application for Service to the Customer’s material disadvantage or substantially varies these terms to the Customer’s material disadvantage other than where such increases in prices or tariffs or change to these terms arise as a consequence of a change in prices, tariffs, terms or otherwise made or requested by third party manufacturers or suppliers, or a regulatory body. 9.4. In addition to a party's right to terminate in accordance with clauses 9.2 and 9.3, at any time during the Wireless Service Period: 9.4.1. the Customer may serve on X or its agent X as applicable, a Termination Notice with a minimum of 30 days' notice and the Customer shall be liable for any applicable Termination Fee; or 9.4.2. X or its agent X as applicable, may serve on the Customer a Termination Notice with a minimum of 30 days' notice and the Customer shall not be liable for any applicable Termination Fee. 9.5. Upon the expiry of any Termination Notice or otherwise upon the termination of this Agreement X will disconnect all SIM Cards, from the Wireless Services and the Customer will pay to X or its agent X as applicable, any applicable Termination Fee. 9.6. This Agreement will automatically terminate upon the disconnection of the last SIM Card from the Wireless Services. 9.7. If this Agreement is terminated and the Customer wishes to transfer to another service provider, Thanks ..... They reply Sorry 9.3 9.3. A Termination Notice may be given to X or its agent X as applicable, under the circumstances set out in clause 18.2 at any time by the Customer and the Agreement terminated 30 days thereafter I reply..... This does not state that the 30 days starts at the end of the minimum contractual period. If I read the clause without reference to 18.2 – then I read it as meaning that it is simply 30 days from the day I choose to serve notice. Ie – I serve notice on X date and the contract ends 30 days thereafter... Meaning that if I serve notice 30 days before the end of the minimum term then the contract will end on the minimum term date. In this reading it does not give you the right to continue charging me for a further 30 days beyond that I am afraid. Worse - if I read the clause in relation to 18.2 to which in fact it appears to exclusively refer - then it actually seems to makes almost no sense at all ! 9.3. A Termination Notice may be given to X or its agent X as applicable, under the circumstances set out in clause 18.2 at any time by the Customer and the Agreement terminated 30 days thereafter 18.2. In the event that X changes the terms of this Agreement or the Application for Service X or its agent X as applicable, will provide the Customer with 28 days’notice of such change or, in either case, as much notice as is reasonably practicable where such change arises as a consequence of changes imposed by third party manufacturers or suppliers, or a regulatory body. The above read together means that if X change terms or service then I will be served with 28 days notice and then in return I can serve X with 30 days notice at any time and the agreement terminated 30 days thereafter.. So the two refer to each other.. So unless you have served me with notice of a change in terms or application of service then clause 9.3 is not even applicable ! I therefore do not accept that I have agreed your proposed usage of this clause ( to charge me for an additional 30 days beyond the minimum term) by agreeing to the T&C’s I propose therefore that I will offer you 30 days notice for my contract to end on the minimum term date and that will constitute the end of our relationship and that X will not seek to apply any charges beyond that date. In addition – as a gesture of good will that that you will supply my PAC code upon request and within 48 hours of that request without charge. Thanks.... They reply........... I don`t wish to get into a legal argument, we will release your Pac code on the X/X/X - on the contract end date. I reply..... Thank-you. Please confirm by reply that there will be no further or additional charges levied beyond the minimum contract term end date? They reply....... I can confirm your Pac code will be released on the (date) ..... and you need to give this to your new provider who will transfer this over in two working days, you will have call charges and line charges till you transfer over we will not just cut you off on the .......(date) I reply..... You have previously indicated that the PAC code can be provided in advance of the minimum contract term end (within 48 hours of request) and so as previously mentioned it is likely that I will request my PAC code in advance of the end of the minimum contract term. At the latest I will request a PAC code a week in advance of (Date - the contract end date) to give me the time to transfer over to a new provider. Please confirm that in this case that my contract ceases completely on the (date) with no call, line or any other charges beyond that point? I do accept that if I terminate the contract prior to (date) and ask you to cut me off that I will be liable for line charges up to and including that date. then after a final telephone conversation they reply: Hi..... No 30days will be added to the end of the contract period as discussed Thanks, ....