Help with Talk Talk One Tel Please!!!!

[JRD553]

I was a customer of one.tel which then became talk talk up until the 24th November 2008 when i then switched everything over to sky so I have 1 simple monthly payment. Sorry I should say that the 24th November is the date that sky told me their service would be activated from, I had accepted and agreed to switch over to sky from early November. And I have checked and have been billed from sky from the 24th Nov for line rental, which is fine, although today I have had a Final Demand from talk talk stating that if I didn't pay them £30 they would refer me to a debt collection agency. So I rang talk talk to see what the craic was and they told me that although I went to sky on 24th Nov, alledgedly talk talk were still handling my calls until the 8th Dec and therefore I had to pay them for these. I argued that it was not my fault if they could not disconnect me in time, and actually one of the guys I spoke to admitted that it was some other teams fault for telling them late that was the reason why the disconnection was late. I told them that I had played my part and as I was paying sky from the 24th Nov then they can bill sky for my money as I wasn't paying them for it. With my Northern Irish accent sounding rather agressive as it tends to do, I was then passed to the team manager who told me the same thing over again and simply said there was nothing he could do and that if I didn't pay the money it would be passed over to a debt collection agent. I thanked him for wasting my time and phone bill and politely stated that I would see talk talk in court as I was not paying them a bean. So please anyone out there who can help me with this situation, any help at all would be greatly appreciated because I don't even know if I am in the wrong or not? PLEASE HELP????

[buzby]

Did you WRITE to TT and tell them that you were leaving? If you did this then there's no problem as you need to give 30 days notice and once this has been done, your responsibilities to them have ended. Just because Sky is given the authority to acquire you line does not automatically end your TT agreement, as this would effectively stay in force until you tell them you want to cancel.

 

You DID tell them, didn't you?

[JRD553]

No I'm afraid I didn't for the simple reason that when I was swapping over to sky it said that I didn't need to because sky would inform talk talk themselves so I left it up to them, OOPS!!!

[buzby]

If you have a letter from them to that effect, then you could try to pass on this additional bill to them to settle, but I've a feeling they won't be interested. All they are interested in is in getting customers, now they have you, anything else will be rather low key.

 

To be fair, I'd be really hacked off if a third party (Sky) had the authority to terminate my contract with my existing supplier without me having to do anything - it makes 'slamming' so much easier for the new telco. To be sure of success to reject the double billing, the responsibility would always be with you to advice your current supplier you were terminating - nobody else.

[JRD553]

Thanks for your help buzby, even if it wasn't what i wanted to hear! Things have now took a turn for the worst, i have today received a letter from Commercial Credit Sevices notifying me of legal proceedings saying that 'the case has been placed with us for immediate collection via Dudley County Court or appropriate Scottish Court via solicitors.' I'm assuming this is the start of a CCJ but living in Northern Ireland to be honest I have no idea what a CCJ is or why it has been handled by Dudley County Court rather than a Northern Ireland court, is it becasue we don't have county courts in Northern Ireland???

[JRD553]

Hi, I have received a letter from Commercial Credit Sevices over an outstanding debt due to a dispute with TalkTalk. It says the case has been sent to Dudley County Court. Now the thing is I live in Northern Ireland and as far as I can read from this site the CCJ has to be heard in my local court??? What i need to know is if this isn't enforcable as it has been sent to Dudley (English court) or do the proceedings start in England and then heard in Northern Ireland??? If it isn't enforcable what steps do I take next? Please help...

[buzby]

I don't think it will ever come to that. You're on the receiving end of a pile of mail (more to come) that will attempt to intimidate you into paying up. Since the breaking of arms and legs for a debt is illegal, the next best thing is to scare you, so threats of CCJs, and the rest are used as part of the grand plan to make you pay up.

 

You are quite correct, they're talk of court action in a court not in NI shows how much attention they are paying, but the only thing you need to be aware of, is if (in the unlikely event) you receive a court summons for an English court, you do respond to it, asking for the case to be transferred to your local one in Coleraine (or wherever). This effectively kills it stone dead, as a transfer cannot be done, a fresh action must be raised in NI. If you don't defend or reject the English summons, it will be classed as undefended and you lose. They can then ask bailiffs in NI to pursue you for the debt quite legally, so it's a 'gotcha' to watch out for.

[JRD553]

Buzby once again your help is greatly appreciated, pint of the black stuff for ya next time you're in Ulster! So just to clarify then I do nothing until or if I receive a court summons then defend by asking it to be transferred to Belfast? If i do this and it does kill it. Can they still start a fresh action in a NI court?

[mcjohnson]

My understanding is that when you receive the documentation from Dudley, you can return it to your local courthouse and then, based on your residence, they will re-allocate the case to a local court... You won't have to travel to Dudley!

 

I would urge you to contact talk-talk to resolve the matter prior to any court appearance though, CCJ's are not pretty and extremely difficult to have removed once they stain your credit record.

[buzby]

First off, I'd always say that you actually should pay for what you owe, but only to the firm that supplied the goods or services. If their policy is to sell on the debt to a third party, my view is that your moral obligation (to pay someone else) ends.

 

You should always respond to court documents, which can be sent to you by the pursuer (DCA) but in all cases, will bear a case number and be stamped with the official mark. Anything else, and it's just a ploy.

 

As for the rest, you've got it. I'll be over for that drink just as soon as the HSS is repaired!

[JRD553]

Next thing, I have just had a phone call from Consumer Credit Services asking to make payment, I told them no because I was in dispute with Talk Talk. They asked me to write a letter to them stating the dispute saying they would take it up with them! As if they were pretending to be on my side??? I agreed just to get rid of them but don't really have any intention, I'm also glad i refused to give them my mobile no. or e-mail address because I reckon I am going to get pestered!

[buzby]

The cheek of it! Should they suggest that again, mention that you're not obliged to deal with any third party, and as TT have not provided any confirmation that they are acting as agent, you'll be declining their offer. The logical solution is for them to tell their client you are still in dispute, not for you to tell them, and for them to tell TT!

[JRD553]

Dead on, so do I just sit tight now and wait to see what happens then...

[maroondevo52]

Two threads merged.........

 

JRD553 could you please stick to one thread on this subject.

 

Thanks.

 

Scott.

[buzby]

Yup. Refuse to be intimidated. You owe no duty of care to anyone you didn't instruct, and these monkeys are top of the pile.

[JRD553]

Nice one mate, of course coming from Loyalist Carrickfergus, I wouldn't know anything about intimidation, haha

[JRD553]

Hi Buzby, ok just got letter from S C Gray Solicitors in Bromsgrove stating... Papers have been passed to us today , via our client, in respect of the above debt with instructions to issue proceedings for recovery. We must advise you that unless full payment of the above sum is made to these offices by 04/03/09 such action may commence in the appropriate Court for the recovery of: And then there is a list of fees totalling up to £114.23 (Original debt was £34.01). Now I'm slightly worried, should i contact TT again and ask for a written breakdown of the outstanding charge and see what exactly they are or what should i do...

[buzby]

Easy. They don't know anything of your dispute - and from what you say are treating it as a standard non-payment. Respond by stating in a businesslike manner, that you advised TT of your intention to disconnect from their service and arranged a new supplier. Their clients (TT) had noted this, but you understand some internal communications issue at their end resulted in a delay, however you refuse to be responsible for their lack of diligence in terminating your account, and suggest that they refer to their clients.

 

You reject any claim that you owe TT, and any court action they contemplate will be vigorously defended. You should also advise them that this matter has gone on long enough, and you call upon them to confirm that (a) no debt is outstanding, and (b) If TT have lodged any adverse information with credit reference agencies, you require this to be removed within 28 days. Failure to do so will result in you taking action to protect your interests, the full costs of which will form the basis of a counter-suit.

 

That should hold em!

[JRD553]

Once again my friend that is pure genius!!! Thanks, I will keep you posted...

[RedVixen]

Hi I can't find S C Gray on the Law Society website - they are chasing me for a BT debt which I am disputing with BT and Sky til I figure out who needs to be paid - otherwise Sky will lose my contract at the end of the 12 months

[RedVixen]

Not the address for SC GRAY and CCS are the same AND the letters are pretty much identical except for the company details

[RedVixen]

Found her now - its just one person

[buzby]

Whether they are listed or not - this is a pointless exercise and won't help your resolution. Clearly you have to pay someone for the services you've received, so ask Sky when they provided services to you.

 

You then advise BT that this date was when you left them. However, it remains your responsibility to (a) complete any minimum term imposed as part of your contract, and (b) provide BT with notice of your intention to leave - this will be a minimum of 30 days. If you relied on the new carrier to give notice, then you'll need to base your termination day on 30 days after they told BT you were leaving, but as this correspondence wasn't from you directly, BT could ignore it.

[RedVixen]

Its all in hand

 

I don't think there is anything pointless about finding out information about the people you are dealing with - it makes them less scary

[buzby]

'Less scary?' The point was you don't have to be registered with the :aw society to chase debts. Knowing who might be taking you to court doesn;t really affect any possible outcome, but if there's nothing else to do there's no harm in it.