Vodafone - Default removal + distress claim ***WON***

[ffocus]

I've made my mind up.

 

Im going to refuse their offer and pursue taking them to court since they have not offered any compensation for distress. Have no idea what im doing. But it should be a learning experiance

 

Am basing my decision on the basis that it has had to come to this. I've had to come this far. Im ****ed off.

 

Ill send the letter wednesday morning 25th Sep. Ive got an idea of what to write to them but If anyone would like to offer any more advice, please do.

 

Here we go......:o

[dayglo]

Im going to refuse their offer and pursue taking them to court since they have not offered any compensation for distress. Have no idea what im doing. But it should be a learning experiance

 

Am basing my decision on the basis that it has had to come to this. I've had to come this far. Im ****ed off.

 

please tell me to mind my own business if you like...

 

however, please re-read what you have actually said in your post and ask yourself are you really prepared to take on a company's legal team in a court where you freely admit

Have no idea what im doing

 

I think you have 'won' already - removal of the default is what this is about. I think there are errors in your particulars of claim that could count against you by the time you get to court.

 

if it was me - I would accept the offer and move on with my life.

[ffocus]

Dayglo, Mind your own business...Only kidding

 

I see where you're coming from. The only thing we all of can do when we don;t know, is seek advice and learn whilst moving forward. Ofcourse I have some idea of what I am doing otherwise I wouldnt have got this far.

 

Update to follow shortly...

[dayglo]

I agree, you clearly have done a great job getting this far, no mean achievement.

 

I just think having 'some' idea of what you are doing may not be enough in court.

 

Vodafone will say "the ICO have endorsed our processes"

the court will also be quite demanding in asking you to demonstrate your actual losses. Can you really do this? For 'distress' it is likely that you will have to show all sorts of doctors appointments, time off work etc.

 

but - hey, I could be wrong, and you could go from minor hero to major superstar!

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[ffocus]

I just think having 'some' idea of what you are doing may not be enough in court.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Thanks Dayglo

[ffocus]

Below is the letter I will send tomorrow unless their are any recommendation/correction anyone has.

 

Cheers

*****

 

Dear Mr Matthews,

 

Thank you for your letter dated 22nd September.

 

Whilst I appreciate your understanding in this matter I see no mention as to the compensation I have requested. This default has caused me immense troubles in the past and present with regards to applying for credit, all this down to a default of which was placed on my credit file for the minuscule amount of £67.27 which I paid in full the first time you/agency called me on the mobile number you had given to me.

 

You were not understanding in this matter and simply chose to act in an un-sympathetic manner and place the default on my file without even trying to call me. If you had called me requesting the outstanding amount earlier I would have paid, since during that period I was extremely busy. This was almost ignorant for a phone company not to use their product to contact to me. I would have paid in full at the time.

 

Like you, I would also want this matter to be resolved as quickly as possible. Once the default has been removed I can finally after 3 years re-arrange my finances in a more efficient manner. I would like to think Vodafone does not currently operate in this careless fashion, if you do then you can only learn from this case.

 

I can only hope that you can see this matter from my point of view. I am happy to take your offer as part settlement, and I do hope that we can come to an arrangement towards compensation before it comes to court. It will be embarrassing for Vodafone and more stress on my part.

 

Sincerely

[dayglo]

I've just 'amended' some of the grammar and maybe some word changes here and there... please don't take offence.

 

Dear Mr Matthews,

 

Thank you for your letter dated 22nd September.

 

Whilst I appreciate your understanding in this matter I see no mention of the compensation that I have requested. This default has caused me significant inconvenience in terms of increased interest rates on my credit accounts. This is due to the default which was placed on my credit file by you for a relatively small amount of £67.27 which I paid in full the first time I was called on the mobile number you had given to me. (is this really true? - are you sure there were no letters requesting payment before this. You would normally have received correspondence beforehand)

 

I felt as though you were not understanding in this matter and chose to act in an un-sympathetic manner by placing the default on my file without even trying to contact me. If you had called me requesting the outstanding amount earlier I would have paid (again if this is true then fine leave it in - but if not it would harm your case for compensation), Please understand that I was going through a busy period in my life at this time. I assure you that if you had contacted me earlier I would have paid.

 

Like you, I want this matter to be resolved as quickly as possible. Once the default has been removed I would finally, after 3 years of stress and anguish, be able to re-arrange my finances in line with interest rates more applicable to my creditworthiness. I would also like to think that Vodafone do indeed respect my position and that you will demonstrate this by reconsidering my request for compensation.

 

I am happy to take your offer as part settlement, and I do hope that we can come to an arrangement towards compensation before it comes to court.

 

Yours Sincerely

[ffocus]

Much appreciated Dayglo. You certainly have a way with words. Thanks

 

PS. There were letters but I wasnt around to recieve them at the time. But they never tried to call me. The first time they did I paid in full.

[dayglo]

I still expect them to reply with "sorry - this is our final offer, we will remove the default as a goodwill gesture but no payment"

 

I would advise planning on what you would do if I'm correct.

[ffocus]

If you are correct then I will accept it. I think its worth that extra push.

[dayglo]

I hope I'm wrong for you!

[SurlyBonds]

Tinks/Dayglo, Thanks, youre support is well received

 

Tobes, I believe they have just ignored this part of the claim.

 

BankFodder/Neo, Particulars as follows:

 

"

The claimant has an account ******* with

the defendant since before 01/06/03 until

the end of 2003. During this period the

defendant filed a default against the

claimant. To this day the defendant still

processing information which they have no

contractural right to do so. The claimant

seeks payment for damages caused by

distress and financial loss due to this

infomration being processesed after their

contract was terminated. The claimant

requests there infomration be removed from

there records nad the default to be

removed. The claiment claims from the

defendant the sum of £1689.45 due to excess

interest they have had to pay over the

years. £400 for each account of distress,

£1600 - namely

1)credit card renewal.

2)Applying for loans.

3)not being able to get a mortgage.

£200 for time spent.

Plus the court fee £120

Total being £3209.45

 

 

Not sure wether my particulars are good enough to take to court...Let me know.

 

I would love this to become the mother of all default cases, which in turn could be used in all new cases...Maybe im just dreaming

 

Just remember that the defendant can equally ask for a professional examination as to how you determined the amounts of 'distress' involved - they can ask you to provide professional witnesses to validate your claim - in the same way that the we argue that the banks need to justify their charges.

 

I would suggest wording along the lines of:

"In addition, the Claimaint has suffered distress and monetary loss in relation to paying uncompetitive interest rates due to the alledged extra 'risk factor' of having incorrect adverse credit data registered on the Claimant's credit reference file. It is the Claimant's contention that these higher interest rates have incurred additional interest charges of £xxx.xx when compared to those offered to customers with no adverse credit data. A schedule of those calculations has been appended to this claim as Appendix 1.

As such the Claimant claims a sum to compensate for these additional credit costs as this honourable Court sees fit."

 

Remember, that credit is not a right... and that lenders do take a lot of other factors into account when determining credit rates...not just defaults.... you may need to provide statements from the lenders to state what they would have been prepared to lend at, had you not had a default registered. That could get complicated, and you would have to very exact about your calculations.

 

I really would respectfully suggest that you seem to be going for a lot more than Courts will give... £200 for 'time spent' needs to be validated on a schedule i.e. broke down into hours, and Courts are unlikely to award this unless it has caused real hardship or deflected you away from your job, e.g. if you were self-employed, etc.

 

Finally, check your spelling in any Court paperwork... 'there' and 'their' have two different meanings.

[ffocus]

Thank you SurlyBonds,

I included your note to my letter and sent it off first class today.

At the same time I called the Legal Executive @ Vodafone.

We had a chat about the claim and I gave my reasoning for claiming distress. He said he doesn’t even think that it would apply in a court of law and that I wouldn’t really be able to claim this. I must say he come across as very understanding and asked me to send him more information to substantiate my claims and that they would be more than happy to re-negotiate a responsible form of compensation.

PS. I've also gone back to the Mortgage advisers I was using at the time to try buy a house and they are going to send me details of my original quotations and I have copies of what I would have been offered at the time if my credit score was normal. They are also offering to make a statement that the default would have been the main cause for higher interest rates.

Ill get all this info over to Vodafone tomorrow and see what kind of offer they come back with.

PS...I may not be at liberty to discuss this matter for much longer...(Non-Disclosure agreement etc :-| )

PPS...Anyone been following this? Speed Camera - Rights - gets taken to europe.

[Tinkerbelle]

PS...I may not be at liberty to discuss this matter for much longer...(Non-Disclosure agreement etc :-| )

 

:o

 

But we wanna know!!

[ffocus]

:o

 

But we wanna know!!

 

As much as I would love to tell you Tinks Im afriad I dont think I will be able? Anyone know a way of getting around this?

[dayglo]

Well this is encouraging ffocus. If they make you an offer that you like, but they ask you to sign a 'confidentiality' clause, which seems likely, don't worry about us, we'll understand. The important thing is that your efforts make YOUR life better. You can always help others later on either privately or by 'hypothetical' examples! Just don't breach any confidentiality clauses or you'll be back in court like a flash, (and not in a good way!)

[un1boy]

Well said Dayglo!

[ffocus]

You can always help others later on either privately or by 'hypothetical' examples!

 

Good point!!!

[Neo]

As much as I would love to tell you Tinks Im afriad I dont think I will be able? Anyone know a way of getting around this?

 

Post here before you sign anything and once you sign and send it, make sure you delete the post...

 

[ffocus]

Post here before you sign anything and once you sign and send it, make sure you delete the post...

 

 

Is this allowed???

 

Does that mean I can go to the press with their offer, Tell them about it.....Then Sign?

[dayglo]

Does that mean I can go to the press with their offer, Tell them about it.....Then Sign?

 

let's not get ahead of ourselves eh?

[ffocus]

let's not get ahead of ourselves eh?

 

point taken, I've just got that very confident feeling within me after talking to the Legal guy, "Im unstoppable".

[dayglo]

I am really hoping this works out for you... Hey, I may need your advice when I finally get a response from Vodafone regarding my non-monetary claim!

[ffocus]

I am really hoping this works out for you... Hey, I may need your advice when I finally get a response from Vodafone regarding my non-monetary claim!

 

You'll get plenty support from here. Thats what it's all about.

[david.m]

As much as I would love to tell you Tinks Im afriad I dont think I will be able? Anyone know a way of getting around this?

 

well, given that your in effect only getting back what you should have had in the first place , id question how they can force you to keep quiet and make you sign the NDA paper.

 

of course you must do what you do, especially if they put up a sum far larger than you might expect, then sign it (BUT READ IT AND FULLY UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS before you do)and be happy.