am i liable??

[jds2903]

hi guys i was wondering if anybody could help me. i had a previous post about this but due to new phone calls i have had about this dbt i want to clarify if i am/not liable for this.

 

i had a broadband account set up with Post Office but due to losing my job ect i ended up in debt to them. when i went to pay this bill they had already terminated my account which generated a further £150 bill which i could not pay. i was forced to set up a new account in order to get my broadband going again which they allowed this was in april/may. After having my broadband for a month or two it went off, i was on the phone to their customer care team constantly trying to fix the problem but nobody could. eventually after a week or two, one of their advisors told me it was because i hadnt paid my monthly bill. i then realised i had not recieved a monthly bill, i told him this and after a while of checking up on this the man told me that whoever set up my second account with them had made a mistake and not attached my account to a billing account. he then went on to tell me that i should never have been allowed to set up this account because i was in debt with them for my first account and my broadband problem could not be rectified.

Post Office sent me a bill for £220 recently for my second account that was opened with them. They want me to pay £90 for early termination (which they did without my permission as they said i shouldnt actually have been able to open that account due to my outstanding balance of my first account)

they want £45 for my broadband package which they said this covers the dates 5 aug-21 oct!! my account was turned off before this date, i know this as i had signed on with sky broadband in the first week of aug and i have been fully up and running with them 3 weeks after this!!

they want the line rental for the same time period also. and they want £45 worth of calls made during this last account.

 

they have been calling me constantly demanding money and threatening with court action ect, i was told once or twice before that i should not be held liable for this account as it was at their fault for setting up my second account whilst i was in debt to them and that i was not to know. not only that but when i spoke to the advisor mentioned above he told me my broadband problem could not be rectified-but they they want me to pay for broadband and line rental up to nov but this problem first arose in april/may and i have had sky broadband since august. i just want to clarify if this is true and what i should say to them.

Also- like i said, this problem happened in april/may and i am only getting sent this enormous bill now after no communication since the problem.

 

Anybody who could help me with this would forever have my gratitued and thanx!!

[42man]

I think as you had used the account to your benefit (whether they had set it up incorrectly or not) then I feel you should come to a settlement with them....the charges sound a bit excessive though and seem disproportionate to the amount owed, I would query those. Write them a letter either offering a payment plan and ask them to clarify the charges, and in light of the mistake/errors and the fact that as i'm sure they appreciate your circumstances had changed which meant it was difficult for you to pay. You certainly don't want to get involved in a court battle. Although they may just be saying this to scare you as I imagine they may pass it on to a debt collection agency (but am unaware of other cases with the PO where this has happened)

[jds2903]

But like I said, the last time I spoke to an advisor before this bill problem came about he said to me that whoever set up my account should not have done so. Not only that but my broadband only worked for the first few weeks after the account was set up. They are trying to bill me up to nov! I also don't think it was very fair as to not ring or send me any notification of these charges as they were building up, only to send me a random bill 5-6 months after the final time I spoke to them about my account. Not only that but also when I rung them to receive my MAC code to activate my sky I said to the man on the phone I no longer have an account and have not had one for a while but my new provider needs my MAC code, could you provide this. Couldn't he have told me that my account was still running?!? The only thing about the whole account that worked was the phone, when I received a call from them the other day demanding payment I told them I would pay for the calls but nothing else, she was reluctant to do this and insisted on full payment.

[Halibutt]

I think you need to set this out in bullet-point format - for yourself if no one else - and list the sequence of events in chronological order.

 

I'd agree with 42man that as you knowingly set up a second account while having outstanding payments on the original - of which you'd been notified - then you'll need to sort out some kind of repayment plan.

 

If you write to the Post Office, clearly stating the sequence of events, then you could ask for additional charges/early termination fees to be waived, explaining that you would then be in a financial position to start paying back £x per month.

[jds2903]

Thanx for replying hallibut. I was ok to pay my new account

In bill format, it was the fact that they set it up wrong and did not fix it due to my outstanding balance. I was lead to believe it was over- non existent anymore as it was set up incorrectly and from what I'm told not allowed in the first place. But then out of the blue months later they send me a massive bill and demand payment for a service I didn't receive.