Lowell PAPLOC now Claimform - vodafone Mobile debt

[jasonaaa]

Hi,

 

I defaulted on a Vodafone contract, the default date is 02/08/2014, the amount at that date was £1389.92.

 

Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd now have the debt and it was passed on to Lowell Solicitors who have sent me a Letter of Claim - 30 days to Prevent Legal Action.

The 30 days is from 04/04/2019.

Over the years I have ignored this debt and have received occasional letters asking for the money which I have ignored.

 

Should I risk ignoring this and hope nothing happens and in 13 months the debt become statute barred due to being 6 years old?

Or

should I reply to the letter of claim

complete Section 1 Box C stating 'I don't know whether I owe the debt'

 

then Section 4 Box I stating 'I need more documents or information', and asking for copies of the written contract for the debt, a full statement of account, a calculation of interest claimed a copy of the notice of assignment of the debt and any other document you may suggest I ask for?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

[jasonaaa]

Trying not to be too ignorant, so my reason to dispute the debt is this quote?

 

Thanks,

 

jasonaaa

[jasonaaa]

Looking for some more help and advice please on this matter.

 

Sent reply to Letter of Claim, (it came 04/07/19 not 04/04/19) on 29/07/19 as suggested and got reply as per scan 0039. They replied 31/07/19 with the account was suspended until Lowell Solicitors got a reply from Vodafone (Attachment 0039).

 

Just received a letter from Lowell Solicitors, dated 22/08/19 (Attachment 0040). It only had copies of statements from Vodafone for February 2014 to June 2014 included, no copies of the Notice of Assignment.

 

What, if anything do I need to do next?

 

Thanks in advance of your help.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your patience.

 

Response to Pre-Action Protocol.pdf Pre-Action Protocol Receipt.pdf

[jasonaaa]

Ha ha, it was 5 numbers on one account. I was paying for my wife and kids. Became ill couldn't pay, tried to negotiate and the rest is history. Anyway we will see what happens next. Hopefully nothing. 

 

Thanks so much for the advice and patience. Very much appreciated. 

 

Regards

 

Jason

[jasonaaa]

Seems Lowell do want their day in court,

 

I just received  a Claim Form for County Court from them giving me 14 days to respond.

Never been at this point before and very worried.

I would appreciate some more advice please.

 

I have attached a copy (redacted) of the first page of the Claim Form.

I guess the advice I am looking for is whether to admit to the whole claim, admit to part of the claim, dispute the claim, ask for 28 days to prepare defence or contest the court's jurisdiction.

 

If it were to go to court can I get the case transferred to my local county court in London rather than it being in Northampton?

 

Thanks again for the help and advice.

 

 

[jasonaaa]

Name of the Claimant ?LOWELL PORTFOLIO 1 LTD

 

Date of issue – 16 OCT 2019

 

Date  to acknowledge) = 03.11.2019

 

date to submit defence = 15.11.2019

 

Particulars of Claim

 

What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim? Please type out their particulars of claim in full (verbatim) less any identifiable data and round the amounts up/down.

 

1)    The Defendant entered into an agreement with Vodafone under the account reference ********* (“the Agreement”).

2)    The Defendant failed to maintain the required payments and the service was terminated.

3)    The Agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on 24/12/2014 and notice given to the Defendant.

4)    Despite repeated requests for payment, the sum of £1389.92 remains due and outstanding.

And the Claimant claims

a)    The said sum of £1389.92

b)    Interest pursuant to s69 County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of £0.305, but limited to one year, being £111.19

c)    Costs

 

What is the total value of the claim?

 

Amount claimed                     £1501.11

Court fee                                 £105.00

Legal representative’s costs £80.00

Total amount                          £1686.11

 

Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC ( Pre Action Protocol) ?Yes

 

Have you changed your address since the time at which the debt referred to in the claim was allegedly incurred?No

 

Did you inform the claimant of your change of address?Not applicable

Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account?Mobile phone

 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after April 2007 ?Before April 2007 - 28.07.2006

 

Do you recall how you entered into the agreement...On line /In branch/By post ?Likely to online, otherwise by phone

 

Is the debt showing on your credit reference files (Experian/ Equifax /Etc...) ?Yes

 

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim.Assigned Debt purchaser, Lowell Portfolio 1 Ltd

 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment?Yes 11.03.2015

 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor?Yes 23.06.14

 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Sums in Arrears”  or " Notice of Arrears "– at least once a year ?No

 

Why did you cease payments?Became ill, in fact disabled, and had to halve my working hours to try to cope.

 

What was the date of your last payment?29.01.2014

 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved?Yes, in that in trying to communicate with Vodafone I ended up with about 5 different complaint numbers making it difficult to agree a payment plan and resulting in the debt increasing.

 

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan?

Yes, Vodafone did not accept any of my offers, they always asked for a lot more because they insisted in my clearing the whole debt within 6 months. My account was suspended in March 2014 so I could not make any payments.

 

 

[jasonaaa]

Thank you. MCOL all done. Does my CPR 31.14 request letter seem okay?

 

PLEASE NOTE - template letters from our library should not be reproduced on the open forums. If you would like to let people know the wording of your letters simply link to the Letter in question.

******

******

******

*****

 

[jasonaaa]

Not sure how to show (link) you to the the letter I want to send. Can you please advise. Thanks.

[jasonaaa]

I had made some changes as suggested to personalise it to my case and just wanted to know if it was okay to post.Just not very confident doing this and appreciate the help very much you are giving. Thanks.

 

I will print the letter and get it posted off tomorrow morning and then work on the defence I need to file.

[jasonaaa]

Thanks for the guidance and support dx100uk & Andyorch. Here is my defence, how does it look?:

 

1)    The Defendant entered into an agreement with Vodafone under the account reference ********* (“the Agreement”).

2)    The Defendant failed to maintain the required payments and the service was terminated.

3)    The Agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on 24/12/2014 and notice given to the Defendant.

4)    Despite repeated requests for payment, the sum of £1389.92 remains due and outstanding.

And the Claimant claims

a)    The said sum of £1389.92

b)    Interest pursuant to s69 County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of £0.305, but limited to one year, being £111.19

c)    Costs

 

The Defendant contends that the particulars of claim are vague and generic in nature. The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR r 16.5 (3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made.

 

1. Paragraph 1 is noted. I have in the past had a contractual relationship  with Vodafone however I do not recall the exact details or recall any outstanding balance and have requested that the claimant verify the exact details of this claim by way of a CPR 31.14 request. The claimant has yet to comply.

 

2. Paragraph 2 is also noted  but denied. The amount claimed could not possibly consist of simple monthly usage.

 

3. Paragraph 3 is noted.It is questionable why the claimant has waited 5 years to litigate on an assigned debt and then tries to claim section 69 interest 

 from the date of assignment but then limits itself to just one year.

 

Therefore the Claimant is put to strict proof to:

 

(a) show how the Defendant has entered into an Agreement/Contract

(b) show and disclose evidence of the nature of breach and quantify any debt outstanding

(c) show how the Defendant has reached the amount claimed for

(d) show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim

 

4. On the alternative, if the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of Section 136 of the Law of Property Act.

 

5. As per Civil Procedure Rule 16.5(4), it is expected that the Claimant prove the allegation that the money is owed.

 

6. Notwithstanding the above should the alleged amount claimed include an early termination charge(s) amounting to the entire balance of the remaining contract, OFCOM guidance states that any Early Termination Charge that is made up of the entire balance of the remaining contract is unlikely to be fair as it fails to take into account the fact that the provider no longer has to provide and pay for their service. An Unfair Term and Condition governed by the Unfair terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (UTCCR).

 

7. By reason of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief.

 

[jasonaaa]

Andy,

Thanks so much for the tweaks, much appreciated. I will get the above added to my defence now and await Lowell's response to my defence. I will update you here when I hear back from them/court.

 

Thanks again,

 

Jason

[jasonaaa]

Hi,

Just received Lowell Solicitors response to my CPR 31.14 request.

I have attached it here as one pdf.

It contains a response letter from Lowell,

a copy of letter of assignment from Vodafone,

a copy of a letter from Lowell saying they bought the account

and five months of Vodafone fully itemised bills

(I just attached the quick breakdown of each).

Is this a standard response to the CPR 31.14 request or is their anything to be wary of?

 

Many thanks,

 

Jason

 

[jasonaaa]

Thanks for the feedback Andy and dx100uk

 

Jason

[jasonaaa]

Just keeping post up to date and keeping a time line. Just received Lowell's N180 Directions questionnaire copy saying yes to mediation. Waiting for my own Directions questionnaire to also agree to mediation.

[jasonaaa]

Just received a letter from Lowell Solicitors today confirming what the debt relates to and that I turned down an offer from Vodafone as I could not afford it. They have offered a Tomlin Order agreement, the draft is mainly left blank, they want me to sign it to show agreement. Like I would sign a blank cheque! Finally they threaten that if I do not agree to the Tomlin Order agreement they may use it as evidence that attendance costs could have been avoided.

 

Still waiting for my Directions questionnaire.

Tomlin Order.pdf

[jasonaaa]

Keeping post updated:

 

Received my N180 Directions questionnaire today. Will complete, agreeing to mediation, and send back to court and a copy to Lowell.  Will wait for mediation to contact me and I will then say not enough info to mediate.

 

Question, as my alleged debt would be statute barred on 29/1/2020 as that would be 6 years since any payment was made, am I liable if the court hearing does not happen before then?

 

My understanding is probably I am liable as the proceedings have already been started by Lowell with the court.

 

Asking as my N180 has latest return by 30th December 2019 and if I should hold off returning it until then?

 

Thanks.

jasonaaa

[jasonaaa]

Thanks, I thought that might be the case. 

J

[jasonaaa]

Thanks. 

[jasonaaa]

Update.

 

Just received the attached from the Small Claims Telephone Mediation Service. I have to call the number to make an appointment for mediation, so I am not going to call so that it gets transferred to court. I will then complete a witness statement. Have some ideas of how to do the statement from other threads I have followed. 

 

Hope that is okay up to this point?

 

Thanks.
 

Telephone Mediation.pdf

[jasonaaa]

Thanks. Definitely reading and following threads. Just realised I misunderstood what to do. I will arrange a mediation appointment and when they call and ask if I have enough information I will say no not enough to make an informed decision. 

[jasonaaa]

Just to update the post.

 

I received a Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing) letter today.

I expected it to have a date and time, it did not. Just told me they will be sent later.

So I am awaiting the date and time so I know when to provide documents and my witness statement by.

 

That's it for now.

 

J

 

Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing).pdf

[jasonaaa]

Just an update.

 

I hope you @Andyorch and @dx100uk  had a very merry Christmas.

 

Just received a Notice of Trial Date letter, so now know when to provide documents and my witness statement to the court and Lowell by.

 

The hearing is to be held via telephone due to the Covid-19 situation on 10th August 2021. 

 

I will post a first attempt at my witness statement here soon.

 

Hopefully Lowell won't pay the trial fee by 13th July 2021 and the claim gets struck out.

 

An earlier conclusion would be even better.Notice of Trial Date (redacted).pdf

[jasonaaa]

Thanks FTMDave

[jasonaaa]

Hi,

My court date is 10th August 2021 and I have not received a witness statement from Lowell yet. Am I right in waiting for the WS from Lowell before I write mine?

All I have had is a response letter from Lowell, a copy of letter of assignment from Vodafone, a copy of a letter from Lowell saying they bought the account and five months of Vodafone fully itemised bills as mentioned in post 22.

 

Thanks

jasonaaa

[jasonaaa]

Apologies, I am at a loss on how to get started on my WS. I have seen several good ones to help but they seem to have already received a WS from Lowell and respond to that.

 

My brain is not working well as I am trying to come to terms that my wife coming to the end of her cancer treatment soon, only to discover secondary cancer has occurred. I suffer memory loss as well due to fibromyalgia so all of this is getting to me.

 

I know this is self help, so don't want pity, but a little shove in the specific right direction would be so appreciated.

Thanks in advance.