ill health and in debt

[ladybird17]

Hi there wannagethelp. Great that you are doing the bank charges for your son - that will be at least some weight off his mind.

Reading your first post, I see that you say he is waiting for the insurance to come through - is this his PPI (payment protection insurance)?

Depression is only covered in PPI's if you are seeing a Consultant Psychiatrist - I wondered if this is the case with your son? It may need another trip to his GP to talk his "symptoms" through, - perhaps it is something other than depression??

I would read through the T & C's of his policy to be sure.

[ladybird17]

so sorry, didn't mean to worry you - I feel bad now! I just wanted to alert you that he MIGHT not be covered and he may need to re-visit with his GP to see if there is something that he IS covered for.

[ladybird17]

Dear Mr. Westcott/T Mobile

Re. Acount Number xxxxxx

I am in receipt of your letter of xxxx.

Following your letter of 24 January, I provided you with a breakdown of my income & expenditure, and we agreed that I would commence paying you £10 per month in order to clear the balance of £512.24

Today I have received a further bill from T Mobile, which shows an outsanding balance of £1388.96 and demanding full payment.

• You are fully aware that I am currently only receiving state sickness benefit in the way of income. I thus find your demands impossible to carry to undertake, unrealistic, and to be quite frank, bullying.
  
• Please supply me with a full breakdown if these exta costs totalling £876.72. I am at a loss to understand how these charges have suddenly appeared on my account, given that the phone is now disconnected.
  
• If you say these charges are penalty charges, please provide a breakdown of each charge separately, together with evidence of any manual intervention
  
• Please take note that in no way do I accept these new charges, and as of the date of this letter, this account is in dispute.
  
• Further, please supply me a copy of the originally executed agreement. I enclose a cheque.PO in the amount of £1 which is to be used for this purpose only.

Yours......

You may have to adapt this as I'm not sure of the specifics. Get your son to sign it & send it recorded delivery.

 

Then have a look at the mobile phone/internet forum -as I haven't had any dealing with phone companies, but there are loads of people who have.

 

Hope this helps as a"time buying" exercise.

[ladybird17]

Hmm.. can't guarantee they will stop chasing and harrassing - even though they shouldn't be doing so, it doesn't seem to stop them. Is there any way you can pay the £10 today? Then at least you can been seen as attempting to adhere to the agreement right up to the date you put it in dispute.

 

If you give details of how they are harrassing your son, we may find we can send them the harrassment letter which should put a stop to it.

[ladybird17]

I thought that your son had already entered into an agreement with Westcott to pay £10 per month?

I'm not sure about the information about them using the details of your debit card every month without your authorisation?? That would be fraudulent. Couldn't you call them and clarify just WHO it you should be making the payment to and then as soon as you know for sure, tell them you are putting a cheque in the post 1st class today, & get the name of the person you speak to. I would try not to enter into a conversation about putting the account into dispute. Send the £10 - send the letter - and with fingers crossed, that should give you some breathing space to clear your head a bit & wait for a reply.

[ladybird17]

Thanks Gizmo - had a feeling they weren't covered by CCA - but must be covered via the Contracts Act if not a Pay as you Go?

[ladybird17]

sorry, sorry, been on here too long today! I meant contract law - if there was a contract signed at the onset.

[ladybird17]

well that is certainly one bit of very good news! Please keep posting here and let us know how it's going, we are all here to help. :-)And if you want to put the letter here before you send it, just to re-assure yourself, then we can take a glance at it.

[ladybird17]

have your word document on screen, highlight what you want to paste,go up to "edit" then "copy" - come back to here, go into "reply" go to "edit" and "paste".

If that makes sense!

[ladybird17]

Dear Mr. T. Mobile,

 

I am in receipt of your invoice of xxth March 2007, showing an outstanding balance of £1388.96

 

This has baffled me somewhat and I would therefore insist that the following points be addressed:

 

• All communications regarding this account have been with Westcott, to whom I assumed you had either sold, or assigned the debt. An agreement was reached with Westcott in XXX2007 for me to pay £10 per month to clear the outstanding blance of my account which £512.24 Could you please clarify who is dealing with this account - Westcott or TMobile?
  
• I have sent an breakdown of income & expenditure to Westcott, in XXX 2007, which clearly states I am receiving only sickness benefit in the way of income. This formed the basis of my agreement with them. Why then are you expecting to me pay the whole of the outstanding bill when not only is an agreement already in place, but also knowing that this is not a realistic undertaking given my current situation?
  
• My phone is disconnected. Could you please therefore clarify why the amount outstanding has risen to nearly £1400 when there has been no usage of the equipment?
  
• If you say you have added penalty charges to my account, please send me full details of these, together with a breakdown of how each and every charge has been calculated.
  
• Please take note that until these issues are addressed, the account is formally "in dispute" as of the date of this letter.

Under these circumstances, I do not expect any default to be served upon me. I shall expect you to respond to me addressing all these issues within the next 14 days. If you do not respond, or do not respond positively, I shall then consider what further action to take.

 

Yours faithfully,,,

 

wannagethelp....this is what I would write - each point bulletted for ease of reference. I would not mention anything about GP's opinions at this stage - it's not really relevant. Mobile phone companies are not covered by the CCA -so you can't ask for a copy of the credit agreement.(My mistake - rectified by Gizmo)

[ladybird17]

No, disregard the £1 for the CCA bit as they are not regulated by it. GO GO GO!!

[ladybird17]

Good! something is better than doing nothing! Keep posting here so we know what's happening - thinking of you & your son and fingers crossed;)

[ladybird17]

Personally, I would call her again, thank her for help, and say that you have been advised that this new arrangement should be put IN WRITING - when you have received it in wrting then it can all take place. Now that is what I would do, because what proof do you have that she has said any of this to you? If for any reason, they renege on what she has said, then you are back to square one - or possibly past it, as they may still continue to impose penalties and harass you for payment.

 

Just my take it on it - obviously the decision is yours.

Keep posting