How to dispute? Debt refered to DCA. mobile phone

[kalahari]

Apologies for the length, thought it best to get it all down.

 

I had a mobile phone contract begin late last year, after making a couple of monthly payments I slipped with one, (November), I had to miss something to help with Christmas.

 

Due to the Christmas period I was not able to pay the due (December) and November's payments till the beginning of January, I paid them in full within the first week of this year this bought my account up to date without any arrears.

 

Three days later my phone stopped making calls, I contacted the company who told me they had cancelled my account. I informed them I had paid in full and was up to date but they said the cancellation was permanent and I could not get my phone reconnected.

 

I decided to get a pay as you go SIMM instead and forget about them, (saving myself a fair bit of money too as I don't use my phone allot).

 

About a month or two later I received a letter from a DCA demanding £133 on behalf of the phone company. I rang the DCA and told them I believed it to be a mistake, (this was about equal to 3 months contract payments so I assumed the 2 I had missed plus the latest month after I was disconnected. If it was the remaining contract payments it would have been £300+.)

 

The DCA advisor was actually quite polite and helpful; he put the account on hold and told me they would get confirmation of the debt from their client.

 

A month went by and the DCA sent an identical letter, again I contacted them and was told this was an automated letter as a month had passed they put my account on hold again and told me they would get confirmation of the debt again.

 

Finally last week another 'automated' letter was sent, as I've been busy I did not have time to contact them and today received a notification of a home visit. (I know this has a 99% probability of being a scare tactic).

 

I phoned them to say I was still disputing this debt at which point I was told by the very snotty 'advisor' I am not allowed to dispute it that is up to the client. (I wish I had the ability to record my calls).

 

Now what should I do?

 

I'm assuming I need to send something in writing to officially dispute the debt, but what steps to I take to do this right?

 

I'm also still very annoyed at the phone company, they never told me I owed them this money after the closure of my account, they sent it straight to the DCA. They closed my account after I cleared the outstanding monies. And they never sent me a copy of what the debt consists of.

[kalahari]

Anyone please?

[rory32]

I really don't see how they can demand that you pay this money. They breached the contract by closing the account and did not supply services for the period they are billing. Under The Sale of Goods Act (amended) you can not lawfully charge for a service that was not supplied.

 

Really, I think you should send them a letter giving them 28 days to review the account and confirm that they have now closed it. If they don't you will consider any further communication as harassment and report both the DCA and mobile phone company to Trading Standards.

[Jeff2000]

Hi kalahari,

 

 

Also, from now on, I would only contact the DCA and the original phone company in writing! DO NOT TELEPHONE THEM ANYMORE! They will say one thing and do another, and you will have no proof, unless you have the ability to record your calls.

 

Are you sure they actually cancelled your contract? They may have said so on the telephone, but did they actually do it? I had a similar problem with AOL a while back. I cancelled my contract with them, or thought I has, only to find out that they were still taking money via the direct debit that I'd originally set up. Fortunately, I had e-mails which confirmed my cancellation, and I was eventually able to get my money back!

 

 

Best wishes, Jeff.

[kalahari]

Cheers for the info will send a letter off to them, do I need to send a 'this account is in dispute' to both of them (dca and phone co.?).

 

I'm sure they did close the contract, my phone was deactivated and I did not ever recieve another bill.

[rory32]

Personally I would send it both of them just to cover all bases. Send it recorded delivery.