when i requested the "proof" they had i didn't actually mention the specific act. would my request for those details still be valid?

Lighthearted addendum =================== previous to starting this thread i rarely received emails from O2, however, now i seem to be getting at least two or three every day ... and they are, at least from the one's i have glanced at, pretty good offers. tbh, if i didn't already have more than enough mobiles for the entire family i would seriously be thinking about taking advantage of them ... well, if it hadn't been for this, er, "issue". still, makes you wonder if they trawl the complaint files and send them sweeteners LOL.

cheers shadow, these latest developments would seem to be as a result of my "prove it" letter to wescot AND my letter to O2 simply saying that i wanted to make an official complaint and asking them to send me the appropriate forms (i didn't simply follow the complaint link as, in the past, i have spent time writing a fully detailed complaint only for it not to be accepted because it wasn't on the correct form). if O2 don't post here in the next few days i'll write to Ronan Dunne about them ignoring my request to make a formal complaint.

i thought that would be the reply i would get. i wonder if "Jodie_O2 Social Media Team", or any other O2 representative, would like to comment on using this extremely under-hand method ... if only to say they approve or disapprove.

UPDATE ====== i have received a letter from Wescot. i talks about "clearing the above outstanding balance". basically they want me to phone them and pay a nominal £50. they will then send me a pre-paid envelope. provided i then send them ANY unwanted mobile phones within 10 days they say: 1) the outstanding balance will be creditied to [my] account; 2) they will return the account to O2 as settled. N.B. the letter does not say "without prejudice" ... or similar. what do you think? tbh, even though the debt isn't mine, it has caused me a LOT of grief and £50, plus an old phone, sounds like quite a deal simply to get rid of the headaches, depression, etc.. i would be dubious about giving them a card to debit but as i told my bank where they could file mine when they took away it's cheque g'tee ability, that doesn't apply.

hi Jodie, thanks, however, i have all ready spoken to your cs department and they were very nice ... at first. second time not so nice. third time, can't help me. that's when i started writing because, imo, 'phoning your cs department was simply a waste of time. if anything, the calls probably made things even worse! my advice to anyone who gets any sort of debt letter from O2, and this probably applies to any debt letter, is ignore the 'phone, just start writing the standard letters recommended here. that's where i'm at now. your dca are currently investigating my "prove it" letter. o2 have not yet replied to my letter about making a complaint. maybe you could speak to them. i'm the one who has been a very good customer of yours with land line, broadband and daughters mobile all with you ... until you decided to treat me like this ! customer "service" - Roflolmao

cheers locutus, i have already sent the "know nothing" letter, not yet had a reply, and the harassment letter isn't really appropriate, as they haven't 'phoned me. thanks very much. shadow: i hear what you are saying and i certainly agree with you that i shouldn't have wasted the £1 postal order but if they were "saying" that it was my debt then am i not entitled to see why they might think that? i.e. see a contract / agreement / etc? also, surely, if they believe that the reason to not show me the contract is because i am not entitled to see it because it's not mine then why the hell are they pursuing me for the debt? does that not prove they are just a bunch of chancers? they can't possibly expect to have it both ways. i am currently following your advice about making a complaint to o2. thanks very much for all your help. final point, is there anyone on the board called "Westcott"? i asked the Beckhams to call their baby that but they said they already had a name - even though i said there was a £1 postal order in it for them! some folk don't know when they are onto a good thing.

sorry but post 6 won't switch off westcott chasing me. in my experience once a dca has paid for a debt they're like a pit bull until pay or prove to the n'th degree that it's not your debt.

i sent both letters as i wanted to see just why they are harassing me for the debt. maybe there was something on the contract, e.g. not my name, signature, dob, etc. is that such an unreasonable thing to want?

cheers, i'll invest the £2 after this issue has moved on.

update: i sent a "prove it" letter to westcott - no reply to that atm. i also sent westcott a cca request with a £1 po. they have replied saying: they have no knowledge of any dispute; they also say that the debt is not covered by sections 77-78 of the CCA. "the cca shall not apply to a running-account credit agreement where the whole amount of the credit period is repayable in a single payment". they have returned my £1 po & my letter (i had sent them two letters in two separate envelopes). they then repeat their pay within 14 days threat. any thoughts on a next move please?

even when the debt is in dispute? i sent it to the address on the letter they sent me. i stopped using recorded when i discovered that RM often only get a "bulk" signature for recorded items to company addresses so when tracked they show as delivered but without a signature. i went to court with one like that and the jugde refused to accept that it had been delivered. since then i've seen somewhere on CAG that proof of posting with a first class stamp is classed as proof of delivery by uk courts. yes, i have a mobile contract for my daughters mobile with o2 plus contracts for my home phone and broadband cheers, sorry. i don't want any credit tar, far too old to be taking on new debts. you mean get a credit report from one of the spam email companies i get regularly?

Telefonica O2 ignored my "prove it" letter. What should i do? i received a letter from Telefonica O2 about a mobile contract the i had no knowledge of. so i rang them. they were nice - very helpful. they said they would sort it out. when i got their next letter i rang them again and again they were great and said they would sort it. however, when i rang them after their next letter they were significantly colder. so i sent them a "prove it" letter. that was all in April / May, since then nothing. i thought it was over. yesterday i received a letter from Wescot Credit Services who seem to think it must be "cool" to show their PO box number and their Post Code but no town or city! it was a "you owe", "pay now or else", etc letter. i'm confused, why have Telefonica O2 simply ignored my "prove it" letter and passed the debt to Wescot? can they do that? please, would should i do?

over a yr ago my eldest, same name as me, asked me to get a mobile phone (sim only) contract for him. he said he would pay me each month adding that if he didn't it was only a 30 day contract. i did but he didn't pay. i warned him that i would cancel if he didn't pay me. and warned him, and warned him. over a yr later i told him i was cancelling the contract and, eventually, i wrote to O2 asking them to cancel. i explained to them that it was my son's mobile on my Homephone & broadband account with payments being taken from my account. i even explained he had promised to pay for it but never did and that was why i wanted to cancel. rather than waste the 30 cancellation period i asked if it could be transferred to my daughters iphone. i had emailed the O2 CEOs office as when i had previously tried discussing this with their customer "services" they had called my son on his mobile who had told them it was all a misunderstanding. someone senior called me from the "CEO's team", i again explained son's mobile contract, my landline & BB, my bank account, cancelling as son hadn't paid me, we both had the same name and that my son had not lived with me for yrs (about 10). they were great! not only could they transfer the contract to my daughters iphone but they could also change the package, with immediate effect. and, as my sons blackberry addons would no longer be needed, they would cancel them. happy! happy! happy! then a letter arrived so i opened it. it was from O2 confirming a new contract, for a new mobile number, £35.74 pm for 24 months. checked the name, me. bank sort code, mine. account ... didn't recognise it. so i checked, not my account. then i remembered, my son has an account at the same branch. it was the only bank that i have ever been able to persuade them to distinguish between us when they send mail, they had agreed to add a sufix to his name. i digress. so i emailed the person who had sorted out the previous problem. i said i had received a thick letter from O2, which i had initially thought was junk mail, but then realised it was confirming a new contract and then said: "now i really am confused. i'm quite sure that i had explained to you that i was cancelling my sons blackberry contract because he hadn't paid me. yes, you kindly transferred that contract to my daughters iphone. why on earth would now you think that i might want to start a new contract for him? even worse, why would i possibly want to commit to a 24 month contract when he hadn't been paying me on the 30 day notice one? my eldest son has not lived with me since ... he was 13 yrs old. he has no right to be using my address. if he wants a contract them he should be using her address or the manchester address where he spends a lot of his time." O2 rang me back, again Ronan Dunne's team, to say that they had "spoken to the O2 fraud department". they could not do anything unless i reported the situation to the police and called O2 back with the crime number. did O2 not have a duty of care ? i told them we have the same name. i told them he didn't live at my address. i told them i cancelled his sim as he hadn't paid me. surely they should have applied a little common sense ? surely they should not have allowed him to open an even more expensive account. surely this must be wrong. and surely i should not need to report my son police. isn;t there a cooling off period? why couldn't they simply cancel the whole contract on that basis? p.s. i've also a letter from Orange, seems he's opened an account there too. however, one phone call and they said i won't receive any more letters from them except one to say that everything is cancelled.

i know my MP personally, i didn't want to ask her to intervene unless there was no other way to shoot these morons down. the The Information Commission virtually told me to sod off. however, i completed the dca's complaint form telling them that i expected them to do their job, check their facts, consider that i might possibly be telling the truth. as suggested, i also asked the dwp for details of any loans they have ever given me. a couple of days after the dwp confirmed my request was being processed, the dca wrote saying that the dwp had instructed them to return the file. job done! chalk one up to the good guys. thanks a million good guys !

the rules have changed. initially the csa kept any money they managed to get from the absent parent and used it towards their departments christmas party fund ... well, actually it went towards general taxation it think. however, a few yrs ago they changed the rules. now any money they manage to take from the absent parent is given to the parent who the children live with. i don't know if there's a maximum before they start to reduce any benefits but i would have thought that likely. i think you might be getting confused. jadeybags said she was on IS "then", i'e' must have been before the rule change. anyone help with proving someone's income, car & property ownership, obvious lifestyle expenditure, etc please?

sorry, CSA isn't a "benefit" ... where should i have posted? i'm a single parent claiming Pension Credit & Child Tax Credit. i also get a nominal amount from my ex. when we first split she rarely saw our kids. a few yrs later she wanted to look like a good mummy so she took me to Court to "formalise" access. she claimed legal aid, saying she was on minimum wage. i tried to tell my solicitor that the wage slip was invalid but he ignored me. i assume she showed the same pay slip to the CSA, as i was awarded a minimum amount which has never changed. recently the CSA said something like "the assessment would continue as she had not returned the form they had sent" (requesting her latest income). they would not tell me when she last updated her income, or even if she ever had! my guess is that she has simply ignored every form they have sent her. so the CSA sent me a form to request a "departure" (thankfully, nothing to do with the Dignitas Clinic). when i rang them for help to complete the form i was told that i needed to send them "proof" that her lifestyle exceeded her declared income ... not that they would tell me what her declared income was. when i ask what sort of proof i was told that it was "not up to the CSA to say what sort of proof should be provided". i asked if details of cars would be acceptable and was told "yes, but i would need to prove it". as i understand the DVLA site, i can display details of my own car but asking for details of a car that's not owned by me is illegal. tbh, i get the impression that i would have been given very different advice if i had been a woman asking for help! has anyone experience of the CSA please? what sort of "evidence" do they accept? any tips on getting such evidence please? any other help you can think of please?

only my name. obviously i don't want to give them anything they haven't got, e.g. NI or DOB, but i feel sure that if they had that information they would leave me alone - well, if they were human.

i'm pretty sure that i know where my mp will be on monday evening, if not, certainly her local pa. also, that link seems to be for the dwp "commercial" moans department e.g. "Make your complaint in writing to the named contact point for the relevant competitive tender round. or If you wish your complaint to be dealt with independent of the procurement team write directly to the DWP Commercial Assurance team"

a few weeks ago i got a letter from ccscollect saying that they were collecting a debt for the DWP, adding "as this is a govt account, if repayment is not received deductions can be taken from future benefits or state pension you receive" - it sounded serious. so i sent them a letter (i got from here) that i've used before saying it's not my debt, etc, and added bits about no visitors and no harassing telephone calls - it worked last time, so why not this. it didn't! yesterday i received another letter detailing a stream of social fund crisis loans plus a couple of similar DWP type payments ... plus more threats. clearly if they compared my National Insurance number or Date of Birth they would know for certain that they had the wrong person but, given the type of dirty tricks the finance industry can legally get away with, e.g. "forging" signatures on documents, i am not willing to provide them with more of my personal details than they already have. obviously they must have the right name, possibly even the right area, just not the right person! as i have already sent your "standard" letter saying that it's not my debt, harassment, etc, i really don't know what i should do next. ignore them until they really "hang" themselves (ideally literally!) or write again saying that i've never had a social fund loan (last one i said that i had never owed any money to the DWP, maybe even give them my approx age. i'm already suffering from depression without these ******** hounding me! please help ...

cheers all for replying. kiptower: will do. busby: are you saying that these people cannot alter your credit reference file in any way without my permission? sorry, i'm not following what you are saying here. i was going off what the other telco's had told me when i signed with them, i.e. TalkTalk - specifically mentioned a 30 day cooling off persion O2 BB - specifically mentioned a 30 day cooling off persion O2 Home Phone - specifically mentioned a 30 day cooling off persion it certainly seemed to be a standard theme, if only for the telecomms industry.

are BT above British Law? it certainly seems they think they are! thanks louie, i've just rung them. firstly it took me well over 10 mins going around their automated 150 & then 100 systems to get to the correct "place". then there was a "very busy period". then they tried to brainwash me into using their automated system to pay or check bills; take a survey; call me back ... everything except speak to me. then there was a number of clicks and the line sounded "dead". yet i held on and eventually, after at least 20 seconds of "deadness" someone spoke. by this time i had already typed in my telephone number and my account number and confirmed that the number i was calling from was the number i wanted to talk about yet i was again asked my account number. i explained a number of times. my line had not been cancelled. no record of my conversation to cancel or the notes i was told were being made at the time. no record of my letter confirming it. after going round in cirles a couple of times he said my account had been cancelled. when i asked why he had said otherwise he noticed that i had two accounts. the cancelled one was the one i had with them over a year ago. the latest one was un-cancelled. after a while he said he would need to put me through to the correct department. lots more clicks then sounds as if cut-off but after 16 seconds of "dead-air" more clicks then a female voice. again confirmation of my account number, etc. yes it was / no the line was not cancelled. i explain about the two accounts. more confirmation of my account number, etc then, after much discussion, she said that the cooling off period was from the date i placed the order and ended the day they connected me; that if there was a fault when they first connected me then i had to give them time to fix it. i pointed out that the line was ok when they connected me and only died after a week. then she said there was no records of my call on 12/7 or letter or even details of the fault on 7/7. however, they did have a record of a fault they claim i reported on 12/7 and they cleared on 15/7. they had totally re-written history! she point-blank refused to cancel my account eventually saying she would not cancel "until i agreed to pay the (unspecified but ever increasing amount of) cancellation charges for cancelling within the term of the contract". i refused, told her i had asked O2 to take the line over at which point she said that was why i had received the cancellation bill. i asked how they could possibly send me a cancelltion bill yet my line was not cancelled which she side-stepped but mentioned that the "cancellation in contract bill" would effectively continue to increase until they actually cancelled my line, at which point i said "take me to court" and hung up. it really is good to talk!

i had been with TalkTalk (line, calls and broadband) but wanted to get rid of them (further details below) . they told me the only option was to move my line back to BT. BT told me the same, as did O2 and a couple of other suppliers. so i called BT and arranged the transfer of my line and calls back to them. the transfer back to BT took place on 29 june. on 7 july the phone rang and it was the enginerring test programme telling me various options then it cut-off. i hung up, dialed 1471 but there was no record of the call i had just received. a few seconds later it rang again. this time there was no-one there, i said hello a few times then i heard a voice which was certainly overseas & sounded like the operator from the philippines, or that aera. there was a click and the line went dead. after there was no dial-tone. i reported the fault. i chased it. i complained. i moaned. on 12 july the "fault" was fixed and i immediately rang BT complained and said that i wanted to cancel the contract under the cooling off period allowed under the distance selling regulations. they made me various offers, free sevices; credit for the period i had no service; even cancelling the entire bill they had just sent me (therefore giving me over a month free) but i insisted. eventually, and after speaking to his manager, the person said that he would make a note of our conversation so that i would have no problems. i wrote them a letter confirming the telephone conversation. on 13 july they send me an estimated bill for £82.93 for "termination charges". are BT above the Law? what should i do about the bill? p.s. even though this is the first bill for completely new charges they are already saying that if i don't pay they will pass it to a DCA and screw my credit rating. background (probably no need to read this) ------------------------------------------------------------------- my line and calls were with TalkTalk, my broadband with BeThere and i was very happy. stupidly i thought i might save money by moving completely to TalkTalk. i rang them and during the sign-up they mentioned a cool-off period. it was horrible so i cancelled during the allowed time. i moved my line and calls back to BT (the only option i had). BT did not mention any cooling off period. then i ordered broadband from O2. O2 did mention a cooling off period during the sign-up process. BT line dies but internet still working (a few resets). BT fix line and i cancel then i ask O2 to join their HomePhone service (again they mention a cooling off period).. BT (line and calls) was connected on 29 june O2 (broadband) was connected on 6 july BT dial-tone vanished on 7 july BT fixed fault on 12 july same date, i told BT that i was cancelling under the cooling off period allowed under the distance selling regulations. same date i ask O2 to take-over my line and calls. 13 july BT send me a bill for cancelling.

here, here! but it's not just big companies, same applies to most government departments. all money making lines should be banned ... well, for all "decent" companies.

Latest TalkTalk lunacy ... i'm still waiting for BT to take me back - not long to go now but i've just noticed that googlemail is showing the following message: "Your Internet connection is experiencing problems or your network administrator has blocked Gmail chat."