I copied it almost exactly as it appears on the form. Do you need to see the form I filed?

Site seems to be working for me now. OK, FC responded to court papers and paid in £18 to my account! Response says: contract £33 ex VATp/m Discount £18 inc VAT p/m Customer pays £15 excl VAT p/m Customer promised £100 of her £171 termination fee after 3 months clear billing All payments made on 18th, therefore due £100 on 18th April Customer paid £36 on 12th Feb for discounts for Jan and Feb March not paid but paid on 10th April ad hoc basis Next instalment due 18th April They are blatantly lying or bending the truth. They never said discount was incl VAT. They agreed to pay termination in full (£156.68) on the phone and by email. Email also agreed to pay £18 + VAT = £24.60/pm dated 25th Feb, on 18th of each month. There was no mention of the monthly discount/payback incl or excl VAT. Just contract £33, discount £18, I pay £15. Yet I pay O2 £39.60 every month. It was only after I had signed up that I found out I'd have to wait 3 months (or even 6 months!) for the termination fee that I paid in Dec 18. And certainly not only £100. The £36 they paid in Feb was after I had complained to both FC and O2 for weeks. I was claiming £24.60 x 2 + £156.68 that they promised would be paid 'in March' + court fees.

And some practice for the future.

OK, I remember now but it's too late. Next time I'll get it right. And there WILL be a next time. I shall be most surprised if they pay in full, if at all, tomorrow. I must add, I thought it would give me a date to submit the claim after paying the fee. But it got automatically submitted as I paid. Might I get penalised for it being 1 day early? Or just lose the fee?

<This letter should be considered as a recurring letter of claim with a continuing expiry date of the first day of the month if any sums outstanding are not paid by the end of the previous month.> This is what I wrote on the letter of claim.

Does mcol issue immediately?

The address I used is the one they have on the website. Slightly different in that they use Weevil Lane instead of Royal Clarence Marina. Probably why the post office didn't recognise it? I am claiming a total of £205.88, includes the early termination fee that they promised in 'March' - still 3 months late. The rest is 2 months cashback unpaid that I have already paid to O2. Can't remember why it shouldn't be 1st April anyway? FC told me they now pay cashbacks on 1st of month, rather than 18th (the date they changed from earlier). On my last 'promise' email they said it would be paid on 18th. Either way, they don't pay. Let's see what happens tomorrow, then.

I made the payment, with the date on the form as 1st April. Being Sunday I assumed they'd only see it tomorrow anyway. I also checked on the contract and the only address shown is that of O2. Don't these things take a while anyway?

Ah, now that is something I came across reading another thread. The address I have is Unit 4 The Mill Office, Royal Clarence Marina, Gosport, Hants, PO12 1AX. This is the address always used by them in communications to me (including the 'Welcome Pack'). I became suspicious when I checked it through the post office checker and it came up not found. Can I change the address now I've submitted it?? This company becomes more devious by the day!

Think you must be right. The address I have is Joe Stickler, managing director, Future Communications Specialists, Unit 4The Mill Office, Royal Clarence Marina, Gosport, Hampshire, PO12 1AX. Wonder how many more addresses there are??! My last email was from Liam Stickler, Business Development Manager. Seems it runs in the family.

Yes, all prepared except for the daily rate of interest. Oh, it's tempting....but realistically? I know the normal is 8%/pa but that is so little. Any advice before I get too carried away?

OK, you have a point there being who they are. I'll just get a proof of posting. Now to refresh myself with court procedure....

It's called signed-for now. Worth it so they can't say they didn't receive it. I'll have proof.

Are you telepathic???? I have been busy refining my letter, ready to send both by email and registered post tomorrow. Of course no money!

Sounds same as mine. It's more the principle. I agree, others are in a much worse situation and much more money at stake, never mind their businesses..... As for the contracts, FC do seem to have covered themselves tightly. We looked at all aspects and found very little to prove breach of contract. Except, of course, the continuing 'non payments'. They like to play games to wear you down and hope you'll lose determination. I think they succeed here with many customers! My thinking, so far, is to counter every misdemeanour and refuse to change the contract in ANY way when the 12 month review comes up. Then the same with the 24 month one. ANY CHANGES whatsoever will bind you into another 36 month contract!!!....and on and on to perpetuity! Of course, I fear they will withdraw the payback (since it's only for 12 months in writing) but O2 confirmed it shouldn't happen.

Yes, that's pretty much what I read from your initial reply and I intend to do exactly that. I try to stay calm and focused, anger never achieves anything. So, it's clear the steps I will take. As for the others? I have no answer. But, remember it was the same with the banks/financial insts. all those years ago? Financial crash time. Once the government put their back behind PPI, everyone was happy. I was a teeny bit resentful I'd done all the hard work before, together with CAG!! I did take one to small claims and won, so I'll just refresh my memory. (they didn't even bother to attend).

£24.60 is what they promised each month after the non-payment (or late payment) of 2 x £18 = £36. (2nd letter) The confirmation of the early termination fee of £156.68, a vague 'in March' promise. (1st letter) So, tomorrow, is £24.60. End of March another £156.68. If I give them 14 days notice tomorrow, then it's the total of the 2 I'll be claiming. Sorry, I have a tendency to waffle (too much detail/explanation?) in order to make everything clear! Maybe it becomes confusing??!

Yes, tomorrow is the 18th! Here's extracts from 2 separate emails from different staff:- <….."As discuss yesterday I am emailing you instead of giving you a call. I have calculated all the money owed to yourself, £156.68 as payment to your previous provider and backdated discount of £36. I have also had a months free line rental authorised as a goodwill gesture for the issues you have been having. I have be able to get the backdated discount and the months free line rental authorised for payment on Friday 01/02/19 and the buyout has been scheduled for payment in March 2019. I hope this is satisfactory for yourself and if you have any more concerns or queries please don’t hesitate to contact us".> and:- <…."So I have spoken to my manager and I have set the standing order of your discount on the 18th of every month. I have recified the discount to £24.60 so your bill would be £15 incuding vat after cash back. This is confirmed to be paid then for you". > Empty promises? Probably as they just seem to say what they think I want to hear. The first 'promise' to pay back-dated £36 didn't happen which forced me to contact O2 again. O2 put pressure on FC to pay, which they did 10 days later. Then O2 sent me a final response letter citing 'deadlock' as their powers were exhausted. The 2nd email, from another 'manager' (with a 'manager' himself??) states they are willing to pay the full VAT on top of the £18 already promised, taking the monthly pay-back to £24.60. I didn't ask for the full VAT, only the proportion allocated to their payment but I'll accept it anyway. Tomorrow, if still unpaid I will be owed £24.60 + £156.68. Although the latter figure is due 'in March' by the 14 days notice it will be overdue. I definitely do like your idea. It will emphasise my determination to bring them in line and that I will not tolerate any more nonsense from them. I've read, briefly, the links you sent. I will read again later today when I have more time. The addition in the letter of action to be seen as a letter of claim for every missed payment in the future will supersede the earlier suggestion of bringing each subsequent letter of action earlier than the due date. I'll amend my prepared letter accordingly. I am fully justified after all the trouble they've caused.

Exactly! What I have learned is that FC like to play childish games. Make false promises, pretend to be your 'friend'......and most, it seems, falls for it.....until the next time! Tbf, though, they target small businesses, who are incredibly busy trying to make a living. I can't fathom it any other way. I have my hands tied, waiting for 18th to see if they pay up. If not, I have my letter ready and waiting.

Oh, and I forgot to say that the way they keep you hooked is to 'review' your contract every 12 months. Any slight change to the original generates another 36 month contract! Clever, aren't they???? I have yet to face this predicament but I have failed, so far, to get in writing a confirmation that it won't happen. Even though O2 told me that as long as nothing is changed, the 36 month contract will continue as before. Well, that's how a normal company would behave! There is nothing 'normal' about FC!

Of course it matters that you don't have a business! As a consumer you are protected by laws/rights that don't apply to businesses. And they know that! Ofcom confirms it. We know how questionable their company ethos is but they do seem to be operating just within the boundaries of the law. Except, of course, when it comes to not paying. That must be through the courts, small claims court. It's the only thing that makes them respond. You've tried the polite, normal, gentle pressure route (same as me) but all you get are false promises and lies......maybe one months payment if you're lucky, then back to status quo. Even the big service providers don't want to know. Sure, they can and will exert pressure but only once it seems. I tried the O2 route and very quickly exhausted their powers. I received a final response after a very short intervention and was directed to the ombudsman due to 'deadlock'. As individual small businesses we simply don't have the time to waste on these tiresome predators. Together, we can make a difference. We need lots of threads to spread the experiences and encourage more (of which there must be thousands) to come forward. I am shocked there is so little information about them online. They have to be exposed.

You should remove/hide personal details! Your contract is a bit different from mine. I have a SIM only but I did sign a contract on the phone. Quite honestly, the only part I saw and signed was the DD agreement with O2. They insist I saw the rest but I don't remember. Then they copied my signature on to 3 more places. Again, they insisted it was with my consent??? You should have a contract, though. It doesn't look like you have one. Those are the t&c's and confirmation of your tariff and early termination fee they promised to pay. It looks a bit vague!.....up to that figure! Where did you sign? Also I'm still confused about Plan.com and why they're involved?

I thought Plan.com was another, separate, third party? If so, that's 3 parties involved. Did you sign the 'contract' on your phone (as I did) and not even see it? Did they send you a copy after and then refer to it every time you complain? The termination fee should have been repaid by now. Even their t&c's say up to 180 days! You're past that now. BF is the one to answer legals and how to proceed. It sounds like you have got call recordings but if not, you can demand them from FC. They sent me a partial recording by email when I complained about no cooling off period. They did say that but it was gone through so quickly that even on the recording I had to listen twice!

Thanks, BF. I have 50+ screenshots filed! Also, phone transcripts, emails etc. safely stored together, ready and waiting. Ombudsman and O2?

Thank you, BF, I'll happily do that. So, if payments are to be made on 18th (see below), I send letter around 7th/8th? I've just gone to their last email (promising me the world!!) and dammit, Liam promised payments on the 18th of the month. I'll wait this month and send the letter on 18th if unpaid. If you are reading this Future Cons, take note! This is confusing because I was told earlier that payments used to be made between 15-18th month but they had changed them to 1st month to coincide with most people's phone bills???! Anyway, I now have the letter ready and waiting. So deflated! Should I sit on the final response letter from O2 before the ombudsman? Valid for a year. I know they are inundated and it takes forever but it would set a precedent.