Advice On Lowell they have chased Bro In Law and got £500 so far

[welshcake]

I was contacted by my Borther in Law a few days ago in relation to a debt that does not exist. In 2005 my brother in law took out a mobile contract for me and my wife. We moved and subsequently had the bills forwarded to our new address, When the contract was due to end I contacted 3 to cancel the contracts as we were moving over to Orange and I had enough with 3 crap service.

 

We then moved from our address to our current address and that was 3 years ago. My brother in law received a telephone call from Lowell stating that a debt of over £600 was owed for 2 mobile contracts, In the confusion he paid tham £500 already before telling us which I said you shouldnot have paid them anything.

 

As he was never on the electrol roll or ever lived at our previous address when he contacted them again he said the debt is nothing to do with him (he never mentioned us) and never lived at that address, He foolishly gave the his current addresss and previous addresses, He has asked for his money back that he paid them to which they said, We will do an emergency search and contact you once we can establish if the debt is yours if not we will refund your money.

 

My questions are these.

 

Will he get his money back as he never lived there?

 

Should he check his credit report to see if anything is put on there from this previous address?

 

What should he do?

[welshcake]

Doubt will get the money back, but make sure they dont get another penny & report them to the OFT.

 

 

Is it worth sending a letter demanding his money back after all I very much doubt they can prove the debt is his, The contracts were taken out over the internet from www.themobilephoneshop.co.uk .

 

As he has paid £500 already are they likely to put defaults on his account for this £168 extra they wanted, As they default would really relate to an address that he has never lived at, He has a clear record on the electrol roll showing where he has lived all his life so they can never prove he resided at the address they were chasing.

[cerberusalert]

He could send them a LBA & if they fail to refund take them to small claims court.

[Bazooka Boo]

As Cerbs says, the only course of action that is left open now is the small claims court.

 

Tell your brother not to pay another penny, cancel all direct debits, standing orders, if he used a card to pay them cancel it and get a new one, report them not only to the OFT but TS through the Consumer direct website, the ICO and the FOS...

[welshcake]

As Cerbs says, the only course of action that is left open now is the small claims court.

 

Tell your brother not to pay another penny, cancel all direct debits, standing orders, if he used a card to pay them cancel it and get a new one, report them not only to the OFT but TS through the Consumer direct website, the ICO and the FOS...

 

Is it worth sending a recorded letter first of my intentions to take it to small claims court if a refund is not forthcoming? After all as far as he is concerned the debt is nothing to do with him and they have taken money from him?

[Bazooka Boo]

You could send them the letter before action,

I know it is for bank charges but you can edit to suit, and state that you want a full refund for the money taken or further legal action will be taken without further notice to you:D

 

If I had a bit more time I would draft up a letter, and use all the DCA jargon they do, such as 'valid even if not read by you' and such tripe! But I'm just off out, someone else may be able to help you out if you need it..

 

 

Boo;)

[welshcake]

Right I spoke to my bro in law today he is intending to telephone Lowell on Monday to find out if they are going to give him his money back, I did try and tell him that they won't so don't waste your breath, He said the guy at Lowell was very helpful and I said it's because they have managed to get £500 out of you.

 

I looked at the template for the letter before action and it is based on prevoius letters being sent to them however he has not sent any yet this would be the first one. I will try and draft a letter and post on here for people to pick through.

[IdaInFife]

so your brother did have a contract although it was you that used the phone,

 

from what you have posted, you, personally, cancelled the contract (if so was this in writing from you or over the phone) and they are seeking pament from when you cancelled the contract?

 

ida x

[welshcake]

here is what I have typed so far.......

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

Reference Number:

I am writing with regards to the above account.

As you are aware you first contacted me regarding the above outstanding debt, as I have not been made aware of any previous debt nor have I ever been in any outstanding debt matter with anyone I was shocked at what you were saying, I assumed the debt must relate to my previous address in a prior relationship. I promptly paid the £500 asked for by you to avoid the action you stated would happen on the telephone. When you next contacted me you stated there was another account that needed to be settled for a smaller amount of £168, You this time however stated the address the debt’s were linked to which I quickly informed you have no knowledge of or have ever lived there. I stated this debt must not belong to me as I have a clear history on the electro register of where I have lived. You also state that the debt relates to 3G which I can assure you I have never held a mobile contract with 3G and during the time of these debts I was with the Vodafone and have now moved to orange.

Since we last spoke on Friday 14th August you stated an emergency search would be carried out by you to establish if indeed this debt belongs to me or someone else with the same/similar name, You have not contacted me back to inform me and I have tried contacting you to resolve this matter and get the money I paid back as after all it is for a debt that does not belong to me.

I have today sought Legal advice and been advised that should you not repay the £500 I have paid then I should take the matter to a small claims court which I fully intend to do. In these difficult times where our budget is thin as it is I do not have the time or money to cover someone else’s debt.

Please can you confirm in writing that you will be refunding the full amount, I also trust that any references placed on my credit file relating to this matter be removed.

Yours sincerely

[IdaInFife]

please also be aware,

 

your opening post says you brother in law to out a phone contract at an address he never lived at and then saying he is disputing that he never lived there, may cause problems

 

ida x

[welshcake]

so your brother did have a contract although it was you that used the phone,

 

from what you have posted, you, personally, cancelled the contract (if so was this in writing from you or over the phone) and they are seeking pament from when you cancelled the contract?

 

ida x

 

Yes I cancelled the contracts a month prior to them expiring as requested when I telephoned them first. I did keep copied on my computer but we have changed it since then and I no longer have my copy.

 

As for what they are seeking payment for I have no idea and he's not really asked to many questons as it will look suspicious, I can only assume that they never cancelled them at their end and continued to bill us which by then we had moved out so would have had no knowledge of this, I also cancelled the Direct Debit from my bank account as that is what I was told to do send the letter and cancel the DD.

[welshcake]

please also be aware,

 

your opening post says you brother in law to out a phone contract at an address he never lived at and then saying he is disputing that he never lived there, may cause problems

 

ida x

 

I know it is a bity confusing, Basically when he took out the contracts first he used is old address the one he lived at, When the contracts were set up I went online and changed the address to ours so we would get the bill's and also the bank details of the Direct Debit to come out of our bank account.

[IdaInFife]

if YOU cancelled your brother in laws account then they would be breaching DPA.

 

Only your brother would be able to cancel it.

 

Ida x

[welshcake]

if YOU cancelled your brother in laws account then they would be breaching DPA.

 

Only your brother would be able to cancel it.

 

Ida x

 

Would I not get into trouble also though as they would not have known it was not him?

 

It is annoying as this debt should not really be outstanding (for once lol) as we did everything right and someone else has cocked up. I might have to pay my bro in law back if nothing comes of this as it's not his fault, mind you it's not my fauly either but it was a favour he was doing us at the time.

[IdaInFife]

Welshcake ( no judgement meant but just trying to show you how this looks)

 

 

your brother in law signed up to a contract lying about where he resides.

 

You cancel the contract verbally saying you are your Brother in Law.

 

Can you see my point?

 

If you are disputing the amount owed you would need to send the phone company a sar t check where the are gettng the balance from.

 

If this contract is in you BIL name and he has paid £500 to it then they only way to get it back it show the payment was not due.

 

the sar should when and if any cancellation was given.

 

ida x

Edited August 15, 2009 by IdaInFife
typo's but honestly not my fault --- vodka to blame

[welshcake]

Welshcake ( no judgement meant but just trying to show you how this looks)

 

 

your brother in law signed up to a contract lying about where he resides.

 

You cancel the contract verbally saying you are your Brother in Law.

 

Can you see my point?

 

If you are disputing the amount owed you would need to send the phone company a sar t check where the are gettng the balance from.

 

If this contract is in you BIL name and he has paid £500 to it then they only way to get it back it show the payment was not due.

 

the sar should when and if any cancellation was given.

 

ida x

 

No he never lied about where he resided at the time he took out the contracts as he could not have done that as they carry out a credit check, Once all that was done and the contracts set up I then went online and changed the billing address to ours as were the ones the contracts were for so wanted the bills to come to me. Yes I did send the letters with his name at the bottom to cancel the contracts once the 18 months had expired and then cancelled the DD which he knew about and was fine as we had never defaulted or anything and the contracts were at an end. The only thing I can maybe think of is if people who moved into our home after us as it was a temp accomodation house provided by the council recevied some sort of letter or something and managed to get something out of it?

[Bazooka Boo]

Dear Sir/Madam,

Reference Number:

With regards to the above account.

You first contacted me regarding the above debt, I have not been made aware of any debt nor have I ever been in any outstanding debt with anyone.

I paid the £500 asked by you to avoid the threats you stated would happen on the telephone, and before I became aware of my rights.

When you next contacted me you stated there was another account that needed to be settled for a smaller amount of £168, this time however you stated the address the debt’s were linked too, which I quickly informed you I had no knowledge of.

I stated this debt does not belong to me.

You state that the debt relates to 3G(UK) which I can again assure you I have never held a mobile contract with 3G(UK)

Since we last spoke on Friday 14th August you stated an emergency search would be carried out by you to establish if indeed this debt belongs to me or someone else with the same/similar name,.

You have not contacted me to inform to the contrary, and I have tried contacting you to resolve this matter but to no avail.

I have today sought Legal advice and can advise you that should you not reply within seven days I shall commence legal proceedings against you, without further notice, and you will be charged the full costs of my successful legal proceedings including the full amount that I am seeking to recover.

You should confirm in writing that you will be refunding the full amount, and any references placed on my credit file relating to this matter be removed, if this is not done forthwith, you can expect a series of complaints to be lodged about your company.

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

PRINT DON'T SIGN

 

Sorry Just went through your letter and removed all the niceties, they don't understand manners so please and thank you is like a foreign language to them, cut the crap, tell them exactly how it is, if they don't comply, even to the second then hit em where it hurts!

[IdaInFife]

the only way to get a right breakdown of where the balance is come from is the phone company

 

ida x