Lowell/Vodafone

[clio2010]

shall i send them £1 as full and final and if they cash it they are accepting it.

[MARTIN3030]

Although Lowells may be right to say that your agreement does not fall under CCA,neverthless,they are expected to uphold any regulatory guidance and best practice,including OFT and CSA/DBSG codes of practice in consideration of their worthiness to be holding a CC licence.

[MARTIN3030]

shall i send them £1 as full and final and if they cash it they are accepting it.

 

It would be of no benefit,since they are certainly unlikely to accept this.

[clio2010]

ill just start making token payments i think but i will still fight.

[2Grumpy]

Ive had a letter this morning after emailing them a prove it letter:

 

Thank you for your recent communication,the details of which have been duly noted.Pleaseaccept our aplogies for the delay in our response.

 

we are sorry that you feelour activities in pursuit of this outstanding balance are in breach of the guidelines laid down for debt collection by the office of fair trading.We would advise you that this is certainly not the case as all of our procedures comply with the regulations and codes of practice laid down for the industry within which we operate our business.

They would say that. Might this be Statute Barred (over 6 years since the last payment?) (5 in scotland)

 

Your comments have been noted and we can advise the letter of assignment sent to you on 15 december 2008 is sufficient to make the sale of debt effective under the law of property act 1925,giving us entitlement to collet this debt.Our consumer credit license is shown at the foot of this letterhead.

 

Only if the debt exists and is correct. Can I manufacture a non-existent debt, sell it and this allow the purchaser of the debt to claim they can collect it? Also see my comment re SB

 

Please be advised that as this account is a servive agreement and not a credit agreement it is not governed by the provisions of the consumer credit act 174,Consequently there is no requirement to complete and sign any such "agreement" in order to obtain an account of this nature.

 

Telecomm accounts can be obtained by telephone,over the internet and by mail order and therefore we are not obliged you with any such agreement.

There will be a contract and I can't see why you aren't entitled to a copy of it. Even if arranged over the phone, you should have received a copy of the contract.

 

Under the provisions of the consumer credit act 1974,in the cas eof mobile phone contracts,inserting the sim card and usage of the equipment is taken as acceptance of the terms and conditions of the contract.

Thought the consumer credit act didn't apply - see their comments above. I'm pretty sure this isn't in the CCA. Are they trying to mislead?

 

We can confirm that copy statements of the account have been sent to you.

Which might or might not have been correct and you might have disputed (or might dispute now)

The statements serve as proof of your acceptance of vodafones terms and conditions and there usage of theire services.

Or it might be that there is a standard contract that might include unfair terms that might be overturned by a judge if it went to court

 

See my comments

[2Grumpy]

In any event, if you write reply to say that you dispute the amount claimed and believe that the outstanding balance might be zero and that you are currently corresponding with Vodaphone and will contact them when Vodaphone have completed their investigations, then I don't see how they could take any further action at the moment

[clio2010]

I spoke to vodafone on the phone and they said the charges are correct etc so i guess thats that?

i am just gonna send them £1 a month for 3 months and then maybe increase it

[locutus]

When did you last pay?

 

If close to 6 years ago (5 in scotland) this debt is aproaching statute barred. If you make a payment that clock resets it's self.

[clio2010]

When did you last pay?

 

If close to 6 years ago (5 in scotland) this debt is aproaching statute barred. If you make a payment that clock resets it's self.

 

according to the CRA

it was defaulted in 06 and i already Paid 3.00 about 7 months ago

do you think that because i am paying something they may lay off the threat letters?

[clio2010]

well ive sent them a token payment of £1

i am probably wrong in doing this,i believe the balance should be more like £180.00

is there a template or any suggestions as to a letter i should send them?

thanks.

[clio2010]

ive pointed out the items you mentioned 2Grumpy,

Thank you for your help ill keep you updated

[MARTIN3030]

They cannot ask you to pay more than you can afford.

[clio2010]

They cannot ask you to pay more than you can afford.

 

I believe in my opinion if i offer something they should take it i am not trying to evade the debt but i do not believe the outstanding balance to be correct but there is not much i can do about that so i will just pay £1 a month and more if i can as i have other debts i have to pay also.

I dont vodafone can really do anything i know lee has tried to get copies of agreements etc but hasnt had much look he has tried a lot unlike lowell.

 

there threat letters arent going to go away if i just ignore them and i know i owe something so i will pay what i want to like people have said they could take me to court but sound like they havent got sufficient paperwork.

[locutus]

Personally, at this stage, I'd ignore them totally, and let Lee deal with this. It is very unprofesional of them AND against their own rules to harrass for something that is under investigation.

[MARTIN3030]

I spoke to vodafone on the phone and they said the charges are correct etc so i guess thats that?

i am just gonna send them £1 a month for 3 months and then maybe increase it

 

Can you confirm if Lee is still dealing ?

And that Lowells did supply the statements ?

Its up to you whether you continue to pay this £1 and if they are not prepared to accept that,or say that you need to be paying more,then there are ways to deal with that.

You are well within your rights to continue to challenge the actual amount that they say is due.

 

There is no reason why you should have to be putting up with any constant or adverse collection activity though.

You have the benefit of regulator protection,and if they are being unreasonable,then they need reporting.

The reason that they continue to get away with this practice is because not enough people ARE making official complaints.

[clio2010]

Can you confirm if Lee is still dealing ?

And that Lowells did supply the statements ?

Its up to you whether you continue to pay this £1 and if they are not prepared to accept that,or say that you need to be paying more,then there are ways to deal with that.

You are well within your rights to continue to challenge the actual amount that they say is due.

 

There is no reason why you should have to be putting up with any constant or adverse collection activity though.

You have the benefit of regulator protection,and if they are being unreasonable,then they need reporting.

The reason that they continue to get away with this practice is because not enough people ARE making official complaints.

 

I think lee is dealing with it still im not sure but as lowell own the debt is there much he can do?

Ive only ever had one statement as vodafone say all the rest have been destroyed.

[clio2010]

should I ignor lowells as well with a SD, they say they have power over me, because I own my own home. Three months ago, they offered for me to pay £120 pmonth, now ~Ive rang them cos of the SD, they say they cant accept that now, as its gone legal, are they serious. They are looking for 25% off the debt for them to consider accepting a £150 p monthNot sure what to do now, any ideas?

 

Hi there Lowells have been after me a while im not sure of your situation and what your debt relates to but this forum is the best place you could find to challenge a dca,i used to think a dca was a bailiff and thats usually what they want you to think im sure they need something called a charging order or something like that but im no expert the guys on here will be able to help you.

[dx100uk]

i would leave this to lee

 

there is nowt lowlife can do to you

 

ignore them and get on with your life

 

they have no legal powers

 

dx

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi clio2010,

 

Just to update the thread to confirm that I am still dealing with things and this end and have just followed this up again.

 

Once I've got the update I need I'll come back to you via email.

 

Thanks,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[clio2010]

Hi clio2010,

 

Just to update the thread to confirm that I am still dealing with things and this end and have just followed this up again.

 

Once I've got the update I need I'll come back to you via email.

 

Thanks,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

Hi Lee

thanks for the update,

Lowells own the debt surely this takes it out of vodafones hands?

but is there really anything you can do? as the woman said on the phone that i need a reason to dispute the balance?

[locutus]

Why are you listening to Lowels? Don't! They will bend the rules (even past breaking point) to get you to pay them some money. If Lee is investigating, let lowels huff and puff all they like! Don't talk to them on the phone unless you are recording the conversation, and even then just let them know you want everything in writing as if it does go to court you will need to present all correspondance.

 

They have clever scripts to work to to try to get you to pay. "... the woman said on the phone that i need a reason to dispute the balance..." what tripe! If you think the amount is wrong then you are entitled to make sure it's correct!

 

If Lee comes back to you and says "ok we sold this debt to Lowels, and the amount owed is correct" then and only then enter into negotiations with them. They can not take you to court whilst Vodafone are making sure you owe them money now can they? How will they look in front of a judge if they take you to court for a debt that even the originator of that debt is investigating to make sure the figures are correct?

[clio2010]

It wasthe woman at vodafone that said i need to a reason to dispute the balance.

[clio2010]

well lowell have gone quiet i did send them this by email i know it probably wont work but thoughd id try:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

I have sent you a cheque for £1 this is for full and final settlement by cashing the cheque you are accepting this and the default is to be removed immediately

 

Yours Faithfully

[clio2010]

well they cashed my cheque and sent me this:

 

Dear Mr X

 

Thank for your recent correspondence.

 

We note your comments that you are not our customer but with the information we hold we believe that you are our customer and therefore liable for the outstanding balance.

 

we can confirm that this account relates to a vodafone account.The account was opened on XXXX 2005 and had a original reference number of XXXXXX.

 

since this is not a regulated agreement under the consumer credit act 1974,there is no requirement for a signed contract,however we wil request copy statements from the original creditor to show how the balance was accrued.

 

These will be forwarded to you on reciept.

 

Please be advised that as we do not hold copies of the statements within our offices,we cannot state a time period in which these will be recieved.Your account has been placed on hold while we await this information.

 

we must also advuse that there is no legal onligation that states we must send the information you requested within a certain time period

 

we trust this clarifies the situation and will forward information in due course.

[clio2010]

Lowell are after me for a vodafone debt,I asked them to provide proof they said we sent you statements i recieve 1 statement from 2006 and that was it so i sent them a prove it letter and they sent me a letter saying its not covered under the cca 1974 its a service agreement therefore they dont need proof as putting the sim in the phone is a contract!