Got a letter from a debt collection agency, £13.80 on behalf of T-Mobile UK. Last time i had anything to do with T-Mobile was when i worked for them, and i was on their employee tariff. That was always around £2-4/month. That was back in 2004. It was terminated 30 days after my employment contract was ended, the only problem is i don't have that letter anymore. I don't believe anything is genuinely outstanding.
What's the best way to sort this out without paying any money? I've phoned them (0844 number so already failing on the not paying part!) and asked for clarification on what the amount is owed for. They've said it's for a mobile phone contract but don't have dates available. I've currently left it at "i don't believe that to be true".
I don't want my credit rating affected as we're planning to move house sometime in the next couple of years and i've been trying hard to get as good a credit rating as i can (buy shopping / petrol on CC and clear it every month), but i also don't want to pay £13 if it's not due.
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For the sake of £13 I would be inclined to pay it under dispute. So pay the bill (£13 is not worth risking your credit history over) but make it clearer when you it it is under dispute.
However technically speaking any debt needs to be frozen while it is under dispute so you don't need to pay, I know how some of these rogue companies operate and it really isn't worth the hassle.
Have you tried speaking to T Mobile directly about it? They have to be able to prove why you owe them the debt.
Of course my advice is just what I would do, and may or not be correct.
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I've a feeling that's what I'd do. I was plagued by these letters for the previous occupier of my old house. I got their admin number via No to 845 sites and phoned that territorial number. Things got a bit heated when I offered to sell them the address of the previous occupant for 100 quid. Even more heated when I wrote a letter to the Company Secretary's home address (yours for a quid from Companies House). They left me alone since.
Last edited by: Pugugly on Thu 30 Jun 11 at 12:13
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As Skoda doesn't want to pay, I think he needs to look into the legal phrase 'statute barred'.
Put simply, any debt which is more than six years old, and has not been acknowledged in any way, is almost certainly statute barred - the money cannot be collected.
Some debt collection agencies operate by buying old debt which they know is statute barred, but they hope the punter doesn't know and pays.
Old debts bought in this way are very cheap, they might have bought a couple of hundred for a tenner.
For such a small sum, it's hardly even worth looking into, I would be inclined to write a three paragraph letter along the lines of:
I do not acknowledge the existence of this debt.
The alleged debt is more than six years old.
It has not been acknowledged in any way since 2004, so it will be statute barred.
Yours...
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Further to Skoda's above, I would add that any further correspondence on this matter which does not prove the validity of the debt will be treated as harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
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...Further to Skoda's above, I would add that any further correspondence on this matter which does not prove the validity of the debt will be treated as harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997...
We are not quite there yet.
It has been held that a few letters do not amount to harassment.
What can amount to harassment is a dozen phone calls each day, or lots of home visits.
Even a debt collection agency is not stupid enough to do that for £13, which is why I think they will drop it at the mention of statute barred.
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There is very good template letter in this site.
www.debtwatchdog.com/statute-barred-debt-england-and-wales-Article-215.html
Just click on the "template letter" link on that page.
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That's the sort of professional aggressive approach I'd expect from a retired member of the legal profession. Got a result and got up their noses doing it. Excellent!!!!
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Thanks for this, that statute barred thing is just the ticket iffy. Googling that and the debt company name makes for some shocking reading. At least I'm not alone.
I've phoned a lawyer (mums friend which is handy!) and asked her thoughts, she reckons they're required to give exact details and fobbing me off is not on. Seems fair.
She said send a letter, that template looks just the job, and put the return address care of her.
Thanks again all.
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...She said send a letter, that template looks just the job, and put the return address care of her...
Good offer.
You are entitled to see proof of the debt, but since you've no intention of paying, I didn't think there was much point in telling you that. :)
A serious point about the letter, do not volunteer any additional information.
There have been cases of people in a similar position dropping themselves in it.
So keep the reply very sparse.
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I had the same problem with BG harassing me for debt of a previous occupant. I had to write a formal complaint and mention harassment and a court case featuring BG having to pay thousands in compensation to someone for doing just what they did to me. All communication about it ceased after that :-) They were even underhand enough to use the wrong meter reading to try and con me into paying the previous person's bill!
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Don't mention debt collectors or NTL to me, i'm still livid.
Under no circumstances pay these sharks a bean, and do mention harrassment in a firm no nonsense i am not explaining or excusing something i haven't done wrong tone.
Unfortunately they had obtained my home and mobile numbers from NTL, and they really are most persistant, but don't seem to like reverse persistance when you have free calls and nothing else to do..;)
I'd have liked my day in court.
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Debt Collection Agency - RattleandSmoke
