*MOAN* Fonehouse

[Blighter]

Grrr.

I set up a contract with T-Mobile via Fonehouse back in September with a G1. To cut a story short:

• The guy in the store lied about 2 of the features
• I went in after a few days to try and cancel due to those lies
• They said I need to contact T-Mobile
• T-Mobile said I need to sort it with them
• repeat above two steps for two weeks
• T-Mobile phone the store and make the manager agree to cancel it for me
• I hand over the phone, sign the paperwork etc and leave (Start of October)
• Today: Get a letter from debt collectors saying I owe t-mobile £100 - wtf?
• I phone T-Mobile and they say the contract hasn't been cancelled and I need to phone Fonehouse - WTF?!

What's really strange is that I haven't been receiving any bills since the day I cancelled it, and t-mobile know I haven't even turned the phone on due to their logs/etc yet are still unwilling to even phone the store.


Now Fonehouse customer services only open 9-5 so I'm probably going to use up my lunch break talking to them tomorrow

Will this bugger up my credit rating now its been passed to debt collectors? (Without me even knowing!)

[Blighter]

Any help? Please?

I've just got a letter from a Debt collection agency saying the case has been passed onto them!!

The shop are saying they have no records of me giving the phone back, even though I signed something there (I didn't really think anything of it at the time but didn't get given a copy).

Is there anything I can do?


edit: The guy I spoke to at T-Mobile said he can understand as my account's number hasn't been online for over 6 months

[Kitten]

there will be notes on your credit file saying that the account has been passed onto a debt recovery company. You can get that removed though but you'll have to do that with the account holders rather than with the recovery company, you'll more than likely get nowhere with them as they're just being paid to collect the debt and have heard all the excuses a million times.

I think you probably need to contact the CAB? They should know what your rights are - but if you haven't got any confirmation that you gave the phone back, I'm not sure how they'll be able to help with that. I'm just surmising though, I really don't know.

[Blighter]

Originally Posted by Kitten

there will be notes on your credit file saying that the account has been passed onto a debt recovery company. You can get that removed though but you'll have to do that with the account holders rather than with the recovery company, you'll more than likely get nowhere with them as they're just being paid to collect the debt and have heard all the excuses a million times.

I think you probably need to contact the CAB? They should know what your rights are - but if you haven't got any confirmation that you gave the phone back, I'm not sure how they'll be able to help with that. I'm just surmising though, I really don't know.

Thank you, I'll give CAB a call tomorrow. I've just written this to the collection company for the meantime:

I am writing in reference to a letter I received today with the reference "***" and client reference "***" regarding the sum of £100.71 owed to you and your client, T-Mobile (UK) Ltd.

I am currently in discussions with T-Mobile regarding this debt as I believe it has been wrongly charged. The reason for non-payment up to this date is, simply, that I can not afford to give £100.71, especially when I do not owe it.

The situation is that I took out a contract with the company Fonehouse in early 2009 which was cancelled a few months later after a period of discussions between myself and Fonehouse with regards to false information provided to myself which was terms of the contract, therefore voiding the contract between myself and Fonehouse and them taking the phone back. That was the last I had heard of the contract when it was cancelled on or around 6th October 2010.
I haven't heard anything else from T-Mobile UK (Ltd) or Fonehouse until last week when I received a letter in the post from yourselves stating that I owe money. I have not been billed monthly or received contact in any form from either party.

I cannot pay the £100.71 until this issue is resolved with T-Mobile and a mutual agreement has been concluded.

I will be giving them a call tomorrow to find out the progress of my queries with them.

Regards,

Matthew Pope

[Mark]

All of what Kitten said. Yes, it will show on your file. Don't even bother with the collection agents as they're just minions with a one track mind - to get their money. That letter is almost certainly a waste of time, though I guess there's no harm in telling them the debt is in dispute and leave it at that.

You could of course tell fonehouse that they can either return your phone to you or settle the account. CAB would be the first point of call though - and a lesson for the future about retaining copies of contracts.

If you really want to **** fonehouse off, report the phone as stolen and say where it was last seen (in the shop). I don't recommend you try this.

[Belmit]

Should change the October date to 2009!

[Mark]

Good spot, though as I said, it's best just to put the debt in dispute in the letter to the debt collectors and leave it at that. They don't need to know, or even care, why it's in dispute.

[Kitten]

I would change the first bit of the letter and just simply say that the reason you're not paying it is not that you can't afford it, but:

I am currently in discussions with T-Mobile regarding this debt as I believe it has been wrongly charged. The reason for non-payment up to this date is, simply, that I do not believe that I owe it and as yet, no-one has been able to prove differently.

then later on:

I will not pay the £100.71 until this issue is resolved with T-Mobile and a mutual agreement has been concluded. If this is found to be an error at T-Mobile or Fonehouse systems, please be advised that I will be writing to request payment of the time I have spent trying to resolve this issue at my hourly rate of 'xx' and the cost of the telephone calls made. I can provide evidence of this time spent and shall do so, if you so require.

There's very little chance you'll get anything back but you've got every right to do it and they know it.
Sorry, got to go to work but will try & check on this later.