BPO Collections still asking for money even though it was a mistake by BT! #2

[trigger77]

I have a similar issue with an old bt email address which i dont think is active any longer.

paid £1.60 per month for a while and forgot abnout the account I recall 1 month a payment I didnt recognise came out for around £8 so cancelled it after that the dd as i never agreed I would pay this much for an email account. I had a call centre ring me up and told them i no longer used the account. 

Out of the blue i have had a text from BPO telling me to contact them regarding BT. I can only assume it is to do with this email account. 

As far as Im concerned I am no longer a customer of Bt and havent been for a number of years so why have they passed me to a debt collection agency....feeling very annoyed.

Please advise how i can sort this mess out?

[gg30340]

You will have to contact the Debt agency and tell them you dispute the debt. That should put any action on hold. You will then need to contact BT and advise them of what has happened and get an explanation from them. Once you have that you will then know how to proceed with the debt agency.

See link

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/338/if-i-dispute-a-debt-that-is-being-collected-can-a-debt-co...

[trigger77]

Hi many thanks for your reply I will contact the collection company asap. It appears as if the link is advising of USA law is this the same as U.K. law in this regard?

[gg30340]

Sorry, my mistake. I thought it was a UK link. The principal is still the same. You must tell the Debt agency to get them to put it on hold while it is investigated.

[Neil1]

Some info on disputing a debt here

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/bailiffs/stopping-bai...

They can can still come after you for a debt from some time ago. How long since you were a BT customer?

[Keith_Beddoe]

Is this any help?

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/51898/~/have-a-question-about-your-credit-file%3F

[gg30340]

Neil1. 

It would appear that the OP has only been contacted by a Debt Collection Agency.

The link you posted is about what to do when Baliffs are involved. For Baliffs to be used there must be a court order. That won't happen until the Debt Agency go to court requesting a court order and the OP would need to be contacted prior to that and be given the opportunity to attend the court hearing.

[Neil1]

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@gg30340 wrote:

Neil1. 

It would appear that the OP has only been contacted by a Debt Collection Agency.

The link you posted is about what to do when Baliffs are involved. For Baliffs to be used there must be a court order. That won't happen until the Debt Agency go to court requesting a court order and the OP would need to be contacted prior to that and be given the opportunity to attend the court hearing.

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Yes. You are right. - although I have to say people often get the two mixed up!  I didn't read the post properly - I can only plead laziness and being on painkillers 

This

http://www.money.co.uk/guides/how-to-deal-with-debt-collectors.htm

is quite a good link on debt collectors

[trigger77]

Many thanks I will try and contact them again tomorrow I did try calling BT but ended up in the viscous BT circle of pain being passed from dept to dept and then in the live live chat waited 20 mins for them to disconnect me been there plenty in the past which is the main reason I'm no longer a customer and after this fiasco probably never will be in the future. If anything I should be chasing them for money in my mind they took over £8 out of my account without my permission...and then have the brass neck to pass me to debt collectors.

[trigger77]

I think it was over 5 yrs since I was a proper BT customer until they revived my account to charge me £1.60 a month for an email account! and then insisted on sending me a paper bill after I declined it? Surely this would have taken a portion of the £1.60.