Fuming!

I had a simularish problem with the innept pit of incompetence that is Telephonica (O2) fairly recently. Last year I moved my O2 contract to an O2 PayG, because i couldnt get £10 a month on contract with internet and i like my current phone. About sixth months later, i got an obleque debt collectors letter for some pithy amount, turned out there was a small amount left on the account and they had been sending letters to my OLD address on the CLOSED account instead of the CURRENT address on the STILL ACTIVE account.

Thats what you get for having a customer account database with a customer record per service, instead of one customer account with many services. Their system is truly shocking.
 
Whilst they may not have sent any letters or e-mails chasing the amount surely they sent you a bill in the first place?
 
Houses are already priced out of most young people's salaries (older people got their houses when the cheapest ones in the area were not 5 times their salaries!)
Slap on top of this wanting massive house deposits when rent is so high people just can't save a £20,000 deposit up.
Now stop you getting a mortgage due to an unpaid £8 phone bill.

Recipe for disaster!
 
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mglover070588 said:
Houses are already priced out of most young people's salaries (older people got their houses when the cheapest ones in the area were not 5 times their salaries!)
Slap on top of this wanting massive house deposits when rent is so high people just can't save a £20,000 deposit up.
Now stop you getting a mortgage due to an unpaid £8 phone bill.

Recipe for disaster!
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indeed
 
If you've settled the bill, 02 are required to mark the credit file as paid and remove any "black mark". Having said that, credit files / scores are much more of a myth unless something like this actually happens. Check out moneysaving expert for some useful tips about credit scoring / files.
 
Lucero said:
If you've settled the bill, 02 are required to mark the credit file as paid and remove any "black mark".
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No they're not, any lender is entitled to mark an account as being late on your credit file if payment is not made on time, regardless if it's not paid off afterwards or not. Accounts stay on a credit file for 6 years after they are closed, regardless how the account was run.

However in this case I think the OP has been dealt with unfairly.
 
She said they don't chase disconnected lines or something like that.
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Absolutely unacceptable. You should obtain written confirmation from O2 that they have not chased you (which from the above it sounds like they are prepared to concede) and then make a formal complaint.

You should email all the usual media outlets (Watchdog, Guardian etc) and threaten legal action. Cleaning up a bad credit history can be an absolute nightmare and for a company to trash yours without warning is unbelievable. Do not let some low level complaint handler fob you off on this.
 
Energizer Bunny said:
Absolutely unacceptable. You should obtain written confirmation from O2 that they have not chased you (which from the above it sounds like they are prepared to concede) and then make a formal complaint.

You should email all the usual media outlets (Watchdog, Guardian etc) and threaten legal action. Cleaning up a bad credit history can be an absolute nightmare and for a company to trash yours without warning is unbelievable. Do not let some low level complaint handler fob you off on this.
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As long as they have sent a correct bill for the final amount then thats surely where their responsibility ends?

Each letter probably costs them 50p to £1 so why should O2 waste time and money chasing bad debts?
 
When you requested to leave, they should have sent you a final bill if any amount is outstanding.

If you don't pay it, their Credit Control department would keep harassing you for payment, regardless of the amount.

O2 are clearly in the wrong here.
 
Hatter The Mad said:
Contact the credit report company. They will remove or adjust things like this at their discretion or even as good will when it is an obvious flaw in 'the system' or even a minor mistake on your part with over-the-top consequences.
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Sadly they wont do this. The removal can only be initiated either by the creditor or a court order. They can let you place a note against the marker that other creditors can see, but remember most places have automated rules engines that ignore notes.

To the OP you are legally entitled to a manual credit assessment as opposed to a system based rules engine. Ask your mortgage lender to do that under the data protection act and ask them to take into consideration the amount and circumstances.
 
Can you not call them again and kick up a fuss, using the article as an example. They removed them for him in the end so they should do the same for you.
 
Hatter The Mad said:
Contact the credit report company. They will remove or adjust things like this at their discretion or even as good will when it is an obvious flaw in 'the system' or even a minor mistake on your part with over-the-top consequences.
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This isn't true. The credit ref agencies only report on what the providers give them - they will not adjust the reports in the slightest, you have to deal with the initial company.

You could have a note attached to your credit file explaining the issue, however I don't believe they help that much.

If you've settled the bill, 02 are required to mark the credit file as paid and remove any "black mark". Having said that, credit files / scores are much more of a myth unless something like this actually happens. Check out moneysaving expert for some useful tips about credit scoring / files.
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Again, not true. They can mark the debt as settled, but they don't have to remove the late payment or default note (if there is one) from the report. If they did, the report wouldn't represent your payment history accurately, negating the point of the report in the first place?
 
credit files / scores
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Agree credit scores from people like Credit Expert are utterly pointless. Scoring is based on numerous factors from the credit provider...for example if they want to buy in to a certain market sector they'll high-score one area, while lowing the value of other items.
 
Read the artical again and look what a spokeswoman said.

An O2 spokeswoman says: "We sent him his monthly bill for £35, but the direct debit was refused by his bank as he had already stopped it. We then credited his account for the final part of the month which was after his account was closed, leaving a balance of £7 owing. He did not receive our email reminder and we failed to chase the debt further, for which we apologise. In the circumstances, we have cleared the marks from his account and apologise for our failure to inform him better of this outstanding amount."
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Happened to me with O2. The first I heard of it was when I got a letter from some debt collection agency about a year later for the princely sum of about £21.
 
Good outcome in the end then. Shame it even happened in the first place.

I hate things like this, it just adds stress and time to something that should be very simple.
 
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