Hi guys,
Just looking for some advice on how to deal with a situation, its a bit long winded so bare with me. I also realise the way I handled the original situation was terrible, but I was a dumb teenager and had no idea how anything worked.
I took out a mobile contract with 3, 5 years ago. I was happy for a while until they changed my contract without notifying me (charging for delivery reports that were originally free on my contract), I contacted them and they removed the fees. However every month after that the fees would be added back on, along with even more "data" charges despite my statements showing I didn't go over my data allowance as it was unlimited. 3 kept removing the charges after a while of arguing with the manager at the call centre, but would then add them back on the next month despite agreeing they were incorrect. 3 then decided they were going to take the unlimited data part of my contract off without notifying me. My statements show the mobile data add-on just disappearing off my account, despite me never asking for it to be removed, causing further costs to rack up. Finally it got to a point where they took almost £500 out of my bank account, then flat out refused to even look into it with the manager just hanging up on me. None of the customer reps I talked to would help, or even let me speak to the manager again.
At this point I attempted to file a complaint, which was ignored. Emailed the CEO of 3 and still was never contacted. Finally resorted to contacting the ombudsman and again was ignored. Due to being a poor student I had no option but to file a direct debit indemnity claim, as the 3 charges had pushed me way over my overdraft causing me to rack up tons of bank fees and left me without any money at all. I received a few letters asking me to pay my balance for a while before getting a default notice, but when I contacted 3 to discuss this with them they refused to agree the charges were incorrect.
I didn't hear anything from 3 for years until a month ago, where they informed me the debt had been sold to Lowell after being increased to £750. They have been bombarding me with letters and emails ever since, and recently have suggested that they may have to move to other methods to recover the debt, which may include court.
I haven't yet contacted Lowell, due to being disabled with mental health illnesses including severe anxiety causing panic attacks whenever a letter or email is received, let alone contacting them.
Just looking for some advice on what to do from here really, as I've read on here that Lowell are very trigger happy when it comes to taking people to court. Would I be best off just paying them off?
Thanks
Edit:
Just thought I'd add that I haven't paid anything towards the account since October 2011, nor acknowledged the debt to 3 or Lowell yet.
However I looked at my credit report on Noddle and it shows they have registered a new default this April? Despite Noddle saying the date of default was march 2012. There is also no mention of the original creditor on my credit report.
Just looking for some advice on how to deal with a situation, its a bit long winded so bare with me. I also realise the way I handled the original situation was terrible, but I was a dumb teenager and had no idea how anything worked.
I took out a mobile contract with 3, 5 years ago. I was happy for a while until they changed my contract without notifying me (charging for delivery reports that were originally free on my contract), I contacted them and they removed the fees. However every month after that the fees would be added back on, along with even more "data" charges despite my statements showing I didn't go over my data allowance as it was unlimited. 3 kept removing the charges after a while of arguing with the manager at the call centre, but would then add them back on the next month despite agreeing they were incorrect. 3 then decided they were going to take the unlimited data part of my contract off without notifying me. My statements show the mobile data add-on just disappearing off my account, despite me never asking for it to be removed, causing further costs to rack up. Finally it got to a point where they took almost £500 out of my bank account, then flat out refused to even look into it with the manager just hanging up on me. None of the customer reps I talked to would help, or even let me speak to the manager again.
At this point I attempted to file a complaint, which was ignored. Emailed the CEO of 3 and still was never contacted. Finally resorted to contacting the ombudsman and again was ignored. Due to being a poor student I had no option but to file a direct debit indemnity claim, as the 3 charges had pushed me way over my overdraft causing me to rack up tons of bank fees and left me without any money at all. I received a few letters asking me to pay my balance for a while before getting a default notice, but when I contacted 3 to discuss this with them they refused to agree the charges were incorrect.
I didn't hear anything from 3 for years until a month ago, where they informed me the debt had been sold to Lowell after being increased to £750. They have been bombarding me with letters and emails ever since, and recently have suggested that they may have to move to other methods to recover the debt, which may include court.
I haven't yet contacted Lowell, due to being disabled with mental health illnesses including severe anxiety causing panic attacks whenever a letter or email is received, let alone contacting them.
Just looking for some advice on what to do from here really, as I've read on here that Lowell are very trigger happy when it comes to taking people to court. Would I be best off just paying them off?
Thanks
Edit:
Just thought I'd add that I haven't paid anything towards the account since October 2011, nor acknowledged the debt to 3 or Lowell yet.
However I looked at my credit report on Noddle and it shows they have registered a new default this April? Despite Noddle saying the date of default was march 2012. There is also no mention of the original creditor on my credit report.
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