County Court claim from Lowell/BW Legal/Sean Barton for mobile phone contract

[Kamiro]

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who will help in advance.

I received a claim form last month, dated 16 January 2014.

I submitted my acknowledgement of service online on 28 January 2014 and I am now preparing to defend all of the claim.

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Particulars of Claim
The Claimant's Claim is for the sum of 261.05 being monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant under a non-regulated Communications agreement between the Defendant and Telephonica O2 UK Limited

under account reference *********** and assigned to the Claimant on 26/08/2009 notice of which as been given to the Defendant.
The Defendant failed to maintain the contractual payment under the terms of the agreement and a default notice has been served and not complied with.

The claim also includes statutory interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 as a rate of 8.00% per annum (a daily rate of 0.03 from the date of assignment of the agreement to the date of issue (15/01/2014) being an amount of 48.12.
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I have prepared my defence using what I have found on this forum and other websites but I am unsure about a few things.

1) Where would you say paragraph 2 begins? "under account reference..." or "The Defendant failed to maintain..."? I have copied the Particulars of Claim exactly as it appears on the claim form.

2) Should I write my defence in the first person ("I") or as "the Defendant" (e.g. The Defendant denies that she is liable...)?

The story: I signed a phone contract with O2 on 25 Janurary 2006. At the end of the minimum period of 12 months, I sent a cancellation letter giving 30 days' notice. Then, I received a phone call from O2 convincing me to stay, and offering a different tariff. I agreed to stay (over the phone). I never received any paper bill, nor any new contract after that. My phone line was never interrupted. When checking my bank statements (the only clue as to how much I was actually paying), I realized I was still paying way more than I was willing to, so I sent another cancellation letter giving 30 days's notice (end of spring/beginning of summer) and cancelled the direct debit at the bank. The last payment was made by direct debit on 11 June 2007 as shown on my paper statement. The following statement shows a payment towards a PAYG SIM.
I started receiving threatening letters from DCAs shortly after. At first, I contacted O2 to get an explanation. When I said I hadn't used my phone since sending the cancellation letter and that the line had been disconnected, so why should I pay, they offered to reconnect the line... *facepalm*
A few years later, I moved to France for a couple of years (back to my home town), and came back to the UK in early 2012.
I have never made any further payment, nor have I ever acknowledged any debt since the last payment made on 11 June 2007, so I think the alleged debt is now Statute Barred, but can someone confirm?
As far as I am concerned, I have never owned O2 anything, since I paid all I used and cancelled my contract according to the terms and conditions (at the end of the minimum period, giving 30 days' notice in writing), even though O2 changed my tariff early on in the second year of the contract.
Please note that the account reference provided in the Particulars of Claim is that of the original contract signed on 26 January 2006, so Lowell has not claimed that it is a new contract, started after my first attempted cancellation...
On my credit report, the account shows as defaulted on 27 March 2008. Does this matter or affect the Statute Barred status?

My attempt at a defence:

Short version:

"I deny that I am liable to the Claimant either as alleged in the Particulars of Claim or at all. Save where otherwise admitted, each and every allegation in the Particulars of Claim is denied.

Paragraph 1 of the Particulars of Claim is denied.
On 25 January 2006, I entered into an Agreement with Telephonica O2 UK Limited, under account reference ***********.

Paragraph 2 is denied.
I ended the Agreement in 2007 according to Telephonica O2 UK Limited's Terms and Conditions by giving 30 days' notice in writing, after the duration of the Minimum Period.
The last contractual payment was made by direct debit on 11 June 2007,and no further payment, nor any acknowledgement of any debt was ever made afterwards. The alleged debt is therefore Statute Barred.

It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the amounts claimed or any interest on such amounts."

Long(er) version:

"The Defendant denies that she is liable to the Claimant either as alleged in the Particulars of Claim or at all. Save where otherwise admitted, each and every allegation in the Particulars of Claim is denied.

Paragraph 1 of the Particulars of Claim is denied.
On 25 January 2006, the Defendant and Telephonica O2 UK Limited entered into an agreement, under account reference ***********.
Ask to provide proof of notice?

Paragraph 2 is denied.
In early 2007, the Defendant attempted to end the Agreement at the end of the Minimum Period of 12 months specified in Telephonica O2 UK Limited's Terms and Conditions.
In response, Telephonica O2 UK Limited offered a different Tariff, and convinced the Defendant to stay in the Agreement.
No paper bill, nor any new Agreement was ever provided to the Defendant.
Later that year, the Defendant ended the agreement giving 30 days' notice in writing.
The last contractual payment was made by direct debit on 11 June 2007, and no further payment, nor any acknowledgement of any debt was ever made afterwards. The alleged debt is therefore Statute Barred.
Ask to provide proof of default notice?

It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the amounts claimed or any interest on such amounts."

Anything I should change/add/delete?

Thank you in advance.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: County Court claim from Lowell/BW Legal/Sean Barton for mobile phone contract

Hi and welcome to LB!

I started receiving threatening letters from DCAs shortly after. At first, I contacted O2 to get an explanation. When I said I hadn't used my phone since sending the cancellation letter and that the line had been disconnected, so why should I pay, they offered to reconnect the line... *facepalm*
A few years later, I moved to France for a couple of years (back to my home town), and came back to the UK in early 2012.
I have never made any further payment, nor have I ever acknowledged any debt since the last payment made on 11 June 2007, so I think the alleged debt is now Statute Barred, but can someone confirm?

I would say it is statute barred. :grin:

Please note that the account reference provided in the Particulars of Claim is that of the original contract signed on 26 January 2006, so Lowell has not claimed that it is a new contract, started after my first attempted cancellation...

On my credit report, the account shows as defaulted on 27 March 2008. Does this matter or affect the Statute Barred status?

No, the default date on your credit file has no bearing on statute barred status. :thumb:

Anything I should change/add/delete?

I would say if the debt is SB, you don't need to ask them to provide proof of anything or argue anything else, you can just say something along these lines (check dates/figures, etc.):

The claimant’s claim was issued on the 16th of January 2014.

The Claimant's defendant contends that the Claimant's claim so issued is a claim in contract and is statute barred pursuant to the provisions of Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980. If, which is denied, the claimant contends that the Defendant is in breach of the alleged contract, in excess of 6 years have elapsed since the date on which any cause of action for breach accrued for the benefit of the Claimant.

The Claimant's claim to be entitled to payment of £ 261.05 or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied.