Lowell have requested Mediation

[Kitty1111]

Lowell are chasing me for a Talk Talk cancellation debt. I cancelled with Talk Talk as they allowed for my personal details to be stolen by scammers and therefore failed to provide me with the service they were contracted to do so. There was a big scandal about it. https://www.theguardian.com/business...k-cyber-attack.

Now should I agree to mediation? The thing is, I will not be paying one penny, even if I lose, as I believe they are morally corrupt and in the wrong... I am not worried about my credit ruined, it already is. So my question, if I do not select mediation will it further hurt my case?

Thanks in advance.

[charitynjw]

Hi

Out of interest, did TT ever chase you themselves for the cancellation fees?

[Kitty1111]

No, not that I recall. I emailed them and informed them I was leaving and I cant remember hearing anything further.

[charitynjw]

That's interesting.

One more question if I may?.......how did you first find out about the data breach?

[Kitty1111]

Because I started getting loads of scam calls which I hadn't had before, particularly texts and I never signup to things using my mobile number and then it was on the news...so I know it was the TalkTalk breach. Can I ask your thoughts on whether I should select mediation? The thing is I feel that I shouldn't settle as I am the wronged party here... but will the court take that as me being unreasonable? I know you have to show that you are being "reasonable" but I feel that Lowell are totally unreasonable!

[charitynjw]

I can't see much harm by saying yes to mediation.
As you say, it shows that you are being reasonable.
Mediation is often conducted by phone, so no biggie, & you can always tell them to get lost (in a 'reasonable' way, lol) as mediation info is privileged (can't be used in court).

Unbelievable, though.
TT have been hacked, your data nicked, & they add insult to injury by selling the alleged debt on to a debt collector.
(Unfortunately I don't think that affects their legal right to do so, but morally........)

[Kitty1111]

Thank you charitynjw yes my thoughts exactly! I've already researched Baliffs etc. as I will NEVER pay one penny, initially I got some very discouraging advice on here (wont say by whom) and it made me feel very downhearted indeed, but thank you for posting it means such a lot!

[charitynjw]

No, not that I recall. I emailed them and informed them I was leaving and I cant remember hearing anything further.

Do you still have the email?
It could prove to be of some use.

[Amethyst]

Chaz, use [ quote ] rather than [ code ] xxx

[charitynjw]

Chaz, use [ quote ] rather than [ code ] xxx

Apologies, Amethyst

It doesn't seem to give that as a standard option in 'editor'

Do I type it in manually?
[ ie xxxx ]

[Amethyst]

The discouraging advice would have been me I suspect - https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...io-v-kitty1111

I don't know what defence you have filed or what requests you have made of the claimant, however if this claim is for a early termination fee ( as you state you were up to date paying the bills until you terminated I can only think that's what the amount being claimed would be?), they will need to provide the contract and terms as well as a breakdown of the account payments made and show how the £350 odd has arisen. You made a complaint at the time regarding the data breach and terminated your agreement with them - presumably you have brought this up in your defence as to why this should mean that the data breach consitutes a breach of contract meaning you could terminate early without penalty.

A SAR to Talk Talk would be useful - if you can get that in and information back before you have directions from the court on a hearing date and witness statements it should really help as you can then use the info to expand your arguments. That should include copies of your emails and their replies at the time you terminated. It's unlikely the claimant will have that info, and I think you already said you no longer have copies of the emails.

[Amethyst]

Apologies, Amethyst

It doesn't seem to give that as a standard option in 'editor'

Do I type it in manually?
[ ie xxxx ]

If you're on your phone, yes , or you can kind of touch near bottom right of a post and it shows up edit and quote ( something on my 'must fix that one day' list ) .... on bigger screens it should be bottom right of each post .... but typing it in works as well

chazquote.png

[R0b]

Lowell are chasing me for a Talk Talk cancellation debt. I cancelled with Talk Talk as they allowed for my personal details to be stolen by scammers and therefore failed to provide me with the service they were contracted to do so.

I'm interested by this point, mainly because you say that the data breach meant that TalkTalk failed to provide you with the service they were contracted to do. Can you expand on that; where''s the link between the two?

Another interesting point, can you terminate an agreement for a data protection breach? Nothing I can find in English law but there is a suggestion from the Scottish Courts that it is possible (see Soccer Savings (Scotland) Ltd v Scottish Building Society; article link here). Personally, I'm not sure the data breach by Talk Talk would amount to a material breach warranting termination, but I guess that's an argument to be had in court.

[charitynjw]

Reluctantly I agree with R0b here.

I guess that TT/Lowell will claim that all safetyguards were to industry standards, & that it is well known that determined hackers wiil get through the best of them.
(Mitnik, McKinnon, etc)

They will also probably say that there is a complaints procedure in place which wasn't used properly.

[Kitty1111]

Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it, Talk Talk had a duty of care to protect my data, they failed to do so... therefore under the terms of the contract I consider them in breach. But as you say, it will have to be decided in court... so I will keep you informed... Here is an opinion I have found regarding the breach of contract:-

"Marc Gander, a lawyer and founder of the campaigning Consumer Action Group, says: ‘Of course, TalkTalk is going to try to make it as hard as possible for customers to leave their contracts.

‘But there is a fundamental principle here: how important is the protection of personal data to a consumer contract?

‘You would be able to argue that it is critical, and that anyone who had not acted sufficiently to protect a customer’s data was in breach of a contract and so made it void."

As TalkTalk were fined a record sum by the ICO, it is safe to assume that TalkTalk failed to secure my data.

Amethyst thanks for the advice regarding the SAR to TalkTalk I will definitely get on that!