Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

[stark13]

Hello everyone,

I'm hoping you can help me with this if possible. My mum has received a court claim form from Bryan carter solicitors on behalf of lowell about an o2 mobile contract. She has no idea about this contract and I've never seen her with a phone. She is quite old and doesn't use mobiles yet they still have an account number listed on the claim form. It says this debt was purchased by lowells a few years ago. She has a mental disability and is quite forgetful so i can't be 100% sure but i'm 99.9% sure that this never existed. I have acknowledged the claim on MCOL and now have to prepare a defence. I have no legal experience and therefore have no idea what to write. Can somebody please help me here? What should be her line of defence? The particulars of claim are shown below:

THIS CLAIM IS FOR XXXXX, THE AMOUNT DUE UNDER AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR AND THE DEFENDANT TO PROVIDE FINANCE AND/OR SERVICES AND/OR GOODS.
THIS DEBT WAS ASSIGNED TO/PURCHASED BY Lowell Portfolio Ltd, ON XX/XX/XXXX AND NOTICE SERVED PURSUANT TO THE LAW OF PROPERTY ACT 1925
PARTICULARS RE - O2 (UK) Ltd A/c No XXXXXXXXXX
AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS XXXXXX
THE CLAIMANT ALSO CLAIMS STATUTORY INTEREST PURSUANT TO S.69 OF THE COUNTY ACT 1984 AT A RATE OF 8% PER ANNUM FROM THE DATE OF ASSIGNMENT OF THE AGREEMENT TO DATE BUT LIMITED TO A MAXIMUM OF ONE YEAR AND A MAXIMUM OF 1000 AMOUNTING TO XXX.

Any help would be much appreciated. Also I've read that I should send a request to produce documents, can i email this request or does it have to be posted?

Many Thanks!

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

Hiya xx

Can you check your mum's credit file and see if this 'debt' appears on there?

It might also be worth telephoning O2 and see if they have any record of this account belonging to your mum, especially if you have the account number. She will need to be with you to give them permission to talk to you, and they might not have any records but could be a short cut to finding out what this might be.

You should send a letter to the claimants asking for information. I guess the amount isn't over £1k so I don't think there is much point sending a formal request under the CPR, but write to them, asking if they can give you more information, a copy of the agreement any statements etc of the account, as this is the first your mum has ever heard of any account or debt owing to O2.

As you have acknowledged the clam you do have 33 days from the date on the claim to sort out a defence so we have a bit of time to try and find out where this has come from.


On a bit of an irrelevant to your case note ... I haven't seen this before

THE CLAIMANT ALSO CLAIMS STATUTORY INTEREST PURSUANT TO S.69 OF THE COUNTY ACT 1984 AT A RATE OF 8% PER ANNUM FROM THE DATE OF ASSIGNMENT OF THE AGREEMENT TO DATE BUT LIMITED TO A MAXIMUM OF ONE YEAR AND A MAXIMUM OF 1000 AMOUNTING TO XXX.

I'm guessing the claims from Northampton business centre so that's automatically been entered so is right. I'll look into that another time.

[stark13]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

Hi thanks for the response. Unfortunately i don't have access to the credit file to check. We've tried noddle but she keeps getting the details wrong so it won't let us register. Is it imperative that i do this?

When i send the letter asking for more information should i send it to lowells or Bryan carter? Can i do this by email? Also does this have to be written in the formal legal way referencing legal things or can i just ask the question?

Thanks so much for your help!

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

Hi thanks for the response. Unfortunately i don't have access to the credit file to check. We've tried noddle but she keeps getting the details wrong so it won't let us register. Is it imperative that i do this?

Not imperative, it's just to see if there's something there.

When i send the letter asking for more information should i send it to lowells or Bryan carter?

Bryan Carter.

Can i do this by email? Also does this have to be written in the formal legal way referencing legal things or can i just ask the question?

Thanks so much for your help!

Ideally it should be sent by recorded delivery. Later in the process you may use email when time is of the essence. Basically just ask for a copy of the alleged mobile contract and statements of account.

[stark13]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

Hi everyone,

I sent the letter to Bryan Carter and received a response. Basically in the letter I sent I said that we do not know anything of this contract and to provide a contract and accounts to prove it. I said i wanted to make a complaint as i believe this is as harassment as they have made no attempt to find out whether this contract actually belongs to my mother.

They sent a response saying that they are investigating the complaint and will reply within 4 weeks and that the account has been placed on hold until further notice. There was no mention of the contract or accounts i had requested. There has been no communication from MCOL saying that this is on hold so I'm not sure whether I should continue with filing the defence? The date of claim of was 24th October so what's the last date to file the defence?

If i do need to file the defence i would appreciate some help from someone on how to word it?

[stark13]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

Sorry one more thing, my mother forgot the password for MCOL and so is having trouble getting into the website. We've tried the password retrieval tool which is asking for the MCOL customer number, where do we find this? We only were given a government gateway ID when registering.

[Tools]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

It should be on the Court Claim form, lower right hand side

[stark13]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

its not there, it's just got the claim number and claim password. I'm talking about the MCOL customer number, i don't know where to find it?!

[Tools]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

When you registered yo will have entered an email address to send the information to, have you looked in your emails - I know this sounds obvious but just asking

[stark13]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

yes i've checked all the emails and there's only the government gateway id. I've tried using the password recovery tool but this is asks for email address, government gateway id, postcode and mcol number. So i can't even retrieve the password to the email address without the mcol customer number.

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

Complete the Acknowledgment of service form that came in the claim pack and return that to the court.

[stark13]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

i've already acknowledged the claim on the MCOL website, i just can't get back in to write up the defence. How long do i have if the date of claim was 24th October?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

i've already acknowledged the claim on the MCOL website, i just can't get back in to write up the defence. How long do i have if the date of claim was 24th October?

This calculator: http://www.timeanddate.com/date/date...&am=&aw=&ad=33 gives you Wednesday, November 26, 2014.

There should have been a series of forms with your claim pack, one of them is N9B - Response and Defence/Counter Claim. This is the one where you can write your defence.

[stark13]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

ok thanks for that. I've managed to login now. I was wondering if someone could help me with what i should write for the defence please? Considering what their response was about putting this on hold and not answering my question about providing proof. I would really appreciate your input.

[stark13]

Re: Lowell, Bryan Carter, o2

Hello everyone, can someone please help me with the defence or point me in the right direction? It's due today and I have no experience of doing this so i'm really worried. Any help would be much appreciated