Lowell portfolio1.

[tickymicky]

Several years ago,I took out a contract with 3 for a mobile phone at £25.00 per month.Around 3 months later,maybe less, the phone started experiencing problems.The phone would not get a connection where I worked, yet up to this point,I had no previous problems.The phone,if I did eventually get a connection,would cut me off mid way through a phone call.The phone would only send around 15%-20% of text messages.I took it into the 3 shop in Nottingham, and explained the problems.I was asked to take it next door to Carphone Warehouse for a software upgrade as Carphone Warehouse did all 3's inhouse repairs/upgrades etc.I obliged and got the phone back 2 days later only to be met with the same problems.I went back into the 3 shop and told them and was asked to take it to Carphone Warehouse again as there might be a new software update.I did that and got the phone back the next day.However,I was still experiencing the same problems so I went back into the 3 shop and was asked to take it back to Carphone Warehouse for a thorough test and repair.I got the phone back several days later but was told the PCB board was warped and that it was not covered under the warranty, and that if I wanted it repairing, I would have to pay.You can imagine I wasn't very happy with the fact I was told I had to pay for a repair to a relatively new phone that was nothing to do with me.I went back into the 3 shop and told them what Carphone Warehouse said.I was told by the 3 assistant that they stood by the decision from Carphone Warehouse, and 3 would refuse to repair the fault or replace the phone, much to my disgust.I went home, looked at some legislation on the internet, and came to the conclusion that 3 had contravened the Sale of Goods Act 1979 by not repairing,or replacing the phone whilst it was still under warranty.On top of that,they also contravened the Misrepresentation Act 1967 by charging me £25.00 a month for a service they could not provide to my phone, as well as giving me a phone that did not do what they were claiming it would do.I sent the phone back recorded delivery,which was signed for 2 days later,with a letter stating that 3 are wrong, and quoted the 2 pieces of legislastion above and stated that 3 have broken the terms of the contract as they cannot fulfill their promise.I never broke the terms because my money was always in the bank as and when 3 took it by direct debit.Needless to say, in the letter,I stated that my contract was now null and void, and I duly cancelled the direct debit..Suddenly, I am being bombarded with letters demanding payments for my mobile phone contract which 3 alleged I still had.I was also bombarded with letters from debt collection agencies demanding money or be taken to court.2 debt collection agencies have tried without success to get me to pay.The last was Moorcroft, who upon me giving them the information,investigated the matter, and replied back to me around 2 weeks later saying that no further action will be taken.That was probably around 2-3 years ago............fast forward to this week,when I received a demand for £322.34 from Lowell portfolio1 over an alleged debt I owe 3.Lowell allege they bought the debt from 3 and I now owe the alleged sum of money to Lowell.I contacted Lowell and asked for a copy of my agreement with them as i cannot recall signing and dating any agreement or contract with Lowell.I also asked for their CCA. Today I received a reply from Lowell saying that they sent me a letter dated 16th Feb.2015 advising that Lowell Financial Ltd were now the account holders.......I never gave Lowell permission to buy the alleged debt from 3, so where do I stand with this?.Can I request proof that Lowell did actually purchase the alleged debt from 3?.And what law would Lowell likely use to say that they can purchase a debt and demand money?.Incidentally,I emailed David Dyson , who I think is the chairman of 3.I quoted all that I have included above and am awaiting his reply.

[ODC]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

1. There is no CCA for a mobile phone debt.

2. Ask Lowell for proof that you signed a written contract with 3

3. Send an SAR to 3 to see what information they hold regarding your complaints about the phone service

[tickymicky]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

What is SAR please

[pt2537]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

What is SAR please

Subject Access R equest under the Data Protection Act 1998

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

Hi Welcome,

A Mobile Phone Contract is a " Service " contract not a credit agreement so the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act do not apply.

1. Your require Lowell to " prove" the debt is owed Prove it Letter)
Now for clarification:

Lowell is a debt purchase company it acquires delinquent accounts from many sources, debts are sold in portfolio lots and the purchaser inherits the " rights and obligations" of the contract,.
Your idea that you have not signed any agreement has no merit I'm afraid.
You can ask Lowell for copy of the notice of assignment that Would have been sent either from 3 and or Lowell,
3 will have sent a Final Demand for payment to you before selling the account.
The letter you have dated 16th Feb. is the proper notice of assignment as required.

The Law of Property Act 1925, the debt is an asset and can be traded which it what has happened here and Lowell do have LAWFUL right to pursue payment of the debt.

" Giving Lowell permission" to buy the debt or not is not an option open to you, the original contract T's & C's will have allowed for the sale of the debt.


My guess is that there were charges outstanding when you returned the phone, cancelling the direct debit Before checking if there was a balance due is a mistake commonly made and leave one open to the situation you find yourself in.

The matter of the allegedly faulty phone should have been properly dealt with by means of a Formal Complaint at that process should have been followed to a conclusion.

Looking at this you can send A SAR ( Subject Access Request made under the Data Protection Act 1998 for all the personal data 3 holds on you, it may reveal how the debt is made up and any letters sent to you by 3. There is a £10.00 Statutory Fee for the SAR and 3 has 40 days to comply.
Also a " prove it letter" to requiring a copy of the service contract and a break down of the amount they are chasing.

[tickymicky]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

There was no outstanding balance when I returned the phone 2 days after the staff at the 3 shop flatly refused point blank to rectify the fault.The phone was barely 3 months old. I have contacted by email, David Dyson,CEO of 3. I am now awaiting his reply. Hopefully sometime this week.

[tickymicky]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

I got a reply from 3, but not what I was expecting.Here it is

Hello Mr xxxxxxx



I’ve been asked to look into your email, in which you’ve asked our CEO David Dyson to investigate an outstanding account balance that you feel shouldn’t have been charged.

From the account history, I can see emails to our customer services confirming that you’d been to Carphone Warehouse (CPW) about problems with your phone. However, it was after a further check, when the issue was still present, that you were advised the PCB was warped and we wouldn’t cover the cost of the repair. In your email, you confirmed this and felt by not repairing the phone we were in breach of the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA), as well as the Misrepresentation Act (MA), by not providing a phone for use of our service.

Based on my findings however, I do not agree that we’ve breached the agreement we had with you, or the Acts mentioned. Our contract with you is to provide the network service and although we may provide a phone to use our with our services, the agreement is not exclusively in line with that phone. Under SOGA, within the first six months of a fault being found, we’re entitled to have an engineer inspect the phone and determine whether the fault is inherent.

We complied with our obligations under the Act, but there was no evidence that the phone was sold in an unfit state, so it would be your responsibility to prove that the fault was inherent. This could’ve been done by sending it to the manufacturer, or a licensed repair centre. Instead of this however, it seems you may have returned the phone to us, but unfortunately, we’ve no record of ever receiving it.

As such, I can’t find evidence that we’ve failed in our obligations to you. I appreciate this isn’t the outcome you wanted, but to help resolve this, if you’re able to provide proof that you returned the phone, I can see what other options there may be, moving forward.

At the moment however, the full balance would be due to Lowell Portfolio, but please let me know if you have evidence of the phone being returned, such as proof of postage. You can send this to me by email, or if you’d like to discuss our position, please call me on 0800 358 9042. We’re open Monday to Friday, from 9am until 6.30pm.

*If you’d like to let us know about your experience dealing with our Executive Office, please complete our short survey at: www.three.co.uk/EOFeedback


Thanks



Mark Bell
Three Executive Office

Mark Bell states that 3's contract was to provide me with the service.Well,they did not provide a service because the phone would not get a connection.As and when it did get a conenction,the phone would cut off a call, and it would only send a small proportion of the text messages, so in my opinion,the service was virtually non existent.

Mark Bell also states that the phone could have been sent to the manufacturer or a licensed repair centre.So why didn't 3 do that themselves.After all, it was 3 who supplied the phone, not the manufacturer.3 are the retailer.

Mark bell also states i may have returned the phone to them although they have no record of that.Actually, I sent the phone recorded delivery to the 3 shop in Nottinghsm, not 3 head office or customer services.The return package was signed for a few days later.Sadly, after around 4 years,I never kept any of the info., because as far as I was concerned, the matter was sorted once and for all.......Don't the 3 shop in Nottingham (or 3 head office, or customer services have to keep all documentation for 6 years anyway in case the Secretary of State wants to view it?).
I am going to compile a letter and send it to 3 requesting all the information they have kept on me.I think it would be a good idea to visit the nottingham store where the original contract was signed and where the phone was returned to and ask for copies of the 2 letters i sent to them.In any case, the first debt colelction agency they referred the so called debt to should have copies of the 2 letters i sent to 3 because i sent them a copy of each letter.Unfortunately I can't remember their name, but i do recall it being in Scotland(perth I think, and number 99?).If any one can come up with the name and address ,I would be gretaly appreciated.Also,does anyone know the name and address of 3 where i should ask for information held on me?.Many thanks in anticipation for your help.

[ODC]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

I think the response from 3 is quite clear. They agree to provide a service, not a phone. Did you try the service with another phone. Did you actuallly pay anything for the phone or was the phone FREE and you were only paying for the line rental? Its strange that you appear to have heard nothing about this debt for 3 or four years by which time you have 'lost' proof that you eturned the phone to 3.

Im not trying to pee on your parade but in the circumstances I think 3 gave a fair answer and your issue would be with trying to get Lowells to prove the debt exists. This is just an opinion

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

SAR to their head office. £10 statutory fee must be paid 3 has 40 days to comply.
There is a number of Debt Collection Agencies in Scotland, such as Mackenzie Hall in
Kilmarnock East Ayreshire.

nem

[tickymicky]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

My credit report states that my closed accounts are
National Westminster Credit Cards
£ 0
01/09/2014
Settled.
Virgin Money Plc
£ 0
30/04/2014
Settled.
Orange Brought To You By Ee
£ 0
03/10/2013
Settled.
Home Retail Group Services LTD
£ 0
30/11/2012
Settled.
HSBC Bank
£ 0
31/12/2011
Settled.
Hutchison 3G Uk
£ 0
01/07/2011
Settled.
O2 Uk Limited
£ 0
01/05/2009
Settled.
The open accounts are:-

Halifax
£ 46,754
28/02/2015
Up to date.
HSBC Bank
£ 7,303
31/01/2015
Up to date.


Vodafone LTD
£ 0
01/03/2015

There is nothing regarding 3 on either closed or open accounts.I cannot find any defaults mentioned on the report either.

[pt2537]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

My credit report states that my closed accounts are
National Westminster Credit Cards
£ 0
01/09/2014
Settled.
Virgin Money Plc
£ 0
30/04/2014
Settled.
Orange Brought To You By Ee
£ 0
03/10/2013
Settled.
Home Retail Group Services LTD
£ 0
30/11/2012
Settled.
HSBC Bank
£ 0
31/12/2011
Settled.
Hutchison 3G Uk
£ 0
01/07/2011
Settled.
O2 Uk Limited
£ 0
01/05/2009
Settled.
The open accounts are:-

Halifax
£ 46,754
28/02/2015
Up to date.
HSBC Bank
£ 7,303
31/01/2015
Up to date.


Vodafone LTD
£ 0
01/03/2015

There is nothing regarding 3 on either closed or open accounts.I cannot find any defaults mentioned on the report either.

Ive highlighted the 3 Entry above

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

Entry Showing "Settled" Almost certainly is the time the account was sold to Lowell.

nem

[tickymicky]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

Isn't hutchinson telecom part of orange.

[ODC]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

Isn't hutchinson telecom part of orange.

Hutchinson 3G are the owners of 3 Mobile.

[tickymicky]

Re: Lowell portfolio1.

March 12th 2015,3 sent me a letter stating they were intending to sell the alleged debt to Lowell..23rd March 2015 a letter from Lowell states they were the account holders from 16th February 2015.( I never received any such letter from them.I have one dated 12th March and one dated 23rd March). The account at 3 was settled on 1/7/2011.So how do 3 or Lowell suppose I owe over £300.00 if the debt was settled in 2011???