Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

[taz_in_2001]

I have received a letter this morning stating that EE have now transferred my old account to Lowells, however, firstly this account is still in dispute as I do not owe this money to them in the first place and secondly the amount they have stated in this letter of £258.54 is not the amount they have been chasing for all these years.

I will state here this is an ongoing case that started over 3 years ago where I have non stop disputed I do not owe this money to them but regardless of my methods they refuse to cease. I have requested am SAR but received nothing but bills around 4 months after requesting and nothing else.

The last on these bills was this:


Thinking thankfully this is now all sorted I set about trying to remove the default from my account, this is the response I was given when I requested that:


My question now is where do I go from here, I have a bill dated March 3rd 16 with a zero balance and an email from there stating the balance is owed on my credit file but have been written off.

Where do I legally stand?

Regards and thanks in advance for any help
Sarah

[Captain Haddock]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

First off, do NOT respond to Lowell just now.

Why do you think EE has wiped the balance but still considers it due? What happened? Do you know if they have sold the 'debt' to Lowell?

[taz_in_2001]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

I haven't contacted Lowell at all, they've since sent me a letter telling me that I owe them and Orange/EE have sent me a deadlock letter with regards to the complaint.
It's ridiculous, no matter how hard I fight and tell them what's happened they just go against it. Surely if I have a bill stating -£214 on it they can't chase me?

[taz_in_2001]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

When I questioned the zero balance on the bill, this is what they stated:
After reviewing your account, I can confirm that the outstanding balance of £214.26 inc VAT is still owed on your account.
The balance has been written off which means we will no longer pursue you for a payment, however, you are still liable for this balance.
This will remain on your credit file as an unpaid balance until you have paid it in full. We will then amend your credit file to show as settled.
Thank you again for your email. I trust this clarifies the balance on your account .

Doesn't really clarify anything though as far as I'm concerned, can you give a person a credit like that to an account but still class it as owed?

Thanks

[Captain Haddock]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

Well, they obviously consider it still a 'debt' and have flogged it off onto Lowell. If you're adamant you don't owe it the be prepared to let Lowell prove you do. Do not ignore their correspondence if EE has flogged it for Lowell have a habit of trying nasty tricks. A favourite one is to try serve you with a Statutory Demand which could, if ignored, end up with you being made bankrupt.

[taz_in_2001]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

Well, they obviously consider it still a 'debt' and have flogged it off onto Lowell. If you're adamant you don't owe it the be prepared to let Lowell prove you do. Do not ignore their correspondence if EE has flogged it for Lowell have a habit of trying nasty tricks. A favourite one is to try serve you with a Statutory Demand which could, if ignored, end up with you being made bankrupt.

Surely though if I provide a copy of an actual bill where there is £214.00 deducted then that goes in my favour. Why would they put this credit on the account if they still plan to chase it as a debt.

They have now sent me a deadlock letter, however an email I have from customer relations saying this:
Thanks for your further email regarding your account.

I'm sorry of there has been some confusion regarding Nicola's response, I would like to clarify this matter for you. For all we had wrote off the amount owed and sold the debt to Lowell, this means you are no longer being perused for the amount owed, by Orange, however, you owe the debt to Lowell.

This means that the detriment will still remain on your credit file as un-paid. Should you wish for the default to show as settled rather than outstanding, you will have to contact Lowell to make the payment owed to reflect this.

As you are still in dispute of the balance, please refer to your deadlock letter sent.

I acknowledge you are still in dispute with the account number ********. However, after reading your most recent email I am unable to see any new issues raised. After reviewing my previous correspondence I feel all your issues have been addressed and answered in full.

Any future correspondence will be logged but may not be responded too

Kind regards
Carlianne Elliott
Executive Customer Relations

states they sold it Lowell but when this Nicole responded to me I hadn't received the deadlock letter and the account was fully in dispute.

Where do I stand on this?
Thanks

[taz_in_2001]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

[IMG][/IMG]

ive just come across this letter that I received in September. They have stated here that they I am no longer being pursued for the money but it will stay on my credit rating. It's now been sold to Lowell so where do I stand on this?.
Thanks

[charitynjw]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

Do you want to refer this to the ombudsman, or would you rather go down the Lowells/possible court claim route?

[sloane82]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

Ok seems a bit odd really get an subject acess request from them, it will cost you £10 and ask them why the bill was for this amount. As it is quite high and why they are still pursuing you for this?

[taz_in_2001]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

Do you want to refer this to the ombudsman, or would you rather go down the Lowells/possible court claim route?

I would quite happily go either way

Ok seems a bit odd really get an subject acess request from them, it will cost you £10 and ask them why the bill was for this amount. As it is quite high and why they are still pursuing you for this?

In these posts I state I have asked for one
i requested from phone calls, texts, notes on the system etc but all I received was 10 years worth of bills including a last one issued in march stating I owe zero

[sloane82]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

I would get there address send them a cheque for £10, for an subject acess request. And contact the communications ombudsman regarding the matter.

[taz_in_2001]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

I would get there address send them a cheque for £10, for an subject acess request. And contact the communications ombudsman regarding the matter.

I sent them the £10 cheque for a SAR but all I received from them was 10 years worth of bills. I'd requested everything from voice logs of calls to text messages to phone call notes that they had in their system

[sloane82]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

Reading that it has gone to the communications ombudsman they cannot help you, really odd this is basically after a certain amount of time. The ombudsman cannot deal with these problems i would write ee-orange a letter do your sar and if they are still pursuing you, that this is statute barred and they cannot take any payments from you.

[R0b]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

Going down the Ombudsman route is by far the cheapest option since it is free, though you have to jump some hoops by making a formal complaint (it would be Lowell here as they are the legal owners of the debt). They have 8 weeks to provide a decision, though it wouldn't surprise me if they did not uphold your complaint. At that stage you then proceed to the Ombudsman who will look at what is fair and reasonable and not necessarily what is considered as the law.

If the Ombudsman doesn't uphold your decision then I would expect Lowell to issue proceedings for the recovery of the debt.

From a legal perspective, you may have a defence of estoppel by representation and/or promissory estoppel. In simple terms, it means that if EE have provided a representation which then contradicts that position at a later stage and you relied on it ,then Lowell may be prevented from claiming the alleged debt.

[taz_in_2001]

Re: Confused by Orange/EE and their methods

I have just had a response from the company I changed to and I started with them in January 2015. Orange are saying they are for bills of January, February, March and April of 2015 but I had already taken my number in January. My contract price at that time was £15 a month with Orange so where the £214 has come from is a mystery. They keep changing their statements.
Would it be worth me trying the estoppel route?