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Hi, I am after some help with my case.
As a bit of background. My son in December 2014 (Christmas Day) racked up my iPad bill to around £500. I disputed this with Vodafone as I said that there is no way I personally would rack up a bill to that amount in less than 24 hours and that they should have either contacted me or put a stop to the internet at the time. However, they did not accept this and I went ahead and made a direct debit payment of £31.99 (the original monthly payment) on 3rd January 2015 and then a final payment of £421.98 on 3rd February 2015. Now I will be honest and say I actually cannot remember making this payment to them but have just checked my bank statement which confirms this and secondly not sure if I needed to make any more payments.
Fast forward to January 2016 and I started getting letters from Lowell chasing this debt for the amount of £587.95. I ignored all there letters and requests (stupidly thinking it would go away).
I then received a Letter of Claim - 30 days to Prevent Legal Action from Lowell solicitors on 3rd December 2020. I then contacted Vodafone to try and receive more information as I wanted to contest that this debt had been part paid and it was now statute barred. Unfortunately Vodafone were unable to retrieve any information regarding my account. They couldn't even find my account on their system as an old account. I then wrote a letter to Lowell solicitors which I sent in normal post, being that I was unable to leave the house and go to the post office to get this sent by recorded delivery and used a stamp I had at home.
I was then surprised to receive a claim form from County Court Business Centre.
The Particulars are as follows:
1) The Defendant entered into an agreement with Vodafone under account reference xxxxxx (the Agreement)
2) The Defendant failed to maintain the required payments and the service was terminated.
3) The Agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on 29/01//2016 and notice give to the Defendant.
4) Despite repeated requests for payment, the sum of £587.95 remains due and outstanding.
And the Claimant claims
a) the said sum of £587.95
b) Interest pursuant to s69 County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of £0.129, but limited to one year, being £47.04
c) costs
I would like to know which way to defend this as I will be honest and say I really cannot recall much of what happened around that period and just know that I disputed the amount but made a payment in Feb 2015.
Can I defend this using statute barred? Or does this only kick in from the date of the last payment which was 3rd February 2015? Or should I dispute part of the amount bearing in the mind the total they are claiming is £634.99 including the interest under s69 county courts Act 1984 (previously mentioned above) plus Court fee of £60, Legal representative cost £70 so the total amount to pay is £764.99 so the total left is £311.02 if I include the payment i made of £421.98 plus the £31.99 payment (previously mentioned above).
If someone could help would be so appreciated.
As a bit of background. My son in December 2014 (Christmas Day) racked up my iPad bill to around £500. I disputed this with Vodafone as I said that there is no way I personally would rack up a bill to that amount in less than 24 hours and that they should have either contacted me or put a stop to the internet at the time. However, they did not accept this and I went ahead and made a direct debit payment of £31.99 (the original monthly payment) on 3rd January 2015 and then a final payment of £421.98 on 3rd February 2015. Now I will be honest and say I actually cannot remember making this payment to them but have just checked my bank statement which confirms this and secondly not sure if I needed to make any more payments.
Fast forward to January 2016 and I started getting letters from Lowell chasing this debt for the amount of £587.95. I ignored all there letters and requests (stupidly thinking it would go away).
I then received a Letter of Claim - 30 days to Prevent Legal Action from Lowell solicitors on 3rd December 2020. I then contacted Vodafone to try and receive more information as I wanted to contest that this debt had been part paid and it was now statute barred. Unfortunately Vodafone were unable to retrieve any information regarding my account. They couldn't even find my account on their system as an old account. I then wrote a letter to Lowell solicitors which I sent in normal post, being that I was unable to leave the house and go to the post office to get this sent by recorded delivery and used a stamp I had at home.
I was then surprised to receive a claim form from County Court Business Centre.
The Particulars are as follows:
1) The Defendant entered into an agreement with Vodafone under account reference xxxxxx (the Agreement)
2) The Defendant failed to maintain the required payments and the service was terminated.
3) The Agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on 29/01//2016 and notice give to the Defendant.
4) Despite repeated requests for payment, the sum of £587.95 remains due and outstanding.
And the Claimant claims
a) the said sum of £587.95
b) Interest pursuant to s69 County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of £0.129, but limited to one year, being £47.04
c) costs
I would like to know which way to defend this as I will be honest and say I really cannot recall much of what happened around that period and just know that I disputed the amount but made a payment in Feb 2015.
Can I defend this using statute barred? Or does this only kick in from the date of the last payment which was 3rd February 2015? Or should I dispute part of the amount bearing in the mind the total they are claiming is £634.99 including the interest under s69 county courts Act 1984 (previously mentioned above) plus Court fee of £60, Legal representative cost £70 so the total amount to pay is £764.99 so the total left is £311.02 if I include the payment i made of £421.98 plus the £31.99 payment (previously mentioned above).
If someone could help would be so appreciated.
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