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Hello,
I'm new to Legal Beagles and would like some help if possible.
My partner was the bill payer for his son's mobile phone with TMobile in 2010 (his son was 16 at the time and had left home and my partner didn't know where he was living, but agreed to pay the bill in order to keep in touch with him. They are no longer in touch with each other so we have no way of communicating with him). In October 2010, my partner noticed over £500 was taken from his account to TMobile. He called Tmobile to ask why such a large amount was taken from his bank account. They said it was call charges his son had made. He asked for the account to be cancelled and we confirmed this by email.
He had no further communication from TMobile, until January this year (over 3 years later) when he received a letter from Lowells for £1163.53 claiming to be a TMobile bill. Because my partner suffers from anxiety, I took over the complaint on his behalf. This situation is worrying him so much. He sent letters to Lowells and Tmobile to confirm I could act on his behalf.
I emailed Lowells immediatley to ask for a breakdown of the figure as I don't believe we owed the money after cancelling the contract with TMobile. In April 2014 I received a letter from Lowells with an attachment with TMobile headed paper for £1163.53. There was no breakdown of what it was for, just a total amount (as an aside, if that is the case, how is Lowells making any profit from this debt if the copy of the Tmobile bill they sent is for the exact amount Lowells is asking for - I have my suspicions).
Lowells told me that if I wanted a breakdown of the account, I had to contact TMobile direct. Which I did, but after many phone calls and emails, (and them implying on more than one occasion that my partner is the account holder as well as the bill payer (because they have the same initial and surname)), they told me that I could not have a breakdown of the account as neither my partner or I were the account holder and couldn't divulge that information under data protection. TMobile told me that if I wanted a further breakdown of the account, I would have to do that through Lowells. I explained the situation to Lowells who said they would request a breakdown of the account. After some time, they sent us another letter, but it was an exact copy of the first letter and a copy of a TMobile bill for a total of £1163.53 - no breakdown of what the bill was for. I went to Citizens Advice who suggested I followed TMobiles complaints procedure before submitting a complaint to CISAS. Which I did, but CISAS rejected our complaint because we are not the account holder (data protection).
Are we expected to pay a bill that has no explanation (just a random total figure) and after 3 years of no contact from TMobile? TMobile said they would have contacted the account holder regarding the bill which we would know nothing about as we live at a different address. Why didn't TMobile contact the bill payer at a much earlier date? We offered to provide proof that my partner has lived at the same address since 2004 but they didn't take us up on our offer.
It is very distressing to get a letter from the debt collection agency out of the blue for a bill we thought had been settled in October 2010. Nobody seems to be able to help us. If nobody owns the problem, how are we going to get it resolved. Are we just expected to pay a random amount received out of the blue without question?
In a nutshell, Lowells is asking us for this amount of money without any explanation of what it is for. We cannot get any information under data protection because we are not the account holder yet they want my partner to cough up the money. Unfortunately, we don't have any contact with the account holder.
This sort of company doesn't worry me but I don't like the effect it is having on my partner.
I'm new to Legal Beagles and would like some help if possible.
My partner was the bill payer for his son's mobile phone with TMobile in 2010 (his son was 16 at the time and had left home and my partner didn't know where he was living, but agreed to pay the bill in order to keep in touch with him. They are no longer in touch with each other so we have no way of communicating with him). In October 2010, my partner noticed over £500 was taken from his account to TMobile. He called Tmobile to ask why such a large amount was taken from his bank account. They said it was call charges his son had made. He asked for the account to be cancelled and we confirmed this by email.
He had no further communication from TMobile, until January this year (over 3 years later) when he received a letter from Lowells for £1163.53 claiming to be a TMobile bill. Because my partner suffers from anxiety, I took over the complaint on his behalf. This situation is worrying him so much. He sent letters to Lowells and Tmobile to confirm I could act on his behalf.
I emailed Lowells immediatley to ask for a breakdown of the figure as I don't believe we owed the money after cancelling the contract with TMobile. In April 2014 I received a letter from Lowells with an attachment with TMobile headed paper for £1163.53. There was no breakdown of what it was for, just a total amount (as an aside, if that is the case, how is Lowells making any profit from this debt if the copy of the Tmobile bill they sent is for the exact amount Lowells is asking for - I have my suspicions).
Lowells told me that if I wanted a breakdown of the account, I had to contact TMobile direct. Which I did, but after many phone calls and emails, (and them implying on more than one occasion that my partner is the account holder as well as the bill payer (because they have the same initial and surname)), they told me that I could not have a breakdown of the account as neither my partner or I were the account holder and couldn't divulge that information under data protection. TMobile told me that if I wanted a further breakdown of the account, I would have to do that through Lowells. I explained the situation to Lowells who said they would request a breakdown of the account. After some time, they sent us another letter, but it was an exact copy of the first letter and a copy of a TMobile bill for a total of £1163.53 - no breakdown of what the bill was for. I went to Citizens Advice who suggested I followed TMobiles complaints procedure before submitting a complaint to CISAS. Which I did, but CISAS rejected our complaint because we are not the account holder (data protection).
Are we expected to pay a bill that has no explanation (just a random total figure) and after 3 years of no contact from TMobile? TMobile said they would have contacted the account holder regarding the bill which we would know nothing about as we live at a different address. Why didn't TMobile contact the bill payer at a much earlier date? We offered to provide proof that my partner has lived at the same address since 2004 but they didn't take us up on our offer.
It is very distressing to get a letter from the debt collection agency out of the blue for a bill we thought had been settled in October 2010. Nobody seems to be able to help us. If nobody owns the problem, how are we going to get it resolved. Are we just expected to pay a random amount received out of the blue without question?
In a nutshell, Lowells is asking us for this amount of money without any explanation of what it is for. We cannot get any information under data protection because we are not the account holder yet they want my partner to cough up the money. Unfortunately, we don't have any contact with the account holder.
This sort of company doesn't worry me but I don't like the effect it is having on my partner.
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