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Hi all,
I have read much about the Lowell group and sadly now find myself receiving communications from them. As of yet, I have not responded but wondered if anyone had any advice on the best way to handle this situation.
Almost 2 years ago I wanted to close my account with Talktalk as I had been appalled by their service and was moving home. I went through the usual online process to terminate my contract with more than 5 weeks notice, as required in my contract. I had no acknowledgement that this had been processed so i emailed and requested confirmation that I all the necessary steps had been taken. Having received no response despite several emails over the following week I called them. I was told that I had to follow the online process for terminating my contract and that someone would call me back to discuss further. After another 2 weeks I finally received an email acknowledging my termination which they dated as 4 weeks from their email, rather than from my request to terminate.
I had many long email and phone discussions with Talktalk about how much I would have to pay as i felt the cancellation should have been dated from when they received notification, not from when they finally processed it. I was told on the phone by a customer services manager that he was sorry for this confusion and that the request would be back dated. Then I received a final bill contrary to this which I again called to dispute. Over the following month I emailed and spoke to various members of Talktalk to try to ressolve this and advised them that I would pay what I knew I owed them, and after that they needed to contact me to discuss this 'over charging'. I received no contact other than to receive another bill for what they considered to be the reminaing balance, this time with an overdue charge added to it.
After almost a year of having faceless bills but no contact from Talktalk I emailed them to request that someone call me to discuss matters as after that I would not seek them any further. Now almost 2 years later I have received a letter from Lowell saying that the debt had been sold to them. However, I have received no notification from Talktalk that this would happen.
I called Talktalk to discuss and they said that they sent a letter informing me of the action, but it was a letter I have never received and they would not tell me what address it was sent to. I had told them that they should have several notes on my record to say that I was moving house and that they had no proof of me receiving this letter. I had received no call or email despite them having all this information to file. I have asked them to make a note on my 'file' that I will be taking this further and was considering applying for a SAR(?) to find out what exactly they have logged about me. I have also not yet responded to the Lowell group (who keep texting) but I don;t want to ignore them if they are going to take this further.
I have recently spoken to a communications ombudsman and will be sending all my records of the Talktalk scenario (many of which were lengthy telephone conversations, so I have little more than my work but assume this will be documented by Talktalk) to them, but I am interested to know if there is anything else I should be doing just now, or am I best just to ignore Lowell until things get processed by the ombudsman? I am aware that given the time that has passed and the alleged 'debt' has been passed on, there might be nothing that the ombudsman can do, in which case, should I just pay Lowell or keep ignoring them. The debt is for about £20 only but I was so annoyed by the poor perform ace of Talktalk and their treatment of customers, I will happily fight this.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
I have read much about the Lowell group and sadly now find myself receiving communications from them. As of yet, I have not responded but wondered if anyone had any advice on the best way to handle this situation.
Almost 2 years ago I wanted to close my account with Talktalk as I had been appalled by their service and was moving home. I went through the usual online process to terminate my contract with more than 5 weeks notice, as required in my contract. I had no acknowledgement that this had been processed so i emailed and requested confirmation that I all the necessary steps had been taken. Having received no response despite several emails over the following week I called them. I was told that I had to follow the online process for terminating my contract and that someone would call me back to discuss further. After another 2 weeks I finally received an email acknowledging my termination which they dated as 4 weeks from their email, rather than from my request to terminate.
I had many long email and phone discussions with Talktalk about how much I would have to pay as i felt the cancellation should have been dated from when they received notification, not from when they finally processed it. I was told on the phone by a customer services manager that he was sorry for this confusion and that the request would be back dated. Then I received a final bill contrary to this which I again called to dispute. Over the following month I emailed and spoke to various members of Talktalk to try to ressolve this and advised them that I would pay what I knew I owed them, and after that they needed to contact me to discuss this 'over charging'. I received no contact other than to receive another bill for what they considered to be the reminaing balance, this time with an overdue charge added to it.
After almost a year of having faceless bills but no contact from Talktalk I emailed them to request that someone call me to discuss matters as after that I would not seek them any further. Now almost 2 years later I have received a letter from Lowell saying that the debt had been sold to them. However, I have received no notification from Talktalk that this would happen.
I called Talktalk to discuss and they said that they sent a letter informing me of the action, but it was a letter I have never received and they would not tell me what address it was sent to. I had told them that they should have several notes on my record to say that I was moving house and that they had no proof of me receiving this letter. I had received no call or email despite them having all this information to file. I have asked them to make a note on my 'file' that I will be taking this further and was considering applying for a SAR(?) to find out what exactly they have logged about me. I have also not yet responded to the Lowell group (who keep texting) but I don;t want to ignore them if they are going to take this further.
I have recently spoken to a communications ombudsman and will be sending all my records of the Talktalk scenario (many of which were lengthy telephone conversations, so I have little more than my work but assume this will be documented by Talktalk) to them, but I am interested to know if there is anything else I should be doing just now, or am I best just to ignore Lowell until things get processed by the ombudsman? I am aware that given the time that has passed and the alleged 'debt' has been passed on, there might be nothing that the ombudsman can do, in which case, should I just pay Lowell or keep ignoring them. The debt is for about £20 only but I was so annoyed by the poor perform ace of Talktalk and their treatment of customers, I will happily fight this.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
