Everything Everywhere Trading as Orange

[DaveM]

I transferred my mobile phone account from Orange to 3 in December 2012. In February I got a letter from Orange demanding an outstanding payment with no explanation waht the payment was for so I phoned them & asked them to put their debt collection activity on hold and send me an actual bill detailing what the payment was for. They didn't send me a bill and began marking my credit file with late payments in March leading to a default in August. I have several emails with their Credit Referrals Department refusing to remove the false late payment entries unless I pay the disputed amount. The account was opened in August 2010 and had zero late payment entries until March 2013, despite the account having been disconnected in January when my number was transferred to 3.

I was attempting to become self employed and these entries have prevented me from opening a business bank account. I joined the FSB in order to gain access to the FSB bank account provided by The Co-operative Bank and they won't open that with late payments on my credit file.

I'd like so get some advice on having these markings removed from my credit file and whether or not I might be able to seek compensation from EE/Orange for their attempts to harass me into rolling over and paying a disputed demand for payment.

Thanks in advance.

Dave

[labman]

Re: Everything Everywhere Trading as Orange

Are we talking about a substantial amount? You need the breakdown, and so I'd be inclined to SAR the company which will give you this. Here's a template letter which I hope helps you. It will cost £10 though! :beagle:

[Address]

[Date]

Dear Sir,

Subject Access Request - S.7 Data Protection Act 1998

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 I hereby request that you supply me with any and all historical data in your possession which in any way appertains to me and any accounts or agreements I may ever have held with you.

This should include, but not necessarily be limited to:

· a copy of the original signed mobile contract along with a copy of the Terms and Conditions in place at the time of inception
· statements of account, duplicate statements and/or print outs of all account transactions
· all internal and external correspondence sent or received by you including memos, logs, notes, screen prints and transcripts
· notes of manual interventions such as telephone attendants' notes
· copies of stored telephone conversations, internal and external emails
· any other information held on all types of media in any relevant filing system (microfiche included).

If you have disclosed any information to a third party, with or without my express permission, will you please include details of this in your reply, along with notes of any legal action past or pending, including a true copy of default notices, court orders etc...

If you store any of the older records on microfiche, please be aware that the Information Commissioner deems this to be a relevant filing system under the Act. As such, any microfiche data must be sent to me in fully legible and comprehensible form.

Where any information that you provide includes any charges, for example returned payments, late payment fees, and so on, would you please advise your breakdown of actual costs (liquidated damages) incurred for each charge and the Term or Condition upon which you rely to claim such a charge.

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10.00 to access ALL data held by you about myself. You should be fully aware of your statutory obligations under the Data Protection Act and that any failure to comply with this request will involve a complaint to the ICO as well as potential legal action.

You have 40 days in which to comply with this request and note that this request has been sent Recorded Delivery so I can ensure compliance on these issues comply within the legislative time frames.

Yours faithfully,



Print Name

[DaveM]

Re: Everything Everywhere Trading as Orange

The amount they defaulted me for is a whole £13.

Should I do the SAR anyway? If I have a case for compensation would I be able to claim this back? Would it be reasonable to claim for time spent on things like writing, phoning & whatever costs are incurred as part of pursuing this wrongful default?

Something I'm really not that clear on - a lot of people seem to be saying that a default can't be placed on a credit file without issuing a default notice and allowing time for the matter to be settled. I was also under the impression that placing late payment markers on someone's file for a disputed "debt" was unlawful. Is this the case or are these things much more complicated than they appear to be?

Sometimes it seems like companies just get away with doing things like this because their customers don't have the knowledge or resources to prevent them harassing and bullying people into accepting their behaviour.

[Prudence1]

Re: Everything Everywhere Trading as Orange

From what I understand mobile companies aren't regulated by anyone and they don't HAVE to send out default notices .
I had a default from orange myself for something similar for £25 I sent them a letter in requesting a copy of the credit agreement copies of default notices etc ( this was before I knew they weren't regulated )
anyway i got a letter from them asking me to call , said as far as I knew bill was all paid up and she agreed to remove it which she did.

It it is possible