bulldog broadband - fighting beyond the graveyard

[mallet]

three weeks ago a company representing bulldog broadband called moorcroft decided to bring legal charges on me. There reason was that I used to be a customer and I havent paid my bill. Now, this bit gets interesting, I was a customer with bulldog (who dont trade anymore and brought out by cable and wireless) back in 2006 why all of the sudden now 2008 did they come out with this?
to make matters worse, bulldogs customer line doesnt work and you need to be a customer to get in contact with them. and yes, I did input my number which seems to not reconise by bulldogs automated service. and thus, cant go further then that.

Back in 2006 bulldog miss sold us a product by saying you need the crappy telephone line to get the broadband. and I mean it was rubbish. the quality was soo bad you were better off using a tin and cable. so we complain to out local citizens advise bureau who did an excellent job on giving me the right advise. and they even sent a letter to bulldog for a copy of the cancellation of contract, but bulldog refused to send the cancel contract.
Of course, I fought back by the charges rise on me and is pending. but what if bulldog send in another court summoning company to get me to pay the best part of my weeks wages?


-Mallet

[BosonMichael]

They've likely sold their bad debts to a collection agency. They're coming after you for a percentage of the take.

If they bill you, what can you do? You have only two choices: pay it or fight it. Either way, I'd get some sort of contact information from the courts and call them to get this sorted out. Perhaps they'll settle for a smaller amount.

[Phoenix]

Haha I got the same letter
Have not used BG since 2004ish
had to finalise my account with them before they would give me my MAC code, yet 4 years later apparantly I owe them 280 quid (which ofcourse the collection agency is willing to provide a hefty discount on as they likely only paid a few bob for the oppertunity to cash in on my apparant 'debt')

I called them, chewed them out and demanded a full invoice of every charge that made up the supposed debt, which they assured to send, so far nothing!
if they are too slow I will of hopefully skipped the country ;)

[r.h.lee]

Originally Posted by BosonMichael

They've likely sold their bad debts to a collection agency. They're coming after you for a percentage of the take.

If they bill you, what can you do? You have only two choices: pay it or fight it. Either way, I'd get some sort of contact information from the courts and call them to get this sorted out. Perhaps they'll settle for a smaller amount.

BosonMichael,

At least on this side of the pond, we've got rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) as amended by the Fair Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) as well as rights under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). Under the FDCPA, consumers have the right to request validation of the alleged debt to a collection agency through the use of a debt validation letter to verify the validity of the debt. If the courts are involved then the consumer may have overall legal issue against the alleged collection agency for improper service of summons. The correct source of "contact information" should be in the form of a letter or documentation from the alleged collection agency to the consumer. I would advise against calling the collection agency at this point since that would either end or break any semblance of a paper trail that may help the consumer in the courts. Under no circumstances should you settle with the collection agency unless they've proven to you in writing that the original creditor has legally assigned the debt to the collection agency and that everything about the alleged debt is complete and accurate (e.g. the original creditor's alleged debt amount on final bill should match exactly with the alleged debt by the collection agency).

[r.h.lee]

Originally Posted by mallet

three weeks ago a company representing bulldog broadband called moorcroft decided to bring legal charges on me. There reason was that I used to be a customer and I havent paid my bill. Now, this bit gets interesting, I was a customer with bulldog (who dont trade anymore and brought out by cable and wireless) back in 2006 why all of the sudden now 2008 did they come out with this?
to make matters worse, bulldogs customer line doesnt work and you need to be a customer to get in contact with them. and yes, I did input my number which seems to not reconise by bulldogs automated service. and thus, cant go further then that.

Back in 2006 bulldog miss sold us a product by saying you need the crappy telephone line to get the broadband. and I mean it was rubbish. the quality was soo bad you were better off using a tin and cable. so we complain to out local citizens advise bureau who did an excellent job on giving me the right advise. and they even sent a letter to bulldog for a copy of the cancellation of contract, but bulldog refused to send the cancel contract.
Of course, I fought back by the charges rise on me and is pending. but what if bulldog send in another court summoning company to get me to pay the best part of my weeks wages?


-Mallet

Mallet,

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed lawyer in your country so seek competent legal advice from a licensed lawyer in your country.

If Bulldog Broadband still exists as a wholly-owned subsidiary, then I'd call them on the phone to request a duplicate copy of your final bill. If Bulldog Broadband was bought out by another company and absorbed, then contact the "cable and wireless" company for a duplicate copy of your final bill.

Another piece of homework is to find out the proper service of summons procedures for the court that this "moorcroft" organization filed the lawsuit with. If you were improperly served, then the whole lawsuit may be invalid. This is something you'd have to verify with a lawyer.

Another piece of homework is to find out from Bulldog Broadband which is now apparently known as Cable and Wireless if the debt has been legally reassigned to another entity and if so which one. If they do NOT say "moorcroft" then moorcroft sounds like a classification of collection agencies which is below regular collection agencies which is called junk debt buyers or JDBs for short. Basically how JDBs work is that they basically buy a debt that may be beyond the statute of limitations for legal collection activities thus basically unenforceable even in the court of law, send you official looking correspondence to act like they're initiating legal proceedings (which they may not even be able to due to the statute of limitations), and urge you to pay up before they formally file a lawsuit against you (aka the scare tactic used). Basically, they're trying to go on a fishing expedition and try to "earn" (more like try to extort) a "return" on their "investment" of their payment they made to the original creditor which is usually just a fraction of the total alleged debt. What JDBs hope you do is pay up the full alleged debt amount which would become nothing but mostly profit for those organizations. So my point is, before you even think of paying, make sure you're paying the right organization first.

Another piece of homework is to research a lawyer that specializes in consumer laws to help you if the going gets too tough. Sometimes, the same written request that you made with the letterhead of a lawyer's office may become more effective. Good luck in solving this issue.

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by r.h.lee

BosonMichael,

At least on this side of the pond, we've got rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) as amended by the Fair Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) as well as rights under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). Under the FDCPA, consumers have the right to request validation of the alleged debt to a collection agency through the use of a debt validation letter to verify the validity of the debt. If the courts are involved then the consumer may have overall legal issue against the alleged collection agency for improper service of summons. The correct source of "contact information" should be in the form of a letter or documentation from the alleged collection agency to the consumer. I would advise against calling the collection agency at this point since that would either end or break any semblance of a paper trail that may help the consumer in the courts. Under no circumstances should you settle with the collection agency unless they've proven to you in writing that the original creditor has legally assigned the debt to the collection agency and that everything about the alleged debt is complete and accurate (e.g. the original creditor's alleged debt amount on final bill should match exactly with the alleged debt by the collection agency).

You should always get everything in writing before settling... that's a given, dude.

[disarm]

If someone is after money owed but does not claim/tell you about it within a certain amount of years, its can be invalid. I'm not sure on the exact time period though.

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by disarm

If someone is after money owed but does not claim/tell you about it within a certain amount of years, its can be invalid. I'm not sure on the exact time period though.

Not sure what it would be in the UK. In the US, I believe it's either 7 or 10 years, and that timer starts counting since the last payment activity, not since the date of the debt.

In any case, I'd guess it'd be somewhat longer than two whole years.

[Bluerinse]

Originally Posted by disarm

If someone is after money owed but does not claim/tell you about it within a certain amount of years, its can be invalid. I'm not sure on the exact time period though.

It looks like six years in England..

useful stuff posted on the forum linked below, snippet..

A debt isn't necessarily written off after a certain period of time, but after six years with no contact (five years in Scotland) it becomes "statute-barred", meaning that the creditor can no longer take Court action to recover it.

http://www.debtquestions.co.uk/debt_...p?f=7&p=192242

[Fergal1982]

I had a similar thing with another company a few years back. I was paying for dialup (which was free and unmetered, for a monthly cost). When I moved to another address, I duly called them up to change my details. A few months later I got a phone bill in for a whopping amount. When confronted, the company declared that the number I was on didnt support the free dialup I was paying for, but I wasnt told that at the time. Wrote them a letter cancelling with immediate effect, and told them that I wouldn't settle my outstanding balance because they misrepresented things to me.

A year letter, a debt company took on the debt and sent me a letter. When I called to complain to them, I was told that they'd received so many complaints that they'd handed all the debts back to the company. last I heard about it.

The period is indeed 6 (5 for scotland). At least, thats the limit on claiming for the whole bank charges thing.

Bear in mind that in the worst case scenario - where you go to court, and are told to pay the debt - the courts will take your income into account when deciding how much you have to pay back each installment. They arent going to try and demand you pay more than you can reasonably afford in a single installment. If it gets to that (and I doubt it will personally to be honest), just draw up a detailed accounting of your budget. That way if they order you to pay, you have the budget on hand, to show what you could reasonably afford.

[mallet]

thank you all for taking the time to help me out. although I could pay out to them, but I really dont think I should based on there crap customer service I got. plus, bulldogs customer service lines dont work any more. neither do there emails. and Cable and wireless dont seem to helping either. C&W dont deal with bulldog enquires even though they own the freakin company. i cant even request the final bill.
Iam very tempted to get a lawyer involved, but how do I go about looking for one? as I never needed one, until now.


-Mallet

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by mallet

thank you all for taking the time to help me out. although I could pay out to them, but I really dont think I should based on there crap customer service I got.

Whether you should or not may be irrelevant... sometimes, you have to decide whether it will cost you more - both in time AND money - to fight it rather than just pay it and get it off your back. That decision is entirely up to you. Whichever way you choose will be the best decision for you.

[NightWalker]

Originally Posted by mallet

Iam very tempted to get a lawyer involved, but how do I go about looking for one? as I never needed one, until now.
-Mallet

Speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau, they will help point you in the right direction.