I cannot believe how many people on here have had such similar experiences to mine. I have been battling for over a year to have a default removed from my credit file which should never have been put on there by o2. Like most of you on here I never received a default notice and knew nothing about the money I supposedly owed. It has been told to me that the money owed was due to a termination of contract fee-I never asked for my contract to be terminated! I have reached loggerheads with them where they are saying they cannot remove it and have simply referred me to Ofcom. They have credit my account so it is now showing as satisfied. What I cannot understand is if they are willing to credit my account, why are they not willing to remove the default? I have reported this to Watchdog,a nd plan to also report it to Ofcom, and having read the advice on here I intend to write to o2 and ask for copies of original signed default notice (never received), and any statements or bills showing what I owe (again, never received). I would appreciate any more advice any of you have to offer as well. Thank you all, and if journalists are still interested I would be more than willing to talk to them! x

Hi Rob,

i can see these posts are relatively old now however i am now experiencing a similar problem with o2 and would be grateful for some advice if you receive this.

Many thanks

HI, what is the problem that you are having? I am still trying to sort mine out-3 years on, but having moved house recently I have put it on hold for a bit-I have asked for the copies of bills supposedly sent and of the default notice I should have been sent and have had zilch response from o2. I cannot believe they can get away with this. I intend to write to them again and explain that as I have received no response from them then I can only assume they cannot provide any evidence to show the bills were ever produced, in which case they must remove the default notice from my record. This is what people on here have advised so I have my fingers crossed it will work. If you can tell me a bit more about your situation I can try and advise you-though I have so far had no luck...

Ruth

I had an online account with O2 which I had to cancel at the time as i had no computer access. I advised the operator that cancelled my account that everything had to be sent via post which was confirmed to me. It was not until about sixmonths later that I received a call from a debt collecting agency advising me that there was £131 outstanding. Of course when I was made aware of this I paid it straight away. I then contacted O2 and queried why they didnt write to me as per my request and the response back was that as it was an online account they would only send things via email. I left it here as at the time like I said I had no internet access so could not research it further. Its not until now when I was declined for a mortgage that I had been advised the only reason is because of this default. I contacted their customer services and was advised that this situation occurs time and time again and the operator was more than happy to contact the department to get this default removed. She advised it would take up to 4 weeks so would send email confirmation through to me as well to show my mortgage advisor. A week passed and this wasnt received so contacted them again to find that the operator had given me wrong information and had not left any notes on my account either. I have been in constant communication with O2 via email, fax and over the phone however each email takes at least 5 days to respond to, if at all and over the phone everyone seems to want to pass the buck. O2 advised me that as I did not pay the bill within 14 days the default stands however my argument is that once I was aware of the bill, i paid it within an hour! No default notice was sent however I have been advised that this is ok? I have now reported all of the above to offcom and have now also written a letter directly to the Chairman of O2 as well. I am just so disgusted that I have been given wrong information throughout this and o2 have basically said that theres nothing I can do about and advised me if i didnt like it, to take legal action.

Charlotte

HI Charlotte, your situation sounds SO similar to mine it's uncanny-only difference is mine wasn't an online account-the trouble came when I went away travelling for a year - 2005-2006 - so u can see how far back this problem goes, and it is still not sorted. I did not receive any of the bills for the amount I later accidentally found out I had defaulted for and like you did not receive a default notice-you are right they can unfortunately legally get away with this but in my opinion this means that the law needs changing. I have disputed this with o2 over and over and have so far got nowhere. Like you, I was told that they could happily remove the default and that it was no problem but then later was told this was wrong information. There is zero communication between departments, the notes left on peoples' accounts are shoddy and sometimes missing, and they like you said pass the buck and at no point have they apologised to me in writing. I have had my account credited with the owed amount so basically I no longer owe it-this was described as a gesture of goodwill-so they did not have to admit to being at fault, and yet they cannot bring themselves to remove the default. They do not care that they are messing with peoples' lives-like you the first I heard of this was being turned down for a loan, and for you being turned down for a mortgage because of o2's lack of communication and poor record keeping is just absolutely appalling.

Like I said in my last message I have requested in writing that they send me copies of these bills they allegedly sent me and have received nothing back from them-which is against their code of practice-they must reply to any complaint within 28 days and I stated this in the letter. I have since moved house but fully intend to pursue it again asap and ask that on the grounds of lack of evidence that they ever produced these bills they now remove the default. If that gets me nowhere I will take legal action. I have had some dealings with Ofcom over this but to be honest did not find them to be much help, there is nothing they can do until they find they are getting a ridiculous amount of complaints about the same thing. Perhaps we should all just keep pestering them?

Would you be kind enough to give me the address you sent your letter to to the chairman of o2-I think this may be what I need to do. It would be good to stay updated on your situation and if you manage to resolve it and I will do the same. If you wish to email me privately my address is XXXX Moderator - email address removed, in line with MS terms of service.

For more details about adding your email to your profile, click here.

Ruth x

Hi,

I also have a default from o2 and it is also preventing us from getting a mortgage and as such it is ruining our lives. What is the current advice with this?

Cheers

This issue does keep coming up with matters believed dealt with for relatively small amounts coming back:

The advice with all communication for cancelling, agreeing amounts etc. is:

- keep your own full records of time/date/who you spoke to etc.

- ensure you have actually agreed something with that person. If necessary state it back to them and get them to agree.

- ensure they have made a note of what has been said/agreed. Ask them to confirm they have made a recording. Note in your own record that you have asked and they have confirmed!

- agree a date by which time they will respond/do what they say they will do.

Once you have done all the above, then don't believe what you have been told until you have it in writing/fax/printable email communication.

Should things then go wrong, then it is ALWAYS going to be a matter of your word against theirs. It you do not have sufficient evidence that you have sorted it then the best thing you can do is learn from your mistake, pay your money and get on with your life. If you do have enough evidence, then put this evidence before them (ensuring all items sent by registered delivery etc.) and state how long you are willing to give them to correct it before you take it further. In all such letters only state matters you are sure about and do not weaken your argument(s) by putting in information that can be disputed. Also state what outcome you require.

If you still get no satisfaction, or insufficient satisfaction, then follow up via any ombudsman or take legal action immediately. Legal action is likely to cost you £100+ but may be worth it if your debt credility has been injured. Legal action will also give you a sense of empowerment. Before legal action ensure that all reasonable steps have been taken by you to resolve the matter amicably - courts are very hard on people who do not do this (hence ombundsman etc.).

For those who do not have a great deal of evidence, the organisations still owe you a duty of care and therefore should try and resolve matters. Always be polite on the phones, always ask people if they can help you [it is natural for people to wish to help others and works surprisingly well].

Finally, be aware of what you have on your credit reference file. You may make your own comments against late payments, defaults etc. [although granted they do not always work]. When applying for credit etc., get your own versions in first. Keep your comments simple, admit what you have done wrong and say what you have done to mitigate such errors..

Hi,

Thanks for that. They did agree last week that it was a mistake and it would be removed, I asked the lady to recored it on my notes and email me a copy, this is the email text...

******

I am sending you a copy of the notes I have wrote on your account today.

Customer called today regarding default on his credit file.

I Spoke to collections who gave me debt collector agency number who are dealing with the debt;



Customer needs to make a dispute with them as this debt is an error, customer should not have been charged term fees as he cancelled at end of 12 month contract through email.


This debt is an error as term fees have been applied evan though he cancelled at end of term.... i have been advised by collections that term fees are an error and debt collection agency needs to get in touch with us so we can wipe of debt.

*****

They are now saying this is wrong and are refusing to do it, it is recorded on my notes. Would this be suitabl evidence to use against them?

What would you suggest?

Many Thanks

Hi

I am assuming that all this was written by O2 on your account and that you have been emailed a copy.

If so, then they have already agreed with you that you paid on time and that no fees should be charge. Furthermore, as you did pay on time, if you have substantially suffered as a result of this, then you should consider requesting compensation for this. I believe that now they will struggle at any level to change what they have put in writing unless you have given them false information.

As stated before, you should keep it simple. Write to them with a copy of your text stating that as O2 have agreed that there should be no debt, then you expect your credit reference file correcting within, say, 30 days and that a resonable offer of compensation is made for all your hassle and loss (due to not being able to remortgage at a lower rate??). As the debt has been passed on (debts can be sold) so if it has been sold, you will need to send a similar letter to the new owner of the debt (although at this stage you cannot claim compensation from them as they have done nothing wrong) requesting that they agree to stop chasing you - and confirm in writing.

Above keep the pressure on them. If you do not hear from them I do believe that you should have an excellent case here.

Hi, just wanted to update people on my situation as it has FINALLY, after nearly two years, been resolved. o2 have now removed the default from my file and are refunding me £25 to cover the cost of all the phone calls I have had to make over this time, however I don't feel it really covers the amount of stress they have caused me but hey ho.
Anyway I just wanted to say that the way I managed to get them to finally do this was to write to the chairman of o2, recorded delivery, and marked it urgent. I stated my case as clearly as I could-it actually took me probably nearly the full 2 years to fully comprehend what had happened as each member of staff I spoke to seemed to speak in code and contradict eachother (an accident? I don't think so). I finally deduced that the bills they allegedly sent out (which were never received!) were completely in error anyway as o2 had agreed to give me a 're-sign' credit of £100 to cover the line rental for the year i would be abroad-so that I would come back to them on my return-which of course never happened as a result of how they treated me! This was not made clear until recently, but the fact that I had this in writing from them probably helped my case. I obviously knew I did not owe the money but only recently realised what the mistake was as I could not get straight answers from anyone. Anyway I hope this has helped some of you still battling with o2-please please perservere as it really is worth it. What angers me the most was that in the end they did it so easily and readily without question. They actually ignored my previous letter to them so this is why I felt it necessary to go to the chairman (someone on here atually suggested this so whoever you are thank you), I explained in my letter how I had been ignored, and also stated that if I had not had the issue resolved satisfactorily within 28 days (the amount of time they HAVE to have responded to any complaint by according to their code of practice-always quote this to them) I would take legal action. Which I most certainly would have done.
Hope I have helped some of you, and good luck in getting it sorted out. Is there any way we can make this more publicly known that o2 are repeatedly doing this to consumers? It must stop now, plus I feel the law must be changed whereby companies MUST send out a default notice to customers.

Ruth

Hi,

Do you have the addess for the chairman?

Cheers

I don't have it off hand as I am at work at the moment but I got it by ringing the head office in Leeds (I think it;s leeds) just look up the number in the phone book, you will get straight through to somebody without pressing any buttons, and you do not need to go into any detail about your case you just explain you want to write to the chairman regarding a complaint and they will give you the name and address no q's asked. I initially tried getting it from the call centre and explained I didn't want to discuss my case I just wanted the address to write to but that was impossible-they said they needed more info on my case and put me on hold for ages, so I ended up hanging up on them and going straight to head office which worked. I previously found it impossible to get the address of the complaints dept from the call centre as they said they didn't have that info-and to look on back of any bills-which I did, but it wasn't there! Surely this sort of practice is totally illegal??? Anyway....

Good Luck getting it sorted-you will do-you just have to continuously fight

Ruth

Hi Ruth,

Do you remember the chairmans name by any chance? I am going to try writing and see where it gets me.

Thanks,

Laura

The chairman is called Matthew Key, but I haven't kept note of his address so your best bet is to follow my advice in my last message about ringing head office. I am sure writing to him will get you the result you deserve. Make sure you send it recorded delivery and I dunno if it helped but I also marked it urgent.

Ruth

I am having the same problem! I've just discovered an o2 default on my file from June 2004 despite not ever knowing I owed them money!!! I am going to follow all your great advice to try and get this sorted but I really believe in strength in numbers and wondered if anyone would be up for collectively writing to Watchdog to try and get our case heard? Please let me know and I can arrange.

This is people's lives they're messing with - it's disgusting!

Claire