O2 misbilled me and now this bill has been sold to debt collector

[annoyed2018]

Two years ago I cancelled my monthly O2 contract and switched to Pay As You Go. I got the go-ahead to cancel my direct debit as they cancelled my monthly contract and my SIM card was pay as you go only (which I paid £10 for). Now a company called Lowell said O2 sold them my £20 phone bill. I checked my O2 account. Turns out they were trying to bill my Pay As You Go account as monthly, while charging me for Pay As You Go service. Ofc the bill didn’t get settled because they asked me to cancel the direct debit.

Now this has shown up on my credit report and My credit score dropped from 900 to 480 sth. What should I do now to cancel this? There’s no way in hell I’d pay Lowell. £20 is not a lot of money but I don’t believe I should pay something I didn’t owe anyone. And I believe this is O2’s fault for misbilling me and selling this bill to someone else.

[Anonymous]

@annoyed2018 If you believe it’s O2’s fault then you should make a complaint but defaults are hard to get rid of

https://www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain

[MI5]

You need to contact credit file referrals team but you can only email them at first.
CreditFileReferrals@o2.com
Credit File Referrals Team
Suite P
Arlington Business Centre
Leeds
LS11 0NE
Fax 0113 2025865

[jonsie]

You may have been misinformed but the bill is likely to be the final bill for the contract. The system doesn't usually make mistakes and we always advise not to cancel the direct debit until the balance is zero. You were told incorrectly to cancel the direct debit ad it is on that basis that you need to make a complaint.

The credit file team won't remove the default if it was applied correctly and even paying Lowells won't remove a default. You can however place a notice of correction on your credit file that you have either paid the debt or that you are contesting the charges. Contact customer service for an explanation of the bill and also contact the credit file team. That is the only way forward at the moment, that and a complaint using the Resolver link on the complaints link.

https://www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain