Hello
I have been an O2 customer for at least 3 or 4 years and must have spent in excess of £2000 for my mobile phone service.
Then, about a month ago - I started getting phone calls from BCW, a debt collection agency, about a £70 debt with O2 that i knew nothing about. They were threatening me with court action, which - as an existing customer who is spending upwards of £50 a month with O2 anyway I found peculiar. I received around 10 phone calls, all aggressive in tone, from BCW which, despite me telling them i am an existing customer of O2 show no sign of abating.
I was totally baffled - how can O2 be suing an existing customer who has only ever had one phone and pays c£50 a month without fail for the service?
About 20 months ago I discovered that 2 separate payments for handsets had been going out of my bank account. Again - i was perplexed. I rang O2 to get to the bottom of it. It transpired that my ex partner, from whom i had separated a couple of months earlier had used my account to secure a pay as you go handset. The only security on my account was my mothers maiden name - which of course, she knew.
I was not very happy (obviously) and immediately complained to both her and O2 about this. I had signed no paperwork for this contract, a credit check had been done without my knowledge and it had been done without my agreement. This would have been in September 2012. After my persisted complaints, she transferred the handset monthly payments to her own account through her own bank and agreed to take ownership of the account - (which I never knew existed). That was , I thought, the end of the matter. I have not seen this woman for over 18 months and am not in contact with her.
In July 2013 I moved house and informed O2 of this change.
Imagine my surprise a couple of months ago to have BCW calling me threatening legal action for a £70 debt that i knew absolutely nothing about. They would not give me details but told me to speak to O2. I have now tried speaking to O2 on at least 5 occasions - but no-one will speak about the account in question (assumingly my ex partners) because I dont pass security checks. Of course I cant pass security checks because I knew nothing about the setting up of this account!! The first i knew about it was when I started receiving 2 bills a month when i have only ever had 1 handset!
I do not speak to the person who owns this handset and has for 18 months been paying for this handset. I do not know where she lives.
This handset, account and £70 debt was ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with me ! And I would appreciate it, as a loyal, paying customer not to have debt collection companies ringing me and insinuating that I am someone who cannot pay my way.
In exasperation, I paid the £70 but it now transpires that - despite me being the "good guy" and joining the dots regarding the handset - a black mark will stay on my credit score for the late payment.
This is outrageous and I will be writing to the Information Commissioner. I had no knowledge of this handset purchase, gave no consent for the credit check to be made against my name for the phone and did not know it existed until the 2 bills were coming out. Then as far as I aware, the situation was resolved. I changed my address and did not receive any bills or demands for payment. I AM AN EXISTING CUSTOMER.
Why should O2 share my details, as someone who has never missed a payment for anything in his life - with a Debt Agency when a) i never gave consent for the handset to be purchased - never signed any credit agreement and b) never received a bill for that handset?
All I ask is that O2 remove the name of an existing customer from the black mark that is against them through NO fault of their own.
