"default" on my credit file (ERROR BY O2!!)

[MohebH]

Hi all,

I took out a contract with o2 mid April and 2 month later I got an email on 24th May 2021 saying there were changes to the terms and conditions of my contract, and I could terminate my contract with o2 without paying any early termination fees or cancellation fees.

I called o2 and confirmed the procedure and they said you need to give this PAC-code to another provider and this will terminate the contract. I was reassured if I get a final bill, I should call in an o2 will credit my account.

I left o2 on 27th May 2021 and got a final bill of £524. I contacted o2 and they said they will credit my account. Next month I get another bill of £524, I called o2 and they said there system is showing £0 and I should ignore this and call if it continues. Again, next month I have a bill for £524. I called o2 and they said the account shows £0 and they weren't sure why I'm getting a bill of £524.

3 months after I left, the £524 was sold to Lowell and I have a "Default" on my credit score!

I contacted Lowell and they started investigating.

I contacted o2 many times and eventually they realised the error and sent they credited my account in full. They accidently sent the money to my bank account, so I called o2 and they said that was an error, it was supposed to credit your o2 account. So I paid o2 the amount back for them to credit my o2 account. 

Moving forward, Lowell said o2 is still demanding payment! I contacted o2 and the money sent to your bank  account was supposed to be sent to Lowell. So they sent £524 to my bank account and closed my O2 account, which i ended up paying Lowell and closing my account with Lowell. 

There is still Default in my credit score.

I have sent an email to CreditFileReferrals@o2.com and amendmentteam@o2.com explaining the situation but they have not responded (nearly a month now).

I call o2 customer services and the support from the payment management team is absolutely poor. The error was caused by o2 but I am here spending months trying to clean up this mess. I have asked to speak to a manager or supervisor but the payment management adviser was refusing to put me through "as they would say the same thing".

It is frustrating and appalling that this ERROR BY o2 is so difficult to fix. My credit score has dropped drastically and I have been on this limbo since June 2021. 

I have also asked for all the notes on the o2 system from all the time I have called since June, it's been 3 months now and I still have not received anything. I have asked for this multiple times and they say it will take up to 2 month for me to get a transcript of the notes but I have not received anything.

Honestly, this has been the worst experience ever and the o2 advisers don't do anything to help and there are no response from the credit amendment teams.

If anyone can look into this and recommend how to speed up the process, it would be kindly appreciated!

Hasib

[MohebH]

When I spoke to the o2 advisor about leaving, they gave me a PAC code. 

After calling many times, they said I was supposed to get a specially generated PAC from a manager which will clear all the amount left in my account. How am I supposed to know this, I simply followed their instructions and it has caused all this mess.

I want a transcript of all the notes in the system between me and the o2 customer support, everything is detailed in there by o2 is not sending me this!

[madasaf1sh]

@MohebH 

You need to raise a SAR Request to get all the information, customer services can not request this for you. 

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/safety-and-security/how-to-get-a-copy-of-the-information-we-store-about-yo...

You need to email the credit referrals team, again as they may not have got the email, its that simple. 

You could also try going through the CRA's and ask them to raise a dispute on your credit file ( your credit score is a pile of rubbish as its made up by the CRA's to sell you services), this has worked for me with Vodafone and some other companies.

[MohebH]

Thank you for explaining that. My credit score has dropped from 882 to 476, and I don't think it's a pile of rubbish when applying for a mortgage, which I will be doing towards the end of this year. 

It's silly why they don't say the SAR request on the phone. 

Credit referral team did get the email because I got a confirmation saying they will respond within 3 working days.

I will send another email to follow up!

Thanks

[MohebH]

So i raised a dispute to the default with Experian, but they could only see Lowell. Lowell replied with:

"The account defaulted prior to Lowell purchasing it, the default is reporting correctly."

So o2 defaulted the account and sold the remaining balance of £524 to Lowell.

O2 then credited my bank account with the full amount to pay Lowell, however the default still stands.

I emailed credit referrals team again on 07/01/22, I'll wait couple more days for a response.

[MohebH]

After about a month, o2 credit referrals team replied with

"I am unable to assist you as when an account is sold to a third party debt collector the O2 entry is automatically deleted from the credit file."

I think this is a very blunt response, no investigation of the issue nor apology. They did not even contacting Lowell to amend the credit file. I called the third party debt collector company "Lowell" and they said they can't change the credit file as it was sold to them with a default in it.

I have raised a dispute with Lowell, but the communication and error fixing a complete shambles. I has been nearly 9 months since I left o2 and it has been a nightmare ever since. I get sent from department to department, and now company to company (O2 <--> Lowell). 

A complete JOKE!

[StayGolden]

Hi, 

Where you able to solve this? I'm in a similar situation - VERY frustrating

[Oxonian]

@StayGolden 

If you are addressing your question to @MohebH, you will need to tag him thus.

However, this thread is two years' old so a response is unlikely.