Debt Collection note out of the blue - Tesco Mobile

davo10

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

You can do anything you want with a bill pay phone, just as long as you pay the contract you've entered into.

As an aside, I used to work in a job where we had direct debits and standing orders being paid to us. You'd be surprised how often the banks would lose or make a mess of the paperwork.

I entered a contract with Three for bb and phone in November, got a call today saying service would be cut off if I didn't pay bill, turns out I transposed two numbers on IBAN, paid up and corrected details. Mybad.

davo10

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

Thanks, i will get in touch with them see if they can send me a copy of the form(s) if i cannot find them myself in my filing cabinet.

So, yeah that sounds like a good idea if they reduce the debt if it was part their fault.

Mind you when wife talked to tesco mobile on my behalf the other day she said nice person on the phone... but nothing they can do now about anything because it has come to the stage its been passed onto debt collector now so its nothing to do with Tesco mobile now she said.

EDIT: who is likely to have the paperwork for the direct debit now? would it be Tesco mobile or the debt company seeing as they have passed the debt onto a debt collector?

Always deal with Tesco.

wench

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

shame that- is that how you judge everyone? that they want to get a freebie? - or is it just me your judging?

Well, you do have form
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057824293

Andy From Sligo

Adrien Great Picnic wrote: »

Not really anything wrong, except you don't seem to be paying for it. How could you not realise that?

we have sky, 2 tesco mobile , bins (i think) , electricity bill and something else (could be broadband on Internet) all come out on Direct Debit. - we pay money into the account and the direct debits get taken out.

I will surely in the future go through my direct debits with a fine toothcomb in future just in case someone else is not taking what they are supossed to, just in case there is another debt letter out of the blue like that.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with swapping sim to the new phone IF you’ve paid for the phone. And by that I mean pay in full or on a monthly contract.

You said tesco state the contract is a year and half old. In other words, 18 months and it looks like Cabot are charging you for the full 18 months and allowing you to pay it off monthly.

When you setup the agreement 18 months ago, tesco provided the service in advance of payment. Whether you used the service is your business but it still needs paying for. But, what you said above is that you want the free texts, calls, data again. You can’t that’s not how it works.

Just pay what you owe. It’s not costing you any more all that’s changed are the payment dates.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

we have sky, 2 tesco mobile , bins (i think) , electricity bill and something else (could be broadband on Internet) all come out on Direct Debit. - we pay money into the account and the direct debits get taken out.

I will surely in the future go through my direct debits with a fine toothcomb in future just in case someone else is not taking what they are supossed to, just in case there is another debt letter out of the blue like that.

That's hardly a huge volume of direct debits or standing orders to have; phones mobile and landline , gas, electricity, tv, tv licence, broadband, property tax, club memberships, etc. are all fairly standard.
In addition to checking debits are correct, it's always worthwhile insuring none have been missed.
Banks often slip up in initiating direct debits and standing orders. My bank failed to set up TV licence payments twice. But I saw they hadn't done so rather than waiting for a reminder or summons to arrive.

Andy From Sligo

awful lot of judgementing going on

Owryan

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

Just answer me this peeps - is there anything wrong with buying a phone on bill pay but not using its Supplied SIM for it but using another SIM by the same mobile phone provider? - it might not seem logical to some but thats what i did.

Well considering it is the sim not the phone that the bill is attached to, well yes.

delboythedub

Tesco never " furnished" you with an invoice. Tell that to your dept collectors.

davo10

delboythedub wrote: »

Tesco never " furnished" you with an invoice. Tell that to your dept collectors.

The signed agreement is the invoice.

Kevwoody

Is it possible you may have missed the first 2 direct debits resulting in the mandate being terminated?
You dont have to go through your direct debits with "a fine tooth comb" as you put it, you simply need to take better control of your finances. Ive got around 10 direct debits that come out of my account monthly, and i know the exact dates and amounts off by heart. I also check my banking app every few days, and i dont consider any of this as over analysing or anything else.
Also the fact you gave the phone to your wife and she put her SIM into it doesnt make a difference. The cost of the phone also needs to be repayed monthly, you dont get the handset for free. It seems in this case youve got a Samsung S6 for €580, and are now being allowed to pay for it.
Perhaps instead of looking for someone else to blame or letters of apology, you should look at your own handling of the situation.

jimmycrackcorm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

Just answer me this peeps - is there anything wrong with buying a phone on bill pay but not using its Supplied SIM for it but using another SIM by the same mobile phone provider? - it might not seem logical to some but thats what i did.

Absolutely nothing wrong with that, people do that all the time to finance a new phone via a monthly payment.

You just need to make the payments and not whine when they come looking for them.

Andy From Sligo

I thought I was making the payments - I filled out a direct debit form and thought the payments were coming out automatically from the bank. That is how Direct Debit is supposed to work isnt it? - i werent holding payments back from Tesco mobile like a criminal !

Kevwoody

Andy From Sligo wrote:

I thought I was making the payments - I filled out a direct debit form and thought the payments were coming out automatically from the bank. That is how Direct Debit is supposed to work isnt it? - i werent holding payments back from Tesco mobile like a criminal !

Yes thats how Direct Debits work. Did you not look at a single bank statement in 18 months though?

Andy From Sligo

Kevwoody wrote: »

Yes thats how Direct Debits work. Did you not look at a single bank statement in 18 months though?

I have other Tesco Mobile SIMs - if i see Tesco Mobile on my bank statements then I presume they are taking out what they are supposed to be taken out.

theres a point , on the bank statements they should say something like 30euro - tesco mobile "***-****" - where "*" is the phone number of the SIM/Phone that might have made things a bit more obvious maybe

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I have other Tesco Mobile SIMs - if i see Tesco Mobile on my bank statements then I presume they are taking out what they are supposed to be taken out.

theres a point , on the bank statements they should say something like 30euro - tesco mobile "***-****" - where "*" is the phone number of the SIM/Phone that might have made things a bit more obvious maybe

That's it, now start blaming how the bank shows payments on your statements.

Andy,
Stop digging.

Andy From Sligo

Adrien Great Picnic wrote: »

That's it, now start blaming how the bank shows payments on your statements.

Andy,
Stop digging.

oh blimey am i not allowed to even speak now

are people really like this these days getting standard discussion / chat mixed up with blaming and deformation of character / libel or whatever? - why cant people differentiate?

no wonder so many is quick to sue lately

Im not blaming .... at the moment I am "thinking" that either Tesco Mobile Ireland have made a mistake and not sent the direct debit to the bank, or the Bank has got the DD but not paid Tesco Mobile .... 0.1% thinking I have not filled out the form properly

OK if i have to take responsibility because I didnt check my bank statements properly then I am up to 50% to blame maybe

J.pilkington

@OP. How will you pay the €30 per month, is it direct to Cabot or to Tesco?

from what I’ve read on here Cabot are a <SNIP> company and as I’d hate for them to get commission over is this which would further encourage companies to use their services, is there anyway to pay Tesco directly?

Can you log onto to your Tesco account and see the outstanding balance? If so would it allow you make the once off payment in full?

CeilingFly

I can see where the op is coming from.

These days we don't get paper bank statements every couple of months - many of us don't get any at all and just check online.

I'll look at my statement online - I'll quickly check that nothing is showing that shouldn't be, but with so many direct debits from mortgage to mortgage protection, from utility bills to insurance, you don't really double check that everything has gone out as it should. Sure isn't direct debit all about NOT having to worry about meeting a payment.

So some company not collecting payment won't be noticed by many.

Andy From Sligo

CeilingFly wrote: »

I can see where the op is coming from.

These days we don't get paper bank statements every couple of months - many of us don't get any at all and just check online.

I'll look at my statement online - I'll quickly check that nothing is showing that shouldn't be, but with so many direct debits from mortgage to mortgage protection, from utility bills to insurance, you don't really double check that everything has gone out as it should. Sure isn't direct debit all about NOT having to worry about meeting a payment.

So some company not collecting payment won't be noticed by many.

Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou ... at last the voice of reasoning and its absolutely true as well.

Precisely, I dont get paper bills either, haven't done for years so its hard to miss something that isnt being paid out.

And its exactly as you say DD is about not having to worry about meeting a payment.

I used to be right against paying for stuff years ago on DD because i thought I could keep more an eye on my finances of going into a shop and paying things monthly or getting an invoice or bill paying it then, but so many companies want to deal in DD these days.

Andy From Sligo

J.pilkington wrote: »

@OP. How will you pay the €30 per month, is it direct to Cabot or to Tesco?

from what I’ve read on here Cabot are a <SNIP> company and as I’d hate for them to get commission over is this which would further encourage companies to use their services, is there anyway to pay Tesco directly?

Can you log onto to your Tesco account and see the outstanding balance? If so would it allow you make the once off payment in full?

Tesco reckon they cannot deal with it no more because the matter/debt been passed onto Cabot and that I had to arrange payment plan with Cabot themselves - so they agreed I pay 30euro per month by DD to them until the €584.54 bill is paid in full

- hope now the DD gets sorted properly with them. Say if the same thing happens with them and they dont get their payment ... I will be getting a debt collection letter from the debt collection agency for not paying the debt !!

I do have logon password I think - I must logon and see if there is anything outstanding - I think i have logged on before to do webtext. it should have bills / calls made on there when I log on

STB.

I cant believe I had to read this whole thread to figure out that someone signed up to a 12/18 month bill pay contact and didnt use the minutes and data allowance that goes with that! Just to get a free phone ??

Why didnt you just port the number of the other pay as you go phone over ? Am I missing something here ?

Andy From Sligo

STB. wrote: »

I cant believe I had to read this whole thread to figure out that someone signed up to a 12/18 month bill pay contact and didnt use the minutes and data allowance that goes with that! Just to get a free phone ??

Why didnt you just port the number of the other pay as you go phone over ? Am I missing something here ?

I'm just trying to remember myself - it was 18 months ago .

I think I said to my mrs who already was on Tesco Mobile Bill Pay and couldnt cancel her SIM I just said to her that her SIM should just work if its put in the new phone and she can keep her number and her plan ... didnt even think about the SIM that came with the phone, might have even chucked it away. I dunno where it went to . She was just chuffed about getting a new phone.

I dunno now, maybe she could have ported her number ... or maybe if she did she wouldnt have had as good plan on the new sim as the plan she had on her present SIM ... I really cannot remember why I just didnt leave the SIM in the phone and port over to the new SIM, it was so long ago.

Anyway - long and short of it, I most probably got home, took the new SIM out of the new phone... put her SIM in it from her old phone and away we went .. no phoning up and porting number or whatever you have to do to port over number these days - it just worked

piplip87

More than likely his partner was in the middle of a contract, phone broke so he got a new one in his name as if she bought a new phone it would need up front payment.

Best advice (I have worked in collections) is to ring cabot towards the end of the month and offer them a 50% to close the account. You have a better chance towards months end as the person you may speak to will be in the last few days of chasing a target and may plead with a supervisor to accept it.

They will come back with an offer of 60-80% of the balance. They might spread that out over 3 months.

STB.

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I'm just trying to remember myself - it was 18 months ago .

I think I said to my mrs who already was on Tesco Mobile Bill Pay and couldnt cancel her SIM I just said to her that her SIM should just work if its put in the new phone and she can keep her number and her plan ... didnt even think about the SIM that came with the phone, might have even chucked it away. I dunno where it went to . She was just chuffed about getting a new phone.

I dunno now, maybe she could have ported her number ... or maybe if she did she wouldnt have had as good plan on the new sim as the plan she had on her present SIM ... I really cannot remember why I just didnt leave the SIM in the phone and port over to the new SIM, it was so long ago.

Anyway - long and short of it, I most probably got home, took the new SIM out of the new phone... put her SIM in it from her old phone and away we went .. no phoning up and porting number or whatever you have to do to port over number these days - it just worked

Would a better plan not be to avoid a situation where you were paying for two plans ?

You must have money to burn Andy!!!:D

To answer your question. Yes Tesco should have tried to recover the monies directly before sending the debt on to a collection agency. You could tell the collection agency to fup off and that you'll only be dealing with tescos, if you intend to pay them.

Andy From Sligo

piplip87 wrote: »

More than likely his partner was in the middle of a contract, phone broke so he got a new one in his name as if she bought a new phone it would need up front payment.

Best advice (I have worked in collections) is to ring cabot towards the end of the month and offer them a 50% to close the account. You have a better chance towards months end as the person you may speak to will be in the last few days of chasing a target and may plead with a supervisor to accept it.

They will come back with an offer of 60-80% of the balance. They might spread that out over 3 months.

thanks I will think about that - although my current circumstances lately in reality is that I wont be able to afford 60-80% of the balance , and not even if it was spread over 3 months unless circumstances change somewhat ... so it looks like i'm in for the long haul

The J Stands for Jay

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I dont get any of that -

my wife has 30euro plan but crap phone - she liked the SGS6 but could not get it because she already had bill pay with tesco mobile and wasnt eligable for an upgrade at that time .. I got it for her , she put her TESCO Mobile Ireland bill pay SIM in and continued to use her number - what is wrong with that/ what did I do wrong?

So, if I ever find the SIM of that handset there is 2 things. If they havent already disabled/disconnected it then how am I going to get 30eur a month calls and texts and Internet on it - how am i going to do that now they have passed my bill onto a debt company?

Just answer me this peeps - is there anything wrong with buying a phone on bill pay but not using its Supplied SIM for it but using another SIM by the same mobile phone provider? - it might not seem logical to some but thats what i did.

You entered a contract to buy a phone and pay for it over 18 months (or whatever). You them failed to make the payments. You are now being asked to pay them. I don't see the issue here.

Andy From Sligo

STB. wrote: »

Would a better plan not be to avoid a situation where you were paying for two plans ?

You must have money to burn Andy!!!:D

To answer your question. Yes Tesco should have tried to recover the monies directly before sending the debt on to a collection agency. You could tell the collection agency to fup off and that you'll only be dealing with tescos, if you intend to pay them.

ironic thing is that i havent got money to burn otherwise I would have bought her a SGS6 outright and not on bill pay

God, I wish they did try harder. Even if they sent an official around to me front door from Tesco Mobile demanding the outstanding debt it would have saved all this.

I get enough reps calling around to my door asking me to sign up to eir, vodafone, esb and other electricity people and other utility people ... and yet i owed tesco mobile that (or rather they wernt getting the DD payments) and all they could do was send out 1 letter (supposedly) and some phone calls on a not in use SIM (supposedly)

Andy From Sligo

McGaggs wrote: »

You entered a contract to buy a phone and pay for it over 30 months (or whatever). You them failed to make the payments. You are now being asked to pay them. I don't see the issue here.

oh please :rolleyes: - at the risk of keep repeating myself, I entered in a contract to buy a phone. I supplied my bank details and authorised Tesco Mobile to take the money out of my account by direct debit!

I have no concrete evidence but I am surmising either Tesco Mobile didnt send the paperwork to the bank or the bank didnt pay them (I did have enough money in the account every month to cover it by the way) or TM didnt request the money every month like they were supposed to

- I dont get how these DD things work internally in banks/organistations.

If someone would like to comment (in laymans terms I can understand) what happens or supposed to happen after I sign the forms instructing Tesco Mobile to take 30euro a month out of my bank account in step by step process then I am all ears, please do

Any people who work in banks on here and know how DD works?

J.pilkington

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

thanks I will think about that - although my current circumstances lately in reality is that I wont be able to afford 60-80% of the balance , and not even if it was spread over 3 months unless circumstances change somewhat ... so it looks like i'm in for the long haul

Andy, I’m remembering your car crash free coffee thread. If you are struggling to pay €30 a month of a phone bill then my advice is cut out the deli food and the multiple coffees. It’ll do your wallet and health a world of good.