HI, My daughter has just received a letter from BPO Collections stating that she owes VM money, She is currently out of the country but I understand that she used VM while at Uni but is adamant that the account was closed and router returned months ago ( she left uni last July) and has had confirmation that the router was received and the account was closed. Is this a scam? Are BPO a genuine company, A google of them seems to suggest both. Any idea where to go from here
People often think that closing an account is the end - but not necessarily as the final bill is generated after closure. So, unless the Direct Debit is kept alive until after the final bill is settled, VM cannot get paid and gets BPO Collections (a genuine company) to recover the debt. Your daughter should contact VM to resolve this.
Your daughter should contact VM to resolve this.
I'm not so sure about this specific bit. If an account has exhausted VM's collections process, they may have sold the debt to an external DCA (in this case, BPO) and thus no longer have any interest.
BPO should be able to provide some basic details as to the alleged debt, to hopefully ascertain the legitimacy - or otherwise - of the claim.
I had one of these several years ago, about an alleged debt with Vodafone. I denied the debt but said I would pay it immediately if they provided a detailed invoice showing what the debt was for. After several identical messages from them and the same identical replies from me, it all went quiet. I suspect the debt chaser didnt have more than a name, address and an amount.
The issue is my daughter is currently the other side of the world travelling and BPO and VM won't deal with anybody but her
This may sound harsh, but I would absolutely hope so too - their alleged debt is with her, not a third party.
The flip-side is that you need to inform BPO in no uncertain terms that the alleged debtor is unable to deal with this now, and to either refer the debt to sender, or follow it up in x weeks/months/whatever.
And they should respect that.
