Letter From Debt Collector!

[sairah12]

Without any prior emails/communications from VM, I have just received a letter from Advantis Debt Collectors, asking me to pay a balance of £84.86, when I closed my account and all remaining payments back in 2020 (3 years ago!).

I am disappointed to see how such a silly mistake on VM’s part could lead to debt collection letters being posted through my door.

Any assistance with how to challenge this and erase the charge from my account would be much appreciated!

[Gareth_L]

Hello sairah12.

Thanks for your post and welcome to our community.

Sorry to hear about the balance of £84.26 being sent to a debt collection agency.

 Just to confirm, you are billed as normal up until the day of your disconnection after which you would receive a final bill with a refund for any services paid for but not used.

This may also include the final balance owing.

It depends on the disconnection date and when your bills run from and to.

Sadly from here we are unable to deal with billing issues.

Have you spoken with our Customer services team on 0345 454 1111 since revering the letter?

Gareth_L

[jbrennand]

As Gareth has mentioned.... What may have happened is that when you closed your account you also cancelled your direct debit and so after the disconnection any residual charges or early disconnection fees would not have been paid to VM.  Whereupon the debt collection process auto activates.

Check your old paperwork or electronic versions you have from VM about this as its probable that not only will baliffs come calling for their £84.86 but that a big black "default payee" X has been placed on your credit rating which will be difficult to get removed - but if not done will lead to problems in getting loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc., in the future.   So you need to check that as well.