Stung for £28 for cancelling

[zaax]

Cancelled my products last night due to moving to a non cabled road. Got charged £28 because its less than 30 days notice (you have to complete and move in 20 days as per the Law society contract) and they won't send me the final bill for 2 weeks - I've moved by then.


Being stung like that I won't be going back.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by zaax

and they won't send me the final bill for 2 weeks - I've moved by then.

Yes, the final bill is sent after you've disconnected and to your new address

This is to take account of any calls or PPV events ordered since the last bill was generated but before you disconnected

---------- Post added at 13:29 ---------- Previous post was at 13:28 ----------

Being stung like that I won't be going back.

It's not being stung, it's complying with the Terms and Conditions of your contract with Virgin Media.

[andy_m]

Originally Posted by zaax

Cancelled my products last night due to moving to a non cabled road. Got charged £28 because its less than 30 days notice (you have to complete and move in 20 days as per the Law society contract) and they won't send me the final bill for 2 weeks - I've moved by then.


Being stung like that I won't be going back.

Unless you give them your new address, how exactly will they chase you for that?

[Hugh]

They don't have to chase you - they just pass the debt to a collection agency, and that will affect your credit rating....

[andy_m]

For £28 that they've no real prospect of retrieving? You don't just "pass" debt to a collection agency, the agency buys it from you after proper due diligence. No company will throw money away to acquire a debt of£28 when they don't even know where to go looking for it.

Don't get me wrong, the right thing for the OP to do is pay what he owes, but there will only be one loser if he doesn't, and it will not be him and I can fairly guarantee that Virgin won't compound this loss spending money on it.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by andy_m

For £28 that they've no real prospect of retrieving? You don't just "pass" debt to a collection agency, the agency buys it from you after proper due diligence. No company will throw money away to acquire a debt of£28 when they don't even know where to go looking for it.

Don't get me wrong, the right thing for the OP to do is pay what he owes, but there will only be one loser if he doesn't, and it will not be him and I can fairly guarantee that Virgin won't compound this loss spending money on it.

Do you want to bet on that then.

I know someone who got a £25 parking fine from Liverpool council and because he thought it had been dealt with by someone he truly thought he could trust on his behalf so he thought nothing of it until a bill for £438 dropped through his letterbox from a debt collection agency.

He had no choice but to pay it as otherwise they were going to take him to court, his credit score is now pants for about the next 6 years and all for a £25 parking fine.

Are you still quite as sure now or will you still advise the OP not to pay it on the off chance Virgin Media forget about it.

The person by the way was not me, it was my daughters boyfriend who learned the hard way not to trust someone to pay his fine, and what makes it worse that person was his own mother.

My advice to anyone is to always pay your bill regardless of how much it it annoys you to ensure nothing like this ever happens to you.

[andy_m]

I'm not advising him not to pay, I very clearly said the right thing to do is to pay what he owes. However, the example you use, is very different to the position the OP is in. Virgin don't know where to send his final bill to. The council, by virtue if the fact that your guy had registered his car, did.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by andy_m

I'm not advising him not to pay, I very clearly said the right thing to do is to pay what he owes. However, the example you use, is very different to the position the OP is in. Virgin don't know where to send his final bill to. The council, by virtue if the fact that your guy had registered his car, did.

Do not assume that because they have no final address that the debt is not given to a debt collection agency as they do not care how long it takes as the debt will add up.

You may not be aware that a debt is attached to the person and not the address so it will affect their personal credit score regardless of the address.

So even a debt of just £28 is worth paying to ensure that your credit score stays clean.

[Hugh]

I was chased up by a collections agency for £10.87 for a 1&1 domain name bill only a couple of days ago - their invoice had gone into the junk folder, and my previous Amex had expired.

All cleared up now.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Hugh

I was chased up by a collections agency for £10.87 for a 1&1 domain name bill only a couple of days ago - their invoice had gone into the junk folder, and my previous Amex had expired.

All cleared up now.

Exactly all the companies do nowadays is offer the debt to the collection services who will attempt to retrieve the debt from you adding any additional charges as they go.

The debt I posted above is a case in point as his mother did not forward any mail to his new flat and months down the line the collection company contacted the DVLA for his address and issued him with a court order in which the debt had risen from £25 to a whopping £400+ amount.

As I posted above debts are no longer attached to your address, they are attached to you and affect your credit scoring as well and for at least 6 years, which can be a bind.

[satellite-man]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Yes, the final bill is sent after you've disconnected and to your new address

This is to take account of any calls or PPV events ordered since the last bill was generated but before you disconnected

---------- Post added at 13:29 ---------- Previous post was at 13:28 ----------

It's not being stung, it's complying with the Terms and Conditions of your contract with Virgin Media.

agreed its hardly VM fault if the OP didnt read the T&C

---------- Post added at 22:56 ---------- Previous post was at 22:55 ----------

Originally Posted by Peter_

Exactly all the companies do nowadays is offer the debt to the collection services who will attempt to retrieve the debt from you adding any additional charges as they go.

The debt I posted above is a case in point as his mother did not forward any mail to his new flat and months down the line the collection company contacted the DVLA for his address and issued him with a court order in which the debt had risen from £25 to a whopping £400+ amount.

As I posted above debts are no longer attached to your address, they are attached to you and affect your credit scoring as well and for at least 6 years, which can be a bind.

actually aslongs as you dont go on the electoral role at your new address they cant track you down

[andy_m]

Originally Posted by satellite-man

agreed its hardly VM fault if the OP didnt read the T&C

---------- Post added at 22:56 ---------- Previous post was at 22:55 ----------



actually aslongs as you dont go on the electoral role at your new address they cant track you down

Correct on both counts.

---------- Post added at 01:06 ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 ----------

Originally Posted by Peter_

Do not assume that because they have no final address that the debt is not given to a debt collection agency as they do not care how long it takes as the debt will add up.

You may not be aware that a debt is attached to the person and not the address so it will affect their personal credit score regardless of the address.

So even a debt of just £28 is worth paying to ensure that your credit score stays clean.

Don't assume that I'm assuming, but be aware that through experience in the collections industry I actually know what I'm talking about. The best advice is to pay your debts, but please don't be fooled in to thinking you can't avoid it if you want to.

[satellite-man]

Originally Posted by andy_m

Correct on both counts.

---------- Post added at 01:06 ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 ----------



Don't assume that I'm assuming, but be aware that through experience in the collections industry I actually know what I'm talking about. The best advice is to pay your debts, but please don't be fooled in to thinking you can't avoid it if you want to.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by satellite-man

actually aslongs as you dont go on the electoral role at your new address they cant track you down

So for £28 you would hide now that would be a truly sad state of affairs, but the electoral has no impact on your credit history as that is attached to the person not the property.

---------- Post added at 07:59 ---------- Previous post was at 07:57 ----------

Originally Posted by andy_m

Don't assume that I'm assuming, but be aware that through experience in the collections industry I actually know what I'm talking about. The best advice is to pay your debts, but please don't be fooled in to thinking you can't avoid it if you want to.

So you must be fully aware that the debt follows the person and is attached to them, odd you never mentioned that before because no person in a debt collection agency would recommend a not paying because they know the above to be correct.

[andy_m]

My final word on this thread will be to repeat that I have never recommended at any time that somebody ignores their debts. On the contrary, my advice across several posts is that the OP pays what he owes.

I can't add anything to this thread in terms of discussion to what I've already said and I've no interest in keeping it alive for the sake of a circular argument with somebody who doesn't know his subject and bases his position on the entirely different circumstances surrounding the non payment of a traffic enforcement fine, so I'll leave it at that. OP, pay the £28!