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Alicia1
2: Seeker
2: Seeker

I would like some help. I’m going to explain in brief  what this is in regards to however this has been on going since 2015.

 

I got a phone contract out with my ex through Phones4u. The contract was sold to me and explained I would be a guarantor so if anything happened with the contract I’d be informed and contacted. The reason I was on my ex’s contract was because, he had a bad credit score and had asked me to help him get a phone. I had just turned 18 at the time and had no idea of the future implications of this decision.

 

In brief my ex became abusive towards me and was eventually kicked out of my family’s home. Despite him no longer living at the property and us no longer being together he insisted that he would pay the phone bill and that I would have no hassel caused from him as he would be paying this. 

 

A few months went by and we were still receiving his post and I would drop this off to his work place as he still didn’t have a perminant address to change his details to.

 

I had noticed that quite a few of the letters were from Vodaphone. I found this strange as there was an abnormal amount of letters from them addressed to him that I kept giving him. I asked if he was still making the payments and he insisted he was, I did not believe him.

 

The next time I received a letter from Vodaphone addressed to him, I opened it low and behold it was a letter to say he had missed so many payments the phone bill was now being handed over to debt collectors.

 

I immediately called Vodaphone and explained to them that he was no longer living at my address and that I had not received any letters to say he wasn’t paying his bills. I was so furious with them and all the gentleman could say was ‘it’s with debt collectors I can give you there details but, we can’t help you any further’ so with that I contacted the debt collectors and set up regular payments to pay off his debt. I wanted no more to do with him, once I had paid this off I thought that was the end of it I had no more contact from the debt company or Vodaphone to say anything further about the phone bill and even better I heard nothing from my ex either. 

 

The beging of 2017 I went to buy a house, my very first house that I had been saving up for! When attempting to get a mortgage it wouldn’t go through? I was puzzled by this! Apparently my credit score was affecting it and they advised me to contact a credit company to do a credit check.

 

I have never missed a payment in my life! So my credit score should not be bad? Especially to stop me from getting a mortgage! I did a credit check and found out I had a default.

 

I was devastated and confused, I had never been informed that this would be the implications of my ex’s phone bill and I also had no idea of what a default was. 

 

I phoned up Vodaphone through out the years of 2017 and 2018 constantly being put on hold or passed to different departments to be told that they could not help me and they couldn’t advise any further on the default and that I had to wait 6 years for it to be removed.

 

I gave up, at this time my family had moved away as my mother had retired to look after my farther who is seriously unwell. I have been living in rented accommodation and struggled to make ends meet after this fiasco of events. It has had a massive impact on my life the past two years I can’t even apply for a credit card and I can’t apply for a mortgage for the next few years unless this is removed. 

 

I recently found out I can request a notice of correction however every time I have asked Vodaphone for the correct contacts to send this to they couldn’t give me any details or help which is rediculous! 

 

I phoned Vodaphone up today and spoke to the complaints department, they have told me I have to speak to the credit file team again! Despite speaking to them many times in the past for them to not be able to help me! I have even requested a subject access request under the section 7 protection act which gives me access to all the data that is held in my name and I had that thrown in my face and told they could not give me that information purely because, everything on the account has his name on it!

 

All in all I am upset with the lack of customer services advice and help. I feel let down and betrayed due to being midsold a contract and for Vodaphone having no contact with me to tell me my ex was not paying the phone bill and that after I had to pay debt collectors off they never informed me of any default being out onto my account.

 

Please please can someone help?

These are my last efforts before I go and seek legal advise for this whole unwanted situation. 

7 REPLIES 7

Alicia1
2: Seeker
2: Seeker

I would like some help. This is the second time I am posting this. I’m going to explain in brief what this is in regards to however this has been on going since 2015.

I got a phone contract out with my ex through Phones4u. The contract was sold to me and explained I would be a guarantor so if anything happened with the contract I’d be informed and contacted. The reason I was on my ex’s contract was because, he had a bad credit score and had asked me to help him get a phone. I had just turned 18 at the time and had no idea of the future implications of this decision.

In brief my ex became abusive towards me and was eventually kicked out of my family’s home. Despite him no longer living at the property and us no longer being together he insisted that he would pay the phone bill and that I would have no hassel caused from him as he would be paying this.

A few months went by and we were still receiving his post and I would drop this off to his work place as he still didn’t have a perminant address to change his details to.

I had noticed that quite a few of the letters were from Vodaphone. I found this strange as there was an abnormal amount of letters from them addressed to him that I kept giving him. I asked if he was still making the payments and he insisted he was, I did not believe him.

The next time I received a letter from Vodaphone addressed to him, I opened it low and behold it was a letter to say he had missed so many payments the phone bill was now being handed over to debt collectors.

I immediately called Vodaphone and explained to them that he was no longer living at my address and that I had not received any letters to say he wasn’t paying his bills. I was so furious with them and all the gentleman could say was ‘it’s with debt collectors I can give you there details but, we can’t help you any further’ so with that I contacted the debt collectors and set up regular payments to pay off his debt. I wanted no more to do with him, once I had paid this off I thought that was the end of it I had no more contact from the debt company or Vodaphone to say anything further about the phone bill and even better I heard nothing from my ex either.

The beging of 2017 I went to buy a house, my very first house that I had been saving up for! When attempting to get a mortgage it wouldn’t go through? I was puzzled by this! Apparently my credit score was affecting it and they advised me to contact a credit company to do a credit check.

I have never missed a payment in my life! So my credit score should not be bad? Especially to stop me from getting a mortgage! I did a credit check and found out I had a default.

I was devastated and confused, I had never been informed that this would be the implications of my ex’s phone bill and I also had no idea of what a default was.

I phoned up Vodaphone through out the years of 2017 and 2018 constantly being put on hold or passed to different departments to be told that they could not help me and they couldn’t advise any further on the default and that I had to wait 6 years for it to be removed.

I gave up, at this time my family had moved away as my mother had retired to look after my farther who is seriously unwell. I have been living in rented accommodation and struggled to make ends meet after this fiasco of events. It has had a massive impact on my life the past two years I can’t even apply for a credit card and I can’t apply for a mortgage for the next few years unless this is removed.

I recently found out I can request a notice of correction however every time I have asked Vodaphone for the correct contacts to send this to they couldn’t give me any details or help which is rediculous!

I phoned Vodaphone up today and spoke to the complaints department, they have told me I have to speak to the credit file team again! Despite speaking to them many times in the past for them to not be able to help me! I have even requested a subject access request under the section 7 protection act which gives me access to all the data that is held in my name and I had that thrown in my face and told they could not give me that information purely because, everything on the account has his name on it!

All in all I am upset with the lack of customer services advice and help. I feel let down and betrayed due to being midsold a contract and for Vodaphone having no contact with me to tell me my ex was not paying the phone bill and that after I had to pay debt collectors off they never informed me of any default being out onto my account.

Please can someone help?
These are my last efforts before I go and seek legal advise for this whole unwanted situation.

BandOfBrothers
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

Hello @Alicia1

 

I can understand and appreciate your upset at the situation.

You've agreed to become a guarantor for your then partner as you loved and trusted him. 

Unfortunately the relationship between you broke down but as the guarantor your ultimately responsible for non payment.

It's a positive move to pay the debt off as then the default on your credit File will show as settled but that wouldn't remove the default.

Adding a Notice of Correction can only be placed on a Credit File via you contacting Exlerian if the default is 100% not warranted i.e. you have no connection to the bill etc.

He really should have informed you of the situation but as it's his post to open legally it's his integrity to tell you.

I would have thought that if payments were not kept up to then the payments would have come from you but to be honest I've not heard of a guarantor agreement before with Vodafone and a mobile phone contract.

As an example My friend was a guarantor for a bank loan and if the person who took out the loan failed to pay then they would ring my friend and ask for Payment.

Vodafone are not required to pre warn a person they are adding a default to their credit file.

I suppose it's a little bit more complicated because phones4u are no longer in business as they should have fully explained the pro's and con's of accepting the Terms and conditions of the mobile phone contract.

I assume when you first challenged the default with Vodafone they wouldn't do anything in regards to removing it as the default was found to be warranted which you accepted and "gave up"

I appreciate your circumstances have changed as now your wanting to get on the property ladder but unfortunately that isn't a reason i believe Vodafone would take into account to remove the default as it's warranted in their eyes.

That said the Vodafone Social Media Teams here have a dedicated Specialist Credit File Team who they could ask to look over the situation........,  but the issue maybe that the account I assume is in your ex partners name and you have no authorised access to it so you wouldn't be able to pass security checks.

I wish you all the best with this situation. 

Current Phone  >

Samsung Galaxy s²³ Ultra 512gb Phantom Black.

 

 

Alex
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

@Alicia1 I can fully appreciate your situation, but at the same time if you do agree to be a guarantor, ultimately it'd be your responsibility if the account holder didn't pay. Coming out of a relationship is never a nice time as it is, without having to deal with all of the extra things you've been through. As you'll already know, it's very difficult to look into as it requires account access and therefore relevant security must be passed. If you're not the account holder or an account contact, this wouldn't be possible. 

To make sure you get the best possible advice, I've sent you a private message with details on how to get in touch with our Credit team within Social Media. 

@alex

thank you for the response, I have access to the account and I obviously know now and understand the repercussions of signing the contract and being a guarentour however speaking with Vodaphone they told me strickledly that there is no guarantor process through them and if that was the case through phones4u I was misssold a contract. Thank you for your help and I’ll check your private message now. I just want this to be resolved by any means. 

@bandofbrothers

tha k you for your kind message and help. I do have access to the account however it has all his information on. I was informed by Vodaphone that they do not do a garentour process and this is why when he wasn’t paying the bills I was not informed despite phones4u telling me I’d be contacted in regards to this. I’m going to try my hardest to resolve this! Thank you!

BandOfBrothers
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

@Alicia1 wrote:

@bandofbrothers

tha k you for your kind message and help. I do have access to the account however it has all his information on. I was informed by Vodaphone that they do not do a garentour process and this is why when he wasn’t paying the bills I was not informed despite phones4u telling me I’d be contacted in regards to this. I’m going to try my hardest to resolve this! Thank you!


You're very welcome @Alicia1

I did find it very unusual about the guarantor status which is why I mentioned I had not come across that situation before !

As I mentioned it's a unique situation with phones4u no longer being in business.

I really do hope you reach the outcome you seek.

Best of luck.

Current Phone  >

Samsung Galaxy s²³ Ultra 512gb Phantom Black.

 

 

TJ
Community Manager (Retired)
Community Manager (Retired)

I really hope this can be resolved for you @Alicia1. When you completed the form in the private message that @Alex sent out, we'll have sent you a confirmation email to let you know we've received your query. Please confirm that you've had this - I'd hate for it to have not sent and you have to wait any longer than needed.