Vodafone court action, & solicitors

d0nutz

Hi,

I have received a letter from a company named Hugh J. Ward solicitors in Dublin, asking for a payment to be made within 2 weeks. They see if it's not paid they will take court action. Although I will pay it, I'd like to know what they could do, and what powers do they have. If they did, what would most likely be the outcome?

I want to be sure who I'm sending this momey to and if they're legit, since vodafone has said nothing about these guys.

Note: they have been hired by vodafone to collect the debt.

thanks.

the_syco

How much are we talking about, and have you actually not paid Vodafone?

tallaghtoutlaws

Ring vodafone and arrange payments with them. This happened me once. I ran up a bill while abroad came home and I owed them a fair amount. At the time I was in between jobs and was working in a low paid job. I made the foolish error of ignoring Vodafone and not paying. They threatened me with a solicitor. I called them explained the situation and we arranged payments I could afford.

Of course I had no service on my phone but 5 years on I am still with them as I eventually paid off the debt. Once you make contact with them and explain the situation and make effort to pay they will call of the solicitor. But you have to make regular effort to pay them.

foggy_lad

They are not solicitors as we know solicitors but I would say there is probably a solicitor working there or at least giving legal advice, they are more like a debt collecting agency using a solicitors practice and name to get people to pay up faster! I got a letter from them last year in relation to a bord gas or esb bill for a deceased relative. They were all about debt collection until I explained the named person was deceased and I had sent death cert to the company. Then they lost interest.

shannon guy

Sorry for opening an old topic but I have the same problem and curious as to how it worked out for you?

Did they follow up agressively or what happened. I have an outstanding meteor bill of 100 euro and cant afford it.

They sent me the same letter which i recieved today even tho it was supposedly sent on september 10th. And it wasnt even registered.

I am worried they would go legal but i find it hard to believe they would for 100 euro.

Let me know

Cheers

deathbot

shannon guy wrote: »

Sorry for opening an old topic but I have the same problem and curious as to how it worked out for you?

Did they follow up agressively or what happened. I have an outstanding meteor bill of 100 euro and cant afford it.

They sent me the same letter which i recieved today even tho it was supposedly sent on september 10th. And it wasnt even registered.

I am worried they would go legal but i find it hard to believe they would for 100 euro.

Let me know

Cheers

I paid the fine, as it turns out they were hired by vodafone. But mine was over 200 euros. I doubt thet would take you to court for that little amount. But still, you know..If you owe them money then pay it, when you can.

Good luck.

Jimmytnin

**** them, the prices they charge! Listen the worst that an happen and your talking 3 years down the road is that court will ask you to repay at what you can afford, these leeches that work with these crowds are on commission and some are tuff sine will say ah just pay back 20 a month! Look dint panic u used but the whole country will be in the same mess soon, so we will have very busy courts! They won't even bother

Cabaal

Jimmytnin wrote: »

**** them, the prices they charge!

Yes. Damn the phone company for offering a service that you wanted, you using it and then them expecting payment....what a crazy idea.
:rolleyes:

I'd suggest contacting the phone company directly and explain your situation and explain due to your position you can only pay in installments

Jimmytnin

If I sound cynical it's because if experience, I have had this experience with a phone company paying the amount unsaid I wud and the "electronically" a letter was forwarded to paddy the fake solicitors, so I get a letter then I call them and they say you owe phone company x amount. So I foolishly make an arrangement and then get another from a separate solicitor! By the way their staff told me "ah well were part if the same company" basically hounding peopl e who can't afford to pay! Now I know not everyone is honest and it's hard to determine but if your still a customer on a different number and separate account paying your bill, exceptions shud be made and allowances we all have had to! And judging by today's news! We are all ****ed anyway! Good night sir

jor el

shannon guy wrote: »

I am worried they would go legal but i find it hard to believe they would for 100 euro.

They won't. The cost of going to court would far out weigh the bill. Personally, I wouldn't deal with debt collectors at all. Contact Meteor and see if you can arrange a payment plan.

tubos

I got a letter from this crowd today. There is no way Hugh J Ward is a real person! If you say it out Loud it comes out as "Huge Award".

Paulw

tubos wrote: »

There is no way Hugh J Ward is a real person! If you say it out Loud it comes out as "Huge Award".

http://www.wardlawyers.eu/

jor el

They're also registered with the Law Society, so they are legitimate solicitors.

tubos

Yes I'm sure they are legit, just when I saw the name Hugh J Ward, I didnt think it could be a real person!!!

Anyway, at least they take credit card payments, while this will get Meteor off my back the Visa people will come knocking at a later date I'm sure!

Agent_99

tubos wrote: »

Yes I'm sure they are legit, just when I saw the name Hugh J Ward, I didnt think it could be a real person!!!

Anyway, at least they take credit card payments, while this will get Meteor off my back the Visa people will come knocking at a later date I'm sure!

Don't pay it with your credit card come to some arrangement for €10 a month as they are not charging you interest. You will end up paying €200 back if you use the CC and poor credit rating as the credit card is linked to the ICB.

slimjimmc

Agent_99 wrote: »

Don't pay it with your credit card come to some arrangement for €10 a month as they are not charging you interest. You will end up paying €200 back if you use the CC and poor credit rating as the credit card is linked to the ICB.

Surely your CC could affect your rating only if you failed to meet your CC debt, i.e. you failed to repay a registered financial institution (the CC company).
How can the fact you used your CC to pay off an overdue debt to another party affect your rating when that other party (Vodafone) are not a registered financial institution?

Agent_99

slimjimmc wrote: »

Surely your CC could affect your rating only if you failed to meet your CC debt, i.e. you failed to repay a registered financial institution (the CC company).
How can the fact you used your CC to pay off an overdue debt to another party affect your rating when that other party (Vodafone) are not a registered financial institution?

My point was that if the OP was having problems paying Vodafone to the point that they are receiving solicitors letters then chances are that they are having financial problems across the board and adding to a credit card bill won't help if they can come to some sort of agreement with Voda interest free.

slimjimmc

Ah, I see were you're coming from. Sound advice alright.

audi4444

can't take blood frm a turnip. don't worry about it they screwed us enough i mean where is the cost in a call once the equipment is in masts etc apart frm upkeep there isn't a direct cost.fuel ,man power

davo10

If Vodaphone were to enter a claim against you in court, if you ignore it and a judgement is entered against you, you are likely to have trouble obtaining a loan/credit/mortgage in the future as one of the questions on your application will be if you have ever had a court judgement registered aagainst you. You used the phone, you new the terms and conditions so have to pay up.

In your post OP you do not state that Vodaphone charged you more than the rate you had agreed to pay when you took out your contract, did they?

MunsterCycling

Vodafone can't use the Small Claims Court. Please stop advising people out of your ass.

Well Davo seeing as you corrected your post I will state it here:

Davo suggested that Vodafone could take him to the SCC... Snigger

TheDriver

true but they can use the big courts.....

MunsterCycling

See the amount owed, they'd run a mile before wasting the time of a court for it.

davo10

Sorry Munster, my post was wrong and I admit it, I'm not an authority in as many things as you, I bow to your in depth knowledge on all subjects.

MunsterCycling

Accepted :P

gracie5

Got a bill from this crowd after a lengthy fruitless fight with Perlico/vodafone. Decided to pay them the 60euro as after fighting with perlico for 10months I was sick of the situation. I paid hugh j ward and solicitors on the their website and received an automatic reply in email saying that they had received the transfer. I emailed them back requesting confirmation that the matter was settled. This was done on a saturday the last day I was due to pay them before they "took me to court". A few days later I phoned them to ensure that the matter was settled as I had received no email back.
Initially it was impossible to get through on the phone lines, and took up to an half an hr on three occasions. When I spoke to them they had NO record of my payment, NO record of sending or receiving an email from me. They protested that their accounts dept had no record of payment, despite the money having left my bank acc. They then asked me to send them back the email they had sent me saying that I had paid.
A couple of hours later they got their act together and found the money and the emails. But what an inefficient service. They ask you to pay on line but can't keep track of money. No surprise that Vodafone hire an equally unprofessional company.

dzz

I have also received a letter from Hugh J Ward concerning vodafone. however this is another long running battle with vodafone who were not supplying the service I paid for - so I cancelled. This after multiple calls to vodafone to get the service initial and multiple trips to the shop and back to the phone number I cancelled the contract - as far as I can see they did not live up to there side of the bargain.

With that I phoned and was stonewalled when looking for a refund as they had charged me for a service and not delivered it. now they are looking for over 500 Euro - well Hugh J Ward are. This number has gone up and down depending on the member of vodafone staff I talked to 200 Euro then 488 then 180 ...... then 400. no consistency at all.

Also when I rang to dispute the charges - at this stage 3 months later having handed back the phone, sim and given them 100 Euro payment for the last bill they bounced me around saying they would call back. They did not - Which is the same treatment I received from vodafone when the phone/service was not working for me and when looking for a refund.

To me not returning a phone call of a customer and placing them in a position of chasing vodafone to give the services they were being paid fro is not acceptable - simply breaking the contract.

I looking forward to a court date when this can be brought out into the open. I have a full record of phone class - both in note form and audio recordings so not relying on memory here.

Does anyone know of any actual cases that went to court and if I am entitled to vodafones records of my calls and communications efforts?

thanks in advance
Declan

.

Guy:Incognito

Always wondered what the deal is with these solicitors places and what they can do.

Obviously goign to proper courts for a coupel of hundred quid is counter productive but what about bigger amounts? Say somethign worthwhile like €15,000. Obviously at that stage they wouldnt be collecting for Vodafone but more likely a personal loan or somesuch. Do these crowds buy that debt (at a percentage) or are they just working as middle men for the bank and get a commission?

cookie1977

Both really. They can buy the debt and they negotiate the price with the owner of the debt based on the potential value and possibility of recovery. So it could be anything at all i.e. 20cent on the euro, as in they pay 20 cent to the owner of the debt for every 1euro of debt.

Guy:Incognito

cookie1977 wrote: »

Both really. They can buy the debt and they negotiate the price with the owner of the debt based on the potential value and possibility of recovery. So it could be anything at all i.e. 20cent on the euro, as in they pay 20 cent to the owner of the debt for every 1euro of debt.

Does buying the debt have an effect in the original person owing the money though?

If they can buy the debt, can the person that owes the money sell theirs

cookie1977

in ireland debt collectors have no powers. You could still ignore them and just go back and pay the original company you have the debt with. They can try intimidation but that is illegal. The debt collector cant affect your ICB rating either

Guy:Incognito

cookie1977 wrote: »

in ireland debt collectors have no powers. You could still ignore them and just go back and pay the original company you have the debt with. They can try intimidation but that is illegal. The debt collector cant affect your ICB rating either

Surely if they buy the debt your still liable for something? Or are they just working off the hope that enough people will pay them compared to those they get nothing from? Have the original company (a bank say) not washed their hands of it once they sell it on?

cookie1977

You're still liable to the company you had the debt with but the debt collector has no rights at all to your money. They work off hassle and fear.

Guy:Incognito

Ah, so.

Presumably they eventually refer it back to the original company and they start chasing it themsleves again then if they want?

drunkmonkey

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

If they can buy the debt, can the person that owes the money sell theirs

Only if there a company. Eircom is a pretty good example of how the model works.

Guy:Incognito

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Only if there a company. Eircom is a pretty good example of how the model works.

Presumably you mean from the side of th eperon that is owed money?

If you owed money to someone (a company/bank etc, not your local dealer :-) ) though could you tell them you paid some bloke down the road a tenner to take on the debt and they should go chase him:D

cookie1977

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Ah, so.

Presumably they eventually refer it back to the original company and they start chasing it themsleves again then if they want?

No, once the debt is bought the original company stops chasing it but they may not serve you again until you clear it with them

Guy:Incognito

cookie1977 wrote: »

No, once the debt is bought the original company stops chasing it but they may not serve you again until you clear it with them

They must be buying it for very cheap to be worthwhile. Obviously the amount of people paying them so far is more than those not paying but it wouldnt take much of a swing in the opposite direction to put them out of business.

cookie1977

it's a risk with potential reward. The worse the chances the debt wil be recovered the cheaper it is, the better the chances of the debt being recovered the dearer it is. So original company gets something and they can draw a line under it and the debt collection agency can go after, for instance, 1000euro of debt which thy paid 200 euro for

Sponge Bob

Huge Award Soliciting pay as little as €100 for €1000 worth of debt.

Donnaleon

I have received letter re court action from Hugh ward solicitors re an outstanding bill and court action action has been threatened.I have no intention of paying this bill as it was an error on behalf of Vodafone in the first place.Hugh ward solicitors amongst other things is a representative of of debt collection agencies for many companies.they will not speak to you in relation to any of these outstanding debts but instead will direct you to call the relevant debt collection agency. I will not be bullied by these tactics and look forward to my day in court

enricoh

your day in court is unlikely to happen, these people send out 'solicitors' letters in the knowledge that a large % of people will brick it and pay up at the first mention of court etc - i ignored a private car park fine n they eventually stopped wasting paper!

Icepick

jor el wrote: »

They won't. The cost of going to court would far out weigh the bill. Personally, I wouldn't deal with debt collectors at all. Contact Meteor and see if you can arrange a payment plan.

That's why they would add the legal fees as well.

leinsterdude

Hi all, had s string of letters from these guys, the broadband was terrible and Eircom changed me over, owe 100 and they are saying next step is court, will they proceed to court ?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Truckermal

leinsterdude wrote: »

Hi all, had s string of letters from these guys, the broadband was terrible and Eircom changed me over, owe 100 and they are saying next step is court, will they proceed to court ?

No never I owed them over a grand and they eventually stopped sending letters.

leinsterdude

but if they had a load of people like me, do them all in one days sitting, worth it then ? why all the letters,anyone had same experience ?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Pembily

leinsterdude wrote: »

Hi all, had s string of letters from these guys, the broadband was terrible and Eircom changed me over, owe 100 and they are saying next step is court, will they proceed to court ?

They will send you a reminder / due letter once a month implying they are going to court but if you read it carefully the documents are only prepared. If you get no satisfaction with them or Eircom I would suggest going to ComReg.

leinsterdude

surely the cost of the admin and postage is not worth it, and if they do not get paid they actually lose money also if they do not get paid what else can do they do ? bad credit ?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.