Fooking BT !

Rs2k_Rider

DW's Resident Medic
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Hi all,

This is kinda a rant but asking for advise as well, I know there are a few legal bods on here.

Right, applied for phone service in brother-in-laws name,... he lives here now.

This is with BT, Got a phone call today... in short they want £250 deposit... because there is a debt at his previous address.... where his mum lives, he lived with her... phone is in her name.

Now, I asked them... If there was no debt at the previous address... would you demand this deposit... there answer was no..

So the way I see it, they are penalizing him.. because his mum owes them money...! The debt is in no way his, nor is it in his name.


Is there a consumer law or something they are breaking here ? Surely there has to be.

The way I see it is, They are charging him this deposit solely based on his mum owing them money.... so are being unfair and discriminative towards him.

I really want to have them by the b0ll0cks over this, and will summons them if needs be. But need to know the legal standing.

I know they can ask for a deposit, and don't have to provide service at all... yet surely they can not do this based on someone else owing them money..!

Cheers for any advise.
 
You first need to find out if the previous contract has ever been in his name, even in part.
 
First I would ask for more details about this alledged debt.

Then I would ask them to prove the debt i.e. substantiate it

The law changed not so long back that meant debts were registered to names and not to addresses anymore to resolve this very problem.

If they can't prove the debt against him only the address then I would just argue your corner, if they choose they want to charge a deposit I guess in the long run there ain't a lot you can do, essentially it's there service and those are the terms they are offering them on.

The alledged debt would cause me some concern in any event, if they can prove it then it really should be cleared, if they can only prove it against the address and not the person then as far as I'm aware it's not a debt in a legal capacity.
 
You first need to find out if the previous contract has ever been in his name, even in part.

Nope, solely in his mums name... debts hers.


First I would ask for more details about this alledged debt.

Then I would ask them to prove the debt i.e. substantiate it

The law changed not so long back that meant debts were registered to names and not to addresses anymore to resolve this very problem.

If they can't prove the debt against him only the address then I would just argue your corner, if they choose they want to charge a deposit I guess in the long run there ain't a lot you can do, essentially it's there service and those are the terms they are offering them on.

The alledged debt would cause me some concern in any event, if they can prove it then it really should be cleared, if they can only prove it against the address and not the person then as far as I'm aware it's not a debt in a legal capacity.


The debt is not his mate, they are not saying it is. What they are saying is, there is a debt at a property he lived at.. even though this was with his mum. She owes them money, so as far as they are concerned he is associated with that debt.
They are not saying he owes them money, but are saying because his mum owes money at the address he lived at, at home.... he will have to pay a deposit to get service....

£250 deposit...! even though monthly line rental is only £20 p/m.... !
 
Not quite the same, but many years ago, when I moved out of Mum and Dads and set up home for the first time, I had similar problems. My old dears ran their own business which ran in to difficulties, and they ended up owing money. So, when I needed credit to move out, I was refused time and time again. Couldn't work out why, as bank A/C was always in credit, always pretty good with money etc, etc.

Eventually found out I was having difficulties because of the problems the parents had. I got a credit check with Equinox(?) IIRC, and then, via them, got my myself "disassociated" from their debts and money problems.

Never had a problem since.

(I'm going back in time to the late 80's early 90's IIRC, so things may well have changed now BTW.)
 
can you not just make a fresh call to them this time giving them a different ex address and maybe get another operator to deal with it.just a thought.
 
can you not just make a fresh call to them this time giving them a different ex address and maybe get another operator to deal with it.just a thought.


Doubt it mate, credit referrals were dealing with it.... in India lol !

Im sure there system will link his name to that address now !
 
Hi all,
Right, applied for phone service in brother-in-laws name,... he lives here now.

If you applied for a phone service in bro laws name it makes me think why didn't he sort it out unless there's issue's elsewhere, have you tried using other service providers to provide service,you may get a different response.
 
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