Help! House move ends in threat of Legal Action!?

[robf]

After my recent debacle of a house move (see http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...75&postcount=4 )

I thought everything was sorted when this morning (29th Jan) I received (forwarded from my previous address - and therefore dated 19th Jan) a Pre-Legal Notice telling me that unless I return "my NTL equipment" (no specifics so I assume they must mean the STB which is now in and working at my new address) then they will instruct their debt collection agency to "recover these on our behalf"

The time limit they set was 5 days of postage - so I'm already 10 days overdue because it was sent to my old address.

The letter claims that they have previously contacted me about collecting this equipment - this is a straight-up LIE as I've never heard anything on the subject till today.

How can they be asking for equipment back when it has been safely installed and paid for under contract at my new address for over three months by THEIR engineer?

As well as legal action and a visit from the Debt Collection agency they are threatening me with having bad debts registered on my credit rating and £250 fine for the un-returned equipment.

The only contact details they have given me are for their "contract partners" Q-Net who presumably are their Debt Collectors?

I've just emailed Q-Net explaining the situation but I'm concerned that if they are just contracted to recover equipment then they won't be interested in my tale of how incompetent NTL have been and I'll just get slapped with a bad debt that doesn't actually exist.

How can a "simple house move" end like this? How can they still think I live at the old address and yet haven't returned any equipment when my account details must CLEARLY show a house move took place? NTL themselves TOLD me to take my STB with me for re-installation at the new address.

The ironic thing is that when the engineer came to re-install he reinstalled my STB from the old house as instructed but took away with him THREE STB's that I found in the cellar of the new house from the previous occupants!!!

Help me! any advice?

[lostandconfused]

q-net arnt debt collectors they just collect the stb, if you havnt heard anything by email i would give them a call to explain whats happend they should be able to sort it out

[Mister Jack]

if i were u id leave them it not worth all this bother

Originally Posted by Mister Jack

if i were u id leave them it not worth all this bother

Not a good idea..NTL will chase you if you don't resolve your debts/mistaken debts issues.It's very annoying and tedious I know, but it has to be done.If it gets too bad I'm sure someone here who works for ntl will be able to help seeing as you do seem to be in the process of trying to sort the matter out already.

What about it folks? Is there anyone who can move this matter along for robf?

[robf]

Exactly - I want to sort it out not run away from it. I'm happy with NTL services.....when they work...and when the admin side of things doesn't get all messed up like this.

I emailed the Qnet contact address this morning but had no repsonse (not even an automated one). There is a number to ring on the letter too - but to be honest I've spent enough money on phone calls to NTL trying to sort out the mess they made of my house move in the first place, I'd rather not waste more money on phone calls

Any assistance in getting someone to sort this mess out would be greatly appreciated. I really thought the hassles were over - you couldn't make this up

[MovedGoalPosts]

I'd suggest you don't use email - there is no way you can prove anyone gets it. Once things have a threat of going legal, go back to snail mail, and ddo it by recorded delivery so you have proof of delivery.

In this case, it may be worth a phone call to ntl's customer services, but I'd suspect that would end up in telephone ping pong. I'd simply do a recorded delivery letter to both ntl and the people now threatening legal action, stating that you have the kit which they are demanding back, but as ntl are very aware it has been reinstalled at your new address by ntl.

Of course it looks like a lot of the confusion is in fact caused by your kit having been relocated and databases not being updated. It woud be worth raising that issue in your letter to ntl that they need to ensure that the right hand knows what the left hand is up to.

[Alanmelon]

It seems bizarre that the level of service varies so much within ntl. In your case they're going into overkill mode to recover an stb which you have every right to possess, but I'm here with a nice shiny Samsung stb sitting under the stairs for the last 18 months since moving. I advised the call center bloke who said someone would be in touch when I cancelled, needless to say I've heard nothing since.

[robf]

Well thanks for the advice chaps - appreciate it.

The punch line is that because I mentioned the fact the engineer took away THREE old STB's that I found in the cellar of the new house, the chap from Q-Net that replied said:

We do the collections on behalf of NTL of the digital boxes. As your box has been collected by one of NTL’s own install technicians I will cancel off the collection order on the account.

Completely missing the point that MY box has never been collected because it's still in use!!

So, in effect, if I HAD failed to return some equipment, I could have just told them that the engineer took it away and they would have said "oh OK - we believe you" and cancelled the collection order…!