THE Sun's Squeeze Team wins back money for readers who have had a refund or billing issue with a company and are struggling to get it resolved.
This week, we helped a woman who was chased by debt collectors after she cancelled an O2 contract that had been included in her broadband package to get her money back.
Q. I signed up for a TV and broadband deal with Virgin Media which came with a mobile phone sim.
When I realised I was being charged extra I tried to cancel, but now I’m being chased by debt collectors.
Can you help sort out this mess?
Gillian Walley, Barnsley, South Yorkshire
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A. In March, you signed up for a TV and broadband deal with Virgin Media O2 for £85 a month.
The package was one of its most comprehensive deals – the Ultimate Volt bundle – and included hundreds of TV channels and several streaming services.
The bundle also included an O2 mobile phone contract, which you thought was thrown in for free, so you tucked it away into a drawer as you didn’t need it.
But a few months later,you were looking at your bill and realised the contract was costing you £32.70 a month.
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Straight away you rang O2 and, after a few hours of waiting around on the phone, you were told the account was closed and you didn’t need to do anything else.
But in June, you spotted on your statement that you were charged again.
When you complained to O2, a different agent said you needed to cancel the direct debit as well or it would keep taking the payments, which you did immediately.
So, you were shocked when a debt collector’s notice landed on your doorstep at the end of July demanding £86 on behalf of O2.
You told me that trying to get the issue resolved with O2 was a nightmare and the threat of debt collectors kept you awake at night with stress.
You were also worried about your credit report, as companies reporting late payments or sending debt collectors can bring your credit score down.
So, you reluctantly paid up the £86 to make them go away.
But you feel you should get the money back as you did everything O2 asked.
When I spoke with O2, it acknowledged your account should have been shut sooner and agreed to refund the £86 you’d paid to the debt collectors.
It also refunded you £32.70 you were wrongly charged after you initially cancelled the contract – a total of £118.70.
A spokesperson for the company said: “Ms Walley signed up to our Ultimate package, which comes with an additional O2 sim, and this was explained at the point of sale.
“We acknowledge that Ms Walley later wanted to close the account due to already having an existing O2 sim, and she has experienced difficulties in doing so, for which we apologise.
"We have now disconnected the account and refunded the £86 payment that was made."
Our Squeeze Team has won back £126,967 for readers.
What should I do if I get a letter from debt collectors?
Debt collectors work on behalf of companies to try to get back money they're owed.
A company might sell your debt to a debt collection agency if you miss payments, also known as defaulting on payments.
It's important to know that while debt collectors can come to your door, they don't have any legal powers to collect a debt.
However, they can contact you by post, phone, text or email and they may take court action against you if you fail to pay what you owe.
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You may be able to negotiate with debt collectors if you tell them you are getting debt advice and want to pay what you can afford, according to charity StepChange.
You can speak to a charity like StepChange or get advice from Citizens Advice if you're worried about debt.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
You can also join our new Sun Money Facebook group to share stories and tips and engage with the consumer team and other group members.
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