Freeserve

[suicidedd]

Not sure if this is better suited to general or computers. But I made a judgement call. ;)


Yesterday I recieved a letter from Freeserve (who I've used for 2 years), informing me that I'm one of thousands of customers who owe them £279, and demanding their money. :eek:

Unknown to me I haven't been billed for 12 months, despite them having my direct debit details. So in my opinion it was their responsibility to charge my direct debit.

Unless I pay up the FULL AMOUNT within 14 days then the matter will be referred to a debt collection agency. :eek:

Any help and advice on where I stand would be much appreciated, I just don't know how I'm going to be able to afford to pay £240 right now as I've spent just under £600 on medical treatment for my daughter.

[Kryten]

This sounds pretty bad on their part. If they have not taken the money for the last 12 months then they should at least work out a payment plan for you. However that said they are probably within their rights to ask for the money as you did sign up to that monthly fee and should have budgeted for it and if they were not taking the money then either contact them to ask why (not that many people would do that ;) ) or leave the monthly monies in the bank account to make sure that they would be there if they were asked for.

Anyway, I'm sure there are some people on here who can give a better anser than me in legal terms, but I think that this is more a suppliers question over General or Computing.

Moving...

[Alan. b]

Have a read of this (http://thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=268530) and his (http://thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=268711) thread because it seems as if you are not the only one with this problem :)

[keeperbear]

If you used the service, you will eventually have to pay the money to Freeserve. They should let you pay it off monthly as it appears to be their fault (but could be your bank).

[molerat]

I pay by credit card and when my card was replaced they did not charge me for about 6 months. They said it was because the expiry date had changed and so they couldn,'t take the money. It suprised me that it took them that long but I was expecting it so it was OK, I had their money for that time.

That said, you should really have known that they had not been taking the payments and you have been using the service so I don't think you really have any defence. Write them a letter explaining that you cannot afford it in one go and give them a payment plan that you can afford and they will probably be accomodating. BTW ...... do it in writing and not on the phone and send it recorded delivery.