NOT AN ORANGE CUSTOMER: Mike Scott was stunned when he received a bill for £35,000
A BUSINESSMAN has been ordered
to pay a £35,000 bill by
phone company Orange - despite
never having been a customer of
the firm.
Mike Scott, of Darlington, was
stunned to receive a letter from a
debt collection agency giving
him seven days to pay the bill.
With the threat of a visit from
bailiffs looming over him, Mr
Scott contacted the police to ask
them to find out who had been
running up the bills in his name.
"It's laughable," he said last
night. "I've never even had a
phone with Orange.
"I just can't believe for a second
anyone could run up that kind of
bill."
Mr Scott, who owns Darlington
firm DK Kitchens, said it was the
third time since New Year's Eve
that he had been sent a bill by Orange.
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On the previous two occasions,
he was ordered to pay £500 and
£1,500, but after challenging the
bills, was told the company's inhouse
fraud unit would deal with
the complaints.
But when a third bill arrived,
this time for £34,928, he decided
to go to the police.
He said: "The first two times, I
wasn't too fussed, but when I got
a bill for £35,000 through the letterbox
I decided it was time to go
to the police.
"Orange told me on New Year's
Eve, when I got the first bill, that
there were three accounts set up
in my name. I wanted to go to the
police straight away.
"They told me not to worry,
that nothing would happen, they
were looking into it and that I
shouldn't go down that route.
"So I left it with them and then
I got another bill."
Mr Scott said the bills had arrived
at a stressful time, as he
was working hard to reopen his
kitchen warehouse following
flooding last year.
An spokeswoman for Orange
said: "Orange is currently investigating
Mr Scott's case and we
will continue to liaise with him
in order to resolve the issue."
Posted by: paul, darlington on 11:55pm Fri 28 Mar 08
[quote][bold]trailertrash[/bold] wrote:
Well, even though this bill isn't Mr. Scott's, how very irresponsible of Orange to allow ANY customer to run up a bill that high!! [/quote] this is a good example of why you should check your credit file on a regular basis ,but how can a company as big as orange not notice a bill being run up as big as this in such a short time?
trailertrash wrote:
Well, even though this bill isn't Mr. Scott's, how very irresponsible of Orange to allow ANY customer to run up a bill that high!!
this is a good example of why you should check your credit file on a regular basis ,but how can a company as big as orange not notice a bill being run up as big as this in such a short time?
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