Debt collectors chased me despite cancer

M.M. writes: I am 66 years old and ran a barber shop for 32 years. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with bowel cancer and had to close the business.

I gave utility suppliers my home address to settle any charges and then went into hospital for surgery and chemotherapy.

I thought my business life was behind me, but I have suddenly started getting letters from debt collectors acting for phone company Unicom.

This was upsetting. I asked for a breakdown of the amount claimed, but have not been given one. Can you help? I AM not surprised you wanted a breakdown. Universal Debt Collection first asked for £158.46. A second demand arrived three days later, wanting £194.43. But six days after that a third letter told you to pay £188.46.

Why the figures went up and down was a mystery. Yet it should have been easy for the debt collectors to explain. You see, Universal Debt Collection and the phone firm Unicom are both owned by the same company, Verastar.

After I started investigating, it became clear you did owe about £25. You thought you paid the last phone bill when you closed your business bank account, but there was one more in the pipeline. I contacted Verastar’s chief executive Christopher Earle for an explanation of the rest of the demand and it turned out that Unicom had not received the letter you sent to cancel the phone line. The company assumed you were simply a debtor. The charges were for line rental and then a ‘termination fee’.

Unicom does have a sensible process under which it waives fees when someone such as yourself ceases trading, but one of its staff slipped up after you made contact. Unicom has now written off all its charges and you will hear nothing more from the debt collectors.