Dear Michele,

Firstly, I must apologise for the time is has taken me to respond and for the length of my reply. I wanted to make sure that I gave you as much information as I possibly could, so please keep reading....

Michele, I am glad to tell you there is lots of support and advice available and you are far from being alone. Everyone is different and when experiencing debt problems, we all handle them in their own way. From what you have said I would ask that you speak to your doctor or possibly an advice line about the way you feel. I would recommend Mind, who you can call on 0300 123 3393 but there are other organisations who can offer help and support. I will offer you some advice in relation to dealing with Unicom but I do think it is important that you seek further support for the way you are feeling.

Hi all,
I have amended my response because after doing a little more digging around it has come to light that Unicom does not have to adhere to the OFT guidance. Please do not be alarmed, there are other routes you can take to escalate your complaint. To be clear, Unicom does not have a consumer credit licence because their debts are utility debts, in addition, rather than using an external debt collection agency (that would have a consumer credit licence) they use their own in house collectors.

In these circumstances the body you would escalate your complaint to is OFCOM. OFCOM have a consumer’s complaint guide which explains the process you should follow but I will attempt to explain it in brief. First of all they recommend that you raise a complaint with the company’s customer service department but I think you are already a little past this point. I would recommend that you jump to the next stage of allowing the company’s complaints department the opportunity to resolve your complaint. Place the complaint in writing, detailing as much information as possible, as well as, providing a copy of any supporting evidence (it is important that you retain the original), what you expect from them and how you would like your complaint resolved. I would also ask for a copy of their complaints procedure to be on the safe side.

Don’t forget the golden rules on this – Always take a copy of all the letters you send and always, always, always send them by recorded delivery.

Hopefully Unicom will resolve your complaint but if they don’t then you have the option to raise it with the relevant Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). The ADR schemes act as an independent middleman between the services provide and the customer. The good news is that they have some clout and if they uphold you complaint it can order the company to fix the problem (which doesn’t apply to you) and could potentially make a financial award. Unicom are members of the Ombudsman Services: Communications, ADR scheme and a link to their website is http://www.ombudsman-services.org/com...

I hope I haven’t bombarded you with too much information but I want to do everything I can do to help. When you have all this weighing down on you, it can be hard to know which way to turn and as daunting as it can be, it is important that you do seek help and advice. So what do you do now? I suggest that you speak to your doctor/help line first and see what they suggest, and depending on what they say, then start looking to write a letter.

I hope all goes well and albeit that I might not be able to give an immediate response, I do keep a keen eye on the community and will do what I can to assist you.

Kate