Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
Consignment of a 13 year old contract to a new company
We signed an house alarm monitoring contract with a company over 13 years ago, which automatically renewed for a one year period every year. Since then, without notification several different companies have bought out the original contract. We moved and no longer have an alarm. I tried to cancel with the current company and they said, even though we no longer have an alarm we have to pay for monitoring fees through Sept. even though they are not monitoring our alarm. They quote contract wording which appears in our original contract with the original company ''the subscriber cannot assign this agreement without the prior writtein consent of the company'' as the reason they can bill us through Sept. even though they are no longer providing us with the service. We have never signed and agreement with the company which is billing us now. As stated before we signed a monitoring agreement with a company over 10 years ago, which has been bought and sold several times without our knowledge or notification. They are threatening to send us to collections.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Consignment of a 13 year old contract to a new company
Demand to see a copy of the complete contract and all assignments. Chances are there is some language in the original agreement that might protect you in case of a move. You should have the contract reviewed by a local attorney.
Re: Consignment of a 13 year old contract to a new company
I agree with the previous poster. Well written correspondence on your behalf demanding to view the contract they have on file (assuming they actually have this that many years later) will help move things in the right direction. I would be happy to discuss the matter with you via phone or email at your convenience.
Yours truly,
Bryan Becker
Member, National Association of Consumer Advocates
www.naca.net
877*201*8728