A LYDNEY man is furious after a telephone salesman's 'free trial offer' ran up bills which are now being chased by a firm of debt-collectors.

And he wants other elderly people to beware of similar hard sells which could land them in the same position, facing demands for money that mount while they are powerless to get the unwanted service switched off.

Retired businessman Bert Harrison said he thought the deal sounded attractive when a BT Cellnet Cellular Operations salesman told him there would be no contract to sign and no commitment, and he could have it on three months' free trial.

He agreed there and then to have a phone on approval and not one but two phones were delivered promptly two days later, on November 17 last year.

However Mr Harrison looked over the details and decided he did not want one of the phones, let alone two, because there was no mention of the services or offer he had been assured of on the phone, especially the trial period.

"I called and called, and each time there was somebody else who didn't want to know," he said. "Then I wrote to the company on December 2.

"Eventually I had a letter back saying I could only send the phones back at my own expense and providing I insured them for £200 during carriage.

"I wrote back and said this was unreasonable because I hadn't signed any contracts, but heard nothing, but then I started to get accounts for both phones out of the blue.

"I haven't even used them – they are still in their plastic wrappers in the box they came in.

"I then got a letter from Swordstick, a firm of debt collectors, who said I owed £112 on one phone and £46 on another. Again I tried to contact the firm, and eventually in exasperation I went to the CAB.

"They are trying to get to the bottom of it but unfortunately they say that once you agree to something over the phone it stands as a contract even if you do not sign anything.

"The CAB is still checking for me but if it's true I want to warn others who may be vulnerable – I think some of these telephone sales people target elderly people, and think we are thick and gullible."

The Review contacted BT about Mr Harrison's complaints and they said they would pass details to Cellular Operation Ltd to investigate the case and report back. The call had not been returned at the time of going to press.