Advice Required - Relentless Debt Collector

[Komedy]

in this case a simple "Prove It" letter is what is required.

Dear Sir/Madam

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (insert company name).

I am/we are familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

I/we would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

I/we would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my/our liability for the debt in question.

I/we await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

I/we look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

DON'T sign this letter, in fact NEVER sign any letter that goes to a DCA. A fancy font or simple name statement is fine and avoids any photoshop specials later on.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Thanks Komedy, I'll use that for sure.

Here's how the latest attempt to start all over again has panned out. Note how they have told me initially that the matter is urgent, I need to contact them by phone straight away. It's so urgent that I can provide a number and have them phone me.

Note also how they drip feed the "urgent" information over a period of almost 2 weeks...

This is an urgent message from BCW.

We have been attempting to contact you as we require to speak with you as soon as possible.

Could you please contact us on 0844 571 4070 quoting this unique reference number *********, or alternatively reply to this email with a contact telephone number and we will arrange for someone to contact you urgently.

Thank you
BCW

If this is an urgent matter, please feel free to continue to communicate by email. Alternatively, you may write to me at my home address.


Thank you

Thank you for your Email. We are acting on behalf of Scottish Southern Energy. Please do not hesitate to reply by return Email should you require any further assistance. Kind Regards Administration Department

Sir / Madam,

This doesn't tell me much. Please feel free to elaborate.

Thank you

Thank you for your e-mail. We are representing Scottish and Southern Energy in regards to an outstanding balance of £453.56 relating to supply at ****************. If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us. Kind regards, Administration department

Hi,

I haven't lived at that address since October 2010. I have never had an account with Scottish and Southern Energy.

Why are you contacting me about this?

Thanks

They've still to get to the part where they tell me it's for 24 hours worth of supply on a date when I didn't even own the property...

 

[Haggisman]

Charge them for your replies

 

[Komedy]

Do not phone them. Deal with them in writing only.

 

[stopper]

Charge them for your replies

This is what I would do.

It's quite clear that have taken details from the electoral register as it doesn't always update for quite a while after changes.
You should have evidence that you didn't live there at that time so just send them a copy of that evidence with a notice stating you will now be charging them £500 for each reply you make to them.
If they ignore your notice and continue to chase you for the debt, they enter a tacit agreement to pay those charges, and it will stand in court.
That's what banks do to us.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

This is what I would do.

It's quite clear that have taken details from the electoral register as it doesn't always update for quite a while after changes.
You should have evidence that you didn't live there at that time so just send them a copy of that evidence with a notice stating you will now be charging them £500 for each reply you make to them.
If they ignore your notice and continue to chase you for the debt, they enter a tacit agreement to pay those charges, and it will stand in court.
That's what banks do to us.

But that's the thing. Why should I prove I don't live somewhere? They could literally repeat the process for every house I've ever lived in.

Surely the burden of proof is with them?

 

[john_s]

If they ignore your notice and continue to chase you for the debt, they enter a tacit agreement to pay those charges, and it will stand in court.
That's what banks do to us.

I've been doing that with a parking company trying to "fine" me for my car allegedly being parked 300 miles away from where it actually was.

Which reminds me, I've another reply (and invoice) to send them...

 

[dowie]

This is what I would do.

It's quite clear that have taken details from the electoral register as it doesn't always update for quite a while after changes.
You should have evidence that you didn't live there at that time so just send them a copy of that evidence with a notice stating you will now be charging them £500 for each reply you make to them.
If they ignore your notice and continue to chase you for the debt, they enter a tacit agreement to pay those charges, and it will stand in court.
That's what banks do to us.

Lol unlikely - there was one case where someone did pull this off with smaller charges and because the company paid up to avoid having to go to court... but it is unlikely you can get £500 charge applied to every letter... I mean why not go for £1k or even £5k if that is the case - why £500?

You may be able to sue them for harrasment - but that is a different matter and doesn't rely on you specifying that you'll charge them per letter.

 

[grumpysculler]

Try this sample letter:
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW...that-you-do-not-owe-the-debt-(sole-name).aspx

Pursuing disputed debts is against their rules and could lose them their licence.

Do everything in writing (paper and envelopes).

 

[Meatball]

poo in an envelope and send it to them

/thread

 

[TrojanWhore]

Lol unlikely - there was one case where someone did pull this off with smaller charges and because the company paid up to avoid having to go to court... but it is unlikely you can get £500 charge applied to every letter... I mean why not go for £1k or even £5k if that is the case - why £500?

You may be able to sue them for harrasment - but that is a different matter and doesn't rely on you specifying that you'll charge them per letter.

yeah I'd agree with this, £500 is obviously just for giggles, they know you'll never be able to enforce it.

change it to a 'reasonable' amount to cover your expenditure of time and effort (£5-10), and you'd have a realistic chance in court of them actually having to pay it under contract law (AFAIK).

either send that letter, then cease all contact of any form, or don't send the letter, and just cease contact from this point, until they get a court summons or similar

other than that, I would say that you, and others here, are correct; the burden of proof lies with them, they can't enter your property (or the one you previously owned) without consent (from current owner) or a court order, and if they did would likely be liable for significant compensation.

this is all just my limited understanding - I don't really have any legal experience

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Technically, I haven't informed them that I dispute the debt as far as this particular email chain goes. I'll wait for them to present the dates again, and then I'll copy and paste that response.

Many thanks for the replies.

Oh, and the poo in an envelope response was maybe funny up to the 100th time it was posted in a thread. People posting that response now are the type of people that were saying...

"Guess what"

"... what"

"Ew, good guess!"

... All the way into their 30's.

 

[Zenduri]

Tonnes of shoddy advice in here!

Ring the Energy provider in question, advise them the property was rented out and provide proof it was rented out e.g tenancy agreement with the tenant you had.

Once you have sent them this proof they will chase the correct person for whatever balance. Speaking to BCW will do nothing to resolve this and you are wasting your time.

If you don't have any tenancy agreement to show this was rented/leased out then you better start bending over because without proof my friend this is a 3rd party dispute between you and whoever was in the property at the time and someone will have to pay for something.

I suspect as well they are working on estimated/botched reads too, hence the size of the bill for the period. Dealing with the DCA is a waste of time and you wont get this resolved so goto the energy company.

 

[dowie]

Tonnes of shoddy advice in here!

Ring the Energy provider in question, advise them the property was rented out and provide proof it was rented out e.g tenancy agreement with the tenant you had.

Once you have sent them this proof they will chase the correct person for whatever balance. Speaking to BCW will do nothing to resolve this and you are wasting your time.

If you don't have any tenancy agreement to show this was rented/leased out then you better start bending over because without proof my friend this is a 3rd party dispute between you and whoever was in the property at the time and someone to the energy company.

Ironically that is also bad advice... re-read the OP's posts he didn't own the property at the dates claimed for the bill. The tennancy prior to that is irrelevant...

 

[Zenduri]

Also from experience (my employer also uses BCW for energy Debt chasing) BCW will be contracted with the energy supplier and won't have "bought the debt". If you sort this out with the energy company regarding who is liable they will call off BCW and job done.

All this talk of lawyers, ombudsmen, ignoring them is all dire advice that will cause you more hassle,stress, expense and time

 

[Zenduri]

Ironically that is also bad advice... re-read the OP's posts he didn't own the property at the dates claimed for the bill. The tennancy prior to that is irrelevant...

So i didnt read the OP properly big woop..... the advice is still the damn same. Prove to the energy company this isnt your responsability with the confirmation of the sale and Job done........

edit: Re -read it now, why the OP bothered to mention it was rented prior to him selling i will never know as it's not really useful info, a simple " they are chasing me for debt for x date but i sold the property months before on y date" would have sufficed

 

[Housey]

BCW is a debt outsourcer who will be subbed to provide debt services to SSE, I know both companies from working with them over the years, actually know a few of the board members of BCW and they are nice chaps, actually.

Write to SSE clearly stating your case and if you so wish copy in your points of contact at BCW. Make your case clear and your correspondence traceable. Like any outsourcer they will be working with a set of data they have been given and the people you speak with will know/care little about you or your circumstance.

They will follow their prescribed process and will be judged on their collections effectiveness whilst compiling with the FCA/TCF guidelines, also an organisation I know well as I do the FOS.

 

[Ukadder]

I had a similar experience with First Utility, where they sent a debt collectors letters even after we explained it couldn't have possibly been us.

After wasting hours of my life on the phone without everything getting sorted I emailed all the proof/details to the CEO (found email address online) watchdog and their customer service team.

3 days later I'd received an email saying sorry, the CEO is aware of what's going on and we won't contact you again.

Fingers crossed it's now been sorted...

 

[Dirk Diggler]

I already sent them a copy of the proof of sale months ago. I also sent them a copy of my council tax bills for the property that I actually live in. They are ignoring all this as I have already pointed out in the OP.

And really, I don't see that it's up to me to prove I didn't live somewhere... it's up to them to prove I did.

I'm not being stroppy, but I don't see the point in folk criticising others for bad advice when they haven't actually read the OP before steaming in with their own advice.

To recap: I have provided proof that I didn't own the property at the time. The DCA have continued to press me for money regardless.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

I've been in this situation with debt recovery companies for a previous tenant's debts and its utterly pointless arguing with the debt recovery company you have to talk to whoever put the debt recovery company onto you, the debt company simply aren't interested in arguments, excuses, details or anything other than a) recovering the money or b) being called off by the person or persons issuing the debt.