Advice Required - Relentless Debt Collector

Housey · 9 Dec 2014 at 21:41

Roar87 said:
No I'd remove them if they weren't our customer and we'd harassed them to the point they threatened to put in a complaint, we don't remove people who just don't want to be called and threaten to complain if they legitimately owe us money. We have to treat or customers fairly

As dialler manager that wouldn't be your call though would it?

Dirk Diggler · 9 Dec 2014 at 21:48

Reaper 392 said:
I know this isn't strictly on topic, but would it even be physically possible for them to supply £800 (or £453.56) worth of gas in one day to a normal house?

Only if there was a gas leak.

Roar87 · 9 Dec 2014 at 21:51

Housey said:
As dialler manager that wouldn't be your call though would it?

We're a small call center so we tend to do more than you'd probably expect, my job would probably be done by 3 different people in larger companies.

Strife212 · 9 Dec 2014 at 21:55

Send them a letter saying the debt is not yours, you've never had an account with them and if they contact you again you'll be instructing your lawyer to initiate legal proceedings against them.

big_white_dog84 · 9 Dec 2014 at 22:29

I used to work for bcw. They have no interest in whether or not you owe that money - they just want to force you to pay so they make a profit.

Stop dealing with them and go to SSE directly - send them everything you have and threaten legal action unless they call off their bcw dogs. Bcw will eventually ask you to send them proof SSE have agreed you owe them nothing etc. send them nothing. Bcw will not take you down the legal action route. They make profit by grabbing the easy money. In my time there they took nobody to court.

Energize · 10 Dec 2014 at 01:09

String said:
That wasn't quite the case. I rented one property for a couple of years, and I binned it because I couldn't be bothered with the hassle any more.

You haven't answered the question. The responses that you give seem to indicate that you enjoy the social interaction with them.

MatsyLR · 10 Dec 2014 at 02:06

Too long to read this but I work for Npower and this comes up daily.
Just prove the energy provider you where not responsible for the property during the said times whatever it may be.
Tell them if they do not sort this out you will take the problem to the energy ombudsman (which you should have done straight away regardless, as they are the only ones who make us do anything)
And inform them if nothing is done you will get legal action taken against them.
This forces the energy supplier to put you through to one of the collections managers at the company, who has the authority to do something about it (as long as you send proof in)
Dont even bother talking to anyone BUT a manager, they will try to fob you off to a "supervisor" who cant do anything or say "yeh a manager will call you back shortly" and they never do. Happens all the time here and its annoying having to get repeat calls from people. They will try anything to get you to go away.

Dirk Diggler · 10 Dec 2014 at 05:22

Energize said:
You haven't answered the question. The responses that you give seem to indicate that you enjoy the social interaction with them.

Which question have I not answered?

As for "social interaction", what on earth are you blabbering on about?

Boycey0211 · 10 Dec 2014 at 05:45

I had a similar experience with Sky broadband, they sent me an invoice for two years of internet at an address I no longer lived at, called debt collectors, send possibly false solicitors letter etc.

I had already told them about their mistake and they just carried on as the auto respond emails couldn't work out how to reply to my complaint, and as I wasn't even a sky customer anymore I wasn't allowed to talk to a real person.

Only way I got around it was by sending an email to Sky CS directly (even though they say you can only talk to the solicitors) explaining that they were in the wrong, the only thing that stopped them was me threatening to take them to court for harassment if they contacted me again.

I have no idea whether I even could do that or not, but was 100% in the right all along and was at my wits end trying to get them to stop, its surprisingly stressful being chased by debt collectors for no reason!

Dirk Diggler · 10 Dec 2014 at 05:52

Boycey0211 said:
...its surprisingly stressful being chased by debt collectors for no reason!

Totally agree.

Tefal · 10 Dec 2014 at 07:21

Roar87 said:
No I'd remove them if they weren't our customer and we'd harassed them to the point they threatened to put in a complaint, we don't remove people who just don't want to be called and threaten to complain if they legitimately owe us money. We have to treat our customers fairly

how do you know they're not your customer?

as ion this case surely most people with debts deny having the debt.

cause if you already knew they weren't your customer why did you harass them soi long they needed to threaten you?

Burned_Alive · 10 Dec 2014 at 08:51

Send them a final notice and tell them any further contact will be charged at £100 per email. Worked for this guy!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...wins-damages-time-wasted-answering-phone.html

Xordium · 10 Dec 2014 at 08:57

I had a similar situation where I was repeatedly chased for the last person to live in the house even though I demonstrated that they had left. Ended up in me threatening to take legal action and citing the fact I would go to my GP to claim for induced-stress and then sue them for that. Other than that anything reasonable didn't seem to wash with them. These fools only seem to understand aggressive tactics so you are left with little choice but to join the club. It was quite stressful for my wife with all the threat of removal of property etc hence why I really went to town on them.

Kill_Phil · 10 Dec 2014 at 10:05

Raise an official complaint to the company - and put in bold at the top of the letter to emphasis this point. include as much info/evidence as possible, then tell them they have xx amount of days to respond/resolve as per their complaints procedure and if you don't have a response that you will go the ombudsman.

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy.html

Dirk Diggler · 15 Dec 2014 at 15:54

I have received a response from the email that I sent earlier, which was basically a cut and paste of the text posted earlier in this thread (see second quote below).

It seems when you point out the regulations to them, they do indeed act...

In reference to your recent emails, you expressed dissatisfaction regarding the collection activity for the outstanding balance on the above mentioned account. I regret that you had to contact us under these circumstances and I would like to apologise for any upset or inconvenience that may have been caused by this matter. I am keen to resolve this matter to your satisfaction therefore it is important to let you know about our Complaint Handling Statement and Procedure, which can be found on our website (paper copy available on request):

http://www.hydro.co.uk/HelpandAdvice/ComplaintsProcedure

I would like to confirm I have place a hold on all collections and will conduct a full review of the account. I aim to contact you no later than 29 December 2014 to attempt to resolve the matter to your satisfaction. Should you require to contact me before this date I can be contacted on the details listed above. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

The above was in reponse to this email sent a few days ago...

Sir / Madam,

I am receiving requests for payment from a debt collection company who claim to be acting on your behalf. I would like to point out the following:

I did not own the property during the supply period.
I did not live in the property during the supply period.
I held no such account during the supply period.

I have attached a copy of the original request from the debt collection agency, and I have also attached a copy of my sale acceptance letter for the property. As you can see, the property was sold many months before the supply period. I had submitted this information to BCW Group months ago, and I am very disappointed that they continue to harass me on your behalf for a debt that I have continually stated that I do not owe.

I would point out that I do not acknowledge any debt being owed to you by myself. I feel I have taken reasonable steps to demonstrate this beyond any doubt, both to your appointed debt agency in the past and to you on this date.

I would ask that no further contact be made by you or any third party appointed by you concerning the above supply address unless you can provide evidence as to my liability for the debt in question.

I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

So, a step in the right direction it seems. Fingers X'd...

Yaayuh! · 15 Dec 2014 at 15:59

Good news

hope it get's sorted this time.

Energize · 15 Dec 2014 at 20:03

String said:
Which question have I not answered?

As for "social interaction", what on earth are you blabbering on about?

The question I asked, its not difficult...

Dirk Diggler · 15 Dec 2014 at 20:12

Rossi~ said:
Good news hope it get's sorted this time.

Hopefully, mate. At least they responded and apologised which is a step in the right direction.

el_dazza · 15 Dec 2014 at 20:50

Excellent. As I said, use the correct channels and they back down. It'll cost them more than the debt as well as the hassle to keep chasing it.

bledd · 15 Dec 2014 at 22:20

Result