Receiving calls from Advantis?

[MrRockliffe]

Update: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/posts/34820318


Hi all,

For the past week, I’ve been receiving numerous calls from Advantis, who after some research, are a debt collection company.

I’m completely unsure what this would be in relation to - I’ve no long term debt (just credit card which gets paid off every month and my iPhone through Barclays finance).

I’ve checked my credit report and no missed payments since 2015 (when I started getting credit). In addition, no outstanding accounts.


I’ve used the same email address and primary home address for the past 8 years too, and haven’t had any contact from any companies about debt.



They (Advantis) asked me to provide some details to verify the account for GDPR purposes, however I refused to do so on the basis I have no idea who they are, and won’t provide sensitive personal data over the phone to a random company. They tried assuring me they were legitimate etc but I ultimately advised them I would be hanging up, and did so.


Anyone have any experience with them? Any ideas?


Many thanks

 

[MrRockliffe]

can't help in any constructive way, only dropped into the threat as i though it read 'receiving calls from Atlantis' ......which would have been so much cooler.

if you've checked your credit report (use more than one service just to be sure) and there's nothing on there i'd be telling them to jog on. they've likely got a debt for someone with the same or similar name to you. they've probably contacted a load of folk with the same name hoping to hook however the actual owner of the debt is.

still wish it was Atlantis though.

I recently moved house (rental) and the previous tenant, who is also the landlord) has been receiving lots of debt collection stuff.

I guess they could have gotten my mobile number from someone now I’ve registered everything at this address.


Edit: not Atlantis unfortunately

 

[MrRockliffe]

I had a debt collection agency chasing me about five years ago (not Advantis or Atlantis either). It turned out there was a mobile phone debt for someone in my area with the same first initial and surname. They were bombarding everyone who met that criteria with demands in the hope someone, anyone, would pay up. I told them to **** off and prove it was me (which it wasn't, so they couldn't) and got the usual "on this occasion we will no longer be contacting you for payment" letter rather than a apology.

Interesting

Problem here is they won’t tell me anything about it “due to GDPR” and I’m not comfortable giving any of my info over. If they call again I’ll just ask them to provide me with information.

 

[MrRockliffe]

Then tell them to write to you. Don't confirm your address. Don't confirm any personal details. If the debt is yours they will have those details. If they don't have your address then it's unlikely to be your debt.

EDIT: Actually I just saw you moved house recently so it doesn't rule that out. Did you have a mail forwarding service setup when you moved? If you did then still tell them to write to you. I still wouldn't give any details to them though.

I moved from my dads - I haven’t had any bills other than mobile phone since July 2020.

Checked those accounts and they’re all closed with 0 balance.

I haven’t had any correspondence from anyone while at my dads.

Since I’ve been in and out of university (now finally out) I’ve had my dads address as my primary address for the past 5 years.


I will give them a call and ask them to write to me

 

[MrRockliffe]

Eventually managed to sort out the identity issue and turns out it was from a late vehicle tax earlier this year


My car tax is 0, and I thought I’d set it up to auto renew every Jan, but when I happened to check it earlier this year I noticed I must not have done it properly, so ended up doing it a month late. At the same time, I updated my address on my vehicle log book, but all comms went to my last one

Apparently I can appeal it, and I will try since it was an honest mistake, and my road tax is free anyway


Annoying, nevertheless.

 

[MrRockliffe]

Apparently it’s not about the cost of taxing, but the fact I didn’t do it

But yes, a little annoying.

I wasn’t sure what I expected when I called Advantis about it, but it certainly wasn’t “forgetting to acknowledge I don’t pay car tax” late

 

[MrRockliffe]

How much is it for out of interest?

£80, so not horrendous