Hello,
This might be a bit of a long story, but please bear with me! The amount I'm talking about is minute compared to others that I've seen on here, but here goes...
In February 2005, I opened a Demon HomeOffice Internet account, paying 24.99 a month.
Two months later, I moved home (I rent, and hence and up moving around a lot), and moved the account to the new address, flat sharing with my best friend. This was fine, no problems.
At the end of January 2006, I was moving house again and once more phoned Demon to move the account to the newer address, and at the same time switch to a lower tariff - 19.99 a month. The salesperson said that this was fine.
After a couple of months, I noticed from my bank statements that I was still being charged the 24.99 a month at the old address. It looked like they opened a completely new account for the new address and didn't bother to close the old one!
So, I wrote a letter to them complaining about this, detailing all of the
above, telling them to stop the old account, and asking for a refund for the two month's over-payment.
I got a reply on the 5th April 2006, but all it said was that they had
acknowledged the complaint and that I would receive a reply from the
'Customer Services' department within 10-15 days.
By the 28th of June 2006, I hadn't received anything. On this date, I wrote them another letter to tell them to close both accounts, I was moving address again, and if they wanted to contact me, they could do so via my website.
So, I moved house and thought nothing more of it. I also threw away all the correspondence that they had sent me, as I thought I wouldn't be needing it any more (though I still have the documents that I sent them, saved on my website).
Now, around October 2007, I visited my best friend's flat, where I used to live. He now lives there with his father. That's the second address in the story above. There was a letter that had arrived for me that week, so I opened and read it.
It was a letter from 1st Credit, demanding over 200 pounds payment on behalf of Thus Plc. Thus Plc are the owners of Demon Internet. The letter talked about how solicitors had been contacted and how I should phone them to make immediate payment to stop some sort of action. From reading these forums, I now know that this is a standard scare tactic.
Anyway, being the person I am, I was actually quite scared, so I phoned them.
I tried to explain to the woman that I spoke to what the deal was with Demon, and she wasn't having any of it. She was quite rude, insisting that I had run up debts. I ended up saying that I was going to think about my options and call them back later, and hung up.
I called back a bit later and spoke to a man, who seemed much more reasonable.
I mentioned that the letters that I had written to Demon were available on my website, and he could view them if he had an internet connection. He seemed to do so, and he told me that the solicitor's action would be halted and that I'd be contacted next week. They wanted my new address, but I refused to give it to them, and only let them have my mobile number.
I now think that this reasonableness was a put-on, and he was just trying to weasel information from me.
Anyway, they never called back, and I forgot all about it until two weeks ago.
I have moved house again, and discarded the letter that they sent to my friend's house.
I was busy at work, when my mobile phone rang. I didn't recognise the number (0870 164 2049), but I answered it. There was a man on the other end, and the call went something like this:
Him: Is that <my name>?
Me: Yes.
Him: This call may be monitored, blah blah blah, training purposes, blah, is
that ok?
Me: Er... yes...
Him (aggresively): Can I confirm your date of birth?
Me: Er... what's this about?
Him (more aggressively): Can I confirm your date of birth?
Me: Er... what's this about?
Him: This is about confirming your date of birth.
Me: Er... who is this?
Him: (Mumble mumble) ...1st credit... date of birth... (aggressive sounds)
Me: Hang on, YOU called ME! It's a common courtesy to explain who you are when you call somebody!
Around this point, my mobile reception went a bit fuzzy...
Me: Er... you'll have to repeat that, I didn't catch it.
Him: Ah, I'll just send out a letter!
He hangs up.
Now, whatever letter he wanted to send wasn't going to be able to reach me as they don't have my address. However, they do have my friend's address and I don't want him and his father to carry on receiving their stupid threats.
Also, I have no idea whether this is still about Thus Plc (which seems very likely), or something else. So, I started looking at websites like this one to figure out what to do. After doing that, I felt less panicked with more of an idea about what to do.
The next week, I missed a call on it from another number that I didn't
recognise, which started 0177-something-or-other. I called it back and got an answerphone at 1st Credit. I hung up, and then found that MY answerphone had a message on it. It was from a woman asking me to call the 0870 164 2049 number and she gave me a reference number to quote.
Of course, now being a bit more primed for their ilk, I haven't done so.
Instead, I wrote the following letter to 1st Credit and sent it recorded delivery:
------------------
Your ref: xxxxxxx
To whom it may concern;
I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY
I have recently had a very rude phone call from a man demanding that I give him some of my personal information. I refused.
Some research on the number he was calling from (0870 164 2049) indicated that he is employed by your company, 1st Credit, which seems to be some sort of debt-buying organisation.
A few days later, I found a message on my answerphone from a woman who identified your company and asked me to call back on the number above, with the reference 'xxxxxxx'. I have not done so, as I would like to keep a permanent record of all communications.
I have not yet received anything in writing from your organisation.
I require you to supply me with, in writing, details of what I can help you with before I will correspond further on this matter. I would like a response within 14 days.
For convenience, this document is permanently available to view online at
http://mywebsite/xxxxxxx.html
It was posted, via Royal Mail Recorded Delivery, to the address at the top left on 08/03/2008.
Yours sincerely,
<my name>
------------------
It is now 16/03/2008, and I've had no more phone calls and no reply to the letter that I sent.
So, I would be grateful for some advice on what I should do next.
If they do end up replying, and it is about Thus Plc, what should I do?
Is this the sort of thing that I can send a request CCA for?
Should I send something to Thus Plc?
Thank you for any and all help.
1st credit and Demon Internet / Thus plc 
