Will do, and "Thanks" once again for your advice. Cheers, BOF

Hi Elsa, Thank you. I will change the letter as you suggested. I am looking forward to their reply, if I ever get one. Looking at some of the posts about this DCA really give the impression they are at the lower end of the market, where honour and integrity are words they have never heard of, let alone understand. Cheers, BOF

This will be in the post tomorrow, sent by Recorded Delivery: Dear Sirs, Your Reference: Client Reference: Client: I have received a number of letters addressed to my son xxx at this address in relation to the above alleged debt. I am surprised to have received letters addressed to xxx as your client, xxx xxx Plc, is fully aware that my son has not lived at this address since 1999 and has been resident overseas since 2002. In 2006, following a complaint to the Chief Executive, xxx xxx Plc offered a full apology for the continued use of my address in relation to this matter. I was assured my details had been removed from their files. As this is obviously not the case, I will be making a complaint to the relevant authorities. As a Debt Collecting Agency, you will know that under the Limitation Act 1980, Section 5 “an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued”. You will also know, under its Debt Collection Guidance on Statute Barred debt, the OFT say that “it is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period”. I do not know the date of this alleged debt, but as my son has been resident at a number of temporary addresses within the United Kingdom since 1999 and permanently resident outside the United Kingdom since 2002, it is highly unlikely that your client or any of its agents has had any contact with him within the six year limitation period. Therefore, as you are no doubt aware, the alleged debt is now Statute Barred. The OFT also states that continuing to press for payment for a debt that is Statute Barred could amount to harassment, contrary to CPUTR2008. Unless you can provide documentary evidence of payment or written contact from my son in the relevant period laid out under Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980, I suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against him to recover the alleged amount claimed. Please note, sending computer generated letters to my son at an address which is known to be incorrect, does not count as ‘documentary evidence’. I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed and that no further contact will be made with us or our son concerning the above account. Yours etc. -------------------------------------------------------------- Any comments or advice? Cheers, BOF

I presume because this is a 'fishing trip'? Cheers, BOF

Point taken. I have no idea if he did make a payment; probably not because he spent most of his time chasing women and grazing through the kitchen! Thanks for the advise. Cheers, BOF

Thanks folks, a very interesting read! A slight hitch in the timings has come to light. I had forgotten that in early 2006 my son came home for a short break between contracts and within a few days was offered a very well paid job in the UK. He opened a load of letters gathering dust in his room, one of them from another DCA about his Graduate loan. He responded and said he would clear it within a month or two (the offered job was that well paid!). I do not recall if he ever had a response to his letter. However, when he actually started the job, it turned out the actual salary was not a 'salary' but an "estimated earnings" based on a whole host of factors. Lesson Number 1, read the small print! Lesson Number 2, listen to your dad! He resigned the same day, made some phone calls to Europe and went back over there a week later, more the wiser I hope. So the 6 year rule does not appear to be relevant in this case. I am still going to write to Buchanan, but will leave out the those bits. Cheers, BOF

Hello, My son left home in 2000 and currently works overseas, he has not been back to the UK for more than two weeks a year and not at all some years. He has not been shown at this address on the Electoral Register since 2001. About 6 years ago, Abbey started sending letters to him demanding the repayment of his Graduate Account overdraft. Despite numerous letters to Abbey saying he no longer lived here, the letters continued, followed by letters from DCAs. Eventually, again after numerous letters to all and sundry and the Financial Ombudsman, Abbey apologised and we heard no more. Until this month. So far three letters have arrived, the last being a FORMAL DEMAND, all from this Buchananclark + wells DCA. I was about to write to them but decide to look them up on the internet first. I was not surprised to find them on this site. My questions is, should I go ahead and write to them, explain that my son no longer lives here etc etc; or should I just leave it? Regards, BOF

FINAL UPDATE – WIN! My apologies for the very long delay in closing this thread, so much has happened since the court case that it dropped off my radar. We had our day in Court, once in an actual Court and again in March this year, at our home on a site visit. It would take too long to give all the details, all the twists and turns, but we won our case. There is a lot of excellent advice on this site about what to do before and when you get to Court, so these are just a few notes of what we experienced and what may be of interest. 1.When you state your case, watch the speed of the Judge as he or she writes their notes; slow down if necessary. 2.If the Judge says something you do not like, keep it to yourself. Upsetting the Judge will do your case no good. 3.You know you are telling the truth and the other side is lying through their teeth, but if they are more convincing, better prepared, the court will believe them. It is a sad fact, but a court has more to do with ‘image’ and who comes across the more professional than with the actual truth. The people who tried to screw you with shoddy workmanship and materials will have no scruples about lying to a Court. 4.Lawyers are often no better than the pond life they are representing, just more articulate, so do not lose your temper or react openly when you hear the lies, that is what they want you to do. State your case as clearly as you can; listen carefully to the question before you answer; be polite and courteous to the other side, even though you want to rip their lying heads off! 5.Dress appropriately. We turned up clean and smartly dressed, with two binders of evidence and a large amount of photographs. The Claimant, apparently a Director, turned up in jeans and with a crumpled single piece of paper as his evidence. 6.Do not directly quote the Law to a Judge. They will allow lawyers to do so, that is part of the ritual, but they can get a bit prickly if a civilian does it. Try to be a bit circumspect and vague, lots of “As I understand it…” tend to go down well as it lets the Judge impress everyone with his or her knowledge. 7.[Giving someone a few minutes at the end of the work being completed is not sufficient time for them to make an informed decision as to the quality and correctness of the work, and therefore any such signed pieces of paper are worthless.] The Claimant’s entire case was that my wife had signed to say she was satisfied with the work. The Judge immediately ruled it out and said that the Claimant’s company would be well advised to reconsider their procedures in this matter. 8.[Did you know that if you are sued for the value of a cancelled cheque, you would lose?] We certainly did not. The judge explained that a cheque is considered the same as cash. By signing and issuing a cheque to the Claimant’s company at the time of completion of the work, then later cancelling it before it can be honoured by our bank, no matter what the reasons, we had effectively ‘stolen’ the value of the cheque from the Claimant. What we should have done is either not issued a cheque at the time, or honoured the cheque and sued the company for our money back. However, said the Judge, “that is not what we are here for today”. 9. You can never have too many photographs. 10. Try somehow to get the Judge to undertake a site visit. We were lucky, the Judge having seen the photographs actually suggested one. Although you are still under the Jurisdiction of the Court, you have ‘home advantage’ and no one is going to stop your wife having her say in her own kitchen. In the end, it never came to that; the Claimant, realising that once the Judge saw the work he could no longer pretend it was to an acceptable standard, bottled out and never turned up. 11. Before showing the shoddy workmanship, point out the basics first. We demonstrated that the kitchen floor was level, the walls were vertical and that the kitchen units were installed correctly. Then we went on to show that the worktop was higher at one end than the other, it was thicker at one end than the other, how the units had been knocked about, the poor sealants used etc. 12. Listen very carefully to what the Judge is asking and try to identify what he or she is actually wanting as an answer. Again, consider your answer before you reply. Having seen all the problems with the worktop, having made copious notes, the Judge gently led us on to say what we wanted the outcome to be. Finally, a. Keep detailed, contemporaneous notes of everything. b. Avoid talking to ‘the other side’ on the telephone. Write to them to say that you will not discuss this matter on the phone and all contact must be in writing, this way both sides can be sure of what was said and what was not said. If they do call, state again that you are not prepared to discuss the matter on the phone and hang up, do not be caught up in a conversation. Make a note of the date and time of this call. c. Send all correspondence by Royal Mail Special Delivery, a bit costly but it pays off in the end. The claimant denied the receipt of a letter, until I produced the signed receipt. The look on his face was priceless! Cheers, BOF

Hi, Red Castle will not take any cognisance of your current financial situation, they are only interested in 'their' debt. However, they are very unlikely to take you to court for £400, it is not financially viable for them. So whatever you do, do not let this bunch of genetical engineered failures frighten you. They will try and bully you into paying, either verbally or by sending you official looking documents that look like court papers. Do not pay them a penny until you establish exactly what the debt is. Red Castle will probably have bought the debt from Ann Summers, hence the discrepancy between what you think you own Ann Summers and what Red Castle want from you. However, your debt is with Ann Summers and you need to check with them what the exact debt is now that you have sent your 'kit' back. Did you send it back by Recorded Delivery? From now on you should avoid at all costs telephoning Ann Summers or Red Castle. Telephone calls can be denied, conversations that you did not have can be created and agreements that you have no knowledge of can be attributed to you. Remember, they have no interest in life other than collecting the debt. Always write to them and send your letters by Royal Mail Special Delivery. It will cost you just under £5, but they have to sign for your letter and give a name. They can deny any telephone calls, but they can not deny receiving your letters. You will notice that none of the letters you receive from Red Castle and a lot of other businesses, banks, insurance companies etc have an actual signature, it is often just a squiggle or a fictitious name. Play them at their own game; do not sign your letters as you would normally. There is always a chance that your actual signature might later appear on a photocopied document that you have no knowledge of. Go to this web site and get yourself a computer generated signature that you can paste into your letter. Online Personal Signature Maker - MyLiveSignature - Free Personal Signature Generator Write to Red Castle and ask for full details of the alleged debt. Tell them that you will only correspond with them by letter to avoid any misunderstandings. Also tell them that any telephone calls made by Red Castle after receipt of your letter will be classed as harassment and will be reported to the relevant authority. It will probably not bother them a bit, but you will have a record that they have been warned. Write to Ann Summers and ask them to confirm that they have received you 'kit' and to give you the exact figure you still owe them. When both have replied you will then know exactly where you stand. From there you can make your plans to repay what you owe. Good luck! BOF

I've lost the plot on who the defendant is and who the claimant is!!! The company is suing me for the balance of their bill. I am counterclaiming against them for the reasons stated above. So who exactly is who now? Cheers, BOF

I thought they had already done that as their claim was issued by the Northampton Bulk Centre, but I had to return the Allocation Questionnaire to my local County Court. On that form was a question asking me if I was happy to have my local County Court deal with the matter. I said "Yes". Not that it will be a problem, but is there a possibility the other party will try and get it transferred to their local court? BOF

Very strange! I use Western Union to send money to my son in Europe and have never had a single problem. I set up an online account with WU and it is very easy to use and, so far, very secure. I set the amount to be sent, who to and where it is to be picked up. I then get an email with a free telephone number to call; I answer some questions and the money is released. I get a reference number which I then text to my son. It takes about 10 minutes in total. I do not know what happened here, but there is definitely something wrong somewhere! BOF

Well what do you know! I received a letter last Friday, 25th July, from the solicitors acting for the company, saying they had received my counterclaim and asking for my agreement to a 28 day extension. On Monday I replied to their letter, agreeing to their request. On Tuesday the solicitors wrote to say they were no longer acting for the company and I should address all correspondence to them direct. On Wednesday I received a letter from the company with a copy of their defence against my counterclaim. No covering letter, just the copy. Apart from the appalling English and grammar, it is factually incorrect. They claim this is the first they have been told of the 'damage' to our kitchen; We are a pair of crooks trying to avoid paying their invoice; We refused them entry to try and repair the 'damage' they did not know about and did not cause (?); We are a pair of crooks; We are refusing to have any contact with them other than by letter (??); We are a pair of crooks; They only received a 'token' payment; We are a pair of crooks; We refused to give them any photographic evidence; We are a pair of crooks; etc., etc. The really stupid thing is, all the allegations they make can be easily answered by producing the emails and letters they received and for which we have their signatures and the dates of receipt. Why do they think we only correspond with them by letter? Do you suppose they are naturally dumb, or is there a special government course they have to attend in order to be awarded a Certificate of Stupidity? I wonder why their solicitors have pulled out? I was not planning to respond to their defence now, I will leave that for Court as and when we get there. I have completed the Allocation Questionnaire and sent it back to my local County Court where the case has been transferred to. I presume now we wait until the Court sets a date? BOF

Ramone, It is fun! Have these pond crawlers actually told you what the debt relates to? Is it finance on the car? If so, who's name was on the Financial Agreement papers, your's or your partner's? Have you received anything from Red Castle at all, other than their computer generated "we are going to sue you" letters? Cheers, BOF

Ramone, It is sad, but not surprising, that Red Castle are still up to their old tricks. There are a number of ways of dealing with these pond crawlers. Always remember though that you are dealing with socially challenged individuals who are unable to find work elsewhere, hence the rude and ignorant manner they adopt. These are some links to other sections of the CAG site where you can get advice from the real experts. I am fairly new to this site and I cannot fault the advice I have been given. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/99361-you-being-harassed-telephone.html Harassment by telephone - Consumer Wiki These links will also take you to the ‘Telephone harassment’ letter you should send to Red Castle. When dealing with them you must send everything by Royal Mail Special Delivery, where they have to give a name and signature. Send the 'Harassment' letter and any other letters separately. I found that if my letter dealt with two or more matters, they picked the one they wanted to deal with and ignored the rest. In the short term, put an anonymous caller bar on your telephone line. That will slow them down, but they may resort to sending SMS messages to your home number. (That's also covered in the links) This next bit is very childish and petty, but I had a great time doing it and it felt good to be getting my own back. If you do answer the phone to them, ask them to hold for a moment, rattle around a bit as if you are plugging something in, then tell them you are recording the conversation. Do not let the caller start asking for your “security” details. Immediately ask the caller, “for the purposes of the tape”, to state their name and office location, and do they agree that it is now HH:MM on the **/**/****. If they have not hung up by now, state that you wrote to them on the **/**/**** and asked them to only contact you by letter as you consider their calls to be harassment. Your letter was received by them on **/**/****. So, and again for the tape, in the light of Red Castle receiving your letter, would they please state who authorised them to call you, clearly stating the name of the person and their position in the company? If they still have not hung up and are by now, as they were with me, getting rather rude and aggressive, ask them to hold for a few moments, put the phone down and go and make a cup of tea. At some point go back and simply hang up the telephone. I know, sad! But it was fun! Do not give in to them. Remember, there are a lot of people on this site who have been in your situation and have learnt a great deal. They will willingly give you some excellent advice. They have for me. Regards, BOF