Last week I received a voicemail from a man saying he was from guard rec and that I owed money to a hay and feed supplier.

I emailed the company to clarify and got no response

today have received an email saying that I owe £669!!

I have never ordered more than £200 worth of goods and the last order was summer 2016 as I sold my horses after that.

I can't remember if I paid that bill but it seems most likely that I didn't

- which would have been an oversight

I have received absolutely NO correspondence from the feed company reminding me to pay etc,

I moved house in march but had redirection on until last month and they have my phone number and email too!

Surely there can't legally be £400 worth of charges added on?!

I have emailed the debt company saying I will only deal in writing and not over the phone (as they requested) and I have asked for a full breakdown of charges etc.

What else can I do?

I'm so desperately trying to get on top of other finances,

And now this. I'm in such a mess

First thing. Totally ignore Guard Recover or whatever they are called. You don't have to deal with any debt recovery company. And they can't add any charges. Only bailiffs with a court judgement can add fees which are set by legislation and they are not bailiffs.

All you need to do, is to contact the hay & feed company directly and ask them to email you any invoice that is outstanding. You then pay the hay & feed company when you can afford to do so.

That is all you need to do.

ignore them

they have no legal powers whatsoever

and are NOT BAILIFFS.

no dca has any rights or powers so can safely be ignored. Agree with UB about contacting supplier and asking fro the invoce to be resent. As this is a consumer contract they cant add late fees or say that you have to deal with the bandit dca so if they do they will have failed to mitigate the debt and could lose any right to claim the money. Make sure they acknowledge your letter at new address.

Thank you for the replies. I contacted the feed company and they have forwarded the email to the debt collection company (guard rec)and told the debt collectors they won't deal with me directly. Guard rec have said to me that the fees are collection fees.

I have told guard rec that I want to see the original invoices, they sent one that the hay company had provided which lists 3 separate orders, 2 of which I paid cash for as I remember doing! The third I believe is a genuine oversight on my account (£200) I am willing to pay the £200 off but not the rest. They haven't provided the original invoice, it looks like they just put one together for the amount they think I owe!

What do I do? I'm scared that if I don't correspond with guard rec I will end up with a ccj or they will turn up at my door?!

What part of post 2 & 3 & 4 are you not understanding?

They are not bailiffs.......

So as a debt collection company and not bailiffs, they won't turn up at my door or escalate in any way?

What do I do if the feed company will not correspond with me?

if they do you tell them to leave your property else you'll call police 101

you are under no legal obligation to discuss your debts at your door nor over the phone.

ignore them

deal directly with the feed company.

if they don't wanna deal, tough luck for them.

i'd be sending a short letter

your invoice is wrong the first 2 items were paid for by cash

the last item was an oversight by me.

I am willing to settle this.

but not any unlawful added fees.

please contact bla bla

you have been told the answer to point on several times, they have no powers to do anything.

They cant take you to court so they wont get a ccj and if the feed co sued you and won the amount is too low for bailiffs to get involved.

that scenario isnt going to happen anyway.

The feed co is stupid because they haven't legally assigned the debt so they cant insist that you pay someone else.

By refusing the payment they are failing to MITIGATE the debt as already said and that menas they cant sue you to recover it and it will become void if they try.

problem is that many companies want you to go through the dca because they have to pay them regardless of the result

. If you pay the dca then they get the £200 originally owed and the dca trousers the rest.

Pay the feed co and the dca charges them £15-100 for their work.

Tough, they should have realised who they were getting into bed with.

Stop using email, write a letter with a pen and put it in an envelope so they are forced to respond likewise

All you have done is given the dca a free method of harassing you so from now on NO EMAILS, NO PHONE CALLS and ignore the dca entirely, you only correspond with the feed co.

If they refuse the money then you tell them that their refusal to accept payment means that in law the debt is extinguished. and any legal action will be challenged on that basis.

So as a debt collection company and not bailiffs, they won't turn up at my door or escalate in any way?

 

What do I do if the feed company will not correspond with me?

Hi,

Thanks for all the advice so far. I sent a letter to the hay company (and emailed it too) stating everything advised above. They have not responded and I've also had no more contact from GuardRec.

What do I do now? I do have the hay companies bank details, shall I pay the amount I believe I owe (£200) and write another letter saying I have made the payment and ask again for the original invoices for the other debt?

Hi,

 

Thanks for all the advice so far. I sent a letter to the hay company (and emailed it too) stating everything advised above. They have not responded and I've also had no more contact from GuardRec.

 

What do I do now? I do have the hay companies bank details, shall I pay the amount I believe I owe (£200) and write another letter saying I have made the payment and ask again for the original invoices for the other debt?

If they invoiced you previously so you know it is £200, then yes do as above.

If you have never had an invoice, then wait for them to respond.

IF you know what the debt is just pay it via bank transfer ,

if not write again asking for a copy of the invoice so you can pay it by bank transfer.

Let them know that if they fail to do this then a lack of a mitigation of the debt will make it void as there is no credit agreement to break so their refusal will be taken as acceptance that the debt no longer exists.

In other words, their only reason for refusing a full payment is that they no longer want the money,

they cant change the amount or insist on other terms due to the lack of a credit agreement

. should they disagree then look up the company and see if they have registered as a credit broker with the FCA

Thanks.

Yesterday I paid the £200

Today I have received an email from the hay company saying that Guard recs fees are legal and that I should contact guard rec directly so that I am not charged any more from them.

They also said that they are forwarding the payment on to guard rec.

What the actual?!

I don't understand why they are being so damn unreasonable!!

Tough on them for employing a no powers DCA and their rip off fees

I'd tell em that too

They are still saying I owe another £245 plus £225 in the fees they have paid guard rec, guard recs collection fees plus late payment interest!

What should my next step be in dealing with the remainder of the debt?

I don't believe I owe the £245 and they seem unwilling to provide me with the original invoice for said amount.

The Guard recovery fees are not a legal obligation for you to pay.

The only way they can enforce them on you, is to take you to court and evidence that in the supply contract you agreed to such recovery fees, if you failed to make the payment due.

So as they have not obtained a CCJ, they are not currently legally due.

Suggest you email them back saying the any fees Guard Recovery charge them are only an issue between the Hay feed company and Guard.

Therefore you will not be entering into any further communications about the matter.

Or just ignore them, as they can't do much.

Ignore them

No company has ever been to court for dca fees

That's their stupid problem for employing the powerless muppets in the 1st place!!

Bet they won't now!!

they are stupid for giving away the only money they are ever going to get because you dont owe any more than the invoiced amount.

They arent a licenced credit broker who has signed you up to a credit agreement.

Should they want to continue this then they will end up paying you.

Now block their email address so they have to write.

That may make them see some sense. and stop throwing money away hiring useless chancers to do their work.

Thanks.

Yesterday I paid the £200

 

Today I have received an email from the hay company saying that Guard recs fees are legal and that I should contact guard rec directly so that I am not charged any more from them.

 

They also said that they are forwarding the payment on to guard rec.

 

What the actual?!

 

I don't understand why they are being so damn unreasonable!!

Just an update on this- I have cleared the debt with the hay company, I paid it to their account directly even though they have not engaged in polite conversation with me.

I am receiving numerous emails and text messages and calls from guard rec initially and now ‘Are you owed money’ which is the same company I believe.

They continue to tell me that I owe nearly £600.

I have engaged in writing twice telling them they need to contact the hay company as I have paid the debt.

They ignored me both times and continue to virtually harass me.

I block the number/email address and it comes from another next time.

Not sure what to do, it’s really stressful to think they are still on my case so to speak.

- block their numbers and emails but note what numbers and addresses they use so you can report them for harassment to the police.

probably not high enough threashold for them to take any notice but if they dont at least take some sort of statement over the phone then you take the matter to the police and crime commissioner. being awkward will at least get you on the local crime stats

Dont engage in stupid letter tennis with them, let them waste their time and money What you can do is report the company to the FCA for their harassment and unregulated activity.

you should be able to find a link somewhere on a dca thread regarding what they are supposed to do and not do when engaging in debt collecting activity.

TA!