Letter from Spark - http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt283/skyscrapercitypics/personal/7.jpg?t=1296424484

Thanks for all the comments and advice - much appreciated. I wrote to the complaints department of Spark, and am now awaiting their response. Meanwhile, I've received yet another letter from BCW... http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt283/skyscrapercitypics/personal/6-1.jpg I spoke to my Dad, and he suggests I send them the following letter: Dear Sirs My ref.: BCW/Spark: 005 I refer to my letter of xxxxx, which was sent by registered post and your subsequent demand dated xxxx, your ref. xxxxx. I will charge you a service fee of £250.00 per letter for dealing with any more letters demanding, whether erroneously or intentionally, payment of this fallacious amount, received by me from you after January 25th, 2011. Your sending of any such demand will signify your agreement to this charge. Yours faithfully,

An update - I received yet another letter from BCW. This time they mentioned a "Debt Investigation Officer" (!)... http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt283/skyscrapercitypics/personal/5-1.jpg?t=1294765568 I phoned Consumer Direct and they recommended I send a complaint letter to Spark, which I'm doing. Here it is: 10th January 2010 Dear Sir or Madam Account number: ********** I am writing with regard to a series of letters I have been receiving from a debt collection agency – Buchanan Clark and Wells. They claim that I owe £152.60 to you, on a dual fuel tariff, for a period beginning in April 2009. Their first letter was dated 8th November 2010 and arrived completely out of the blue. I have since received a total of five letters, along with numerous text messages, telephone calls and e-mails. All have been extremely threatening in nature. This has occurred during my Christmas break, causing me considerable stress. In my opinion, this is simply outrageous. For a start, I am completely up to date with my bills – you yourselves have confirmed this to me, through two separate phone calls and an email, using my latest meter reading. Secondly, I only moved into the property in January 2010 and furthermore, I only became an actual customer of Spark from June 2010 onwards. Why on earth am I being pursued for a debt beginning 14 months before I even had an account with Spark? You should also note that I have only gas, not a dual tariff as claimed by Buchanan. I have explained all this in writing to Buchanan, but they continue to harass me with letters and phone calls, threatening court action and even personal visits by a “Debt Investigation Officer”. I phoned Spark on 22nd December 2010 and you promised to contact Buchanan to make them drop their demands, but this clearly hasn’t happened. What concerns me even more is the fact that you passed my personal details - name, address, telephone and email - to Buchanan. This is a blatant violation of the Data Protection Act. Be aware that I am already in the process of reporting your actions and those of your agent BCW to all of the relevant authorities, as I made clear that I would in my earlier letter to BCW. Yours faithfully, ***** ****

Thanks for the comments and help so far. Latest update - Following my letter to BCW, they replied back. In fact, I received 2 letters. This first one on Saturday... http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt283/skyscrapercitypics/personal/3.jpg ... and this one yesterday: http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt283/skyscrapercitypics/personal/4.jpg Today I phoned Spark Energy, and finally managed to get through to their Customer Services department. The guy I spoke to drafted a letter, based on the explanation I gave him - which he promised to pass on to the billing department (they were unavailable today). Apparently, they will then contact Buchanan and stop them from pestering me. The Spark billing department will also phone and/or email me to confirm this. Even if they sort it, I'm still tempted to make a complaint, for the timewasting and nuisance they've caused.

Yep, I've checked, and it arrived on the 13th.

This was the letter I sent them. --- 7th December 2010 Dear Sir or Madam Ref: ********* I am concerned that you write threatening legal action re: a debt with Spark Energy. This is dated April 2009 and is clearly not mine, as I was not living in the property and did not have an account with Spark Energy at that time. I am aware of the Office of Fair Trading debt collection guidelines, which state that it is unfair to pursue a debt when you are unsure of the identity of the debtor. I would also refer you to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPUTR) 2008, in respect of your threat of legal action. It is your responsibility to prove any alleged debt and ascertain that you are pursuing the correct person, both for legal and data protection issues. I therefore suggest that you refer back to Spark and address your collection activities on this debt to the rightful owner. I require that you write within seven days to confirm that you will cease collection activity against me, otherwise I will have no alternative but to report your actions to the relevant authorities, including a complaint to Spark Energy. Yours faithfully ****** **** This was sent by registered post. Their only "reply" has been to send me another text message, asking me to urgently call them! - this time with a different reference number, which suggests it's another imaginary debt they're trying to lump on me! Sigh.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I will send a letter first thing tomorrow. It gets worse, btw - they've now managed to acquire my email address! I had a message earlier, demanding that I contact them!

Hi all I moved into my current flat in January this year. My gas provider is Spark Energy and I'm completely up-to-date with my bills. I don't have any debts or anything from my previous flat. Just recently, however, I've been getting phone calls and letters from a debt collection agency - Buchanan, Clark and Wells. At first, I thought they were phishing. They wouldn't even tell me what the call was about, how much I owed, or anything - unless I confirmed my personal details (which I didn't give them). They tried to phone a few more times after that, but I refused to even answer the phone. They then followed up with a letter, on 8th November, which you can see below: http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt283/skyscrapercitypics/personal/1-1.jpg?t=1291156727 This claims I owe £152 to Spark Energy, which I know is completely untrue. It even has a "supply period" of April 2009 ... which is before I even moved into the flat (!). This is clearly somebody else's debt. Yesterday I received another letter from them, threatening legal proceedings, unless I pay up immediately - http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt283/skyscrapercitypics/personal/2.jpg?t=1291157230 I have absolutely no intention of paying for somebody else's debt. However, I'm afraid to ignore this letter, as they seem pretty serious about taking me to court. Anyway, I'd appreciate any help/advice about what to do next. Is there a letter template or something I could use? Many thanks!

This morning's decision by the Supreme Court is an utter scandal and disgrace. This just proves (once and for all) that we're ruled by a plutocracy. I can't even begin to describe how angry this makes me...

^ Okay, thanks.

Hard to believe how long this is dragging on for. Every time there's some kind of news/announcement, it seems like we have to wait another 6 months... then another... then another. Meanwhile, the interest is mounting up and I'm still owed more than a grand - which could be used for paying off my student loan and other debts. Does anyone have any idea when I can expect to get my money back, if ever? I'm just looking for a ballpark date for when it might happen...

Hmm... looks like I'll be in for a long wait.

And by the way, I am switching my account to a different bank now. I assume this won't affect the case in any way...?

Hi all Just received this letter from Barclays. Any comments/advice would be appreciated. I was planning on phoning the court this week. Cheers WF

I guess I'll just have to wait until March then... Oh well. Thanks for everyones' advice on this thread.