Update - having written to BT and Moorcroft, though only the latter stage of last week, my daughter has now received a Litigation Warning from midaslegalservices (a Subsidiary of Moorcroft Group plc, noless!) She has been advised that as she has failed to reach a repayment agreement with Moorcroft they have been asked to prepare a file for review prior to the commencement of legal action. What a bunch of numpties these people are! Perhaps issuing 40,000 letters per day has clouded their brains! My daughter emailed Moorcroft on 10th and 23rd December, through their website mdrl.co.uk, has never had an acknowledgement, but they still persist in wasting their resources chasing an amount in dispute. She has taken diskmandave's advice, so we shall see what response, if any, they come back with! The original invoice from BT was dated 28th May 2007, reminder sent on 18th June, at which point she contacted them. They sent her a letter on 2nd July to ask her to contact them, which she has tried, and therein lies the problem! She has never received a copy of the engineers report. Should she now report BT to Otelo. It states on the back of their invoice that "If you are unhappy with our response you can ask our Complaint Review Service to investigate. This specialist team will work with you to find a solution. If we do not answer your complaint within 12 weeks, or if we write to you saying that we cannot agree an outcome, you can ask Otelo, the Office of Telecommunications Ombudsman, to investigate" Or does Otelo have their hand in the same pocket as BT? My daughter is extremely worried about the situation, but I am angry on her behalf! I'm just glad that she no longer has a landline as I'm sure they would be harrassing her over the phone! Oh, they've not added any further charges, so they obviously received the email of 23rd December (they had increased the amount from £181.99 to almost £277!)

Actually, it's my daughter's problem, though I've taken it on myself to try to help her as much as I can. I look through these forums on a regular basis and have noticed how much affection there is for these DCAs!!! I also find their attitudes stink beyond belief. I looked at the Moorcroft website and noticed that they boast of producing over 40,000 letters every day!!! She also has issues with Tiscali, and I have issues with TalkTalk and AOL! But I'll save those for another day!! Thanks for your advice Dave, I'll be sure to pass it on!

What should she do in the immediate future, because as of Christmas Day Moorcroft will assume she owes them £277!!! I have told her not to telephone them, hence the reason why she has emailed! Their silence is deafening!

My daughter has received a Pre-Court Division letter from Moorcroft, having been "instructed by British Telecommunications plc" for an overdue debt of £181.98. We're not entirely sure how this is made up, other than a large chunk is for a visit by one of their engineers to her home to trace a fault - when she received her next bill she queried the "Payment Charge" of £103.50 and was told that it was the charge for the engineer. She emailed BT on 14th November ask why she was charged this amount and waited for two weeks for the initial response, which asked her to phone their Dispute Dept to discuss it. She has tried phoning them when she finishes work as she no longer has a landline at her home but has been kept waiting too long and cannot abuse the phone system at her workplace. The times that she has been forced to hang on, if she uses her mobile it is going to cost a fortune. Meantime she has been saddled with late payment charges. Her boyfriend walked out on her some months back and she is currently suffering from depression and is not coping very well emotionally and is only trying to sort things out. She recently received a Pre Court Division letter from Moorcroft, asking her to settle the debt without delay! They have added "an administration cost of £36.39 to offset (some of) the costs incurred by (their) client." Not sure what cost she could add for her time and calls to their client!Obviously, she has been trying to but has been unable to extract a response from BT. She emailed BT again to tell them that she can only be contacted on her mobile, and only during lunchtime. They have tried phoning her twice, once mid morning and once mid afternoon, naturally she is working at those times! What should she do? I've read a number of unsavoury stories about Moorcroft so I'd like to know how I can help/advise her. She still doesn't know or understand what the engineer's costs were for and can't get through to BT for clarification. She emailed mdrl.co.uk on 10th December to tell them that she is trying to communicate with BT to clarify the invoice, and added the heading of "I Do Not Acknowledge...etc." She has not had a reply from them. If they are trying to call her landline number then they will be out of luck!! She also emailed BT again, for their engineer's findings and to advise them that she had received the letter from Moorcroft. BT responded by apologising for the delay in responding (a week this time) and asked for a mobile number to contact her on!!!! They also say they understand that she is unhappy with the contact made by Moorcroft Debt Recovery Ltd. BT say they have checked her account details and advised her that they have tried to contact her on two occasions, but that her mobile number was unavailable. They have also advised her to contact Moorcroft and given the contact details and opening hours! BT have called her twice, as stated, but each time it has been during her worktime and not, as she asked them to do, phone at lunchtime! Yesterday morning she received another letter from Moorcroft telling her to pay by 25.12.2007 (yes, Merry Christmas!) or she will incur further costs taking the total to £276.99!!!!! Her payments to BT are up to date except for the "payment charge". She has queried this but has not had a satisfactory response. Moorcroft now want to add a further £50 Solicitors costs, £25.00 Court Claim and £20 (but I can't remember what for!) She has emailed BT 5 times now and each reply has been by someone different, asking her to contact them by phone! She emailed mdrl.co.uk again last night telling them that the account is in dispute, that she contacted them on 10th December and that she has been querying her BT account since 14th November. Her £103.50 bill has the potential to reach almost £300!!!! I understood that if the account was in dispute she shouldn't incur any further charges! What can she do now? BT obviously know the account is in dispute but they won't call the dogs off!!!!

Thanks davjoh, given that most details have been changed to when she originally took the contract out this hard copy request will be sufficient will it? Has a fraudulent act taken place here, as my daughter cannot contact him and did not given him permission to change details?

My daughter has two mobiles out on contract, due to expire this month. One she uses, the other her boyfriend uses - he has been her ex for 12 months now. The relationship has been amicable though she has had no contact from him for a few weeks. Anyway, he kept his mobile phone (contract still in her name remember) and took over the responsibility of paying for his own phone. She has today tried to formally cancel the contract as it is due to expire, but all security details and email address to that phone have been changed. As she can no longer contact him what should she do? What are the implications, if any?

Thank you!

She has been trying to get clarification from BT as to what the charge for the engineer was for. She's trying hard to manage on her own and wants to know that it's a legit charge. It has dragged on over the summer purely because she can't get any response from them. Once she's happy in her mind what it's for she can make provision for payment. She's embroiled in quite a complex mortgage situation with her ex so is being extremely careful with her expenditure. What is Moorcroft likely to do - I don't like the idea of my daughter being hassled by a third party. She's very fragile at the moment.

So what's to do with Moorcroft - they threaten that legal proceedings will begin if she doesn't contact them by Wednesday. She will try to contact BT again, but she's found it very difficult and time consuming. She can only do it during work hours and just doesn't seem to be able to get through! They have sent her a Final Bill so at least she's not incurring any running costs!

Just spoken to my daughter - she wants to know if it is too late to try to resolve this with BT. I'm next to useless to advise her. I don't want to give her duff advice - but I did say it's probably too late for that now. Couple of questions for clarification - why ask Moorcroft for a CCA, is the suggestion that she doesn't have an agreement with Moorcroft, or should they supply one from BT? (yes, I know, I'm thick!) Who should the £1 payment be made out to (take it it's Moorcroft) and is a cheque acceptable? I've als o read elsewhere that it should be stipulated that the payment is only for the CCA - are they likely to try to take it off the debt, and if so, what would that mean? Finally, what happens after the 12 day deadline? Thanks for any help - she's in a pickle regarding far more complex property issues with her ex, so the simple things always seems more complicated!!

My daughter has received a Pre-Court Division letter from Moorcroft, having been "instructed by British Telecommuncations plc" for an overdue debt of £181.98. We're not entirely sure how this is made up, other than a large chunk is for a visit by one of their engineers to her home to trace a fault. When she received her next bill she queried the "Payment Charge" of £103.50 and was told that it was the charge for the engineer. BT tried contacting her but have been unable to as she no longer has a landline. She has tried emailing them on a number of occasions but has had no response. She has tried phoning them when she finishes work but has been kept waiting too long and cannot abuse the phone system at her workplace. Obviously, if she uses her mobile it is going to cost a fortune. As I said she does not have a landline. Her boyfriend walked out on her some months back and she is currently suffering from depression and is not coping very well emotionally and is only trying to sort things out. Meantime she has been saddled with late payment charges. At the end of last week she received a Pre Court Division letter from Moorcroft, asking her to settle the debt without delay! Obviously, she has been trying to but has been unable to extract a response from BT. They have added "an administration cost of £36.39 to offset (some of) the costs incurred by (their) client". Not sure what cost she could add for her time and calls to their client!!!! I have been browsing through the forum of late and have noticed Moorcroft's name popping up - I did tell her to contact them, but I'm not sure she should now! Please advise.

Yes, he is a consumer. The bill he disputed is on a different vehicle of his we repaired and subsequently had transported away. He also wanted to take this one away. Surely as we had undertaken work for him we are entitled to expect payment. He isn't disputing the bill for this vehicle - he told us we're not getting any more of his money. He had initially asked us to carry out the removal and replacement of the front bumper and wings. As he had told us we were not getting any more of his money we therefore stopped work on it, as we had already put labour and fuel costs into the job collecting it in the first place. That's all we asked him to pay. He has not, in nearly 5 months, contacted us to arrange payment and/or collection! We know he is still about as he lives locally and we have mutual friends, who we do not wish to draw into any of this.

Can you elaborate please? I think I know what you mean.

This guy isn't foreign - but he is local, local to us and very full of his own self importance! He asked us to collect the car and "repair the front end". He didn't ask a price for this car - we assumed he wanted us to do it because of our reputation for good work. We are also known for being a bit pricey, but that what we do is worth it! With hindsight we believe he is arrogant enough to think that he could get away with what he is doing. Anyway, the car sits here incomplete as we have stopped work on it after he told us we were not getting any more money from him. Technically speaking he is now in breach of contract as he commissioned a job, we made the workshop space available and we're not obviously going to carry on knowing we're not getting paid!! Anyway, found this on Trading Standards website - Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 Section 12 Occasionally consumers fail to collect their goods after having them repaired or forget to pick up dry-cleaning. This Section sets out what action a trader should take to get the goods collected and makes it clear what he/she can do if they are not. It is sufficient to have a notice which is easily visible to consumers, stating how long the trader will keep goods after repair and an intention to dispose of them after this date. Any time period would need to be reasonable. If no notice is displayed, the trader may need to send a registered letter to the consumer specifying that the goods are ready for collection and from where. It also should state the amount owing. Additional notification must also be given if the trader intends to sell or dispose of the goods after a certain date and how additional proceeds from the sale can be collected. We also ran it by a solicitor today who told us, over the phone, that if he has an issue with the bill he has to settle it and then take us to court. She also said that we were within our rights to charge him storage as it is part of our Terms & Conditions, which he has on the back of his first invoice, and we sent him a private message on a forum he frequents advising him of the storage charges. These are also displayed in our Reception with a fluorescent notice at the top drawing customers' attention to them. We shall be writing to him, as we have managed to find his address through some photos we found, and informing him of his revised bill. I am expecting a very heated call from him and maybe a visit!!!! This means more sleepless nights!

Hi Zamzara - you're the second person to suggest that we are holding the vehicle against his will! We asked him for payment on 17th July and told him how much the bill was. He became very threatening (feeling he had been stitched up on the previous job - £500 to prepare, repair, modify, paint and fit a fibreglass front bumper, plus mesh and a battery I wouldn't consider to be unfair at all! He was originally told it would be approx £350, but when it turned up it had been damaged in transit. It wa a standard bumper and required modifying to fit round the intercooler and pipework) He denies the damaged although we showed him it as soon as the bumper had arrived. He was well aware of storage charges as he had been told of these on his previous job he had done, which he also took his time in paying. Highlighting these terms & conditions prompted him to call in and pay! Unfortunately this hasn't happened second time round. The service we are providing is secure storage! We feel he is taking advantage of the fact that we have the space that he doesn't! Having the vehicle here has meant that it has been in the way, we have had to move it a number of times, it has been kept inside therefore he has had secure storage. He has made no attempt to contact us at all to collect other than back in July - why should we not charge? The charges are put in place to stop customers from this practice - we don't want a vehicle here indefinitely. If something happens to it it is our responsibility!! Besides which, the work hasn't been paid for - surely if he has an issue he should pay then sue us! The car itself is difficult to value - it is an unregistered imported vehicle. It has never had an MOT, never had a numberplate designated, etc. It now has no front bumper and no front wings. We stopped work on it as soon as he made it clear that he was not happy and wasn't going to give us any more money. As I said, we are a small bodyshop with a good reputation until this episode. He has been badmouthing us, telling people to be ware of dishonest traders, because he feels he was overcharged, but that really wasn't the case at all. We have had our business for nearly 20 years and have never come across someone as angry and aggressive as this guy. He says he "knows people" and he knows where we live.

I would like to add that he is probably unaware of the extent of the storage charges, as we do not know where he lives and the vehicle is unregistered so we can't contact DVLA. I have monthly storage charge invoices in his file, he was made aware of the terms and conditions prior to collecting the first vehicle, and he was verbally told them in the phone conversation. He is an ex car salesman for a prestige main dealer so should be fully aware of the situation, just not necessarily how much! How much of the onus is on us to locate him and make him aware? He knows where we are as he has made a number of visits prior to asking us to do his cars, he knows our website and contact details, including email address. We just need help and clarification. We don't have a solicitor as we have never needed one until now, and we don't really know who to use. I have browsed round this forum for some time but not felt the need to post before.

Please accept my apologies for posting if this is inappropriate but I'm not sure what to do - some of us do have a conscience you see. I help run a very small bodyshop. In May this year we collected a vehicle for a customer (who we also knew outside of work as more of an aquaintance, but unfortunately we don't know where he lives) and proceeded to remove the front bumper and front wings as instructed, prior to doing the repairs. In the meantime, we also carried out some some work to another of his vehicles, replacing a damaged front bumper. He bought the bumper from ebay, being a standard one, which then had to be repaired and modified to fit correctly. He was given an approx price but made aware that modifications were needed. He was told how much when the job was finished and came into pay. He said he was very unhappy about the final bill and told that he wasn't actually being charged for all the work involved. When we went through the invoice with him he didn't want to listen. There was something of a standoff and he left, arranging for a recovery truck to collect both vehicles. Four days later he sent a vehicle transporter to collect the cars, as there was still an outstanding invoice on the second vehicle the driver only took one away. A phone call from the customer followed asking why he wasn't allowed his vehicle, he was told there was an outstanding invoice, whereupon he told us to stick the bill, we were thieving f'ing b'ds he was not going to us any more of his money. He was told that the vehicle wasn't leaving until it had been paid for and that storage charges would be added, as per terms and conditions (displayed in reception and on all invoices!) He then became very agitated and made threats that he could "do things". He was told that if he was going to persist in making threats the phone call would be terminated and the police informed. He still carried on, at which point the call was terminated. It immediately rang again, and he was on the other end "I haven't finished with you yet" at which point it was put on speaker phone as we were all shocked at this outburst (the bill in question was for £192.50!!! for three hours collection and removal of bumper and wings!) When he realised he was on speaker phone he said "Very f'ing clever" and hung up. We have heard nothing from him since - we have tried contacting him via email, but the original one was bounced back, and we don't know if he has received subsequent ones. Trying to find his address has been difficult and he doesn't answer his phone. It is now approaching 5 months since this event - basically, his £192.50 bill is approaching £1,700 with the storage charges added (£10 per day). We know that he cannot store this vehicle anywhere so feel that we have been used as temporary storage. I know insurance companies are willing to pay £15 per day, so we feel that we are not taking advantage of him. We really could do with some advice as we are seriously considering selling his car under the Provision of Torts (Iterference with Goods) Act 1977. Can we do this, I really don't feel we are being too hasty. At the end of the day we still have to pay insurance, rent and other overheads and cannot provide free indefinite parking for him, and he also owes us for the work undertaken. It is now sitting here with virtually no front end, and is basically only good for parts. Our accountant thinks we are on very sticky ground should we sell, though other traders say we are within our rights to recoup our debt. If this post is not allowed please could someone pm me with any reply - but also let this serve as a warning to consumer's that we smaller services don't do these things lightly!

Hi I'm completely new to all this and am somewhat embarrassed to ask! I've had an MBNA credit card since last July - via a balance transfer! I received a statement yesterday with £25.00 Late Payment fee and £25.00 Overlimit fee! I was two days late - then with the Interest added this took me over the limit! I was quite shocked and angry! This was not the first time this has happened, and I have endeavoured each month to send more than the Minimum Payment (okay, not much more, but I still get slapped with an Overlimit Fee!) I checked this evening and I have been penalised £300 in fees for both "offences". Just when I think I've cracked it I get another penalty! Now £300 isn't much but at this rate I am struggling to keep up with them (MBNA!) I feel I have to write to them but the usual standard letter seems a little inappropriate for such a small amount! Please point me in the right direction because I've browsed this forum for ages! (Useful forum, btw!) Your help is very much appreciated! Ingrid