Thanks, silverfox1961, I think we are beyond the point for asking about other contractors, and I agree that the roof replacement will add value to the home, I'm mainly objectionable to the manner in which I am being told that this is to be paid for, all up front now or over 12 months, with extension only on the condition of proving hardship, which I think would be difficult in any case, as what an individual regards as hardship may not necessarily be in agreement with what the council defines as hardship. I'm just more interested in finding out if there are any legal means which I can use to approach the council for a negotiation on more reasonable payment terms other than through claiming hardship and praying they agree.

Hi, I'll keep this as short as possible, I currently live in an ex-council flat which I own, the flat is one of 12 in 3 conjoined blocks of 4 flat's each, prior to christmas the council, who act as the factor for the block notified me that a scottish government grant had been awarded to the block for the installation of external insulation/cladding and replacing the external rendering on the property, since this was all being covered by the grant made available by the scottish government no contribution would be required by any of the private owners in the block. Soon afterwards I was invited to attend a public meeting at the council offices regarding some additional proposals with regards to the renovations, upon attending the meeting the residents of the block were informed that whilst the scaffolding was up for the works to install the cladding that they would like to replace the roof on the block, whilst not essential at this particular point in time they were keen to do it to keep the costs at a minumum, we were informed that the cost per owner for the replacement would be £3425 and that a 25% grant was available, the remaining amount could be paid up by the owners in monthly installments interest free over the next 12 months, which works out at just over £200 pcm, we were informed that there would be a ballot to determine whether the works would go ahead or not, and the additional works would only proceed if a majority voted in favour, I pointed out that it was rather unreasonable of the council to expect people to just magically have a spare £200 a month to pay for this, the council officer said that we could contact the council and if we were able to prove financial hardship then they may extend the repayment term up to a maximum or 4 years, however there was no guarantee that they would. The council officer pointed out that the current roof was 56 years old, and though the factor were currently able to conduct repairs on it, that may not always be the case, and that a replacement may be come mandatory, at considerably more expense in the future. After careful consideration I decided to vote no, given whilst the payment probably wouldn't push me into financial hardship, it would eat up the vast majority of my disposable income for the foreseeable future, and I probably wouldn't gain the full advantage of the repair given I'm currently saving the deposit for a house and will be looking to move in 2 to 3 years time. Yesterday the letter I had been dreading arrived, the majority of owners have voted to have the roof replaced, so I now have to pony up the £200 pcm for the next year, this just seems a bit like extortion to me, not only am I unsatisfied with the repayment terms and amount I'm also of the opinion that the cost for the replacement is excessive as if each owners share is £3435 and there are 12 apartments, the total cost is just over £41,000, at no point has the council informed us that we have the option to have the works priced and carried out by a contractor other than the council. Basically what I need to know is where do I go from here, is there some kind of legal procedure for objecting to not only the costs by the imposition of payment terms without proper consultation, or even objecting to the fact that we haven't been offered the opportunity to have another contractor price for the works? Or is it now a case of having to just accept it and pony up the cash, or beg for better repayment terms? I'm not against the works in principle just against the idea of being forced to pay through the nose for it without any right to negotiation.

Some news, a week after contacting energy watch someone from SG finally called me, they reduced the bill by £50 by way of an apology, immediately took the block off the account and set up my DD, got a letter of apology from them this morning, why they couldn't have had this person with the power to immediately remove the block call me waaaaaayyyyy back last August and get them to sort it then is beyond me. Too little too late, as soon as the debt is cleared and I'm back in credit I'll be immediately switching supplier, for both my gas and electricty, then demanding the send me the over payments back.

Until August last year I had been playing a fixed amount of £50 to cover my electricity by direct debit. In august the statement arrived and to my surprise i was around £200 in credit, I was even more surprised to find that they were increasing my monthly payement to £70 a month. I called and spoke to someone who agreed that it sounded wrong, and that they would cancel the payment plan and restart another at the correct amount, which should have been lower than the £50, at the time of my call there was a lock on the account that would have to be removed, before the direct debit could be set up, they told me they would call when the lock had been removed, after a couple of weeks with no call back, I rang them again, and got the same rubbish about there being a lock on the account, it would need to be removed, they'd call back etc, but not to worry there was credit on the account and any bills would be deducted from the credit, hopefully the situation would be resolved before the credit ran out. Unfortunately some person matters cropped up at the end of August/start of September, my partner was unfortunately diagnosed with a serious long term illness, the result of this was, with other more important things to worry about, I unfortunatley took my eye off the ball, and forgot all about getting the direct debit set up. I forgot about it until a hefty electricity bill landed on my door mat just after new year, I called SG again and they came up with some nonsense about the account being locked due to them moving over to a new computer system, they would get the lock removed and call me back once they could set up the direct debit, a week went by and I called again on the 11th january to ask what was happening got another story about the computer system and account lock, it would get removed, and they'd call back, no one did, on the 18th January I called back and after a bit of pressure, during which I refused a payment card, and the opportunity to move over to prepayment, they finally agreed to set up a direct debit at £50 a month which they would review when the outstanding amount hit zero, I was told I'd receive the confirmation in the post within a week, on the 25th January I came home from work to find not a confirmation of a direct debit, but a red bill demanding immediate payment, I called SG right there and then and got told that the DD hadn't gone through due to guess what, a lock on the account, this time the person promised to have the lock removed and guranteed me a call back this evening(1st February), this evening came and went, no one called. Obviously this is going on, and on, all the while the amount owed is rising, by the time I get it sorted I'll probably end up paying a crazy monthly amount. I've taken the step of contacting energywatch to advise them of the problem in the hope they can help me solve it. However where do I stand with the red bills and the threat of disconnection notices? Am I entitled to tell them where to go, as I've made efforts to resolve the issue, but they've let me down? Should I call the next time I receive one and tell them that the matter is now with energywatch, or should I just leave energywatch to get on with it?

Wonder how long it'll be before PCA try shipping it out to another DCA in order to recoup some of the cash they paid for it? As the last letter from them does say : "I can further confirm that you will receive no further correspondence from Phillips & Cohen Associates in relation to this matter." In my mind that statement lacks clarity, as to whether the matter is closed once and for all, and doesn't rule out the possiblity that whilst they've promised to leave it alone, I won't hear about it again from someone else, chances are(knowing my luck like I do), another DCA will get hold of this and start the cycle of harassment all over again, think I've won this particular battle, but I'm reluctant to state with any great degree of certainty that I've won the war. At least if someone else does buy this debt off PCA I can send them a copy of PCA's letter and tell them to go ask them for the money.

Well folks finally got a result, I sent the letter I posted above with the corrections suggested off to PCA on the 28th of september. I returned home on friday from a business trip to Ireland to find the following replay lying on the doormat, dated the 2nd of October. "Further to your letter in relation to correspondence issued to you regarding the late {Mother's Name}. I would like to convey my sincere apologies for any distress our letter may have caused you and your family and for any inconvenience which may have arisen as a result. I am pleased to be able to advise you that we have now amended our records and closed the account in question; I can further confirm that you will receive no further correspondence from Phillips & Cohen Associates in relation to this matter. I am sure this is a difficult time for the family, so we thank you for your patience and understanding. Your sincerely Richard Fenton GM UK Operations" Just like to say a big thanks to everyone who give me help with this, the letter came as a huge relief to my father, and we can now consider this put firmly to bed, and move on. RESULT!!

Interested In your post, I've had JD Williams pass an account belonging to my deceased mother to a debt collector who are now harassing me for payments, despite there being no estate, and no proof that I'm in any way liable for the account. Watching this one with interest. Hope you win this one.

Okay after reading trhough all the letters on this site, and a few visits to the CAB, I've managed to cobble together the following, and I think I'll send it off to them tomorrow by recorded delivery. Dear Sirs You have contacted me regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by my late mother. I would point out that the debt you claim is owed to {catalogue Firm} was solely the responsibility of my late mother, since my mother did not leave an estate there is no money available for you to make a claim from, I would also like to point out that this matter has been brought to my family’s attention a full 14 months after my mothers death({date of death}), it my understanding that creditors have a six month period after the death of the debtor in which to make a claim for repayment from any estate which may have been left, it is worth mentioning that this process is known as “probate”, and is not applicable under Scottish law, as such the debt is now null and void, and should be written off, as covered by section 86 of the consumer credit act, even if “probate” were applicable within Scottish law I would like to highlight that you are attempting to claim after the expiration of the six month period. I am familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it is unfair to make demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question. I would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity on this disputed debt you are using deceptive and unfair methods. Furthermore ignoring or disregarding claims that debts are now invalid and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to psychological harassment. I would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my own or any of my surviving family members liability for the debt in question. I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions. I look forward to your reply. Anyone got any other points that could be added? Or does this say it all?

Phillips & Cohen Associates (UK), Ltd Building 5, Floor 9 Exchange Quay Manchester M5 3EF Manchester address for these mofo's as requested.

Well despite telling them where to get off, they have now adopted the tactic of persistantly calling my father at home and making demands for payment, on my advice my father has taken to hanging the phone up whenever they call, they have also sent a further 2 letters demanding that we call them to resolve the matter, I have a copy of the letter from this site requesting them to stop calling, but does anyone have a good letter that will help me put this to bed once and for all, something with the correct references to the CCA and will tell them to give it up, so that they'll give my poor father some peace?

Trust me when I say you need to get this sorted asap. I had a similar problem with British gas I spent 18 months asking them for both electricity and gas bills, they came away with all sorts of crap like they couldn't find my account or that my account was frozen, or there way a block on my account that was preventing billing. I found the best way to handle it was by being a total nussance, phoning them sometimes two or three times a day for a weeks on end asking for resolution, it's worth noting down the dates and times of the calls, and the name of the person you're speaking to, although this never got me anywhere with them(they kept promising to phone back and never once did), eventually when you've exhausted that contact the government watchdog, energywatch, give them the story and offer them the evidence you've gathered of your attempts to resolve the matter, within a week of contacting them, I had British gas phoning me to get it resolved, during the course of which they quoted me some truely stupid figures for what they believed I owed I remember one monthly plan to repay it amounting to £325 quid a month, again not satisfied I went back to energywatch who pressured BG into backing down, and got them to drastically reduce the charges, though I did have to pay something it wasn't anywhere near like what they were demanding. The sooner you get the ball rolling the sooner you'll get it sorted. They will track you down sooner or later, there really is no such thing as a free lunch.

Yep that's them except the address on the letter is for an office in Manchester, but the same company registration number. Spoke to citizens advice they said that the catalogue company shouldn't have even passed this on for debt recovery they should have drawn a line under it when they received the death certificate. So someone somewhere is being just ever so slightly naughty. I suspect the catalogue firm knowing fine well this will never be paid have sold the debt on this lot, citizens advice say this lot buy a lot of debts from firms like catalogue companies.

I suspected as much, thought they were at it, told my father as much when he started to panic, as you can probably appreciate he's not exactly been in the best frame of mind the last year or so, I just though this DCA were trying to manipulate his emotional state to get payment, if he'd called them he'd have signed up for the re-payment plan. Glad I told him I'd sort it out. He's never signed anything relating to the catalogue, the agreement was with my mum, and she left nothing. Is it best for me to just ignore this and let them make the next move? Is there any kind of letter I can send them to tell them to do one?

At the time of my mothers death last year she owed £380 solely in her name to a catalogue firm, the catalogue account was protected by payment insurance, at the time of my mother's death I contacted the catalogue firm and informed them of the situation, they asked for a copy of the death certificate which i duly sent to them, they then refused to cover the repayments due to the cause of death, stating that they may change the decision based on the report of the family doctor, we contacted our GP who got in contact with them, and we heard nothing further regarding the matter until a letter arrived this morning addressed to the estate of my late mother from a debt collection firm, a full 14 months after her death. The letter stated that the £380 was still outstanding and that they required information on whether an estate exists, I called the number and explained to them that my mother didn't leave an estate, the only thing she left was a funeral plan which at the time wasn't even sufficient cover the funeral costs, however this didn't deter the person on the phone who seemed hell bent on getting me to settle the debt in full, or agree to a payment plan, after much arguing I did finally get the person to admitt that the debt was solely in my mother's name and as such her spouse and children are not responsible for it, eventually they gave in trying to get me to pay for and said that they would have to conduct an investigation into whether I was telling the truth or not, and they would be in touch when they had the outcome of this investigation, they closed the call with asking me to think about the payment plan which I replied I didn't need to think about it as I wasn't willing to repay the debt, as it's not mine. Just wondered where I stand with this am I in the right here, since there's no estate does this debt die with my mother? What is likely to happen next? Can they take me to court and attempt to force me to pay? If they continue to send me letters regarding this and bombard me with phone calls, is there any action I can take to make the harassment stop?