So 10 days later after a recorded delivery letter they have not responded. They are obviously just ignoring the "problem". So where do I go next? My initial letter was polite and just requested that they replace the part (well another company to do the work and invoice them - don't want them getting hold of my laptop during a "dispute") under the SOGA. So nothing major. Do I write as a formal complaint? If so where can I take the matter higher after that? Thanks in advance Barry

Many thanks for the speedy reply. Having briefly scanned the SOGA it certainly looks like they do not have a leg to stand on. I will print that off later and try and digest some of it. I am right in thinking that keep everything in writing? Thanks again Barry PS Yes I am feeling a lot better - very kind of you to ask.

Hi all, I really hope someone can help with this. Last year (approx Sept/Oct) the Blu-ray player on my laptop became faulty. Since it was under warranty Samsung got hold of a company to contact me and arrange collection and repair of my laptop. The came and it was returned a week or so later. Great I thought except the Blu-ray drive was replaced by an inferior drive (only a DVD writer). After several weeks/months with the repair company - Digicare - who kept replying to my emails that the manager will call me back. He never did. I escalated this to Samsung who said they would be in touch. Unfortunately I was ill at the start of this year and recently ended up having a major operation so you can imagine the laptop was the last thing on my mind. I have now contacted Samsung to have been very good and contacted Digicare on my behalf. Digicare are now saying that due to the length of time since the repair they will no longer correct the original problem. The Samsung person did explain to them that I have been ill, etc for best part of this year but Digicare will say it's been too long since repair. The Samsung person has left me with contact details at Digicare and says probably best you call them. Now my question is can they do this? I understand there has been a fair amount of time since the original repair but my circumstances have been not normal. Surely they must still honour the replacement of the original part? Any help would be gratefully received since I do not want to talk to them unless I have some legal speak to back up my arguments. My gut feeling is that there is no determined time that a resolution should be completed to be deemed as no longer a dispute. Thanks in advance Barry

Many thanks GG. A very good thread. Regards Bazza

Excellent thread. I have today emailed Equifax about several entries on my report (table 1 searches by 1st credit and MH). I shall look forward to their replies now I have read this thread. Will try and keep you posted for the benefit of others.

Apologies for bumping an old thread but this is the nearest I could find to what I am trying to achieve. Have looked all over the place and cannot seem to find a definiative answer to this. I have recently just checked my credit file with Equifax and found 2 table 1 searches (ones that DO affect your credit scoring). 1 for Mackenzie last month and one for 1st Credit back in 2009. This was because I had just recieved a letter from MacKenzie about a debt they are pursuing on behalf of Intrum Justitia (who also wrote at the the same time but with different amounts of balance - are they the same company?). I have raised an online dispute with Equifax about these since the companies have no permission from myself to perform a search. Suppose my question is... where can I take this next? I am guessing Equifax will just say contact the DCA who in turn will try and fob my off. Whats my best course of action (has anyone actually got the searches removed?) next? From what I have read.... Next is to contact DCA (with what letter? - and is it a waste of time?) And then onto ICO? Is the letter to the DCA to say you are formally disputing the entry and so when you write to the ICO when you do not have a satisfactory answer from the DCA it gives you a better chance? Thanks in advance. Bazza

Many thanks all. That was exactly what I was thinking and found out from this site but nice to have it confirmed. Again thanks. Bazza

Hi, I am looking this all up for a friend (honest!) who has been issued a ticket for causing an obstruction. This is the story so far. She was parked in an hospital car park (private company) which is normally crammed full of cars at visiting time so she had to park on a grass verge near the ticket machine as do many other cars at peak times. On her return she found she had a ticket on the car for "causing an obstruction". She ignored the ticket and never paid. She has the original payment receipt for parking - the one you show in your window. Now recently she has had letters from a Debt Collection Agency asking for the money and I have told her to ignore these for now. However she got advice from someone else who said write to you local MP to investigate which she has done. The MP has replied saying there is nothing he can do (who would have thought that from an MP?). However since that letter she has now had a letter from the original car parking company with photographic evidence of her parking. OK so it wasn't the best parking but people could easily walk around the car to get to the ticket machine. The private company have said that this would not allow people in wheel chairs to get round the car. Since the car park does not charge for disabled badges so they would have no need to use the machine. Thats the story so far - she has not written to anyone (except the MP) as yet. So any ideas where to take this next? I have scanned through the site and found plenty of "template letters"but nothing that covers the fact they have pictures of the car. I am guessing she could write to the original company with the "who was driving" template letter but she was the driver and don't really want to go down that route unless someone thinks differently. Many thanks in advance Bazza

Hi - just found this thread since I got the same letter from MDB. Interesting. I have sent a CCA request to the freepost address (did this before finding this thread) so what are the chances of them receiving it? From what I have read its a false address. So what do I do next? Just wait until the "signed for" letter comes back to me which would prove the address doesnt exist? Or do I send one to "dlc" knowing its actually them in the first place? I did send a "prove it" letter to dlc months ago and heard nothing back until this MDB letter. Any help would be gratefully received.

Sorry for delay - I thought this forum would email me to say there was an update to the thread but I never get them. Anyway thats something else. Thanks for the advice - have looked around and its does seem very expensive. I dont wish to progress and make a career out of it (I already have an established career in IT). I just wanted to get a grounding in Law as this could prove useful in life generally (and I love learning new things). I have looked around and will probably just go for a GCSE in Law so I can get the basics and will give me a general idea if I like it or not plus the cost of a GCSE course is about the £200-£300 mark. Or would it be better to head straight for 'A' level since these courses do not require previous Law knowledge either.

I also got that paragraph in a letter 1st sent to me. Full letter is -- Another letter from 1st Cretins today. --- Thank you for your lettr of 23 Feb 2009 of which contents are noted. (this was my 12+2 letter) I can confirm that we received your request for the original copy of agreement to which I enclose a further copy with terms and conditions, originaly sent to you on 4th March 2009. You are correct; we are required to provide a copy of the agreement requested under the Consumer Credit Act within 12 working dats. It is also correct that if the default of the credit agreement contniues for one month, that an offence may be comitted. (they are upto date then!) However, if an offence is committed, that does not affect the rights and duties between us. The Act provides defences to any offence which we believe would apply, in this case where we have to obtain documents and information to answer your request from the original creditor In your letter of 23 Feb 09 you have not specified upon which ground you rely for your notice under s10 of the Data Protection Act and therefore we do not consider this valid; furthermore this is not a valid request as it falls under the exemption in Schedule 2 section 2(a) of the Act. I am somewhat suprised that 'you do not acknowledge any debt to out company' when you have paid 70% of the balance, I bring to your attention that there is an outstanding balance of £237.31 which is now due. We further note that you have ommitted to sign your letter, please ensure all future correspondence is signed. --- Attached is a very poor copy of application form and some very clear T&C's (it must be noted on the T&C's that under charges it states "we will charge you £x for..." yes it says £x. So what to make of that then? Any advice?

Hello, Might be posted in the wrong area but if I wanted to study law (part time) and in the area of debt collection what category would it come under? Or if anyone knows of a course that would be more helpful. I am guessing it comes under consumer law? Apologies if this is posted in the wrong area. Thanks in advance

Many thanks for that! I will also try and drag it out as long as poss but I am not sure whether a payment has been sent to them or not in last 6 years (I was on a DMP about 4 years ago). Maybe I should SAR them which would tell me if any payments made. At the end of the day I had the overdraft - I was led to believe that HSBC had written it off... until Lowell-life started writing - if I still do owe the money then I wil gladly pay it BUT only to the people who actually own the debt. Anyway if the bank charges reclaim goes through then it would only amount to about 50 quid at the end anyway. Is it worth telling Lowell at this stage a reclaim is in process - they cannot do anything while the account is in dispute. Thanks again anyway.

Hi All, Great forum - has helped me massively with CCA requests. But I have a problem with Lowell and an old overdraft. Last Aug Lowell-life started the "lets keep our postman busy" campaign with letter after letter requesting payment. I CCA'ed them and they replied with its a bank overdraft so not CCA applicable (fair enough). Now not wanting to shell out any money to anyone who asks for it I wrote to them with the "Prove it" letter. A month passes and they come back with 16 pages of internet page printouts of my last few statements. The statements only bear my name and no other means of identification that they are mine. They state that the final entry on the last statement of "Account Adjustment" was to prepare the account for them - that was dated 2003!!! I wrote back basically saying this is now a formal complaint because they have failed to prove they own the debt. They sent me some "fob off" letter which really told me nothing or proved any debt and if I was unhappy I could take it up with the FOS. I have not but I do have 6 months after initial complaint to do that which is still in the timescale. But I doubt the FOS would do anything from what I hear. All quiet until the start of this year and the letters have started again (both from Lowell and Hamptons - same company I know). I have an outstanding bank charges on the account with HSBC (which would nearly wipe the whole amount off) so the account is in default at present I am lead to believe. I have not told Lowell this since they have not proved anything to me and I dont want to give them any more information. The letters (standard ones) threating to look at my credit file and see if I own a house and will do this and that. Same old letters and they still come. The whole thing is really getting on my nerves - if they can prove they have been assigned the debt (I have had no correspondence to that affect) then I will let them know the balance is disputed and they cant do anything until that is statisfied. But they are failing to prove anything. What can I do? Any help would be greatly received!!! PS If I had hair I would be tearing it out! PPS Just looked at my credit file and Equifax says the account has been closed with a balance of £731 (Lowell-life sent me a statements which showed the final adjustment of £834 which the claim was to prepare the account for them). The figures dont balance. Also the credit file says this entry is by a Debt Collection agency and was put on July 08! Ummm....

I had CCA request with Lowell-Life for an Egg account. They also offered me the 60% discount and then guess what - they finally replied with "Due to the age of the debt Egg can no longer retrieve CCA from archive". Which I read as Egg have said "Get Stuffed - we've sold you the debt and we cant be arsed to keep looking up records for you so RASP!!!!".

Wow! Stumbled across this thread and have just spend hours reading from post 1 to the end.... or is it the end? This should be turned into a book! Or even a film! Who would play who? I of course would be an extra in the background (probably like Ricky Gervais Extra's ) Keep up the great work RMW - its truely inspiring. I was going to not complain to FOS about Lowell-life and fobbing me off with a "nothing" answer to my formal complaint. I'll be doing it now! Long live this thread!!!

Its 6 years since you last acknowledged the debt. For example this could be by a payment or you wrote to them to reduce/arrange payments, etc. The default will still drop off the file after 6 years but it doesnt become statute barred until the 6 years as above.

Hillards, Thanks for your posts. I have only started my "take on the DCA's myself" programme a few months ago and totally agree with what you say about them. They are vultures who harass and threaten you to get money out of you which they are not entitled to! They even get money out of people who owe nothing but are scared! Nice people..... not! However your comment above got me intriguied. Why dont you recommend trying to get your money back? Surely you are entitled to it since they have taking from you by unfair means. I am just about to try and start to reclaim money back from Lowell-life (my test case before taking on the others) and would be interested to hear your thoughts on this matter. Thanks

The overdrafts are not subject to the CCA rules I am led to believe so they will not need to supply a valid CCA. But i would certainly CCA the rest of them!

If they cannot produce a valid CCA then they also are not allowed to process your data under the Data Protection Act. So they should not be allowed to put anything on your Credit File. But unfortunately they do........ These DCA's are a law until themselves and something needs to be done!

Cheers BennyOwen, Its not something I have had myself but seen elsewhere and wondered what the implications are. It seems to be a new tactic that DCA's are using. My guess is the same as yours (although yours is probably not a guess) - its the end of the agreement and thus null and void and nothing to pay. But some people have had letters from DCA's saying because the CCA has been terminated then it is not subject to CCA so they dont have to produce a valid CCA. Therefore they are trying to get out of producing CCA by saying terminated. But if its terminated then there is nothing to pay. Is that right? DCA shooting themself in the foot?

I've seen this "agreement terminated therefore CCA 74 doesnt apply and therefore we do not have to comply with a CCA request - now pay up" a couple of times now through various forums. I would have thought that if the agreement is terminated then its all Null and void - i.e. its a written contract and once terminated its no longer in force. Just my opinion. Anyone shed any light on this which seems to be the new DCA tactic?

There are plenty of charges (about 70% of the debt) and a claim has gone in and been accept (put on hold) by HSBC. So the account is indeed now in dispute. However my problem is that Lowell/Red/Hamptons have not proven the debt/ownership of the debt which is what I wish to complain about. Also the many threatening letters which are uncalled for! Thanks anyway.

Suprise Suprise. Recieved a letter today (13/11/08) from Red Collections saying I owe £731.23 and must pay otherwise a home visit or baliffs coming round. Funny thing is I had to call them before 12/11/08 to organise payment. Errr.... yesterday? Where did I leave my Tardis? So Any suggestions what I put in my letter to FOS? I indent to copy all correspondance between myself and Red/Lowell/Hamptons. Highlight the fact that they have not proved the debt. The have harrashed me but writing from Red Collections AND Hamptons at same time. Their response to my Formal complaint was not satsfied. Any others while I am throwing the book at them? Also I have read elsewhere that they have not really got anywhere with FOS which could be why Lowell arent that bothered if I contact them? So who else can I write to? And do I write to Red (lowell) now telling I am writing to FOS (and any others)? Cheers in advance

After sending a "Prove it" Letter to Lowell-life I got back a set of bank statements. So I sent a formal complaint letter pointing out the main parts of the "Prove it" Letter. Here is their response. Further to my letter dated 14 October 2008, I have now investigated your complaint fully and would respond as follows: Your comments that we are in breach of various guidelines outlined in your last correspondence have been noted. Having reviewed our records, I would assure you that this is not the case. Our records show that your queries regarding further documentation which confirm your liability for this debt as recieved on 5 August 2008, 14 August 2008, and 11 October 2008 were responded to on 6 August 2008, 28 August 2008 and 14 October 2008 respectively. Our records show that statements showing how the current balance on this account accrued have been forwarded to you in accordance with your request as recieved on 14 August 2008. In view of the above, and in the absence of any other information which supports your comments regarding your liability for this debt, we are unable to accept your comments regarding your liablility for this debt. However should it be the case that you are able to provide us with further information in support of your comments please do not hesitate to forward these us, on receipt of which we will be happy to review our position on this matter. Please be assured that all of our procedures are inline with industry and regulatory guidelines. I hope that you find the above a satisfactory resolution to your complaint. Under the terms of our complaints procedure, I am obliged to inform you that this is our final response. However, should it be the case hat you remain dissatisfied you with our response, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You need to do this within six months of the date of this letter. For more information please see the enclosed guide "Your Complaint and the Ombudsman" I trust that the above clarifies matter for you. Yours Sincerely Chido Asiegbu Customer Relations Officer Letters they refer to My Letter dated 5 August - A CCA Request Their Letter dated 6 August - Sent back postal order and said bank overdraft so not covered by CCA request and now pay up. My Letter dated 14 August - Prove it letter Their Letter dated 28 August - They NEVER wrote to be on that date! My Letter dated 11 October - My formal complaint Their letter dated 14 October - To say they have recieved complaint and will be dealing with it! What next? They say in the letter that my letters confirm my liability for debt - what a load of tosh since all of them stated "I do not acknowledge any debt to your company" The letter just doesnt seem to make any real sense to me. Also they having written to my from Red Collections AND Hampton which I believe is not allowed. So what next? Any advice out there?