Sorry - I am new to this and it amazes me.

I think it would be virtually impossible for them to get a figure that the Data Protection people would be happy with (as it is not accurate, being 50% of an estimate) - and so the same would apply to a court.

The Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them. It provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly.

The Act works in two ways. Firstly, it states that anyone who processes personal information must comply with eight principles, which make sure that personal information is:

 

• Fairly and lawfully processed
  
• Processed for limited purposes
  
• Adequate, relevant and not excessive
  
• Accurate and up to date
  
• Not kept for longer than is necessary
  
• Processed in line with your rights
  
• Secure
  
• Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection
  

Also - check your ex letting agency - as they are issuing data when they are unlikely to have been registered with the Data Protection/Information Commissioners Office.

Here is the link to check...

Information Commissioners - Data Protection Public Register

Notification is a statutory requirement and every organisation that processes personal information must notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), unless they are exempt. Failure to notify is a criminal offence.

Notification is the process by which a data controller gives the ICO details about their processing of personal information. The ICO publishes certain details in the register of data controllers , which is available to the public for inspection.

Although Accounts and Records is one of the exempt purposes if you process personal data which has been processed by or obtained from a CREDIT REFERENCE AGENCY the exemption is not available and you are required to notify.

So if your letting agency is not registered - Scottish Power is acting on illegally forwarded information, as it is the duty of Data Controllers to maintain a list registered with the Information Commissioners office. of the information they keep and the third parties who will see that info.

It also means a £35 bill to register for the letting agency.

This in turn may mean that Scottish Power is acting on information it is not entitled to hold.

Checking what Scottish Power can hold on you - and where it can obtain the information from is here (Purpose 3)

Information Commissioners - Data Protection Register - Entry Details

Although its pretty broad, and it lists "suppliers of goods and services" there is nothing pointing specifically at renting property.

You could send a sar to them both to determine what unfair charges they have made which you can reclaim, this will also provide a copy of your CCA which if you scan and post up after removing personal details we'll be able to determine whether they are enforceable.

 

But be aware sending a request may start the alarm bells ringing at their end and they may decide to reduce your credit limit etc. Also if the CCA's are unenforceable it is highly likely that they'll begin to trash your credit file.

Thanks for your reply.

I can actually tell you all my charges, which were from 2002 when I had moved house and was low on cash - at the same time a friend I rent a flat to forgot to pay his rent - and the Clydesdale Bank charged me thirty pounds something for going overdrawn.

I find the idea they could trash my credit file quite alarming, as I still have mortgages, and these need to be redone every three to five years to keep the rates decent.

If after finding any contact I had entered into that was unenforceable - this brings two questions to mind...

1. In non mortgage credit I only owe Barclaycard. If this is unenforceable, how could they trash my file if I kept paying while it was being decided? (Or would paying make contesting the agreement impossible).

2. The former credit cards (who I have had from many people - but the only one that was heavily used and still running is Egg) are all clear of debt. How could cards that have ended agreements with nothing outstanding, or with a current agreement standing at zero, be used to trash my credit file?

In Scotland there is a theatre company called the 7:84 - founded in 1966.

Its name was from a statistic that 7 percent of the population owned 84 percent of the wealth.

7:84 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As time passed the 7 percent decreased as the 84 percent increased until a solution to this embarrassing statistic was found at the end of 2008.

784 Theatre HOME

When the 7:84 - now basically a shower of yahs and lovies - went broke.

I came here about a year ago when I had received a bill in my fathers name (who died in the 1990s).

I was quite shocked how two letters claiming money by sheriffs officers could just be sent out basically threatening to take money or goods for a 'debt' that never existed.

Having lurked for a while, I started posting again recently as it seems entirely unbelievable the abuse and law breaking being directed at people by the predominately now public owned banks and those they pay to harass people.

My finances are OK. I have a Barclaycard from the early 1990s that currently has 6000 debt, and an egg card with nothing on it - but its been as high as £15 000.

From what I have read its likely my Barclaycard records sill not comply with the CCA, so without being in default, is there anything I could do to just tell them they can sing for that money?

Also - the Egg agreement started probably not long after they started. Now if that agreement did not comply with the the CCA too, then would all the interest they had taken from me be illegal and refundable?

I am in the process of transferring my banking to a credit union, as I am disgusted with what I have read here - but liked the idea if having a pop at them as I left.

Just to be pedantic; civil cases are proved on the balance of probabilities, not beyond reasonable doubt.

Yes - sorry - that was what I had intended.

The main purpose was to show you can use the exact same underlying principle against them - but where it is far easer to prove.

My former law lecturers will be turning in their graves.

But then again - if they spin enough they will bore a hole to where most dead lawyers end up anyway.

Its a [problem] close enough.

pcnnw.co.uk

Read their page it says its sent to the OWNER - yet as it is contractual it would be the DRIVER who entered into the contract.

They call it PCN to try to make it sound official.

They copy the diagonal lines on real parking tickets to make it look like its official.

Here are some fliers from their site...

Please do not send cash, bank notes or blank postal orders as responsibility cannot be taken for loss.

Blank postal orders, how do you pay for them in the post office?

I am a blue badge holder, do I have to pay?

Yes. The blue badge scheme privileges are for parking on-street only and are not applicable on private land. A booklet is supplied with every blue badge giving details of correct usage.

PRIVATE LAND! - so its not a "penalty" - its a contract. But if they make you think its legal - and scare you a little - then you will pay.

(Please note that, to be used as evidence, all vehicles have several digital photographs taken to confirm that the contravention has taken place.)

They can take as many pictures of the car as the car as they want - they might even eventually get a job with Top Gear - but they would need a picture of the driver, and to show the driver was aware they were entering into a contract to ever take anyone to court.

you are legally obliged to supply the name and address of the person to whom the vehicle was disposed of (or from whom it was acquired, as the case may be)

Yes - to the DVLA - not to a shower of opportunist thieves.

Unpaid PCN's are referred to our debt recovery company and on to the local County Court, through the civil justice system were it will be registered as a debt. The Court may issue a CCJ and/or authorise warrants to be issued for recovery of these debts by bailiffs.

"may" - but remember they need to show who the driver was - and you are under no obligation to say.

Send the sarcastic letter i did above - so it gibes you the chance to make up the rules just like they are trying.

Morrisons does Jaffa Cake clones, that cost 89p or 90p for three x 12 packs (in a big yellow box).

They are as good as (and probably are) the originals.

I'm very nervous about ignoring them, it says on the ticket that further cost will be incurred if I don't deal with it promptly.

What if I appeal by letter and see what they say then, I mean its not as if I did anything wrong

Firstly - what they are claiming from you is CONTRACTUAL - it has nothing to do with normal parking tickets or breaking the law.

Secondly - by entering an appeal - you seem to be accepting that there was such a contract (which you would have entered into by the action of staying over the time they claimed you would own them money) as why else should you waste time and resources replying to some chancer who claims you owe them money. Do you reply to all the spam emails you get too?

Thirdly, by replying they will see you as a soft touch - so someone more likely to spout money when pressured.

If you do feel compelled to reply - their "appeals procedure" is just taking their bait. Try reversing the tables something like...

You are incorrect in your assumption there is any contract between us. If you feel you can show there is, then you may use my "appeals procedure", which operates by your showing beyond reasonable doubt I had acted in such a way to implicity enter a contract with you, thereby saving time and costs of any future court action.

 

Also accept this as notice of my letter reading service - whereby any further correspondence not fulfilling the criteria specified in the above paragraph, will be read and charged at £100 per sheet.

 

I reiterate - any further contact outwith showing a contract between us already existed - will be taken as your acceptance of my offer to read or attempt to read any other correspondence you send at £100 per page.

I used the "Switch With Which?" via Quidco to find my best energy supplier.

The transfer went through and my bill dropped a tiny bit - but Quidco paid £25 at that time.

Or rather it didn't - and eventually after copying various parts of letters and reference numbers to them - Which? declined to pay out.

Its hardly surprising the UK gets called "rip off Britain" if even the Consumers Association is screwing people over!!!

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana

 

Groucho Marx

Sparrows like worms - Blackbirds like bread - Tits like melons!

Ima Polajisin

DCAs can add anything they want to a debt, but it has the same legal standing as you subtracting money from a debt.

They try to scare you, as like now you are questioning whether large sums can be added against you at will, from someone who has effectively no more legal standing than anyone else.

It would be like saying - my mum has just added £1000 to your debt too.

Sorry - I could not get one that had the picture and was old enough to be the previoys picture.

 

The cottage also only seems to have been listed recently, which did not help.

 

I tried for about 30 mins - but the closest I got was....

 

[EDIT]

 

Its currently listed under being in the Halifax area - but the newest older version I could find did not include a Halifax option.

Sorry - it looks like you cannot post links to that cottages site...

Hi Czechoslovakia,

 

The post that you created in the following thread has been edited

 

-----

Post: Sorry - I could not get one that had the picture and was old...

Thread: Problems with Cottages 4 U

 

Reason: Commercial link removed.

-----

 

This is an automated message, please do not reply.

 

Regards,

The Forum Management

They will now try to scare you into paying.

But they could never win in court unless you fail to appear - as they could not show you were there over your time.

This is unlikely to bother them though - and you will receive more letters as they are cheap to send - but its massively unlikely they would take it further.

The main fraudsters being paypal themselves.

My account has been frozen since I said I did not want it taken out of the UK (about 30 months ago).

The claim they do not know who I am - after calling me - writing to me - asking my bank details - and...............................

So £200 down - loads of effort - about £30 spent on calls to their useless 0870 number - and no joy.

it looked like I was going to have to abandon it as they moved with my money to Luxembourg - BUT - the FSO said they might be able to do something.

Sorry - I could not get one that had the picture and was old enough to be the previoys picture.

The cottage also only seems to have been listed recently, which did not help.

I tried for about 30 mins - but the closest I got was....

[EDIT]

Its currently listed under being in the Halifax area - but the newest older version I could find did not include a Halifax option.

You don't need a TV license to watch a TV.

You only need a license if you are watching programmes "currently being transmitted, or almost immediately after their transmission".

You can download and watch things that are not actually being transmitted at the time using I-player to watch the BBC.

Alternately you can use a site like...

thebox.biz

to watch most UK TV from the last 40 years.

One last thing though, and sorry for asking - but how did they catch you?

Hi There!

 

Thank you for replying - it was a private landlord, not an organisation- does this make a difference?

 

Thank you! x

I am a "private landlord".

Generally you will have a short assured tenancy in Scots law - but it differs in England - but will still normally be some form of assured tenancy.

The information on these things is pretty dire - but Shelter offers good legal advice for each part of the country.

Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity - choose your location

They also have a free phone number you can call - and its free from most mobiles too as its a charity.

0808 800 4444

The standards from many landlords are dire too. Many tenants I have had have been surprised when I return their deposits at the end of their stay, based on previous experience.

I was under the impression I should keep copies of everything for three years - as that is what the income tax people had said was relevant for small scale letting, but I felt six years was a better bet.

There is a difference between your landlord having something - and to letting you have it if it works against them.

Where are you?

Lastly - you can increase any threat to your landlord (if he is dodgy) as generally, they or the property is not registered under a local authority landlord registration scheme, or they will not bother to have gas inspections done (which can carry a £5000 fine and six months in prison - but sadly HSE only bother when someone in a let without this is killed.

Its its any help - something similar has happened twice to us - in addition to there being a comment on the actions of a debt collection company.

We have flats we rent out. After buying a new flat for ourselves, we rented out our old one to two girls who were students. When they moved in we informed the Council for the tax and contacted Scottish Power to transfer the gas and electricity into both their names.

One girl was soon thrown out of college then just disappeared shortly after, leaving the other in a now massively damaged flat. The remaining girl blamed the destruction upon the one who had disappeared even including in the damage in her (the remaining girl's) own room.

About four months later she moved out too.

While having the flat repaired - a letter arrived from Scottish Power. The letter claimed my wife owed over £2000 for gas and electricity.

We contacted Scottish Power, and they confirmed the services had been swapped out of my name into the names of two females, but later the same day they had received a call asking for the services to be returned to my partners name (her name was down as the landlord on the tenancy agreement).

Scottish Power then changed their version of what happened, and denied they had been called at all. However, the bills had originally been in my name, so could not have been swapped without a call. We had also found the call on one of our mobile bills.

We were still using Scottish Power at our new address, and other flats we had were also still with Scottish Power (but just for electricity), so they saw quite quickly what had happened, and returned to agreeing what had happened.

The bill was entirely cancelled.

----------------------------------------------

The second similar event was in a flat let to a three Polish girls (although soon there were six staying, but they kept the flat immaculate so it was not an issue).

There was one girl who took to organising everything, and the tenancy agreement was in her name. She took shares of payments from everyone to meet the bills, and all was well for about thirty months when she returned to Poland. The lease was transfered into another person in the flat's name, who was not quite so good at organising things.

The next time the gas and electricity were read, the electricity bill was higher than normal, and the gas bill was a massive amount (high hundreds).

It turned out the meter had only been read once since they all moved in, and although the readings sent from the flat for electricity seemed quite believable, a completely unrealistically small amount had been paid for gas.

While visiting the flat, I had seen the girls paying the gas and electricity shares to the girl who organised things, but it was not until later I had realised what they were paying her for gas seemed pretty high - given there were six of them sharing the flat. So either she had made a massive error in the gas estimate, or had been dishonestly taking money from her friends.

As the person now overseeing things did not have very good English - they had asked me to deal with British Gas for them.

The reading at change-over when the original 'highly organised' girl had left was clearly wrong, and so the sudden increase in gas usage would have been impossible, especially over summer. British Gas also admitted they had let it run too long without checking the meter.

After discussing things for about 20 mins, they agreed to waive the entire gas bill, and start if from the reading that day. The tenants seemed happy with this, as paying no gas bill that time probably overcompensated the larger electricity bill.

-------------------------------------

The third event was a tenant who ran up bills with one electricity company (that flat was all electric) then just moved to another supplier.

After he left, when we were clearing the masses of mail he left, we found bills from debt collectors that were quite entertaining.

I cannot remember the exact amounts, however, this in indicitive and close to the sums in question.

Letter from debt collectors:- "You owe £400 for your electricity - pay now or terrible things will happen to you."

Next letter from debt collectors:- "You owe £500 for your electricity including our charges, pay now or even worse things will happen to you."

Next letter:- "We appreciate people can sometimes have money problems, and we will write off the debt for £200"

Last letter:- "Pay us £100 and its all forgotten".

----------------------------------------------

I hope this info helps you decide what to do, as it does show they were happy to cancel both initial "debts" and in the first couple of calls. Also - the last debt, which was real, the debt collection agency massively dropped the amount, as it appeared he was just ignoring the letters sent from them.

In the US my partner was challenged (she was 25) - and they were displaying the sign asking for ID if you look under 30. I felt rather upset they never challenged me!

On a lighter note - if you buy it in Lidl instead - you will get more for your money. Thereby aging yourself faster, and making it all the more likely you will be able to buy in Tesco sooner than would have been the case otherwise (providing you suddenly get an urge to pay more for alcohol).

Joking aside - if the shop disrespects you or your principles - use another.

When they finally do agree to your leaving - its important you get a reference number from the person you inform.

My mobile company took a full months payment in advance with only ten days left on my contract.

When I pointed out I had given my notice to leave, they then claimed having only been done it did not apply (even after sending me this number acknowledging I was leaving) as it had been done via email and not by letter. About thirty minutes later after moving the call up to his boss - they agreed I had give correct notice.

However, after many more calls - the £20 of line rental they had taken covering a period after my contract ended looked like it was just not worth the effort to chase.

If a junkie on the street dipped my pocket for £20 - the police would probably be quite enthusiastic - especially if the event could be shown entirely. However, consumer and banking contracts in the in UK seem to be governed entirely by the "Rip off Britain" statutes.

My daughter bought a Blackberry phone from Argos a couple of months ago and now it doesn't work.

 

She took it back to Argos and they will not replace or refund her money;

they say only will replace or refund if purchased less than 30 days ago.

 

Surely, this isn't right?

 

I thought that the Sale of Goods Acts applied;

not fit for purpose etc.

 

Argos want to send it away to be repaired.

 

Please advise.

 

AC

To reject goods it must be done almost immediately (presumably the Argos 30 day limit - although there is actually no specific time limit in the act.

If a fault appears up to six months - then the problem is with the supplier - and you should approach them firstly. But if they have disappeared you can chase the manufacturer.

From six months to a year - its the manufacturer you chase - unless you can show the problem was inherent - or appeared in the first six months - or was there when bought (such as bad phone firmware) - after a year you are using the manufacturers warranty (if any) - ALTHOUGH some people have been successful in claiming EU covers products longer...

Battle looms over two-year guarantee on goods | Money | The Guardian

However, anything with mobile phones seems to be based on trying to deny your rights by maximising inconvenience.

This might sound silly - but if you are in this position where your car is clamped - could you not sell/transfer ownership to another member of your family.

The car is yours - but if you transfer ownership prior to clamping - then if the change in date of registered keeper was prior to the date the car was clamped - then would the Bailiffs not be breaking the law?

If you can send me the link as it stands presently - there is a slight chance I can match it up with a copy from a while back.

Its a low chance - but one worth a try.

I thought I should post here to tell what has happened, as it would appear the problem has gone away on its own.

At the time of receiving the letter, I had mentioned it to a friend whose son is a law student and works in the CAB. It turned out the CAB had been inundated with people appearing with these debts from the last century, but he had also said to ignore it, as the consensus was they were unable to chase them all - and were just hoping for payment on the strength of one letter. He went on to say a lower offer would then arrive, and after than nothing. He advised NOT to contact them, as given the time that had passed, and the number of people they had seen, the letters were just being sent out without checking if the person lived there or even was alive.

True enough - another bill arrived, but for a third the amount of the first. It also listed the dates for outstanding council tax to be 0/0/2000 to 0/0/2000, (2000 was considerably after my father's death. I was also moved into his house prior to that, and had paid all the council tax for the years 1999/2000 and 2000/01 - although would be hard pushed to produce the paperwork so long after).

Again I ignored it, although the temptation was to scream at them down the phone, or visit the office 50 miles away.

However, ten months on - nothing. They were just chancers trying to make a man would be in the latter half of his nineties, pay money he never owed.

Its terrible that, this was sheriff's officers who you would think would be responsible people having the authority of a court who did this rather than the debt collectors whose dubious antics appear to prevail in here.

Update:-

 

I won!! They have finally admitted they have no evidence of the debt..after over a year of letters and threats from them!

 

I followed the advice on here and another forum and CapQuest finally sent me a letter saying that they could not provide proof and they where sorry for the inconvineince!!!

 

I am sooooo tempted to sue them..they used threats against me, told me they where going to clamp my car (clamping is illegal in Scotland!), where going to force entry into my house (I rent the property so they would need permission from the landlord, again, scottish law) and various other things.

 

I cannot believe the way this company opperates and then just turns round as if they have been as good as gold and make it sound that it my fault that they could not prove anything!

 

Anyway, a big thanks to those who gave advice

I don't know if this applies or would help you decide.

Protection from Harassment Act 1997

You will need to do a search on the sites I was intending to post - as I have insufficient posts to let me post sites.

The definition of harassment seems to be something that would annoy a normal person - and happens twice. How many threats did they make?

Also I know the police will take nothing to do with it - but when is a threat not a threat?

There is a massive fine for false invoicing - but I cannot remember the act off the top of my head. But I dont see it doing any harm mentioning they were sending you false invoices and you intend to report it unless they are very apologetic in a very financial way.

Attempting to obtain money with menaces.

Lastly - call the council - and ask about getting an ASBO against them - as you cannot get less social - and I am sure I read somewhere they could be directed at non natural persons (companies).

If I am wrong - slag me off - but tell me why.