Well now, this is weird. I just found today another letter from BCW. This one is of the 19th November, yesterday's one was 25th November. I don't know why I found this one only now. Anyway, this is what it says.. it doesn't make much sense for me: "I write with regard to your recent communication concerning the above account and would advise that I require further information to show that you are not liable for this debt. Please provide a copy of the tenancy agreement relating to your stay at [...]. This should include documentation confirming the date you left the property and the meter readings at the start and end of your tenancy. If you let the property to another party we require a copy of the agreement, the meter readings and evidence of when the tenancy ended. If you are acting for the owner of the property we also require evidence that you are acting in this capacity for the owner. If the property was privately owned we will need documentation showing the date the property was sold and the meter readings at the time. If no meter readings are supplied the client may need to estimate the final bill." ... Now, what does it mean that they advise that they require further information to show me that I am not liable for this debt? And they want my tenancy agreement for the saying at that flat, but I don't have it anymore.. and I don't even think that tenancy agreement included the day I left the flat on it. Regarding the meter readings, we never had any, we just paid the bills. I don't understand what they mean by "acting for the owner", but I wasn't the owner, neither I acted for them, so I guess that part just doesn't apply to me... So essentially, they want my tenancy agreement, and I don't have it. Oh, and they advise that they require further information to show me that I am not liable for this debt. Whatever that means.

Sorry for the delayed reply Boo, I just really had to go to eat something. Anyway, thanks for the link to the letter, I will print it, however, I just rent a room in a house, I don't have a place completely on my own. The point is that, if somebody shows up and just asks about me, the couple that has their room right next to the front door might just let the person in and send them to me. (I'll try to tell them not to even if they are unbelievably unfriendly!) Oh, and I checked the BCW link "We take our responsibilities seriously", and if you actually click on the "here" of "We have signed up to the requirements contained within the Credit Services Association code of conduct, which can be viewed here", the browsers gives Error 404, Page not Found! I guess that already shows how seriously they take their responsibilities.

Hi Boo, thanks for your very quick reply, but to be honest, I don't really wanna go in court, even if I'm right! I don't have any experience in any kind of legal thing. I would just be an easy prey I think. Plus, I'm Italian, my English is ok but with all the technical words used in this business, I'm sure I wouldn't even be able to understand what's going on!

Ok, so, to quickly recap up to this point: 1) Buchanan Clark & Wells asks me £280 pound for two years (2007-2009) of unpaid gas bills, but I was not in the flat any longer since 2007. 2) I send them the "prove it" letter, as you guys of this forum suggested me to do. 3) They ignore my letter and start threatening me with Legal Actions, saying that I made no attempt to contact them. 4) I send them the "prove it" letter AGAIN, this time with RECORDED DELIVERY. 5) They send me back the copy of a meaningless gas estimate with my name on it, which is their "proof" of my liability. You can see it here. 6) I send them another letter by RECORDED DELIVERY, stating that I no longer was in the flat for the period they want me to pay the gas for. To prove this I attach two documents: the Tenancy Agreement that I signed upon entering a new flat in 2007 and a bank statement of that period that shows my new address. I also point out that a simple gas meter reading with somebody's name on it does not prove that they were present at that particular property at that time, and it does not make them liable to pay anything. And, as you guys on this forum showed me, I also pointed out that a gas company cannot bill for any amount which dates back longer than a year. (If you guys wanna see my whole reply, I can post it) 7) Today I find another reply from them saying again that, AS A CONSEQUENCE OF MY FAILURE TO CONTACT THEM, they are ready to prepare documents for the Issue of a Claim against me in COURT. They say they will also proceed with a PERSONAL VISITATION by a DEBT INVESTIGATION OFFICER to my house. These guys even ignored my RECORDED DELIVERY letter with all the proof that I wasn't in their damn flat anymore! They just keep going and going without listening to anything at all!! I seriously don't know what I can do more than this. I'm just so angry at them, asking me £280 pounds and harassing me, and when I send them proof that I don't have to pay a cent, they keep ignoring me and threatening me with all these legal actions!!! You guys tell me what I'm supposed to do now, because I really don't know anymore. (By the way: thanks for the help so far!)

Thanks a lot guys, I'll keep updated if I hear from them again after sending my letter.

This is great news Boo, I'm really glad you found this old topic for me. There is only one problem now: as according to them I was still living in the place in august 2009, they won't recognise that more than one year has passed and that they have therfore lost the right to claim any money over old bills. According to their clock, it has only been two months.

That would be awesome! I hope you find more about it! That would be the end of the story!

True, but I would not know what else to do otherwise...

Well I guess I will have to try and send this letter, so at least I will have done my part regardless of if they ignore it or not. I'm desperatly trying to contact the agency that let the flat two years ago, so they can maybe write up some document that states that I left the flat in summer 2007, not two months ago. That would be a proof hard to ignore I think...

Hi Huff&Puff, glad you are still following me in this. What I'm thinking to do now is to send another letter with recorded delivery and let them know at this point that I left the flat more than two years ago, and that they are asking me to pay for the time in which I wasn't there. I will also mention that sending this pseudo gas bill now doesn't mean anything, and it doesn't prove I was in the flat using their gas for the last two years. If after this they keep sending me letters, I will ignore them I guess.. but can't they take me to court if I do like this? I'd really prefer to avoid that! Also, again, can I just play on the fact that my surname is wrong on their documents? (there is only the surname, not the name, and that has one letter different from the actual one)

I've posted the continuation of the story here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/228921-newbie-asks-help-again.html Hope somebody can suggest me what's the best thing to do now.

Hi everybody, I’m posting here the latest updates about my problem with Buchanan Clark & Wells. Couple of years ago, I stayed in a flat in London for about six months and a half, always paying all my gas bills from the beginning. Now BCW says that I have to pay £280 for unpaid gas bills, for the supply period that goes from 01/12/2006 (the day I moved in the flat) to 04/08/2009 (despite the fact that I moved out of the flat on 16/06/2007!). So: 1) they are saying that I never paid a single gas bill (for the period of time in which I was actually there, 01/12/2006 to 16/06/2007) and 2) they want me to pay for more than 2 years that I wasn’t in the flat anymore (from 16/06/2007 to 04/08/2009). (Here’s the link to my first topic, which explains the beginning of the story in more detail) Anyway, the people of the forum explained to me that the best thing to do was to send a “prove it” letter, so I did, and now they sent me this document that it’s supposed to prove my debt. I don’t see how this thing can prove that I was using their gas for 2 years after I moved out, or that I never paid my bills for the six months that I was actually there. But I’m not sure of how things work, so I wanna ask the people on the forum if they think that this document they sent me is enough to prove that I owe them money. Also, on all the documents I received from BCW and Npower, one letter of my surname is wrong, could I use this to just say that this person is not me? Or, what happens if I just completely ignore them from now on and don’t take any action?

Well, thanks guys, I'm feeling a bit more relaxed now Well then, tomorrow morning I'll send them again the "prove it" letter, this time via recorded delivery, and then I'll just wait and see what happens. Thanks, I will keep updated as I have more!

Well, this scares me even more.. If they can do whatever they want, what stops them from charging me with these Interests and Costs (on top of this imaginary "debt") even if they are not entitled to, like cerberusalert was telling me? What stops them from breaking into my house? Can they really do whatever they want to this degree?

They CANNOT charge any Interests and Costs at all??? Why not? (sorry, It's not that I don't trust your help, it's just that I wanna understand...) Do they just lie on documents like that then? And it is still unclear to me... in what the Legal Enforcement eventually consists of? (PS: What does it mean that "they can swivel"? sorry, English is not my first language, so I don't know this expression yet.. I tried googling it but I found other definitions..)

I'll send it with recorded delivery tomorrow morning... but can they go as far as ignoring that too? Will they pause or stop this Legal Proceeding crap? Will the Interests and Costs start going up anyway? Also, should I attach another page to the "prove it" letter that says that I indeed replied to them but they are failing to recognise it? Or there's no point in that?

Help guys, BCW is back with a FINAL NOTICE, and they are acting like I never made any attempt to contact them back after they sent me the first letter, while instead I sent them the "prove it" letter via fax. (I was unable to find a fax service that gives you back that printed page that says at what time and date the fax was received, so essentially I cannot prove that they got my reply) They say "Since you failed to notify us of any legitimate reason for non-payment we can only assume that you do not wish to settle this matter amicably. Accordingly, this letter should be accepted as FINAL NOTICE that unless payment is made immediately, we shall seek to commence LEGAL PROCEEDINGS against you, with payment of INTERESTS AND COSTS in addition to the Principal Sum being sought." Now, in what the Legal Proceedings consist of? Can it happen that one day I come back home and I find, say, the computer missing because they came in to take stuff to repay the debt? Or what else can happen, what can they do? Also, am I gonna end up with a sum much much bigger than what they want me to pay now (£280) just because I'm refusing to pay what I'm not supposed to pay in first place? What if in the end I'm forced to pay at all costs but the sum as gone up by hundreds of pounds? What should I do now?

One more question, what reference do I have to use in my reply? In the letter I received there is a BCW Ref (in red) and a Client Ref.

Ok, so I'll reply with a fax from some public place, just sending them the "prove it" letter with no further details about the fact that I wasn't in the flat for most of the period they want me to pay for. If anybody has some additional hint to give me, they are very appreciated. Thank you guys for the help. I'll keep updated.

I can fax from work.. plus they are telling me that there should be a page being printed out to you that shows time and date of when the fax was received. Would that be fine then?

I don't use Faxes neither, so I don't know if there is any proof of receiving it, I guess I can find out... I read around that the best thing is to call them and send the fax "live" while on the phone.. but thinking about it, unless I'm recording the conversation in which they are saying that they received the fax, they could later deny everything as well I guess.

Is a Fax alright?

Ok, so in that case I guess I can just send the template as it is with just this little modification: "I would point out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to Npower, and I demand proof of it." Is that good enough? Sorry, I don't want to be baby-sitted, I just wanna make sure I do things right! Thanks a lot!

Hi Huff&Puff, I guess the template that I'm supposed to use is the General debt letter - if you know nothing of the debt..., right? Do you think I should just send a letter without modifying the template (well, obviously putting my data) or should I make clear that 1) I moved out on 16/06/2007 and 2) I always paid all the bills that I received during my tenancy? Or there is no point in that?

Hi everybody, I hope that somebody can help me with my problem. Yesterday I received a letter from Buchanan Clark & Wells saying that they were instructed by Npower to recover an overdue debt of about £280. Now, on the letter it's written that the supply period was from 01/12/2006 to 04/08/2009. First of all, I wasn't in that flat anymore from 16/06/2007, when I moved out to another flat. Where are they coming from telling me that I haven't paid the gas for more than 2 years after I moved out? The starting date instead is right (01/12/2006), as I moved in the flat on that day, but according to them I never ever paid for the gas in 6 months that I've been there. How could that have been possible if it was true? Don't they cut the gas supply if you are not paying for it? Plus, they would have started contacting me since the beginning if I wasn't paying my bills from day 1. I can prove that I moved out of the flat on 16/06/2007 as I still have the contract for the new flat, but I no longer have any proof that the bills were always paid at the time. I made some research on Google and I read terrible things about this BCW company, loads of people contacted and harassed to pay debts of years ago that they never had. Now, I'm very inexperienced with all this legal stuff as I am quite young and I never had to deal with these kind of problems before. I feel quite vulnerable as, since I don't know my rights, I feel like they can turn me how they want me and make it look like I'm at fault. I'd like to know what's the best thing to do now or what I should do to counter at them and let them know that I don't have any intentions to pay any "debt" for old bills that were always paid for. Thanks to everybody in advance for your help