Ok mate, thanks for that. It's reassuring. Just a couple of questions: What are they likely to do? Could I be called to court? What evidence do I need to keep for any future comeback. Post office receipts etc, e-mails etc? I'm so grateful for all your help. Chris.

Thanks for your response. I am bit confused by what you say. Although I have no response from Belmont or the club, I am still receiving letters from the debt recovery people, threatening solicitors, court, bad credit rating etc.... Surely I can't just ignore it and do nothing? They are also saying that there are no outstanding issues on the account (despite the requests I sent!).

Thanks. Should I just send a letter to the debt recovry agency, saying that I have a CCA request pending, so they shouldn't be chasing me? Anyone?

On a side note, I tried to make a donation to the site and clicking on the donate button resulted in a load-bar that never moved past about a quarter full. Not sure if this needs reporting or anything.

Sorry, also bear in mind that the debt agency have the same address as Belmont themselves (it appears to be a division of theirs), which makes it even more shocking that they have failed to acknowledge my request, despite signing for it.

Hi again, Still no response to my CCA request and the debt recovery people have sent yet another letter, this time advising that if no payment is received within 48 hours, the case will be passed to their solicitors, court costs incurred and my credit rating ruined etc.... The letter also states that they have checked and there are no outstanding issues on my account (the CCA request was signed for). Any advice on what I should do from here. I'm really, really stressed over this, especially given the time of year. Thanks as always, Chris.

Hi again, I sent the letter off as discussed above. I have just received a reply with an encolsed bill. Now there a few problems with the bill, as follows: 1) It was actually an electricity bill, not a gas bill as I first suspected. I just presumed, seeing that it was British Gas. 2) The bill was addressed to 'the occupier', not me personally (remember this was a converted house, split into 3 seperate flats. 3) The bill is dated 2006. I left the property in 2004, but the bill doesn't state how far the charges relate back to. It just states a 'carried forward' amount of £400ish out of the £500ish in total it is asking for. Remember also that I said that all flats were fitted with individual coin meters for electric (you literally used to have to put £1 coins in them), these were never removed while I was a resident, although I have no way of proving this if they aren't there any more. In fact, I don't even know if they are seperate flats any more. Any advice on where I stand with this and/or what my response should be? Thanks as always. Chris.

I will do just that. Hopefully it will be enough to put an end to it. I won't mention havingno paper work then. I am a full year away from the 6 years being up.

Hi Buzby, Thanks for the response. I appreciate it. Exactly what I suspected myself. I have no idea how they have associated me with the bill or how they have got my name. My wife was a tennant there too, but the letter is addressed soley to me. She went by her maiden name at the time, so perhaps that's something to do with it. How would they prove I was a customer? Surely that's impossible if I have never had any contact with British Gas. I'm not sure whether we were individually metered. We were for electricity, but I'm not sure for gas. As I said, when the landlord owned the place, we never dealt with any bills, as he took care of them, so I never got involved in anything concerning gas. When the property management company took over the place, nothing changed. I will do as you suggest then and draft up a letter stating that I paid a price that included bills and have no documentation to support this, due to the time expired since. I'll also state that I'll need copies of the bills. As you say, put up or shut up. If the bills are presented and they aren't in my name (if they were I would have opened them - everything else through the door was either 'To the owner' or addressed to the landlord), then does this mean I'm not liable. I really hope so! Thanks again mate.

Ok, I will get them off tomorrow then. I am curious as to what their next step could be. Interestingly, I have found out tonight that the DCA are part of Belmont themselves, same address and everything!

They're all printed and ready to go, but there was a crisis at my work today, so I was unable to get out to post them. I will be doing them first thing tomorrow. Should I just send the letters and wait and have no further communication with the club for now then?

It never rains, it pours! Already stressed out from one financial dispute posted elsewhere in this forum, I returned home today to find a letter from a debt recovery agency called UK Search Limited, chasing an outstanding balance of £513.48 from a rented property that I was a tennant in over 5 years ago. There is no reference to the period that the bill refers to, but the property in question was initially owned by a landlord, who included all bills in one lump sum, which was the rent payment. He then took care of all bills himself. Towards the end of the agreement, the property was taken over by Countrywide Property Management with little communication to us regarding the take over. The rent remained the same and we were never told anything about us having to pay any bills ourself. It remained all-inclusive in the rent payment as far as we knew. This included gas, council tax, everything bar the electricity basically which was on one of those old coin meters. I have never been billed by British Gas in my own name, all letters were sent to 'the owner' and were always left aside in the communal hallway for whenever the landlord / property management company decided to drop by to get them. It might be relevant also that the property was a 3 storey house that had been converted into 3 flats with different tennants on each floor I have never signed anything with British Gas and have never considered myself a direct customer of them. Am I liable for this bill? As always, any advice greatly appreciated.

It seems like he is suggesting a 3 month notice period. If this is the case, I wasn't made aware of it. I am more confused than ever now as to where I stand. I will be making a donation to this site of 24/11, when I have money available to do so. I am truly grateful of all of the help I am receiving.

Hi again - As advised earlier in this thread, I made another attempt to contact the club manager to resolve amicably. Below are the e-mails (mine at the bottom, his response above it). He claims to have sent me e-mails that I haven't received and refers to 'proof'. I am not sure if this is 'proof' that my circumstances have changed or 'proof' that I want to cancel. He also gives a break down of what the original amount (circa £300) was made up of (basically a 3 month notice period, which I was unaware of) and one month owing from before that (which with proof I would probably accept). Any advice would be greatly received. Hello XXXX, I am a little confused to say the least with regards to this matter and can only assume that some of my e mails have not been received or they have been understood. After your last email I advised you that I needed some form of proof to present the Academy Principal regarding the cancelation of your agreement. However I did point out to you at that time that there was a minimum cancelation period specified on your Academy Membership form of 3 months. Additionally you hadn’t settled an outstanding amount from April 2009 that we hadn’t mentioned up to the point when you requested a cancelation of the agreement. This would account for your payment to cancel your agreement. The amount owing has now increased because Belmont has classed your account as delinquent. As I have received nothing from you regarding your situation I have been unable to intervene and the full amount of your agreement is now due plus any charges incurred. This is why I had originally asked you to send the confirmation to me directly so I could bring this matter to an amicable conclusion. Martial art is about personal development and requires personal commitment. Without commitment you will never achieve anything and it is very easy to back away from a challenge because it’s difficult. This is why we have to be sure there is a genuine reason for any agreement cancelation. I would be grateful if you could forward me any information you may have regarding your current circumstances or a confirmation from your legal advisors if necessary and I will present this to the Academy Principal. Thank you for email and I look forward to hearing from you soon. From: Sent: 16 November 2009 11:53 To: Subject: Regarding the account of Christopher Freeman Paul, I have sent a CCA request to Belmont regarding my account. It was received and signed for by special delivery, but the 14 day timeframe that they legally have to respond has now expired. Legally, they are therefore in breach of the request. I have since received a letter advising that this has been passed to the debt collection service (which they are not legally entitled to do, due to the outstanding CCA request). Further to this, the amount owing has now jumped dramatically to £3,548.25. I am about to send a Subject Access Request to yourselves via post which will also be by special delivery. The legal party I am being advised by however have advised that as an initial measure I should contact yourself, as you may have the authority to resolve this informally to prevent further work and inconvenience for all concerned. This is the purpose of me contacting you today. I would ideally like to resolve this without further costs and administration being incurred by myself, MAC and Belmont, which seems to make sense for everyone. I have been advised to retain a copy of this e-mail and any subsequent response as further evidence of my constant attempts to resolve the issue. I have been diligent in trying to advise you of my situation for many months, long before I ceased attending completely. Therefore, I am disputing that I owe anything, as I have never been advised of any ‘cancellation fee’ that applies, not least the amount stated above. Also, had I not been verbally assured initially of the flexibility of my ongoing attendance, then I would never have commenced attending at all. I would be grateful of a response at your earliest convenience, regarding what you can do to help me resolve this, as I am keen to move this forward in one way or another. In the absence of a response, I will continue to follow the advice of my advising party, whilst noting this request as ‘unacknowledged’. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, XXXX

Addig to this, I have just checked online and my Special Delivery CCA request was received and signed for by Belmont on 29/10/2009. I have received nothing as yet. What are the implications of this?