Hi Please help me to deal with a debt collection agency who is acting on behalf of a "photo Studio" in London. I have spent many days going through various websites to try to get to grips with this and see that a couple of similar..ish stories had been posted here so i thought it would be a good place to start. Sorry its long but I will try and keep it as short as possible. Sept 2008 - my daughter won a "model photoshoot" for herself and a friend. So they got dolled up and went to a studio in London and had the shoot. They were kept waiting for a couple of hours when they arrived, then again, were kept waiting for a couple more hours after the shoot. Then a sales lady came out showed them many photos, asked them to choose the ones they liked, and told them a range of packages they can offer and a range of respective prices. Eventually, they agreed to buy 5 photos of each totalling £ 500. paying £ 50 per month. My daughter agreed to pay as they had been waiting so long (and her friend would make the monthly payments to my daugher.) My daughter was asked to sign the agreement - which she did. The sales lady then took the agreement away and said she will return with the signed agreement and the photos. Again, they were kept waiting another couple of hours when the lady returned with an envelope, apologised for the delay, handed the envelope over to my daughter and took them out. As the girls had been kept waiting for so long and it was getting very late in the evening, they just took the envelope and returned back home. When they looked at the CD hey found that there were much more than the 5 photos each so they thought "how nice, they gave us a whole load more"... then they looked at the agreement and found that the prices were totally different to what had been agreed. Instead of £ 500, its now £2000. They were absolutely shocked to say the least. They phoned the studio immediately in the morning and got no reply. So they got even more worried. They kept trying and eventually a lady answered. My daughter explained the situation. She was curtly told that it was not a cancellable contract. They would not change the prices and as she had signed the agreement, she has to pay. Then the lady slammed the phone down. So my daughter by now was totally distressed. When she calmed down, she phoned again, only to be met by the same woman who told her to stop calling as theres nothing more to be done. My daughter was simply told that she signed a non cancellable agreement and hung up. My daughter then phoned again the next day, to ask to speak to a manager, when she got through, the same lady answered and then immediately hung up, when she realised that it was my daughter again. I was then told about the problem. I advised my daughter to cancel the direct debit, write to the studio, explain the situation regarding the change in prices and return the photos - which she did. Then, the manager wrote back and basically said the same thing - it was a non cancellable contract agreement and my daughter has to pay the agreed amount. He further stated in his letter that the sales lady had worked there a long time, he carried out an investigation, the sales lady entered the prices as agreed, witnessed by her manager, and therefore the contract stood. My daughter and her friend both explained to me that his explanation was totally incorrect. The manager who acted as a witness was not present. When my daughter signed the agreement the price feilds were not completed. They were completed elsewhere - my daughter and her friend both were told that the sales lady was going to have the agreement signed by her manager. My daughter wrote to them a couple more times and told them her side of the story and stuck to it. I then advised her to write and confirm to the photo studio that i would be acting on her behalf. I wrote and re-iterated what my daughter had explained and told them that the photos with the CD have been returned, the prices were not as agreed and therefore that was the end of the matter. I was then contacted by a debt collection agency and i informed them the same. Its now been ongoing till now when they are threathening court action. We are now in at the end of the 3rd year of all of ths. On reflection - i guess they have been building up a file .. but then all i have done was repeated myself time and again. I would have thought if they wanted to take my daughter to court, they could have and would have done so already. However, I really want to finish this as it really is causing a lot of distress to my daughter - who now feels even worse as she feels that she "got me into this" This issue had really affected her exremely badly. I can see the change in her. My daugther and her friend had just turned 18 when this happened. Like all young adults their age, they have fun etc. and now and again do it in excess. However, they are both sensible young ladies and there is no way on earth they would enter into a contract for £ 2000. Not for photos; not for anything. They were and still are both students. They are both very honest. The [problem] is pretty obvious - get them in, keep them wating all day till the evening, get the punters to sign an agreement, change the prices and then force them to pay prices they did not agree to. Has anyone in CAG gone through this kind of situation? Can some one pl advise me on what next i can do to put this to an end? I contacted the police to report fraud, but they say its a civil matter. I am reporting this matter to Consumer Direct as advised by OFT. I guess i should have done it earlier, but I have had my own issues. Should I serve them with a notice for harassment or a small claims for the deposit which my daugther had paid them. or - just wait ??? I really would appreciate any help from any one at CAG. Many thanks Burmafriday

Hi Shadow, The case had been transferred to a different court. I was able to call them and spoke with them. They were very helpful, especially after i explained my case. they are now aware that my application is being prepared and that i needed a copy of the particulars of the claim - so i hv some time. Will advise you more. thank you so much for yr help. All the best/BF

Hi Shadow, Many thanks indeed. Thats really helpful. All the best/BF

Hi All, Do i have to attach a draft form of the order i am seeking? I am applying to have the judgment order set aside so can anyone send me a template or a format please? Many thanks, BF

Hi Can you help please. I have been trying to complete N244 form to apply for the judgment to be set aside . I am now ready to submit the application and can send it tomorrow, but do i need to complete parts 6 to 9? Many thanks BF

Hi Jasper, Thanks for coming back to me. No, i never entered a defence I asked for further and better particulars directly to Claimants solicitors. Their last invoice was dated 2004 but they claimed to have sent me an email reminder in 2005 which i have no recollection of receiving. All the best/BF

Hi Any thoughts or comments? BF

Hi All, thank you again for all you help and support. i went through the details last night and i am now able to clarify the situation. Forgive me for not mixing up my terminology. Below is chronological account 1. Apprx 10/03/2010 Received Claim Form from Northampton County Court bulk centre 01 Mar 2010 was the issue date. So i did not receive a writ but a Claim Form 2. 13/03/2010 - I sent acknowledgement of service via Moneyclaim website So i did not plead anything - i merely sent an acknowledgment. 3. 15/03/2010 - I then asked for further and better particulars - which I did not receive. 4. Nothing then happened for a while 5. I think sometime in November 2010 – I rang and spoke with one of the partners regarding this case to basically told him that I could not deal with this matter as I was quite ill and had a breakdown in June 2010. 6. In Feb 2011, an email was sent to one of the partners as we had not heard anything about the case, asking for the latest situation. I received a notification from my local Country Court that a hearing date was then set for a day in Feb 2011 but this was adjourned. subject to a further date to be set after April – but so far no date has been set. 7. I then received an email with the documentation and invoices I had been waiting for. 8. At that point, I was in a particularly bad mental and physical state (I had a breakdown due to severe stress) and I phoned one of the partners and asked what I had to do so thye’d just leave me alone. I explained that I had not worked for many months and had no income. He suggested I pay them X amount a month and without admitting liability – I said I would and sent him an email. Then he came back and said he wanted me to admit liability and put a charge on my house at which point I said that I will go through his documentation and get back to him. 9. In his documents, the invoice was dated April 2004. 10. He stated that I made a part payment in 2007 and I asked him to send me copies of my letters relating to that payment and to further clarify his bills. (But I now remember the payment I made – it was over lunch – the payment was made on full and final basis.) But as the Claim was made in March 2010 - and his invoice was Apr 2004, this means its within the 6 year period. i did not admit liability at any time but thats irrelevant now. so i think i am in a pretty weak position. At least the situation has been clairified. what would you think the next steps should be? BF

Hi All thank you so much for your help and messages over the last few days - sorry i was missing. My son was taken into hospital and was quite critical. I'll go through the documentation and answer evertyhing tmrw as i just got back. thanks so much again. B/F

Hi ArtisanUK Thanks so much. i am very impressed. can you send me a link? Hi Jasper - thanks for your message - Thanks for Claifying CPR 7/8. And, yes i think you are right - i am now pretty sure its a county court claim and not writ - Does this make a difference? If the limitation is 6 years why is their solicitor advising them that they have a case as they are within 7 years limitation. you said "...reproduce the particulars of claim removing any personally identifying details..." what do u mean by this? one of my problems is that i gave them a personal indemity should the company fail. However, if the limitation is 6 years - this becomes irrelevant. Do you agree? thanks/BF

Hi. Thank you Shadow and Lantana. Good question - my address had not changed, but i never received the writ. I looked out for it and asked my postman - who told me to speak to the sorting office, who told me to contact the Royal Mail as there was nothing they could do. i hv kept a record of my actions and i can substantiate my efforts in court. I agree that my work is cut out - but I wrote and asked the Claiments solicitors (DG Solicitors) for a copy of the claim or a reference number. They chose not to tell me. its highlighted by the fact that they referred to a letter from my daughter's letter which clearly reqeusts the information and claim ref. number. I realize that time is of essence - i only just learnt of the Claim Reference - so i will prepare my applicaiton tmrw and submit it by Recorded delivery. All the best/BF

Hi Jasper, Thanks for your input. Its really very good as it brought many things back to me. First, I am not familiar with CPR 7 and /or 8 and checked it on the web - its regarding the leagl costs of the defendants. They are represented by a firm of solicitors. I am representing myself. So i guess they will go for No. 8. The thing is when i appointed them to act on my behalf, i signed the "appoint agreement". In that document i gave them indemnity should my company cease trading. Its because of this indemnity that they are coming after me. They issued me a writ - to which i pleaded not guilty. They are negotiating to settle and allow me to may monthly payments but they want a charge on my house. i have not admitted liability nor will i agree to them having a charge on my house. I did make a part payment back in 2003/4 but i never admitted liability. as i mentioned in my response to Rebel11 i am waiting for further details from the Claiments. As soon as i have more detials, i will of couse seek fruther advice from CAG. But if they already have solicitors representing them, they must think that the liability is claimable within 7 years. This seems to be the key issue. look forward to your comments. Many thanks/BF

Hi Rebel11 thanks for the information - so basically they have 6 years to make a claim, and not 7 - thats very interesting. I dont remember all the details but i did say to them that i was not going to make payment to their invoice as they messed up on my VAT returns. They served me a writ and i pleaded not guilty. I also requested further and better particulars. on receipt i will have a better idea. my problem is that i no loinger have all the documents relating to their work . Hopefully, i will remember more once i see the paperwork. But now i am writing to you, i am reminded that i kept a back up of my the PC. I will try and find the drive over the weekend and check/ You mentioned CCJ's. What impact may they have? I do not have any . (I did pick one up last week - but this was on another matter with another party. I am appealing to have it set aside.) Many thanks/BF

Hi A firm of accountants that used to work for me wants me to settle a bill issued 7 years ago on my company which went bust in 2003. They are issuing me with a writ. Is this possible? The worst part is i gave them a personal indemnity when i appointed them. can they do this, if the invoice is dated just under 7 years ago. My other question is, is there a time limit on an indemnity? Many thanks BF

Hi Shadow, Many thanks indeed!! I was able to find the Trust site, got details i needed and am in touch with the CCBC. I requested them to send me full details. I hv also contacted SRA and started the ball rolling. Now i will sumbit a formal complaint to SRA, Law Society and HSBC. i cannot afford a solicitor so i will hv to do it myself and any help you can give in this matter will be great. i'll keep u posted. All the best/BF

Hi Shadow - many thanks. I have copies of all communications. I have my daughter to thank for that as she insisted on only writing to these poeple so we have a record and a thread. I hv been speaking to some friends who advised that I can apply to have the judgement set aside but one person actually said that as they behaved so badly and more specifically, as i never received the writ, and as there seemed to have been an agreement with HSBC for the repayment, I should apply to have the judgement struck out. I dont know if thats possible. Can you comment on that? I'll try and find the Trust Registers Website and write to the OFT. Whats SRA ? is that a Solicitors regsiter? i'll try and find that out. Many thanks. BF

Hi - please help. A writ had been issued agains me by HSBC and DG Solicitors and they now have judgement but i have been unable to defend against the writ for reasons set out below. I will try and be as brief as possible. I owed money to HSBC on an OD and I had offered to repay them. But I fell ill in November 2010 when i had a break down. My daughter wrote to HSBC on my behalf explaining the situation and sending a £100 towards the debt and for it to be reviewed in 4 months time. In February 2011 she again wrote to HSBC asking for account details to enable us to set up payments by Direct Bebit. Neither my daughter nor I have a cheque account. We received no reply but heard from DG Solicitors asking for immediate settlement. My daughter wrote back to the solicitors explaining that we offered to make repayments and only account details were needed so payments can be sent by bank transfer. We explained that we cannot issue cheques with my bank account. We did not hear anything from DG Solicitors for over a week, then they notified us that they were issuing a writ of claim. Again, my drughter wrote back and explained that we are willing to make the payments - we only needed details of an account so we could make the payment. DG Solicitors then wrote to us stating that a writ has been issued against me. We asked for details of the writ and a copy - which we did not receive. No writ arrived at my address. As they said the writ had been issued, we specifically looked out for it. We also wrote to Norhampton County Court Bulk Centre asking if a writ has been issued, but they replied to say that they cannot help us unless we give them a claim reference number. Then last week we received a letter from DG Solicitors that they will seek judgement in default as we did not respond to the writ. To date we never received the writ. DG Solicitors will not give us details of the writ nor send us a copy. i understand that they now have judgement. This means that they will try and get a charge order set on my house, but i have no details of the writ nor was i able to defend it. Can some one please tell me what i can do. Many thanks. BF

Hi - Thanks Jamberson - i'll do as you suggest and see what happens. will let u know. all the best/BF

Thanks for fast response. Well Dragonkeeper, I've written to LBHF stating exactly that! I've also written to my local MP and was really surpirsed to receive a reply from his assistance pretty much stratightaway. I am told that they will write to LBHF and get back to me. Hi Jamberson - i understand that i cannot use N244 here. regarding Out of time Statutory statement - i am not sure if i qualify the four criteria they set. thats the problem. i did make representations and did not get their response - but i found their email response much later in my outlook. which prompted me to write to them.but i see what you are saying. OK - i'll do that tonight and send it in to Traffic Enforcement Centre thanks so much for yr fast replies warm regards/BF

legally parked but Parking ticket issued anyway London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham's eager attendant issued a pcn on 26 April 2009 - a Sunday when i was parked in metered zone - outside of parking restrictions. The parking restritions were Mon - Sat. i parked on a sunday. but I received a parking ticket anyway. Due to various personal problems i forgot about the PCN but wrote to LBHF some time later and explained that it was a sunday and the parking restrictions were not enforced then. I did not hear from them and then forgot about the ticket until i got a note (shoved through my letter box) by a bailiff demanding £ 535. I phoned LBHF parking office and spoke with an official in the parking office - who confirmed that Sunday restrictions were to be encforced on 14 Dec 2009 on the road in question. He then confirmed that i was parked legally . When i asked him to cancel the ticket - he said he could not as much time had passsed and the case had progressed and i had to deal with the bailiff. He said i could quote his name and the conversation. He said that the conversation was taped anyway. Then i had a call from the bailiff on my mobile - i do not know how he got my mobile number - who asked me to pay the full £535 or he will come to my house and take things. i can handle the bailiff to a certain extent as i will simply not answer the door when he comes. i hv written to my local MP and submitted an official complaint to LBHF. I contacted Traffic Enforcement Centre to see if they can help. They said i can submit a statutory Satement Out of time, but i needed to qualify to 4 "preset" conditions in TE9 and TE 7 forms. - and i do not know if my situation qualifies. Can any one advise me on the regulations relating to PCN's issued incorrectly? What can I do now? my personal opinion is to serve a writ to LBHF for a. issuing a PCN incorrectly b. subsequently trying to extort money using bully tactics and bailiffs c. committing Fraud can some one pl advise. By the way - if you think about howmany tickets these guys issued "incorrectly" that were paid by people who just could not stomach a fight - thats an awful lot of income for these councils. all the best - BF

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham's eager attendant issued a pcn on 26 April 2009 - a Sunday when i was parked in metered zone - outside of parking restrictions. The parking restritions were Mon - Sat. i parked on a sunday. but I received a parking ticket anyway. Due to various personal problems i forgot about the PCN but wrote to LBHF some time later and explained that it was a sunday and the parking restrictions were not enforced then. I did not hear from them and then forgot about the ticket until i got a note (shoved through my letter box) by a bailiff demanding £ 535. I phoned LBHF parking office and spoke with an official in the parking office - who confirmed that Sunday restrictions were to be encforced on 14 Dec 2009 on the road in question. He then confirmed that i was parked legally. When i asked him to cancel the ticket - he said he could not as much time had passed and the case had progressed and i had to deal with the bailiff. He said i could quote his name and the conversation. He said that the conversation was taped anyway. Then i had a call from the bailiff on my mobile - i do not know how he got my mobile number - who asked me to pay the full £535 or he will come to my house and take things. i can handle the bailiff to a certain extent as i will simply not answer the door when he comes. i hv written to my local MP and submitted an official complaint to LBHF. I contacted Traffic Enforcement Centre to see if they can help. They said i can submit a statutory Satement Out of time, but i needed to qualify to 4 "preset" conditions in TE9 and TE 7 forms. - and i do not know if my situation qualifies. Can any one advise me on the regulations relating to PCN's issued incorrectly? What can I do now? my personal opinion is to serve a writ to LBHF for a. issuing a PCN incorrectly b. subsequently trying to extort money using bully tactics and bailiffs c. committing Fraud can some one pl advise. By the way - if you think about howmany tickets these guys issued "incorrectly" that were paid by people who just could not stomach a fight - thats an awful lot of income for these councils. all the best - BF

Hi Any contribution and advice on my last posting would be greatly appreciated. thanks/BF

Hi Everyone, i had a call from the council. they want £ X00 per month which i really cannot afford. It might as well be £1million - If not, they say that their options are a. re-instruct the bailiffs b. put a charge on my house b. commital 1. they do not acknowledge that an incorrect council tax had been charged to me in the previous period - where as i feel that a single person discount should be applied to me. 2. I want them to recalculate the correct tax for me for the previous period. 3. there is no way i can pay the amount they want as i am not earning at the moment. 4. to date, they have not said that they want to attach a liability on an benefit i earn How do I negotiate a settlement figure which is workable? I have no income at the moment and my doctor had signed me off work for 3 months. pl give me some advise on how i can negotiate with the council. all the best/BF

Hi Rae thanks very much BF

Hi Rae Its great to see you. I thought you've done a runner like I was planning!! Thanks for yr message - i know i am getting there, but Its been seroiusly demoralising and worrying to say the least. But unfortunately - i "cracked" in the last week in june - and was quite sick. I went to see the doctor on 30 June - he took me off work and gave me a sick note for 3 months and some happy pills. i got a letter from the council, i read it just to see the content but i am not really going to do anything about it till tomorrow evening then plan a reply - may be scan it for you to see and comment if you do not mind as it takes me time to do things at the moment. I guess I am now at settlement negotiations with the council. I have applied for council tax reduction and carer of a disabled person discount. i have also applied for Employment Support Allowance. but in the interim, whilst my applications are being considered, i intend to make some payments to the Council (some money had trickled in to my company.) I've also been onto CCCS (consumer credit counselling service) and they've given me some advice. So this is a bit of a problem - its a pretty unfortunate time to crack but there u go. all the best/BF