His behaviour is outrageous; the fact that the police 'aren't interested' more so. I would contact them again to ask what is being done about your case. If you still have no luck then making an official complaint about the way they have handled things might spur them into action. Write to the company and/or the bailiff stating that you consider this harassment under the Harassment Act 1998 and requesting that all future communication with you is done in writing. If he continues with this I think I am right in saying you can take him to court to claim damages over his harassment, especially if you have any injuries that have resulted in loss of earnings/medical bills from his assault, for injury to your feelings and the stress he's caused you. Even if he could collect the debt legally, he can't add £100 to it because it's not paid within 24 hours. It's unreasonable and thus unenforceable by law.

Having successfully claimed £2,000 of bank charges back from Halifax, I am wondering if the same laws that apply to them apply to debt collection companies. A few months ago, I switched my phone line service from BT to another company. BT sent me a final bill which, because of other financial problems I was having at the time, did not get paid in full, leaving £160 outstanding. I always intended to pay the bill but was struggling to get the money together. But a month or two later a letter arrived saying the debt had been passed on to a collections agency, Commercial Credit Services, who wanted me to pay the £160 and a £40 so-called ‘admin fee’. I wrote back saying that while I agreed I owe the £160 for services I received from BT I was not going to pay the £40 ‘admin fee’, which I considered an unlawful penalty charge that does not reflect their costs in recovering the debt. If this was not the case, I asked them to provide me with details and evidence of any manual intervention that had taken place with regard to the account. I also said that I would be happy to pay the £160 I did owe in installments of £20 a month, which is what was recommended to me by the Citizens Advice Bureau based on my budget, but ONLY once I had received written confirmation that they had dropped the unlawful £40 and that £160 was all I owed on the account. Apparently they ‘misread’ my letter because they sent me one back saying they agreed to my offer to pay £200 in installments of £20. I replied to this, telling them that I did NOT agree to pay £200 in installments of £20 – I agreed to pay £160 in installments of £20. I repeated my request for details of manual intervention (this time citing the Data Protection Act) and informed them that I would be reporting the matter to OFTEL and the OFT. I have just received another letter from them threatening further action because I have ‘defaulted’ on my payment of £20 on the £200 debt – a payment I never agreed to. It seems that no-one is reading the letters I have sent. However, I have obtained proof of postage for all of them. I am prepared to go to court to defend this, but I have a few questions: 1) Should I defend the claim in whole or in part? I was hoping I might be able to persuade a judge to throw the whole thing out on the grounds that a) the only choice I have is to defend or pay money I do not owe, and it is unfair that my credit rating is damaged as a resultt; b) The company has made no attempt to communicate with me, and doesn’t even seem to bother reading my letters and c) The company is habitually misusing the court system to intimidate their customers into paying money they do not owe, as most people do not realise the £40 charges are unlawful and if they do may not be prepared to go to court over that amount of money, particularly if this would result in a county court judgement against them. 2) If I defend the claim in part, does this mean I will receive a county court judgement against me for the remainder? 3) If I successfully defend the claim in part, would I still be liable for paying their court fees and interest? 4) What should I do next?

Anyone?

I pay £14.99 a month for an all-inclusive dial-up internet package from Wanadoo. A few months ago, when I was removing some unused icons from the desktop on my computer, I accidentally deleted the one for my internet connection. I phoned up Wanadoo's premium rate technical support line and spoke to a member of staff who seemed to barely understand English (probably a result of the company outsourcing its call centres to developing countries to save money). I explained clearly to him that I was on the all-inclusive package, and he talked me through how to reinstall the icon on my desktop. Thinking all was well, I continued to use the internet very heavily - until I got my phone bill. It transpires that the person I spoke to has ignored my request to be set my computer up for the all-inclusive service (or more likely, misunderstood it) and has put me on the pay-as-you-go package. As a result, my last two phone bills have contained around £25 and £75 worth of calls to the internet (oblivious to the problem, I continued to dial up every day until my first bill came and I realised what had gone wrong, by which time I was half way through the second billing period). This is in addition to the £14.99 a month that has come out of my account. When I initially realised what had happened I phoned Wanadoo customer services and asked them to refund all the calls to the internet as well as the cost of the premium rate technical support line, as this has happened as a result of their incompetence. She told me to write to head office. I decided to wait until the second bill came through, so I could give them the full amount instead of saying, you owe me this much now and there'll be more when my next bill comes through. To say I am furious about this is an understatement. I want them to reimburse me, and fast, as I have very little disposable income and now have NO money in my bank account until I get paid in two weeks time. I am going to write to the head office tonight and ask that they reimburse me. If they don't, can I take them to court? If so, under what Act of Parliament? (I have been through the process of claiming back my bank charges so I have some understanding of how the small claims court system works).

I got a letter from Barclays over the weekend. Apparently they can't find my account from the information I gave them (I don't know the account number) and say they need more details - but don't specify what details. I gave them my name, the addess I was living at at the time and my date of birth; any suggestions about what else they might use to locate my account?

Thanks for that - I'll be able to quote the proper section and act at them if they start rolling out the 'six year limit' line. Anyway, I'm going for it hammer and tongs and I'm happy to let a court decide if it comes to that.

After finally getting Halifax to cough up nearly £2,000, I've begun to get a taste for this and hopefully it will be a bit easier the second time around. Barclays stung me with charges when I had an account with them between 1999 and 2001. Obviously some of these charges date back more than six years so I'm not sure if I'll be able to claim them back, but I'm going to give it a go anyway. Sent the Data Protection request today - I can't wait to see how much they owe me.

Ah, well done kydcarmen! I've filled in the survey and will be making a donation as soon as the cheque clears in my account.

Thanks Ukaviator.

Yep - keep at it Brad, in a few weeks' time this will be you!

Apparently I'm going to receive a cheque in the next 5 working days. Once I have it I'll be making a donation. Thanks for all your help and advice, everyone - Barclays is next.

I came home this evening to a letter from Halifax telling me they are going to refund the entire £1966.78 including court fees and interest - Woohoo!

Thanks - I'll call the court tomorrow. I got the court papers this morning. The bank is going to defend the claim. I'm a bit apprehensive and, as I said, I'm going to assume I'm going to court and get all the paperwork together.

Good point, Ukaviator. I'll be making that clear to them once they agree to pay up. I got a letter from the court this morning. It says the case is going to be heard in Northampton, which is miles away from me! I know the case is unlikely to go to court but it seems prudent to assume that will be the eventual outcome and prepare for it, just in case. Is there any way I can get the case heard at a county court near me instead?

Just three days after I submitted my claim, the bank has acknowleged it. It's remarkable how fast they can respond to the courts given that it takes them weeks if not months to respond to me.

And how long does it take for the papers to be served?

Also, should I give the details to the claim to one of the mods to post in the litigation section at this stage?

Just submitted my Moneyclaim. I'm feeling a bit apprehensive but I suppose everyone goes through this. I find the site very frustrating and totally un-user-friendly. I did forget to stipulate on the form that I want to be paid by cheque, though - is there any way to add this or make it happen by some other means?

The deadline's up and I'm going to fill out the court forms today. However, I can't open the any of the spreadsheet that calculate the 8% interest. I'm working on a Mac and the Google one won't open for some reason and I don't have Excel so the Excel one won't open either. I can probably work it out myself given the basic formula - do you have to go through each charge individually and calculate *% APR from the date of the charge to the date of the claim? Mine are spread between 2002 and 2004 so this could involve some work. Is there an easier way to work it out that I'll be able to access?

Thanks.

Anyone?

Curiously the Halifax have now responded to my LBA, just before the court action deadline of the 13th. They've increased their offer to just over £450. I'm not going to take this unless it is offered as partial payment rather than as full and final settlement, so I'm about to send them the letter from the templates library politely rejecting their offer. However, even if I send it today it seems unlikely they'll get it before my deadline for filling in the court papers. I'm wondering whether I should give them a few extra days to allow for this or proceed precisely in accordance with my timetable. Does anyone have views or similar experiences to share?

Thanks guys.

Thanks. From what I've read in these threads, they seem to allow the papers to be served in the vast majority of cases. They still haven't bothered to respond to my preliminary letter or my LBA, so I've resigned myself to going down that route. I understand there's some information available somewhere on this site about how to fill in the court forms and prepare - can anyone provide a link, please?

40 days, as you say. If they take longer than that, you can report them to the information commissioner. However, a letter a few days before the deadline reminding them on the date of your request and making it clear that you will contact the information commissioner if they don't respond may do wonders for their productivity.