Good evening, I am off from work ,signed off by doctor due to stres at work already twice in row, first for 2 weeks and again for 2 weeks. I am witting the grieavance to our HR but I am scared what will happen to me . I know I will lose my job if I return to work ,they will do their best to put me down. The grieavance is about bulliyng me ,ignoring me,removing my reponsibilities,overloading me and etc. I work for them over one year. Do they pay me full paid while I got doctors notice that is wok related? Can you advice me about my rights and what I should do ? To be honest I feel pushed to the side and I do not want to come back as I am scared what they will do to me. Thank you for your advice. Many regards Lea

Hi everyone, I'm asking this on behalf of my sister - she can't get onto the CAG website at work. She is frantic - any advice would be very greatly appreciated. This is a long story but I'll try and summarise: My sister and her other half bought a house from OH's parents 18 months ago, and her OH's parents moved out. My sis and BIL live there with their daughter, who is almost 2 years old. Her OH grew up in the house - his parents lived there for over 20 years. The next door neighbours have a long history of harassing her OH's family. The neighbours are council tenants. Past harassment includes verbal abuse (with lots of swearing, including against her OH's parents, and her OH and his siblings when they were growing up), playing very loud music at ridiculous hours of the night, and one incident where the neighbours were very drunk and tried to kick the door in. The police were called - the neighbours had gone home by this time. They denied everything. Nothing more was done. The harassment caused distress to my BIL's family, but the council said it wasn't serious enough for them to step in. The harassment did die down at once stage, and everyone hoped this was the end of it. This is the only reason my sis and BIL bought the house. My sis and BIL try to ignore it and be polite when they see the neighbours. If someone knocks on the door with a delivery for next door, my sis will accept it and one of them will politely drop it off when the neighbours are home. They have never retaliated. Last weekend the neighbours were playing very loud music, with lots of drunken shouting and screaming. At 3am this woke my niece. Considering the neighbours' behaviour when drunk, my sis and BIL were afraid to tap on the door and ask them to quieten down, so they asked the police to tap on the door. They emphasised they were not making a formal complaint, they just wanted a bit of peace and quiet. The neighbours have now retaliated - they've called the dog warden claiming the dogs are left alone constantly and bark all day (not true), the garden is like a rubbish tip (not true) and they also called child protection and said my sis and BIL neglect and abuse my niece (obviously NOT TRUE). The dog warden came round - when my BIL explained that he works nights and my sis works days, so there is always someone with the dogs (unless they pop out shopping for a couple of hours), he seemed satisfied and left. Child protection visited to inspect the house - they left after saying there are no problems, my niece is well cared for. They are satisfied the allegations are false and were made maliciously. My sis and BIL are extremely upset - as are all of our families. If these people will do something as serious as make formal accusations of child neglect and abuse, what else might they do? They obviously don't like the dogs - would they throw some poisoned meat over the fence? Will they start screaming abuse at my little niece, like they used to do to BIL and his sisters when they were little? They can't relax in their own home and are terrified for the future. I don't like to imagine how low the neighbours might go, when they see nothing wrong with attempting to get their child taken away by social services. My sis and BIL want to write a formal letter of complaint to the council but have no idea of the procedure, or how it should be worded. Do local authorities evict tenants who are harassing their neighbours? Is there a formal investigation procedure they have to adhere to? Is there anyone here who may be able to help with this? Any advice would be much appreciated. EDITED TO ADD: And they've just had a 3rd official visit - BIL rang my sis to say someone from Environmental Health turned up to inspect the garden an hour ago. The Environmental Health inspector said there is no problem with the front or back garden, he cannot see how anyone could think there was a problem and said he's baffled as to why he was sent out. The gardens are fine.

My mother has been renting a house for just over a month now. Yesterday evening she arrived home from work to find a letter that had been personally delivered (envelope contained no stamp or address) that had written on the front 'the tennant - important legal'. The letter was from a company called Ascent Contact, whom are a debt collection agency I believe specialising in the area of mortgages. Basically the letter stated that they had been instructed by Birmingham Midshire to possibly start the proceedings of Law of Property Recievership. The letter continue to states that a man called Ian Guthrie has been round to the house numerous time but has been unable to make contact with my mum (the tennant). The letter demands that my mum must give information to them on 1) Her name 2) Her letting agency 3) How long her lease is 4) How much she pays and how long she has been paying 5) Provide evidence of written tennancy agreement ???? It states that she will possibly have to start paying her rent directly to them. At the very end of the letter it states (the part that worries/angers me the most) that if my mum chooses to ignore this letter, then they reccomend she contacts a solicitor. I'm extremely confused as to why on earth they are writing to my mum regarding this issue and why are they visiting the home? Are they allowed to do know this when they know that the debt is not hers and is her landlords? Why would they need this information from her? They are fully aware she is only renting the home. Also why would they be suggesting she seeks legal advice if she ignores the letter? Any help on this matter would be much obliged because I cant help but feel that considering the debt isnt my mothers and they know it isnt, then surely they are not allowed to act this way (visiting the house). Should she contact this Ian Guthrie as his mobile number has been provided on her letter or would this encourage him to show up at the house? Basically what I'm asking is - why would a debt collection agency harass and threaten legal action towards a tennant over a landlords debt on the mortgage? Is a debt collector allowed to visit the home when they fully acknowledge it is the landlords debt and not the tennants. Thanks in advance.

Hi, this matter has been ongoing for some time, and I really need to sort it out now. Myself and a colleague made a report on somebody at work for gross negligence. Now I'm really not one for telling tales, but this person was responsible for the death of somebody in their care and was about to do it again, so I think we were justified. The person in question was suspended but reinstated after the management identified a "training need". Since this person returned to work, both myself and my colleague were threatened both in person and by malicious telephone calls. The police were involved and issued a warning. My employer did nothing. Some time has passed, and I have now received death threats by way of text message. I have gone back to the police who are investigating, and I strongly suspect it is this person. They have said it will happen at work with a knife. My employer is doing nothing. My question is this. If the police investigation cannot prove "beyond reasonable doubt" who is responsible, will I have enough for a civil case with a diary of incidents and a file full of emails to my manager that went unanswered? This harassment started since the report was made. Nobody else has an axe to grind with me. Many thanks for your help

Hi all, I am desperate for any help on the following. We rented a property directly from the landlord, as an HMO, about a year ago. The landlord harassed us and threatened us with eviction and we are looking for compensation as a result. The issues have been listed below as it's a bit long lol: 1. There were raw sewage floods in the kitchen and bathrooms due to an incorrectly installed pipe. This destroyed many of our belongings, left us without basic facilities, was a health hazard and we were left to clean it up ourselves numerous times. Finally, private sector housing became involved, issuing an improvement notice and the problem was corrected just days before we left the property. During the works, more of our belongings were destroyed by the work men. 2. The landlord entered the property many times without our prior consent or notice, accessing communal areas and knocking on the doors of locked rooms. A few days before Christmas, he sent a workman round with the key (Sat at 10am!) who let himself in and started installing a lock on our lounge door to permanently lock us out of that communal area (despite our furniture, landline and internet being installed there). The landlord then came to join him and I explicitly asked them to leave and had to call the police to resolve the situation. 3. The landlord withheld copies of our signed tenancy agreement, although I was able to obtain a copy from a fellow housemate. Rent is not payable until a contract has been provided with an address for which to serve notice. Later, he put the council tax in my name (for this 5 bedroom HMO with 3 other tenants) and I was taken to court by the council for non-payment as I did not owe it. The council agreed as it was an HMO, he was responsible for the council tax. A good few months later, I received another letter from the council asking me to pay this bill, saying the property was not an HMO as originally thought. It turned out the landlord had fraudulently changed our contract, attaching our signatures to a different contract to make it look like a joint tenancy agreement. I sent the original to the council and the bill was referred back to the landlord but they refused to take action for the fraud. 4. The landlord locked the spare room housing the electricity meter and lied to the utility company with a false reading. He then put the electric bill in my name once again and has continued to give them my phone number for this account which I have persistently referred back to him. In an HMO, the landlord is responsible for utilities in communal areas, however, he had not split these bills and wanted me personally to pay for everyone's share. He also lied to the water company saying the property was vacant so no bill was produced. 5. The landlord illegally evicted another housemate who was left sleeping in our communal lounge, affecting our enjoyment of the property and leaving this guy homeless. 6. The landlord threatened us with eviction despite paying 2 months' rent upfront, because we had agreed this was the first and last month's rent. However, legally, we were in credit of 2 months' rent and he could not threaten us with eviction. He then asked us to leave one of the rooms we were renting so that we were only living in one room (2 people) which is not allowed. He then tried charging us for both rooms. He asked us to leave the one room via text so it was not necessarily official. 7. The property was misdescribed as there was severe damp and mold to which I am very allergic. I had asked specifically about this prior to renting and was told there were no problems. Yes, we were in some rent arrears by the time we left but had actively been seeking new accommodation. There was no way we were giving him another penny. We paid £900 in total over 6 months, the monthly rent at first was agreed at £450 for two rooms but after the first month, we only took one room at his request so it would be £225/ month. There was probably an outstanding balance of 3 months in this case, although we did ask him about paying on several occasions and he avoided taking any money from us because he wanted us out. Since we were not given a contract, legally we did not owe rent until we got one (the bit about having an address to serve notice to). We were also subject to harassment and eviction prior to being in debt to him and didn't want to give him another penny. I know many people will have their opinion on this, but you cannot imagine the constant mental stress of living in a place like this where there is raw sewage flooding most of the ground floor and a maniac landlord letting himself in without notice. We were forever scared to lose the roof over our head and had random people accessing the house on the landlord's behalf (mainly workmen which we weren't given notice of or even briefed on). These work men were instructed to take the backdoor key so that the landlord could sneak it whenever he wanted (as there was only one back door key). We had to literally baracade (sp?) ourselves into the property at night (leaving our keys in the front door so he couldn't put his in from the other side and wedging the back door shut). Both myself and my boyfriend were seriously depressed during this time because of the stress. We are looking to sue the landlord for eviction and harassment. He admitted to private sector housing that he wanted us evicted so he could get a better rent yield with new tenants. They have a record of events and were involved throughout. My question is how would I go about introducing this case- would I contact the landlord to make an official complaint and outline the compensation and then go to court failing resolution, or do I go straight to court? How do you put a figure on compensation and would you even do this or would the courts decide an amount, you just bring a case to them? I am desperate for any constructive help and would really appreciate if people will consider how difficult this time was for us in their responses so that even if they think we were in the wrong, they can say why. Mainly I am looking for advice though with taking the case further. I have drafted a list of compensation and problems with the letting and have proof of most of the events (council have sent me the fake contract he made and I have a copy of the real one we signed, also have stuff from other organisations involved). Sorry it's a long post but to keep it shorter please ask if you need any more information and I will try to be more specific. Sorry if it sounds a bit jumbled up not sure how to go about this lol! Thanks again for your help.

Hi In December 2010 a customer was refunded for a repair that we could not complete. In June 2011 the company (Company 1) went into liquidation. In July 2011 a similar named company (Company 2) was formed. In November 2011 the customer went to the small claims court for compensation against company 1. Additionally the claimant also mispelled the company name. It appears that he won his case for compensation and has approached company 2 for payment. The court have written to company 2 and the bailiff has visited a couple of times. I have written to the court and explained to the bailiff that Company 1 is no longer trading and dont understand why company 2 should be liable. I didn't get a reply from the court and have had 4 different letters threatening bailff action addressed to 4 different similar sounding companies. 1.To me company 2 cannot be resonsible for the actions of company 1. Am I right? 2. If the claimant misspelled the company name then technically has he sued the wrong company? 3. The bailiff called again last week and told my staff that he will remove goods next week. What action should I take please Thanks

For the last year I have had 3 debt collection agencies contact me in relation to a gas supply to a flat I moved out of in 2005. The gas bill of £111.44 is in relation to a period of 2006 to 2008. The previous 3 DCA's stopped contacting me after I provided a court order evicting me from the property, a letter from the landlord confirming my eviction agreeing full and final payment, and a letter that I wrote stating the same. It is really starting to wind me up now, and I have had a new debt collection agency contact me this week with another demand. How am I able to get this harassment to stop? Do I have grounds to sue for harassment? Any advice is appreciated. The latest DCA is Wescot Credit Services. Thanks, Steve

So I'm with the work programme and have been taking temp work with agencies for a few weeks here and there over the last few months. I sign off JSA, then do a rapid reclaim so that DWP know the situation. I don't always tell my Ingeus Advisor and over the last week he has been demanding to know all the work info which I didn't think was relevant for him to know. After bombarding me with phone calls and answer messages, he phoned one of the agencies and they gave him details of all the temp work I had done. I would just like to know where I stand. How much information do I have to give to Ingeus, why did this agency give out all this personal information to a stranger on the phone. Also as I now look like a pillock with the one agency and will never get any temp work again through them, will he now call round the other agencies demanding information, basically killing my chances of temp work. Long post, but would appreciate any advice thanks.

Hi I hope this is the correct forum for my post. I'm a private tenant and have been in my current property under a Statutory Periodic Tenancy for six years. Last year, due to illness that prevented me from working for 4 months, I fell into rent arrears. The letting agent has now served me with a Section 8 Notice using ground 8 for more than 2 months rent arrears and also grounds 10 & 11. The notice period has now expired and the letting agent begun court proceedings a couple of days ago. The letting agent periodically shows up unannounced at my property to "check on me". He keeps telling me I have to get out within the week. He tells me the courts will be "at your door to sell your goods." There's generally a lot of intimidation going on. He repeatedly tells me "I want you out of here NOW." The letting agent also told me there's no point me bothering to attend the court hearing and that I just need to get out within two weeks max. But the court hasn't made any kind of ruling yet. We haven't even been given a court date yet. Call me naive but since they've now begun legal proceedings isn't this a court matter? I am endeavouring to actually clear the arrears before it even gets to court. Does the letting agent have the right to keep harassing and intimidating me? He says he'll be back again to urge me to get out. What are my rights here?

Hi there, I have been browsing through the forums for information on these people and have come accross a few interesting posts. Let me tell you my story! My partner & I rely on benefits for income (No surprise for a PH Customer). My partner is Sick & Disabled and in receipt of disability benefits and I have a weekly Carer's allowance for staying at home and taking care of us both. Back in 2010 we got a Washing Machine from them and then 5 weeks later they allowed us to get a Laptop. Now the account is always paid up to date. However, it often goes a week into arrears because we get paid fortnightly and like most people on benefits, we are sometimes subject to reasessments and mix ups with the DWP resulting in our payment days/amounts changing. We are now 9 weeks away from settling our Washing Machine and 14 weeks from settling the laptop. When we took out BOTH items we were "forced" into taking their Theft & Damage Policy AND their CoverPlus Policy which covers against maintenance and repairs. We didn't have our own (and still don't) home insurance so we were told we HAD to have these. Now I recently found out the CoverPlus is totally optional, regardless of whether you have our own cover elsewhere or not and I'm in the middle of drafting a letter for them to reclaim these costs. However, from reading these forums it would appear I shouldn't have had to pay for the TAD either! Before I demand refunds for that too, I wanted to just check the facts and make sure I understood it clearly. Also, I am including in my letter complaints of their harassment and bullying tactics. Like I already said, we have often gone 1 week into arrears and are constantly getting threatened by them saying they are going to collect the goods, call the police etc... They turn up at our house and recently sent a Debt Collection Manager from, head office who refused to leave the doorstep, threw a piece of paper with his name and number on it into our home as I closed the door on him, called me on my mobile 5 or 6 times afterwards until I picked up, called me stupid for not agreeing to let him take the goods AND then sat outside our house watching us for half an hour afterwards. I have already complained to them once about the optional CoverPlus being added to our account and told them I won't pay them another penny until it is removed and refunded. They dismissed my complaint, refused to write to me explaining why and are now hounding me daily for payments which still include the CoverPlus. So before I write to them again and demand this is refunded, should I also include the TAD cover as well or did they have the right to insist on me taking this because I don't have my own cover? To give you an idea of the scope of my claim. I did some calculations. I have just over £200 left to pay (total for both items) to end my agreement with them. That includes TAD but NOT CoverPlus. After I add up everything I have paid them and subtract what I would have paid them without the CoverPlus, I have currently overpaid by £800+ so I have told them I do not intend to pay the final £200 because if anything they should be taking that off of what I overpaid and refunding me the remaining £600... But if I am to reclaim the insurance too... well that could be even more. I have also told them they won't be getting their goods back. I know that once they are 1 third paid for they are "protected" and cannot be reclaimed without a return(s) order from the courts. I also know the courts would never grant one when there is only £200 from a contract worth over £3000 remaining. I will wait to hear from some experts about what I should include in my letter. If there is legislation somewhere that will back up my claim, please can somebody point it out to me.

Some months ago I read that a number of people were grouping together to take some sort of legal action against Vanquis Bank for harassment. I lost the item but it was probably on CAG or something similar. I have recently won the financial side of a small Vanquis claim out-of-court, but did not pursue the harassment aspect because I wanted to work together with those others who want to deal with Vanquis harassment separately. Is there a thread on plans for legal action against Vanquis Bank for harassment?

Can someone please point me in the direction to find harassment letters to send to two companies who are pursuing debts owed by another person ( her son ) . Letters are frequent as are phone calls , the companies have been told that her son doent reside in the house but take no notice !! thank you rs

i am girl and i rented a flat through an estate agent.(its a flat above the shop) On day one i moved to the house the landlord came without any notice, not even knocking the door and told me to leave the property with out asking any question.then i told him i had sign the contract with your agent and i show him all the paper work.then he left. 2nd issue early morning 7 am i heard noise that some body walking on the roof,then i went out side too see i saw my landlord were down and builders were changing the roof and installing a window.i surprised to see that.there was no notice given and he was carrying down his refurbishment work.i inform to the estate agent regards this matter and i were running late to my work so i call my friend to stay at home and i left.while my friend in my room in the early afternoon landlord just open my house door and allow the builder to do the loft work.as soon as my friend ring me i went to my house mean time they install the leader to loft as well then i told them to leave the property,he was to rude and arguing with me.i was so scared to live there,i call my agent and explain the matter.the the agent changed the front door lock. 3rd issue few days before 10.30 pm(night) some body were hardly banging on my door.it was my landlord again.he was telling that our bathroom leaking, possibly you might have block.there was no block pure acid in the bath tab.then yesterday he only him self came and told me that want to seal the bath sides with rubber glue and sealed it. 4th issue he wrote a letter to me that he unable to access to the property due to the lock changed,it should replaced it as soon and also he had monitor us with outdoor CCTV that in this property begin occupied with many people.he want to take action. he never keep appointment's or follow any procedures. my self and my boyfriends brother name is on contract but i had told the agent that my boyfriend will stays with me but his permanent resident will be different.after the 2nd issue his brothers also stay here.total 4 people that i had inform the agent also before they move in also agreement doesn't says any ware there are restricted amount on people. i had move to this flat Nov 2012 i got 12 months contract 6 month break laws. what can i do?????????????

Hi, I am in the process of making an appeal for a grievance I bought about with my line manager in my office. To cut a long story short, he has been bullying, harassing and intimidating me on and off for over two years. The final straw came about in February this year and I started to document everything daily that was said and done to me. Others saw what was happening and I put them down as witnessess, but they told me they were too frightened to back me because of the worry of them losing their jobs as the manager was the hirer and firer. Anyways, last week the outcome of all my 2 page statement was trashed by the line managers boss ( who is his friend) and he said what was done and said couldnt be proved ( as it was the line managers word against mine) !!! I am now going to appeal against the outcome as it was seriously flawed and a lot of the information I had put on my statement had been conveniently left out by them. They had 6 weeks to pull my statement apart, and get to my witnessess, so I knew I was on a hiding to nothing. What I really want to know is can I use the 'Protection of harassment act 1997' to sue the company as they did not protect me from the bullyer which as a company, it is their duty to protect their staff. I have read up quite a lot about th 1997 act and I am sure I can use this as my saviour, but just wanted to run it past you others first. I realise it will be a battle but if I don't carry this to the end the bullyiers will flurish and thats how they gain their strength.

Just a quick post so anyone can point out to me possible pitfalls or things to watch out for. After a long history of disgusting treatment by LLoyds bank I am now taking them to court to claim damages and costs relating anxiety and loss of earnings caused by their most recent disgusting activity of telephone harassment. To cut a long story short, their collections department 01273 743574 was repeatedly phoning me. I don't owe them money. They had no reason to be calling. I asked them stop. They didn't. They would ring at all hours of the day. I continued to ask them to stop. They wouldn't. It caused extreme distress, anxiety, upset to my children, loss of sleep and severe disruption of my family and work life. All my calls to them are recorded. I have done a SAR which confirms my requests for them to stop calling me and their continued calls thereafter. I am satisfied that 1) Their actions constituted harassment and that they knew this. 2) that a reasonably minded person with the same facts ( for obvious reasons not all presented here in glorious detail for the other side to see ) would consider their actions to be harassment. I am making my claim for damages using Sections 3.i and 3.ii of the Protection From Harassment Act 1997. In the early stages of their campaign of harassment, they paid out to me several hundred pounds of compensation but the calls continued so I started my claim using MCOL. Any feed back or advice would be most welcome. Ta.

What's the difference, in employment law, between bullying and harrasment?

8 months ago I challenged my union official over his confrontational behaviour to other work colleagues. This did not go down well with him and so began his emails to my manager about my alleged poor work ethics.Prior to my challenging him I never had any complaints about my work. Finally I organised a vote of no confidence and he was ousted as the union rep and I was elected in his place. As you can imagine this did not go down well with him and at every opportunity he would send an email to my manager complaining about me. A lot of these emails I was not copied in on. After 8 months I had enough and I am now off sick with work related Stress and Anxiety. I have now lodged a Grievance against him, but as I am a civil servant this procedure is very slow. Can someone advise me as to the definition of work related email harassment and what rights I have. My management appear to be not taking this situation seriously and I am at my wits end.

Lloyds sent me a letter in July claiming an account was in arrears and demanded payment. I immediately wrote back to them disputing their claim. They have now employed 6 debt collection agencies to deal with this account and each time I have send a CCA and followed up with an Account in Dispute letter and they (DCAs) have not responded again... until now. I sent the last agency the Account in Dispute letter (12+2+30) at the beginning of November and they have replied saying: “ If you read our letter on 22/10 you will see that we returned your fee of £1 advising that the payment needed to be made directly to our client before the request can be actioned. We have not failed to comply with your request as you have not sent in the correct method of payment (cheque or postal order made out to our clients). Please forward this payment to the above address to allow us to process your request with our client.” I sent a £1 postal order made to the DCA. Are the trying it on and is this harassment by lloyds?

My husband and I have 3 agreements with brighthouse the last one being taken out last summer. We are both students and understandably our finances fluctuate. We always maintained our payments until july this year when we fell 2 weeks behind I phoned the Chester store and asked to speak to the store manager, only to be told that he was on annual leave. I was out onto a chap claiming to be the deputy manager. I explained that I was 2 weeks behind and needed to split the arrears over 2 weeks in order to get back on track. At this point the deputy manager started shouting that I had signed a contract and could not dictate to them how to pay, and that I had to make full payment by noon on the saturday (this conversation happened on the wednesday) or he expected to see me in the branch to explain myself!! I told him that I would not and could not pay in full or attend the branch and that I found his manner both uncalled for and aggressive and requested that he speaks to me in a respectable manner. He then continued to shout that if I did not attend the branch by noon on saturday they would be out to remove my goods by force if necessary, at which point I laughed!! I then explained to him that I was not stupid and know they cant do that without a court order and suggested he go away and read the laws on reposession. I paid the account up to date the following weekand raised a complaint with their customer services regarding the abusive outburst of the deputy manager. I recieved an email off the customer services department stating that they taking this matter very seriously and that the store manager would be in contact to discuss the matter. The following week two women from the Chester branch called at my home, my husband was busy at the time they called so took some time to answer the door, they continually hammered on the door for a number of minutes and when he got to the door he found one of the women standing on top of our bins shouting across the fence to our 5 year old. My husband refused to speak to them as I was not at home and their behaviour was inappropriate. I have heard nothing more regarding my complaint At this present time we are once again behind by 3 weeks due to a death in the family and priorites have had to change. Last week an man from the Chester store came out, I was at work, my husband answered the door, stated that I was not at home. My husband stated that we would be in the position to pay our account on tuesday, the representative began shouting at my husband demanding that I make contact and pay that day, my husband repeated that I would not be making contact, the representative then took a step towards my husband and shouted in his face that I woulld be making contact or he would be back. at which point my husband told him to leave or he would psyically remove him from the property I contacted customer services and stated that if any bright house representatives came to my home without a court oder the police will be called they have been back twice and became verbally abusive these have been video recorded as evidence and we have once again contacted head office to stated that they can only communicate with us in writing. once I stated that we have 2 recordings of their staff being aggressive they agreed that they would not call again. I have asked for an alternative method of payment as I will not deal with their employee either on the phone or in person they have yet to provide these I have contacted the ombudsman who have started looking into the matter I have also sent the store a copy of the office of fair tradings guidelines on debt collection highlighting theclauses they have breached any ideas what else I can do to protect myself from any more harassment??

Hello I'm new to this forum and am hoping someone can give me some advice. For a couple of months now I've had telephone calls from this company (I originally thought they were trying to make me use them for a PPI claim) so I avoided the telephone calls. They have rung me on three different numbers now (traced back to them) many times during the day, sometimes as much as 20 times until 9pm. Last week they left a message on my answering machine asking me to phone an 0870 number but the message was garbled so the full number wasn't given. Then a few days ago I accidentally picked up the phone and I was asked if I was a female name that they were trying to get hold of who lives in the same city as I do, although no where near where I live. I told them no, that they had got the wrong number and to please desist phoning me again and to take my number off their list. I have had further calls from them again and today my brother picked up the phone and was asked the same question in relation to this lady. They keep ringing back. When I first realised it was Capquest, I panicked because I'm very ill at the moment and do not need any stress, but I've read about the tactics of this firm and how they fail to abide with requests to stop ringing. Just to make sure there was nothing suspicious with my credit information, I checked my details and that of my brother who lives here as my carer just to confirm nothing untoward with identity theft via a credit reference agency. Both our details came back clear. I have lived at my property for 30 years plus and the telephone number has been attached to my family (firstly my mother, now deceased and latterly me for 16 years) for as long as we've lived in the house. I'm assuming that they have the wrong telephone number or have been given my number as a false number. I am loathed to write to them and offer my details, but is there any way I can stop them from ringing me as it is having a detrimental affect on my health? This is harassment but I don't know how to phrase a letter to them to ask them to stop ringing me. Is there a template letter I could use as I'm at my wits end. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Just signed up to see if anyone could give me advice on possibility of taking this DCA to court for harassment. This saga is a long one and the DCA and its client have continually ignored what I have had to say and have constantly replied with an incredible amount of non-sensical garble / evasive tactics. I will try to summarise this as shortly as possible - but for anyone willing to read - a brew / sandwich may be needed. Here goes..... I received a service funded via the DCA's client from 2009 - 2011. I should only have been liable to make a contribution towards to the costs, subject to means testing. I know for a fact, that I am not liable for what they have calculated / demanded ( I will go into calculations further below ). The harassment seems to be two pronged and in two parts. Firstly, the client had been unable to work out my liability since 2009 - Oct 2010. On 26/10/2010, it was agreed that a fresh applicaton / calculation would be required subject to a new means testing. On 05/11/2010 + 22/11/2010 the DCA chased me, (for the 1st time ever) demanding money on behalf of their client for amounts that relate to the previous applications incorrect calculations, that had been agreed / instructed to be closed. On 24/11/2010 the client once again worked out an incorrect liability, ( £6024.00 more than the liability requested in their first application which I disputed / disagreed with. ) For reasons yet unknown, from 25/11/2010 the DCA chased me for a different amount, (£466.00 less than their clients calculation / demand, and £5558.00 more than their clients first calculation.) My solicitor and I both appealed to the client, that the whole point of the new application was because we did not agree with the previous amount / calculations, so why are they now working out I owe more? The client caused more confusion and continuously delayed the application by making repeated /ambiguous requests for information, which at times baffled even my solicitor. As well as my solicitor and I appealing to the client, I phoned the DCA in Feb/ Mar 2011 disputing amounts requested. On 02/03/2011 a notice of intention to enforce DCA's version of the contribution order was received. On 24/03/2011, I received via email from my solicitor, a letter from the client requesting repeated/contradicting documents. On 25/03/2011 I sent in all requested documents accompanied by a slightly insulting email directed to both my solicitor and the DCA's client, with regards to their inability to complete this application correctly. I heard nothing from the DCA, their client, or my solicitor, and presumed everyone had accepted the maladministration, and put the matter to bed. On 02/04/2012, I became aware that the DCA had sent a letter to an incorrect address, yet again chasing me for an alleged liability, this time 33% of what the client is insisting I was liable for in 2010/2011. ( On 01/03/2011, my solicitor advised the DCA's client of my change of address details, and the client acknowledged this and put the miscommunication with their DCA to a computer error ) The client insists that the money now being requested in 2012 is according to their calculations made on 24/11/2010, and is correct. They have continously ignored my query, as to why every single letter their DCA sent in 2010 + 2011 was incoherent to their version of events, and to date insist that their contribution worked out on 24/11/2010 is what was instructed / demanded by the DCA. Below is a self-explanatory quote from my email of 20/04/2012 to the DCA explaining the miscalculation. I have since provided the DCA with copies of my statements to show this evidence too. Your client is stating they conducted means assessment on these 2 forms alone, because I did not provide documents that were required/asked for. In statement 4, your client explains their working out of my gross income at £28200.00. Your client has copies of my bank/savings statements prior to their letter dated 31/12/2010. My Current Account balance as of 25/10/2010 (date application received at court) was £1295.10 - your client had statements that covered this date. My Savings Account balance as of 25/10/2010 was £4512.56 - your client had statements that covered this date. Rental income from my flat = £850 per month - potentially/should be £10200.00 per annum. This potentially totalled £16007.66 for the year to 25/10/2010 - 25/10/2011. That is it - that is all the money I had - I have tried and tried to get an explanation as to why they think I have got an income, and why they have worked out my income at £28200.00 when all I could have possibly had in my hands for the year 25/10/2010 - 25/10/2011 is a maximum of £16007.66, and that's before any allowances are taken into consideration. There is no more money coming in from anywhere, except for more loans / support / charity from friends and family. Your client has taken into consideration some allowances, which total up to £9445.68 for the year 25/10/2010-25/10/2011. £16007.66 less allowances of £9445.68 makes a gross income of £6561.98 not £28200.00 - yet neither figure is taking into account loans, credit cards and a considerable amount owed to the managing agents of **my flat address that i rent out** , well in to its thousands. I know I do not owe this money and this is harassment. I know I should report the DCA's client to the relevant ombudsman but am not sure if I should do this before or after suing them in court I know I should report them to OFT and all other relevant bodies, but am not sure if this should be done before or after trying to sue them? My solicitor seems unwilling to report them to the relevant bodies on my behalf, or take them to court. I have asked to them to try and find me a solicitor on my behalf, who will look into this with a view of taking it on as a no win no fee basis - to no avail - any suggestions? I have exhausted the DCA's and their Clients complaint procedure, as both have said they will not look into this dispute any more,and want my proposal for a payment arrangement. My proposal is exactly £NIL, as my solicitor and I both agree i am not liable for any amounts requested. Has anyone experienced similar and succeded in suing a DCA? All thoughts and recommendations appreciated.

Last year we were forced to move a boat from its mooring by the mooring owner. We received a letter of eviction with no real reason and saying we were also in debt of £2,000. Later we received an email with final bill amount that was incorrect. We told him to review it. 8 months later (march 2012), we get a letter with same amount - same answer from us this time by mail / signed for explaining why we think the bill was incorrect. Next thing is we have been harassed by a company called Final Demand Ltd.4 letters very aggressive in 2 months time, one showing some interest being added to the final bill (now £3,300) and the latest (last week) stating their client is willing to accept a smaller amount (down to £2,400) with absolutely no details how he reached that total. Letter states if we don't accept and don't pay they will start court proceeding. I must say that the mooring fees have always been paid cash over a period of 10 years. We have all the invoices bill until the end showing no late payment. We called final demand ltd to tell them their client made up the bill. Apparently they don't care. Why do they start harassing people and/or would they commence court proceeding on no evidence but their client words only?? Can anyone advise on how to proceed? Many thanks in advance.

Hello all, this is my first post but need to ask you for my advice. Over a year ago I rented out my house to a tennant at short notice. I had previosuly just changed energy suppliers to scottish power but i had confirmed with them before the tenant moved in that I was not a customer yet and my previous supplier EDF was still supplying me. I rented it out via my letting agent have had not contact with the tennant. Last week a letter appeared on my doorstep a FORMAL DEMAND from PDCS acting on behalf of scottish power demanding over £70 in my name for energy used. I rang scottish power and they told me not to worry as the dates for the usage of energy related to the intial period after the tenant moved in. The tennant never actually paid or responded to the bills, however she decided to change suppliers 6 weeks later but never changed the Bills into her name despite me giving her details to scottish power when I called them up to let them know the house was to be rented out last year. SP tild me to copy the tennancy aggreement and sent it RD and also inform PDCS, of which I did explaining the situation above to both parties. I also sent the special "Prove it" letter on this site letting them know my rights and stop harrassing me to PDCS. Now I have received another letter from PDCS thanking me for my letter and that they acknowledge my dispute however they are asking me now to "confirm to them my connection to the property" as they have been told by scottish power to chase me for the debt. I already told them this in my "prove it" letter and that it was being let out by myself and that i am dealing with scottish power. They have also said that I have 28 days to contact them by telephone. I just want to know if I am legally obliged to ring or write to PDCS. They have not provided me any details of the debt I am supposed to owe despite me sending the prove it letter. Why are they asking me something that I already told them? Are they allowed to chase me when I am dispuiting the debt with scottish power or is this a phishing letter wanting information from me. What is the next move I should make?

Hi Caggers Just after your thoughts on dealing with this on behalf of a friend. Now approx 2yrs ago they took out a small load all payed off and settled. Since then Shopacheck has constantly been sending out letters trying there best to get them to take out another load even though they never agreed to these letters. I have the latest one which he gave me and I was quiet surprised at there tactics to basically try to keep people that for whatever reason they end up using these companies in there debt with these constant letters. I have even seen the BBC article from 2004 on this companies tactics and it seem they aint changed. I have told him to make a formal complaint to the company and to add in that this is not tantamount to Harassment and remind them of the The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and OFT Debt Collection Guidance an Unfair or improper business practices. Now this is just a sample from their last letter: Dear XXXXXXXXXXXX You've had a load with us before so you'll know how useful they are. There are lots of events happening this summer. Maybe you would like to celebrate them, or prehaps you'd like to plan a summer getaway. Whatever it is you'd like to do we may be able to help you with a new loan. As a former customer we'd like to welcome you back with a loan of up to £500* subject to approval. All he is wanting is them to stop and has asked them to but to no avail. Your thoughts as always very much appreciated on anything else to hit them with.

Just a quickie - what is the LAW on harassing phone calls. Welcome Finance are now phoning my husband at work (he is unable to take calls), sometimes 3 times a day. They have been phoning at home but I've had their number blocked as all correspondence should be in writing only. I have written to them (on several occasions) to tell them to stop, but clearly they've just ignored me!