About 7 years ago my wife had a gastric band fitted and subsequently had 'topups' She went for a topup about a year ago and when the bill came in it was £280. The previous band fills had been about £100. I have refused to pay as I feel that, while I understand prices go up over time, this is an unacceptable amount to increase. They now have passed the matter over to ICON collections who call frequently and while they don't intimidate us it is very annoying especially when they tell my daughter who they are and why they are calling! I am not disputing that we need to pay for the band fill but where do we stand legally regarding the hugely inflated price? Given the fact that the previous two band fills were only £100 each, was it reasonable for us to assume that this one would be a similar price? Do we have to deal with ICON collections or can we insist that it is dealt with by BMI? Are there any rules about harassment by collection agents? Thanks Woolfie

Hi, There are a number of threads on the forum referring to champion soccer chasing debt for people who have quit five a-side leagues early and passing the responsibility for collecting this to Icon Collections, but none with any sort of real resolution or explanation of what happened with the issue. I've received letters identical to those described in other threads asking me for £300 for leaving a league before the end of the season, and I was wondering if the threats of court action are simply scare tactics or whether they are genuine. I would be very grateful if anyone who has a similar experience could let me know what the outcome was? Thanks in advance.

Just received the exact same letter - with an amount I don't recognise. I did give notice to withdraw from the league as they were holding games without qualified refs and there were lots of fights etc Am wondering just how likely the CCJ is to go ahead?

Hello everyone, I'll start this from the beginning: In February 2012 I went away in Kenya for two months with work where I had no internet/mobile phone access of any sort. In the March while I was away I missed the final payment of my car insurance with Premium Choice. I'm not entirely sure how that happened and hold my hands up to having to pay it. I was currently paying around £30 a month for my car insurance. What is interesting to note about this is that there was no physical correspondence sent from Premium Choice about this failure to pay - when I returned home I had no letters from them saying I'd missed a payment. I returned back to the UK at the end of April and as I said above there were no letters from Premium Choice so I didn't think anything was wrong. From May 2012 until around March this year I've been getting periodic letters from Icon Collections saying that I was in debt with Premium Choice who have now sold my debt and Icon want a whopping £159.36 from me. At this point I was a little confused as to how I owed Premium Choice this money because as far as I knew my annual insurance with them ended in March. I emailed them and received a very polite response from them saying that pretty much they tried charging me in the March but for whatever reason it didn't go through so they tried again in April and the same occurred. Due to the fact I was in Kenya I had no idea this was going on so this couldn't have been nipped in the bud when it first happened. In the email from Premium Choice they also said that the matter was out of their hands now as they've sold my debt (which to them, with additional charges they put on was something like £61. Icon also emailed me at one point and I emailed them back and informed them that I was willing to pay the actual amount I owed Premium Choice but they could (politely) shove it if they thought I was going to buckle and give them an extra £100 just because they said so. I received no response to this email. In March this year I went off to Afghanistan for 6 months and while out there I got another email from them (along with a bunch of letters at home which I obviously didn't read. I don't want to think about the number of times they rang my mobile as it was switched off at home). The second email they sent was rather generic and said they were still collecting the £159.36 and that was it. I replied to their email saying that could they continue any correspondence via email because I was unable to answer my phone/read their letters because I was abroad, and that once again I was willing to pay the actual amount owed and not the fantasy number they have apparently made up. I received no response to this email, again. Fast forward to today and I got a letter from Icon saying the following: I'm getting sick of this now. On two occasions via email I've offered to pay back the amount I actually owe (in the region of £60) but I wasn't going to let them slap an extra £100 on top for giggles. They haven't responded to these offers at all. What would my next move be as I have no intention of letting them rip me off. I know that I do actually owe them (or rather, owed Premium Choice) some money but surely they have no legal right to just add arbitrary amounts to a debt? Thanks in advance, - CableDolt

Hello there. I am a player of a 5 a side football team and we use to be in a league called footballmundial. We left and I believe we owed a small amount but then we got an email saying that we owed a lot more than I expected (£160.) They are asking for money and the other team's fees for a game that they changed the time for so we got confused and turned up late and missed the game. here is the letter one of my team mates just received: We have been instructed by football mundial to commence formal debt recover against you. TAKE NOTICE There will be no further reminders sent to you or any opportunities for you to delay this payment any longer. Should you wish to avoid a COURT SUMMONS being served on you, payment must be made in full within the next three working days using the pre-paid envelope enclosed. Alternatively we accept all major credit and debit cards. We are advised you have been previously furnished with full details of our clients claim however please telephone our offices immediately should this not be the case and we shall endeavour to resolve and queries you may have. Please note that our client has consented to legal action and therefore any litigation issued against you may result in your credit rating being adversely affected. OK so I tried to ring but they are closed till Monday. I accept we may owe some but we do not owe £160. So what is my next move?

Bose Ltd have passed my£59.99 overdue account to Icon collections for collection. Icon collections have added a £24 charge to the account which I refuse to pay. Icon told me at first it's a collection charge and it must be paid. I have asked for a breakdown of how they arrive at the £24 and provided me with evidence or liability to the collection charge. Icon have got back to me today with the following ...."They are pre litigation costs, therefore they are payable. Your file will now be passed over to our solicitors to issue proceedings" 1. Are they allowed to add a £24.00 fee for pre-litigation?

Hi, I had an operation at a BUPA hospital in Novemebr 2011. I was covered under a company scheme which(as advised by my employers) covered all costs including any excess. I am now receiving emails from Icon Collections representing the hospital asking for £220 plus £18 (their costs). I have referred them back to the company but the company is no longer trading. The policy was in the company name and I was covered as an employee. I have asked Icon to confirm the policy was in the company name and they cannot as they have no contact with BUPA Am I liable as the patient for the outstanding amount? I have seen no documentation apart from an invoice from the hospital produced in April 2013.

Hi, Long story short, me and my mates had a 6-a-side football team, after 4 games, I got an recurring injury to my ankle, so couldnt play (still can't now) and the rest of the team didn't really want to continue playing either as some where finding it hard with work etc. The company who run the league have chased me for a total of £900 and have now passed it on to Icon Collections who are now contacting me at my workplace and threatening court action. Where do I stand with this, as you can see from the attachments I signed an agreement to fulfil fixtures, but its not a CCA or anything like that. Look forward to hearing from someone! All letters are here: h t t p://postimage.o r g/gallery/anncy91u/8a22ec95/