Hello newbie here, My Husband & I have been dealing with a Debt Collection Agency SMD Credit Solutions Ltd since April to collect a Debt owed to our Company since November last year. A little background: We were owed £38k and the debt was in dispute by the company who owed us. This was construction industry dispute where we worked for contractor (2) who was working for main contractor (1). Main Contractor (1) refused to pay contractor (2) citing poor workmanship therefore contractor refused to pay us. So it was quite in depth but it was being dragged out and being a small company we needed to get a resolution. SMD cold called us but it just so happened we were in the process of looking for an agency after them phoning us everyday for weeks trying to persuade us to agree for them to take the debt on we agreed. We had lengthy discussions about the whole case and we were upfront about everything before we even agreed for them to take on the debt. We knew it wouldn't be straight forward so wanted someone who knew what they were doing. They wanted to charge £2000 + VAT for a reg fee but we simply couldn't afford that so they dropped it to £1000 + VAT payable in 2 instalments. After we agreed we sent them all documentation regarding the debt including invoices owed, purchase orders we received, emails and a report from the main contractor (1). Needless to say SMD were useless, they never answered or return our phone calls, they never returned or answered my emails. In their initial 'guarantee email' they claimed to keep you updated every step of the way and give you a full refund of the reg fee if they don't at least recover the cost of the reg fee. Eventually after quite a few weeks I was emailed and told that SMD had had to obtain legal advice on our behalf and had to pay out in excess of £3000 in order to do so. After weeks of getting nowhere and no answers SMD finally advised us in mid June to set up a meeting with Contractor 2 and main contractor 1 and thrash out what we could get paid. We advised them that we would look for an alternative agency who was specialised in Construction industry disputes and we would like our reg fee returned to which we received no reply and no refund. We then received the official In Administration letter from contractor (2), and I left a negative review on SMD company facebook page. Nothing defamatory or untrue just stating our disappointing experience and that I would not recommend them. Oh and I hope they don't keep telling people about their 100% success rate which is what they said to us. Today I get an email from them saying that unless I remove the comment they will charge us £10,000 (10 x the reg fee) plus the £4000 costs as per their T&C's. They claim we mispresented the debt by not telling about the report Can they do that? Sorry for the long post

Hey all, I read a few older posts regarding the Hassall brothers & their previous debt collection business, pursuing companies & individuals and wondered if any information was listed on here regarding their newest venture SMD Credit solutions? How much clout do these companies have for putting pressure on companies for alleged amounts? A company I work for is being pressured by them to pay an extremely large amount for their client which is in dispute, due to an alleged debt many years old - many legal threats & deadlines have been presented so far. It all seems so wrong to me that these tactics can be used any valid thoughts/information are welcome. Thanks in advance