Southern Electric - Past Due Credit Solutions

[gibeno]

Afternoon All,

 

Just after a bit of Advice. Got in from work to find 2 Demands for Past Due Credit Solutions on behalf of Southern Electric. This is my First house been in since April 21st. The house used to be with EDF now its with N Power.. I rang them and they wanted me to send them proof that it wasn't me!! I've never had any dealings with them. I said I weren't prepared to send them my documentation to prove the bills weren't mine. He said it related to a previous address which is my parents. (my dad has the same intials as me) he then wanted me to ring my dad and get him to call them. I said i weren't prepared to do this as its their job!!

 

I'm a bit worried about this - where did they get my address from? I have asked them to take it off the file but if they have been doing credit searches etc without my permission i wont be happy. Is there anything I can do?

 

Thanks

[Agent3244]

Some thoughts on Ducks, donkeys, tails, and scams....

 

I am aware of someone who received a letter from Past Due Credit Solutions Limited (Registered in Scotland No. 287794) and it reads thus;

 

"I would be grateful if you could conatact me on 0844 559 8349 regarding an important matter.

The office hours are ..{blah blah}

Your Assistance is appreciated."

 

It caused the recipient some anxiety and it does me too, not for what it says, but for the irrational reason of what it does not say.

 

First thing, I advised the recipient resist the temptation to contact Past Due Credit Solutions Limited. (PDCS)

Via the letterhead and the PDCS homepage I had the impression that PDCS were a debt collection company pursuing a debt but the nature of the letter made me suspicious.The recipient and I still had anxieties though. This was plain silly.

 

If I were to walk by a pond, hear a "quack" and see something that looks like a duck would I get stressed wondering what I had just seen? Of course not, I would accept I had just seen a duck.

 

I figured the most likely explanation was that PDCS, whether bona fide or not, were fishing.

 

If you get a letter like this alert yourself to the likelihood that you have seen something that looks like a [problem], and reads like a [problem], so it could well be a [problem]. Proceed with great caution on the basis that the approach could be genuine, but because it falls well sort of genuine, satisfactory, and professional practice and therefore gives excellent reason to be sceptical. Print this thread, take it and your letter, then seek advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) or call at the constituency office of your MP. You could even call at your local County Court and they will clarify watt law may apply and advise you on your rights. Do not telephone PDCS. If you cannot ignore the letter simply reply by letter that you have no idea what they are talking about. Reveal nothing that they don't already know about you. That's what I advised my friend to do, but before we got around to that, ...

 

A couple of days later my friend received another envelope also bearing a Clydebank frank-stamp. There were two letters in the envelope. One had the look of being from an energy supplier and the other from a third party with a box number adresss in Nottingham and no registered address or company number declared on the letterhead. My friend now has three letters.

 

Between the letters is an attempt to get my friend to pay off an alleged debt arising form (it appears) energy supply to an address from where she has twice removed and last lived at seven years ago. All final accounts were settled and mail was diverted for twelve months. Yet out of the blue (seemingly) she has a letter from an energy company which says they have been trying to get in contact to "settle a final balance of £XX.pp." The hell they have!

 

My friend did once reside at the address in question. For all we know there may well be an outstanding balance or a CCJ pertaining to that address. However, my friend is certain that no bad debt is attributable to her because all acounts at that address were legitimately held in a completely different name. The once fashionable childrens party game of game of pin the tail on the donkey springs to mind.

 

For all I know PDCS could have a legitimate business. However, if the letters are read carefully there are anomalies, errors and inconsistencies. Furthermore, it would be possible for scamsters to entirely fabricate the case that these three letters conspire to make against my friend from records and databases that are not that difficult to access.

 

But despite there being three letters and and there being an implication that my friend owed money to an energy supplier there is no explicit declaration to clarify the following;

 

1. The account number with the energy supplier
   
2. The date the account was created or opened, in whose name, and upon what authority
   
   
3. What goods or services were provided
   
4. The period, or date, of supply
   
   
5. The date the alleged final bill was issued
   
6. and the date the final bill fell due
   

My friend has written to PDCS asking for documentary evidence to answer all of the above. She has been careful to reveal nothing about herself that PDCS don't already know.

 

Something else is inferred in the letters. There is a suggestion that the alleged debt has been sold by the energy company to the third party and that the third party is "..now the data contoller of your personal data in the records of this account. We are a company which purchases debts from other organisations. [.. ..] Your peronal data will be used for the purpose of collecting the outstanding balance from you." This is nothing but twaddle intended to play on the readers' fears and fuel anxiety.

 

If details of an alleged debt have been sold then the energy supplier will, after the elapse of time have written off the debt for accounting purposes. It is not implausible that 'bundles' of cold case debt data files may have been sold by an energy supplier for a fraction of their worth to a third party. But, according to the letter(s), the energy company has "assigned all of its' respective rights, title ande interst in respect of the above referenced account (including the right to recieve paymentof the outstanding balance)"

 

So, if the above is true, and I remain open to the possibility that it is not, then even if my friend were to pay the alleged outstanding balance then the payment would not go to settle the alleged debt with the energy supplier. The sale of the data of the old debt for pence, if it actually happened, merely converts the alleged debt into a commodity which, if people are gullible enough, can be converted into an income stream for PDCS.

 

Between the three letters there are several anomalies, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and typos that ought not appear in legitimate correspondence from suitably respectable, professional and legitimate debt recovery companies. Anomalies, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and typos do however appear in scams.Think back to that duck ..

 

Trust your instincts, if it looks like a [problem] and reads like a [problem] then in all probality it is a [problem].

 

My friend is clear in her mind that she will only deal with these people in writing, she will not reveal anything they do not already know, she will quote her name and address exactly as they do complete with the errors, she has said she disputes any suggestion she is responsible for the alleged debt, she wants explicit clarification upon the six points listed above, and she wants to recive documentary evidence (such as copy of the bill and agreement) to prove the alleged debt. I do not expect she will receive anything back.

 

After my friend vacated her former address people that followed could have left leaving a bill unpaid and details of that debt could be in the public domain. Via files held by consumer credit reference agencies my fireinds links with her present address and her former addresses can be linked. I have given my friend my opinion. I have said that in all probability PDCS are playing a game of pin a tail on a donkey. Remember, PDCS and the alleged third party are in this to produce an income stream. Nothing that is recovered will be passed to the creditor (the energy supplier) so it cannot be debt recovery. The incentives for PDCS or whoever would answer the telephone are not to recover debt for the energy supplier but to produce an income stream for themselves. So, will it still concern them that the payment should be received from the right person?

 

In my humble and unqaulified opinion and in all probability, "the game that PDCS is playing with you is to pin a tail on anydonkey," I told my friend.

 

My friend conducts her affairs responsibly. She has covered herself. She has stated in writing she disputes any suggestion that she is responsible for the inferred alleged debt and she has asked for documetary evidence.

 

Together we faced the anxieties that these letters produced, rationalised our concerns, then turned our fears around to make the case that PDCS have fabricated look silly.

 

Like Harry Potter we confronted a demon and cast a spell, "RIDICOROUS !!"

 

For all I know PDCS may well have a legitimate side to their business.

 

But if you receive correspondence from PDCS, or any other company for that matter, that has smiilar hallmarks as I have described above then try not to be overly worried as it has the hallmarks of a con. Dispute it, reveal nothing, do not make contact in any other way than writing, ask what was supplied and when, ask for the coressponding meter readings if applicable, ask for a copy of a bill, ask for documentary evidence, and then expect to hear nothing more.

 

Above all, conduct your affairs responsibly, if you get into arrears and difficulties seek professional and unbiased advice early, don't let overdue accounts snowball, keep records, and keep them where you can find them even seven years on.

 

If my friend could quicky restore her memeory who was her energy supplier seven years ago she could quickly put her mind at rest.

She has a temptation to telephone PDCS and ask what was supplied. She would love for PDCS to answer, "GAS". (There never was, nor is it likely now, any gas service to that property.)

 

We hope PDCS will go away, go forth, but we pray to our God that they do not multiply.

 

Hard as it is to make a living, whatever your beliefs, do only unto others as you would have others do unto you.

 

God bless.

[MARTIN3030]

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