Newman Debt Collection Agents court threat-o-gram

[RJ31337]

Hi all,

 

I really need your help. I posted up a few days ago a letter i received from my previous employer, claiming i owed them money from an overpayment of £325.01 despite them owing me at least 40 hours overtime during my employment there. Today i received a letter from Newman Debt Collection Agents stating the following:-

 

QUOTE REF: 1773523/AA

 

16th May 2011

 

QUOTE REF: 1773523/AA

Amount Due: £ 325.01

 

Court Proceedings

Dear Mr X,

 

You now have 72 hours to pay, or make arrangements to pay, this account.

 

Failure to contact this office within the time stipulated could result in court proceedigns being issued against you.

 

This matter is now in your hands, Please contact us on 0113 306 0677 to discuss this matter urgently, or email on enquiries @ newman-dca.com

 

Yours Sincerly

 

Newman & Co.

I have already sent a letter to them the other day recorded delivery and obtained a signature of NEWMANS and all they have done is ignore me and now they are going to leave me with a huge debt from court to which i refuse to acknowledge. How can companies get away with this? All i wanted was a job, and now my personal records are going to be tarnished for being unwilling to pay money that i know for a fact i dont owe if only my previous employer would tell the truth!

 

What can i do? I dont have time to ring them and letters can take more than 3 days to arrive, especially when i have no money!

[dx100uk]

nothing urgent about that

just a standard threat-o-gram

 

read it properly..

 

if.might.could,maybe.

 

ignore

 

dca's have no legal powers to do anything

 

dx

[alfwithhair]

The clue is in the wording, "could" result in court proceedings.

 

These are standard waffle letters they send out to intimidate you in to paying.

Newmans cannot take you to court unless they have purchased the debt from your ex employer and they will not have done this. Only the owner of the debt (ex employer) can initiate proceedings.

 

Newmans are just debt chasers, no powers whatsoever

DO NOT EVER SPEAK TO THEM ON THE PHONE

If they ring refuse to answer their security questions and put the phone.

 

If you have already written to them then just ignore until they reply.

Don't be intimidated by them, this is exactly what they want, their only power is your fear.

[meemok]

Would sending a SAR to the ex-employer be a good idea? If the OP is owed money they would have the evidence of it, and be able to put a stop to the Newman nonsense

[RJ31337]

Sounds like a good idea meemonk. Only question on that though is knowing how much of a tin-pot firm my ex employer was, what can i do if the data of my building access (They used RFID cards) was to go "missing" ?

[Bazooka Boo]

You need to get onto the OFT&TS about these two fools, Nancy Newmans CANNOT send out letters with the heading COURT PROCEEDINGS, they are misleading, threatening & intimidating you into believing that this document is a pre cursor to actual court/legal proceedings, when in fact it is not!.

 

Who is this ridiculous outfit you worked for? I'd have a very good mind to make an example of the fool, and give the company so much bad press it won't survive the month!

 

I am assuming this is a small outfit, a one man band type of business? Well, if that is the case then they need to be very careful of their actions especially in times like these......there are a lot more establishments out there who are on the side of the employee and consumer..

[meemok]

Isn't one of the selling points of RFID access management the fact that theres a permenant record? I know thats why my old boss installed it.

 

If specific info is required, you could make a direct reference to it in your SAR.

 

Something like...

"The information provided should include the entry and exit log for my building access card (#CardID e.t.c.), along with an explanation of any codes used within the log. If the access log has been altered since DATE/I/LEFT, then a breakdown of the alterations including date, time and reason should also be included."

 

I'm not sure what the legal points are on incomplete SAR responses i.e. if you know they hold a particular piece of data, but it is not supplied.... I'm sure one of the more knowledgable peeps will be able to advise on that.

[citizenB]

Any information stored in a "relevant filing system" should be supplied to you.

 

Agree with the others, that letter is designed to frighten and intimidate. It is unlikely your ex employer would have "sold" this and only they can take you to court.

 

Would you be able to prove there was outstanding overtime payments due to you ? If so, and litigation did take place, then you could just counterclaim for that amount.

[brokebutnotbeatn]

You will need to treat this as two separate things. They ahve a legal right to get back anything overpaid and you have a legal right to be paid what you owe, but sorting it out will be two separate issues...