N Power- Debt collectors getting involved over money we do not owe!!

[clockwork_monkey]

Hi there,

 

I'm not entirely sure if anyone else has had a similar experience, but I'm having some problems with N Power that I would appreciate some advice on. It's a long story, so bear with me...

 

Myself and my two flatmates moved into our home in September this year. We were originally with N Power, but chose to switch to British Gas. All of this went OK, until N Power sent us a bill asking for an amount of money left over from the previous tenants, who have helpfully disappeared without a trace.

 

We have explained that we didn't live here until September (the amount they think we owe dates from July), we have tried sending them our tenancy contract but that hasn't done any good, and we have tried getting our Estate Agent involved but they're proving to be useless.

 

We finally managed to convince N Power that we did not owe the £150 they believed we did, and they told us they would be freezing our account and working out a new sum for us, only including money we legitimately owe. We are still waiting. Meanwhile, we have received several letters from 2 different debt collectors - Collections Direct and Buchanan, Clark and Wells.

 

Well, when we received these we were very angry, because we were led to believe that we were being dealt with by N Power, so we called them up and we were told that our account had unfrozen. We were explicitly told to 'ignore' the letters, and that our account would be re-frozen. Naturally, we logged an official complaint with N Power.

 

We have ignored the letters, but last night we recieved a phonecall from BCW asking for the first surname on our bill (we have all 3 of our surnames on record). The flatmate they asked for is on holiday right now, but it was still disturbing as we had been told we would not hear any more from the debt collectors.

 

As a result of all this, myself and my remaining flatmate are worried and frankly quite scared that we will be visited by bailiffs, despite being told otherwise by N Power. Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do about this? Do we try and reason with the collectors? What is likely to happen if the debt collectors do not let up?

Edited January 31, 2012 by clockwork_monkey

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

You need to write a formal complain to NPower and

the DCAs stating the facts with proof of your date

of occupation of the flat.

Please be assured bailiffs will not be calling, there is

a whole process that has to be met before this can

even be thought of.

1. They would need strict proof that you lived at the address

during the period they are claiming for.

2. They would need to raise a claim in the county court, unlikely

for that amount of money.

3. You would of course enter a defence to the claim (yours is water tight anyway)

4. They would have to win the case (no chance)

5. If they did win you would have to fail to meet any order for

payment made by the court.

6. They would have to apply or a warrant from a judge

to enforce the judgement.

ALL of which is very unlikely if not impossible.

Lastly you three tenant should check you credit

reference files to be sure nothing has been entered

on them regarding this matter.

 

The formal complaint is regarding the passing

of a disputed debt to DCAs and passing on you

data to a 3rd party when you have prove you

have no liability.

[clockwork_monkey]

OK, that's pretty much answered all my questions, thank you I'll pass this info on to the rest of the flat and hopefully we'll be able to rest easy and see an end to these shenanigans!

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Ok just remember debt collection agencies are NOT

bailiffs they have NO legal powers apart from making

meaningless threats.