Reliable collections - Some advice please/ letter receieved this morning

[starfusion]

Hello,

 

I purchased something from the brilliant gift shop last year for something priced around £40 via online.

I made payments towards this balance and then discarded the account as i thought i had paid the full amount of the balance off, i then didn't hear anything from the brilliant gift shop for around 8 months, i then get a letter saying i owe £100+ going back over the online account statements it seems i didn't pay £2+ for postage costs, my mistake fair enough.

 

but now i currently owe £138.80 and reliable collections have been calling at least 5 times a day, i no from reading this forum a long time ago, never to deal on the phone, so every time they phone i say only deal in writing and put the phone down.

 

Now, i'm looking on some advice on what to do, i just recieved this letter this morning

 

 

 

The letter states

 

"All attempts to communicate with you at this address have failed, as a result we have undertaken investigations to understand your whereabouts and sources have confirmed that you are still a resident"

 

This debt will not go away!!

 

Now fair enough i'll pay the £2+ that i owed or anything, but to charge me over £138 for this kind of debt is ridiculous

 

what can i do to combat this?

 

Your helps much appreaciated!

[SURFBOY]

Have you sent a CCA request?

If you believe that all you owe them is £2 then send them the £2 and tell them to swivell for the rest .

Tell them not to telephone you , all communication in writing only, anything else will be considerd harrasment.

Then carry on with your life and ignore anything else they say.

[starfusion]

Well reading the forum, i thought sending the cca request because i ordered online doesn't really do anything nowadays, so i haven't sent a cca request to them, i can remember them sending me a agreement for me to sign which i NEVER signed as i wern't intending to keep the account, was only a one time purchase which meant to be paid off within the month, which i thought i had.

 

Already told them to not telephone me, but i keep getting the same response, "we can't stop phone calls, so we'll keep phoning you" one girl on the phone literally said to me, we'll phone you all day and night until you respond to us.

 

Everytime they phone now i get a guy instantly saying i'm passing you to your account manager, which then i do get quite a few sarcastic remarks from the supposed account managers, from all the phone calls i must have over 100 different account managers,

 

Would a claim charges be the way forward?

not sure where to start with that though.

[SURFBOY]

If they telephone then have some fun with them, Say something like " i will just go and get them" then leave the phone on the side for a while. Refuse to answer any security questions, or tell them to simply " F OFF". They will soon get the message. Or if you prefer tell them " IN WRITING ONLY" Then put phone down.

Honestly they will soon get the message. I have used all of the above and now i no longer get any telephone calls. You do not have to deal with them on the phone at all.

As for reclaiming charges , you havent paid any yet have you?

[SURFBOY]

As for them saying that they will call you all day and night , that is harrasment.

If you intend to follow it through all the way then you could send them the telephone harrasment letter from the letters library.

Do not be intimidated by them they realy are not worth the worry. You pay them what you owe(£2) and nothing more.

[starfusion]

Have actually done that a few times, just getting annoying when settling down for tea and the phone rings again and again! No i haven't paid any charges at all, they just keep racking them up just as they have added a £12 charge on the account for sending me a letter to say i live at my own address and they have done investigations to see if i live here.

 

Last week i recieved no phone calls but then this week "this morning" i've already received 3 calls, 2 automated calls, stating a matter of urgency please ring this number etc.. and one asking if i could be passed to my account manager.

 

Can they keep adding these charges constantly? i'm not worried just further down the line i don't want a bill of charges for over £1,000 and then end up being in court over a couple of quid.

[starfusion]

As for them saying that they will call you all day and night , that is harrasment.

If you intend to follow it through all the way then you could send them the telephone harrasment letter from the letters library.

Do not be intimidated by them they realy are not worth the worry. You pay them what you owe(£2) and nothing more.

 

Sure i'd follow it through, i'm not easily intimidated by anything, will have a look at that!

[SURFBOY]

They can put whatever charges they like on but as you said you only owe them £2 that is all they can legaly claim for.

Charges that do not cover their actual costs are not recoverable legaly. If they claim that they are their actual costs then they need to prove it before recovery. As they can not prove it then they will not go near a court. ( it does not cost £12 to send a letter ect).

[starfusion]

They can put whatever charges they like on but as you said you only owe them £2 that is all they can legaly claim for.

Charges that do not cover their actual costs are not recoverable legaly. If they claim that they are their actual costs then they need to prove it before recovery. As they can not prove it then they will not go near a court. ( it does not cost £12 to send a letter ect).

 

 

I understand, thanks for the help.

 

At least i know where i stand!

 

I'll write them a telephone harrassment letter later on tonight after football training.