Experto Credite and British Gas

[smelvin]

Hi All

 

I was wondering if anyone could help me. I have just received a letter from Experto Credito with regards an outstanding Electricity bill from British Gas Business. I have two problems with the whole thing:-

 

1. My wife opened the letter accidentally and was rather worried and telephoned them. I beleive under Data Protection Act that my wife would not be able to discuss my personal financial details without my consent. I was working and did not take part in the conversation. I telephoned the next day to be told that they had spoken to me (or someone claiming to be me) and I had given consent for my details to be discussed. Apperently it was in the notes from the conversation. How do I stand? My wife is not lying and she admitted that she thought she might be wasting her time trying to speak to them as I was not there. I see this a clear breach of the Data Protection Act but I am unsure how to proceed.

 

2. With regards to the actual debt. BG sent a letter in Oct 06 giving me notice of intended legal proceedings. I couldnt pay the full amount so paid them £50 in Nov and have been paying £50 per month since then. I admit I did not contact them to arrange this and mearly thought that as long as they are getting something that they would go away - obviously not. So after paying £250 I have a further £324.97 to pay. What course of action do others suggest? Could they take me to court?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Scott

[smelvin]

Really needing help with this. Please!

 

I have received a letter today with the following:-

 

"We write further to previous correspondence. We are disappointed that you have failed to send payment to clear the above debt or contact this office.

 

You must now send immediate payment and contact us on 0118 952 0197 quoting your account number, on receipt of this letter.

 

If you fail to comply, we may pass your details to a local field agent and request they call at your premises to assess your means and secure full payment.

 

Alternatively, we may instruct solicitors to commence legal proceedings and obtain a County Court Judgment against you. If the debt remains unpaid after a Judgment has been granted, we can apply for a Warrant of Execution to enforce the order by an appropriate method to secure full payment, interest and all costs incurred.

 

Yours faithfully

blah blah"

 

This was dated the 10th, the day before my wife phoned, but didn't arrive until today the 13th. I honestly think they are playing silly buggers and predated the letter because I told them I wasn't happy about the breach of the DPA yesterday the 12th.

 

Please can someone help me?

 

The only other thing of note is that this mail is being redirected as we moved last November and i haven't told them yet. Do you think I should let them go to the old house and find I am not there? Or should I phone them and tell them I have moved, but not tell them my new address?

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[alanfromderby]

Experto Credite are impossible to deal with rationally, and will continue to try and extract the full amount from you immediately.

 

However, if you continue to pay at the rate you are doing then it is extremely unlikely that they will take any action - especially as they stand a good chance of ending up with a much reduced payment if it came to being set by a court.

[smelvin]

Hi alanfromderby

 

Yes they are not a nice company, they have really upset my wife in the way that they wouldn't allow her to speak and just talked over her. She was also left feeling very belittled by their bullying tactics. When I phoned i got pretty much the same thing, but I stood up to them and they put the phone down on me.

 

Does anyone think I should send them a letter requesting communication only in writing and does the common law thing apply in Scotland?

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[smelvin]

I really don't mean to bump this to the top, but I really need help and I see all the great help everyone else gets in their threads.

 

Please Please help!

[smelvin]

Oh well! I suppose I am on my own then. 6 days later and still no help.

 

Just don't understand why everyone else gets help with their problems and I get nothing.

 

Really dissapointed. After seeing all the fantastic help everyone else gets I really thought this was the place.

 

Ah well.

 

Yours sadly,

 

Scott

[alanfromderby]

The best suggestion would be to do a forum search on "harrassment". As far as I am aware, the legislation over harrassing by DCA's is the same in Scotland.

 

Other than that I am not sure what you are asking. The advice I gave earlier still stands.