Thank you Scampjet

Thank you Rooster. I'll use those if the original agency contact me, but the letter I received today is from a different agency and I don't know if the debt is owed by the same man as the other ones he appears to have. I note the letter said about "English Law" - I live in Scotland where laws ae varied slightly but I'm not sure if the laws relating to debts etc would be different?

I've been looking at the other threads, and found a clause which says the regulators state it's illegal to attempt to recover a debt from a third party or from someone not linked in a credit agreement. Perhaps I should write to them, asking them to supply me with a copy of their "credit agreement" and sign the letter the same as they addressed it "The Occupier" - that way they don't get my name or anything and they obviously can't send a credit agreement to someone with no name as the credit agreement would have the original debtors name on it, which would be a breach of data protection, if the credit agreement has "the occupier" on it, it's not enforcable is it?..... or am I just being silly? (Even the giro pay in slip they have on the letter has "the occupier" and my address on it). This agency is not the same one that I dealt with the last time, so I don't even know if it is the same person they are looking for as the other agencies. I wonder if it's not even a debt collecting agency but a [problem]? I mean would a debt collection agency really address something to "the occupuier" and threaten to take a person with no name to court? Sorry for all the rambling but I have little experience with this sort of thing.

I did telephone the police on one occasion after I'd had a debt collector appear. They told me that it was a civil matter and they couldn't do anything. Thanks for the template links, but I can't see one which fits my situation at all, they all seem to be aimed at people who are debtors, but can't find one for me.

Hi, bit of a long one I'm afraid. I received a letter today dated 2 weeks ago from a debt collection agency. It was addressed to "The Occupier". They are collecting on behalf of a utility company and want money by a date which was two days ago. Failing this, they say they will either send a debt collector to collect the debt personally or credit solicitors to commence legal action in a county/sheriff court, which may result in a judgement/decree being made against me. Okay. Problem. I have never been with the utility company they claim to represent and certainly do not have any debt, other than a bank loan which is paid monthly. This is not the first time I've had this sort of problem. I have had several letters addressed to a man which I've written on the envelopes "not known at this address, return to sender" and placed them in the post box. December last year I received a card through the door which contained threats of sending debt collectors, again this was addressed to "the occupier". I telephoned the number given, and advised the woman that I'd lived here for almost 4 years, and do not have a forwarding address for the previous occupant. The woman asked for my name which I gave to her and said I'd happily supply them with proof of identity. Following this, I had streams of letters in my own name, one asked for an address history for the past ten years which I refused to give them as it's not their business. Others demanded sums of money, the telephone constantly rang and I was pestered with questions such as do I know this man - when I said "no, I don't", I got "don't believe you", and was told that I would have to prove to them that I had no involvement with him, if I couldn't prove it they would continue to pursue me for the debt. (I changed my number because of it) and I had several debt collectors appear at my door, who would only disappear when I said I would call the police to remove them. Not heard anything since until today, although I still receive letters for this man. Because of what happened before, I'm a little reluctant to give them any personal information to evidence who I am and that I live alone with my children and have no idea of the whereabouts of the person they are looking for. What can I do? Surely harrassment of an innocent party and threats of these kind via letters addressed to "The Occupier" are against the law? Please help, this is making me desperate. I'm so frightened that a debt collector will come to my home whilst I'm at work and force entry.

A few months ago, I bought a PC from Curry's, thinking the problems I had after purchasing Sky from them was perhaps a one off. Had it not even three months and the PC wouldn't switch on. Read the tech guys manual, followed the instructions. Nothing. Rang the tech guys who again had me perform the same actions as the manual not once, not twice but three times. They promised an engineer the next day, saying I'd receive a call back by 10am to advice me when the engineer would arrive. I cancelled my plans for the day, and rearranged them for following day. By 10:30, no call back. Being a woman means I'm very impatient so I rang them, only to be told the engineer would be coming the following day. Annoyed, I again cancelled my plans. Again, no call back. Again, guess what? Yup, I called them. An engineer finally arrived, and all it was was the cable was faulty. He had to ring no fewer than 14 different telephone numbers to find out how I go about getting a new cable as the PC and monitor are still under warranty. Eventually, he tells me I need to go to the store to get a new cable, but I will probably be charged for it, because it's considered a replacable item. I went to the store, produced my warranty and the manager told me he wouldn't replace it, as I'm supposed to be sent one from the tech guys! WTF?! He then stated that I'd be charged. I went off it!! Told him that every component of a PC is replaceable, and as the cable came with the PC which is covered under warranty and I also pay curry's insurance, there was no way no how I was leaving the shop without a new cable and under no circumstances would I part with any cash. At this point, my lovely daughter aged 4 is staring intently at a washing machine near the service desk. "Oooh, mummy", she says "We need a new washing machine, do we?" Incidently we don't, but whenever daughter sees something she always says that. I however, spotted the unique opportunity to turn the situation to my advantage. "Yes, sweetie, we DO need a new washing machine, but mummy won't be buying it here, we'll go to the Hydro". By this point, the jobsworth manager almost has £££ signs of commision in his eyes (curry's sales are not doing well in our area lately, apparently). Suddenly he can't do enough to help me, sends off a sales assistant to "get this lady a new cable" and proceeds to tell me all the pros of the most expensive washing machine in the shop. As soon as I got my cable, I left. "Thanks for the washing machine reccommendation, but I wouldn't want to risk anything going wrong with it and going through all this to get it repaired" - walked out with my head held high, and my new cable in hand. Sorry for the waffle, but it's not often I challenge companies I was just fed up being taken for a fool and it felt quite good!