Has anyone here taken action against a Debt Collecting firm? Anyone taken civil action? More importantly has anyone succeeded in getting criminal action taken? I am annoyed. I firstly received a letter from a firm. I most clearly do not owe the money. I wrote to them telling them this with a short explanation of why they were wrong and I told them not to telephone me. I am now getting telephone calls! They are supposedly a firm of solicitors They have received my letter because of course I sent it recorded delivery. My real concern about this matter is that this industry are doing a lot of harm . I am well educated, literate, eloquent and mentally stable A lot of people with debt problems aren't. I am sure they will have caused suicides by their threats. This lot of " honourable men" clearly don't seem to care whether I owe the money or not. There is ample evidence available to them that I do not, and it has been explained.

Thank you for the most useful information about legal aid. It is very reassuring . However it would seem this is not quite a standard case . I have not received info on how to move the case

Can some please urgently answer me these two questions. How do I get a county court case moved to my local court? Where do I find the rules for eligibility to legal aid?

YES! I had a friend being pursued by a catalogue firm's DCA a while ago. He genuinely could not remember having anything to do with them, suspecting dodgy spending by a former partner just before they split up. Another possibility considering his name is extremely common that they were just picking on someone with the same details. (He's Welsh. Can you guess the surname? ) We used the letter from this site. As much to get hold of any existing documentation as anything else, considering there may have been fraud. Result: a letter saying they were dropping everything. It was clear. Either the debt wasn't real, the DCA were picking on the wrong person, or more likely they just didn't have any documentation.

Sorry if it was unclear. I made a payment to the DCA. Wrote to the DCA offering them regular payments. and then I got this unreasonable form from the solicitors. Of course everything is done in writing and sent recorded delivery. I also keep a record of the delivery details provided on the web by Royal Mail.

Yes I was going to check on this. I was going to write to the water company about it. That has been exactly my strategy. Good point.

It is just an old account. I wrote to the DCA and got an answer from the solicitors. That is a very good strategy. It was one of the options I was thinking through. Clearly the DCA seems to be "dissembling" about matters with their forms and therefore I don't regard them as worthy of trust. It is a good enough reason for anyone to deal with the company direct. I am not giving them control over me!

In response to the earlier posting it isn't UU. In response to yours, Count Orlok. Having had time to peruse more info on the web including this forum. It seems it is all part of the process of trying to control the debtor's life. In reality they only have the control that you give to them. I certainly won't be filling in any of these forms in future. They are intrusive and most of what they ask is none of their business. That was my first instinct and why I posted the original message. Saying they "cannot" deal with me otherwise can't be true. I can believe some of these people don't want you to eat. It seems they are living proof of the famous Milgram Experiment.

I know they have no legal rights. I am a regular lurker here. I just don't post a lot. I am a little irritated , only just a little, that sometimes people don't think before they post. I would recommend that people stay away from the DSS as much as possible. My circumstances are highly unusual and this has caused lots of problems with lots of people including them. People in bureaucracies are often not the sharpest knives in the box. It often, as we notice, applies to DCAs too. Fine. That is good advice. I think I am going to deal directly with the water people. I suspect this is going to be difficult as they will want me to use the DCA. What I would like is some information about RULES on debt collecting and treating people fairly that I can use to make them. I think I have found what I need here. http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf I would welcome any comments or further information. I don't think they will have sold the debt on will they?

I am not under the DSS I don't want anything to do with them!

I am sorry you don't seem to understand there is no "proof" with a water bill. I have no meter so it is what ever the water company say it is. What constitutes proof. NOT evidence, proof. There is a difference BEsindes I have had letters from the water company detailing the debt.

OF COURSE I have contacted them. THIS IS A WATER BILL I can't do a cca. So what is "Proof"

how?

OK but that isn't a CAB website is it? And that is their INTERNAL form I would guess. You wouldn't tell a DCA about other debtors. Thanks though a proper CAB form would help. I would go back to them but I have found them of limited use. My "adviser" couldn't understand my unusual circumstances. This forum gives better advice! This is a water bill. I have made an offer. I have got this ridiculous form back. Surely if I won't tell them it will end up in court and I will have to fill in the court forms about income anyway? I am not working, but I have a small fixed income. It is probably the limit of what I should say about my circumstances in a public forum. I am sure the DCAs read this forum .

I am negotiating with a DCA's firm of solicitors. They have sent me a really outrageous form. Demanding all sorts of things like bank details. Date of birth, marital status etc. Saying they "Cannot" deal with me unless I give all these details. I know this is rubbish and I want to tell them the bare minimum if anything at all. I'd like some advice please on whether I firstly can get away with telling them nothing or secondly a suitable list of things to tell them ( My own form would be nice.) It would be useful too if there were a set of official rules from the OFT or something that I could use.