Hi all, Am hoping someone can give me a bit of help as to what i can do next. I moved to my present address and asked EDF for prepayment meters, the chap on the phone convinced me to keep the quarterly meters, i am chronically unwell and disabled and he gave me the scenario of there being snow on the ground and i'm not able to get to the shop to top it up which was enough for me to keep it. However, due to benefits messing me around i was unable to keep up with the payments so asked for pre payment meters and was told the debt would be loaded onto the gas, but there was a problem with the electric so it was never loaded onto the electric meter. Each time i topped up the gas it took 70% for the debt- no matter what day i put it on, so more often than not i froze - didn't use the heating and used the microwave and not the gas cooker, when i rang EDF they said basically it was tough because they didnt own the meter and i had to just let it happen. So i did until the debt was cleared. Occasionally it still charges me if it gets too low, not in the emergency, but low and i credit it. Months ago i received two bills for the gas and electric, both for the amount of £223.71, i knew i couldnt pay them so i wrote to the EDF energy trust enclosing those bills. I was turned down. Today i have received a letter threatening legal action, BUT the amounts are very different! Electricity is £163.22 and Gas £60.49 adding up to £223.71! And apparently they are coming on 5th November to break into my house or something. What do i do next? The Gas shouldnt have anything on it because the debt was loaded on at approx £60 which was paid back, but also i am thinking if EDF hadn't of messed up i might have got help from the EDF energy trust and not be in this position. I don't want to ask them to just load the debts onto the meters because A) I'm not sure what i owe now and B) they take money at 70% of whatever i put on off the debt. Thanks

Agreed. Although why would anyone let someone order off their catalogue? Surely they would know they'd get lumbered with the debt? Oh, and they didn't hear a thing from this person after they'd collected the goods from this persons house. And havent heard from them since! But, i said to the person whose having trouble with the DCA that by paying it, they admitted the debt was theirs! and they said to me "The DCA told me i had to even though it wasn't for my goods" so i replied "Of course they will! they don't care who pays it, they will try it on!" JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ.

Sorry my fault! What i meant was that someone had ordered stuff off their catalogue and not paid for it. Registered copy of letter sent, and the date/time of calls are being logged. Once i have all the relevant paperwork i'll draft a letter to OFT. Agreed. This person really has made a rod for their own back with the way they are behaving with the DC. I'm trying to help and advise them as much as i can, but ultimately, if they don't want to listen and still think they know best by being so 'good and honest' then there isn't really much more i can do.

In all fairness it's someone elses debt. I'm just trying to help them, i keep advising them what to do and they just go and do what they want anyway. I told them initially not to pay anything or agree to the DCA terms but they just started paying it, and now after 3 - 4 years of religiously paying are now saying it wasn't even for their stuff anyway *facepalm* I, on the other hand have been playing games with DCA's for years. It is a LOT of fun.

Thanks dpick We have a laugh when different correspondence says one or the other! When we were speaking to them they kept threatening to give it to an outside debt collection company and we kept telling them to do it, but for some reason they do not, we have requested they initiate court proceedings, yet they continue to harass. Truth be told the debt is most likely well clear now anyway. The debt went right down and then they started adding on charges (after agreeing not to (and not adding charges for 3 years) over the phone, then all of a sudden they started adding charges on at sometimes £50 + a time.

Thanks All The jury is still out on that one! We are getting letters from Reliable Collections and JD Williams - they can't decide! They rang several times today. They are definitely playing silly games. Why send us a letter with someone elses details on it saying they looking into our complaint? we didnt complain!

The letter wasn't sent recorded. I shall print off another and send it off Thanks

Hi We sent the standard template asking the DC to stop ringing on harassment grounds but they are STILL phoning. Today we got a letter quoting someone else's details saying they had received our complaint. What can we do next please?

Hi All, Found the letter you referred to, however we are having a real time of it amending it to make sense for us, we really have very little clue as to what we're doing. In the meantime statements are still coming from Reliable/JD Williams alternately with charges added on! My mother is getting worried and saying she will start paying again.

Thanks for this link, however can you do me a massive favour and point out where i'm supposed to be looking for the letter please? as i am super dim and can't see it. Thanks

Received a letter back from Reliable, if someone can please help me off group so i can show them it then that would be fab. Also in this letter they think that under the section 78 request they do not have to provide a photocopy or copy of the signed credit agreement.....

Hi All. CCA request in envelope ready to go. This morning my mother received a 'Statement' from JD Williams. They have put on 2 x admin charges of around £12. Should we still send the CCA request to Reliable? thanks

Thanks all I spoke to my mother this morning, it seems to spoke to JD Williams and asked THEM to freeze the interest and asked if she could pay £15 a month which they agreed to. Then about a week later she received a letter from Reliable Collections telling her the money had to go to them...... ETA - weird thing is i now keep getting emails from JD Williams saying my statement is ready online.

Thank You both! She has kept all statements and all correspondance. I have told her repeatedly to STOP speaking to them on the phone as they are scummy fecks but she rather naively thought if she spoke to them it would be the right thing. She pays it via the slip at the bottom of each statement in the bank. Have printed off the CCA request and spoken to her on the phone tonight and i'll take the letter to her house tomorrow afternoon. Will keep you updated. How would she claim the charges back dpick? Thanks again, this forum is such a valuable asset.

I am posting on behalf of my mother. She had a JD Williams catalogue and got into difficulties with it, so she wrote to them and explained that she was having trouble making payments and would they be kind enough to freeze the interest, as she was paying £60 and £12 was coming off the debt. To which they agreed. She then received a letter from Reliable Collections stating they were now in charge of the debt (?) She made an agreement with RC over the phone to pay £15 on 26th of every month, after 1 payment she received call from RC stating that they wanted payment every 4 weeks not on the 26 of every month, she was informed that paying every 4 weeks was company policy. A few months later she received a letter from RC stating they wanted payment every 3 weeks, which she refused to do but still paid every 4 weeks, a few days after the next payment she received a letter stating that as she didnt pay every 3 weeks as they wanted she would incur a late payment charge for each of these payments. She then rang RC who told her to ignore these letters. Shortly after she received a letter from RC who wanted to increase payments £30 per 4 weeks,she said it was too much so RC agreed she could pay £20 per 4 weeks. This week she received a letter stating RC want the money every 3 weeks again and not 4. They have also threatened her that if she doesnt do what they say they'll update her credit file which may stop her re-mortgaging (how presumptuous of them!) her home and getting loans. She has been diligently paying every 4 weeks for 2 years, so she has pretty much had enough of this pond life. How can we start getting this **** off her back? Please can someone help? Thanks for reading.