Hi these are for old, certainly SB’d alleged card debt.

I last posted here in 2017 about my issues with Robinson Way. Fast forward to 2021 and l’ve received 2 very friendly letters from Hoist. Apparently they have given up with Robinsons Way branding and are now Hoist - but nothing to tell me that from them. I bin the letters as this stuff is so old and we’ve done this dance before. Imagine my surprise today when l get a text from Hoist asking me if my contact details are correct. I have never given them my number, they have never used it before, and there is no connection with this number to any previous dealings. l checked my file, no searches from them in years. How did they get my number? And is it legal for them to just text me out of the blue?

Thanks Slick. I held off sending an SB letter on the 2nd account they were chasing, should I leave that for now unless they escalate from the usual letters? This account would also be certainly SB at same time as first.

Hi Slick, sorry I missed your reply. They are saying I paid £5 in December 11. I'm 101% sure I did not pay them anything. I've never sent them postal orders for CCA requests or that sort of thing either.

I've now had a reply from RW on the account they were threatening legal action about. Default date is early 2010 according to them, which would tie in with what would have been on my file. However, they appear to have invented a (very small) payment in late December 2011. What do I do now? I have not made any payments to them.

OK, thanks. I will update as the post comes in

Letters went to RW as they are the ones sending the demands for payment. Should I send also to Hoist? Isn't Hoist the parent company anyway? Do I need to send anything to Howard Cohen? Thanks for any advice you can give.

Yes, SB'd - would be from 2009/10 -no payments or acknowledgements.

Hi all SB letters sent but appear to have crossed with a notice of pending legal action from Howard Cohen which took over a week to arrive looking at date on it. They are going after the smaller of the two accounts. Second one back on the payment plan and discounts carousel. Is there a reason for this? As this is obviously SB and has been for some time, is this them just trying to get a judgement by default thinking I'm not around? I've raised a complaint with the FOS who can contact Robinson Way on my behalf but won't make a final decision until the end of the complaints process from what I've read.. Question is what should I do now? I fired off an email to RW on Monday from a throw away account, confirmed as received but they will respond by post. I'm thinking I need to send something to Howard Cohen. Is it worth sending CCA requests at this stage?

They have my current address although we moved not long ago, so they have updated their records after sending out a usual phishing letter. I would suggest people think about mail redirection though - some how I think Royal Mail gave them my details once a redirection started. No recent searches by them, and no past action on these accounts. I'm thinking now that I've had one of these "pre-legal" letters before, and the letters cycle has just started again. If I write to them telling them it is statutory barred, does anyone know their track history on this - do they ignore?

Hi, this is a lower drawer letter saying they may have to pass to their friends Howard Cohen & Co.

Hi all, I could with some advice on this please; After a prolonged period of sending letters, offering large discounts, going silent and then starting the whole cycle again, Robinson Way have sent me a pre-legal assessment letter today. This refers to an old Barclaycard account and I guess I'll get a second one for another old Barclaycard. Now, the default dates were in 2010 although I suspected they'd actually been 2009. Regardless, I have made no acknowledgement or contacted them, no payments made. These alleged debts are no longer on my credit file and I'm 100% certain they are statute barred. At no point has Robinson Way sent any proof relating to these accounts that were sold to Hoist Portfolio 2. Do I respond right away with a complaint to the FCA? or should I acknowledge this pre-legal assessment letter? I'm unsure on whether or not I should send a "prove it" letter or if this warrants a more strongly worded response.

I'm looking for some advice please . I recently applied for a mortgage, and was asked initially over the phone "have you ever had any CCJS or IVAS". The answer was and is no. I was given an agreement in principle. This has now progressed to full application stage , after passing a full credit check. I have received a check list to sign and return to the lender. One of the first questions asks "Have you ever been subject to county court judgements (CCJs) , defaults or a repossession"? Is this asking if I have had a CCJ, county court default judgement or county court repossession order?, or is it asking if I have ever had credit defaults? The answer to that is yes, all unsecured, all now off my file and statute barred. After an initial panic I believe it is all County Court order related but I would like your opinions please.

Ok , thanks SabreSheep. I will send them a holding letter tomorrow then sort out a PO and send a formal CCA request.

Thanks for the replies. Can I send a prove it style letter to Lowell asking for a copy of the CCA, date last payment made etc. without sending off a PO for the £1. I could send them a cheque but that would have my signature - just with work time to get to the Post Office is limited. I've looked at using pctopaper to send a recorded delivery letter online. Would they simply write back asking for £1 ?

I've recently started to receive letters from Lowell and today, out of the blue, a phishing letter from Robinson Way. I've plumped for a free Noddle file and can see Mkdp and Lowell. Lowell have mentioned a Barclaycard and their balance reflects what is in my file. I presume Robinson Way will follow the phishing letter with demands for payment. I presume both relate to old Barclaycards. The default dates show mid 2010 however I was thinking the dates would have been 2009. Is there a chance the default dates are wrong? How do I go about moving this forward? One account was opened in 1994, one in 2003. I'm confused about what I should be asking for having read different things about a CCA pre 2007. There will be charges no doubt, not sure about PPI. I need to engage with Lowell now as they've been persistent , but will wait for Robinson Way to say exactly what it is they are chasing. The Lowell account is a card account that was sold to Barclaycard , maybe an egg card. When would a true default date be?

Thanks again Bankfodder. I've found one of my old course colleagues so have reached out to her , will have to see if I get a response. My memory is a bit hazy over exact dates but I have copies of the actual correspondence between myself and the college, so can back that up this was clearly disputed as well as clearly show I made a goodwill offer to cover their admin fees or start and pay for a new course. It was well over a year after leaving before the I received a letter from H&L , and as I mentioned there had been no correspondence from the college in the meantime to say I owed them money, why hadn't I paid etc.

Hi Bankfodder, Thanks for your reply. I'm unfortunately not in contact with anyone who attended the same course. My last correspondence with the college was in May 2014 when I asked for the complaint to be passed to the principal. An earlier letter, which I regret to say just went 1st class, had been ignored. I still have the email from May, that I sent to the college, so can print that with all the headers, time stamps etc. I did ask them then, as part of any pre-trial proceedings, to forward copies of the feedback forms that we all filled out, and minutes of the meeting between the department head and the class representative. I left well before the end of the 1st year. There were a lot of unhappy people there, I know some were considering leaving but others were prepared to just ride along as their employers would pay for the bill. The logic for them was that after 3 years they'd have a foundation degree, regardless of how bad the course was. They never acknowledged the fact either that I'd bill them for £35 for each letter I received from H&L if they chose to ignore me. . but I wasn't really expecting them to do that!

I'm looking for some advice please on how to proceed with regard to a county court claim I received today, courtesy of H&L. Back in 2011 I enrolled on a local college course for the academic year 2011/12. At the time I was unemployed and applied for "mature" student finance. This was ticking along and as the end of the year approached various people also on the same course dropped out as their finance was turned down or their circumstances changed. In January 2012 I was fortunate to secure full time employment and continued on the course, my employers allowing me to attend the college the one day a week necessary. I advised Student Finances of my change in circumstances but was told there would not be a problem - I just had to get evidence from my council that my household had been receiving council tax benefit for a period up until I started the course. I applied to the council for written proof of this, and to date this never came back. The course itself was flawed. The planned course tutor was on long-term sick and the college struggled to cope. As a class we lost countless hours waiting for a tutor, a room, many times just being told to get on with things or read one of the course books. As an example we had a lesson in flash, then never revisited flash for weeks, the same for Adobe Photoshop. Being told to read a course book was OK if you had the book. For those who were unemployed or on low incomes, we certainly couldn't afford all the books, and the college only had 2 or 3 which could be loaned out for limited periods. Things came to a head after the department head randomly came in one evening and asked for feedback. As a class we came together, wrote down our grievances and passed these on, much to the department head's shock and surprise. A class representative was appointed and a meeting was held and we were told things would improve. In the end I couldn't justify taking time off away from my work and I had serious doubts on the value of the course and spending thousands on a 3 year foundation degree for an education that I wasn't getting - one part of the course was fine - the lecturer did her bit but the main IT elements (this was an Internet Business course) were sorely lacking. I left the course in early 2012 and didn't hear anything from the college. No invoice, no calls, no final demand, no default notice .. nothing. In early September 2013 I received the first of well over a dozen of threatening letters from H&L Solicitors and I contacted the college to find out what was going on. H&L had added around £35 to the total apparently although this was not made clear. The debt was for £1207. I emailed the college and eventually received a holding email in October followed by a letter which claimed there had been no issues with the course , and that I had to pay. I replied by letter, which was never acknowledged offering to pay £300 to resolve matters and cover their admin costs, or for them to put me on a new properly managed course for which I would pay. Moving to 2014, after a flurry of threats from H&L I emailed the college again, asking for my complaint to be passed to the principal. Again I offered the £300, or to pay for a new course. This was ignored. Fast forward to 2015 and many months have gone by without any letters from H&L, so I wrongly presumed the college had simply moved on. Three weeks ago I received a threat of legal action from H&L, the same as many they'd sent before and today I received a county court claim. The total is now £1600 including court costs and £80 solicitors fees, and interest. I am in a position to pay but I'm unsure as to how to proceed. My life is more or less back together after an 18 month period of unemployment before 2012 and I'm with the same employer. I don't want to get my credit rating destroyed after I've been slowly building it back up. I have never contacted H&L as my complaint has always been with the college. The H&L letters do not make clear if they bought the debt or if they are acting on the college's behalf. If I defend would I have to pay more if I lose? If I get a judgment against me but pay within a month does that get wiped? Should I counter claim?, offer a part payment? - contact H&L? Since this started I've moved house and only received the claim because my mail is redirected. Any advice you could offer would be much appreciated.

Since I sent my CCA request to HSBC (copied to Pestons) along with request for full statement of account there has been no response on their side.

That sounds like a first to me, sending someone to your home to discuss the potential legal case. How and why did you leave your employer?, did they act unfairly?, breach employment law, have dodgy recruitment and promotion practices etc? If so, fight back with it.

Just an update, HSBC never responded to my CCA request and things have gone quiet. What Acts are they now specifically in breach of?

Got a letter back from HSBC - a very badly written letter at that, and also which does not acknowledge anything I put in the my complaint. I asked for them to consider writing off the debt, put that I understood if they wouldn't and if that was the case - would they accept a token £2 a month until my circumstances improve. They say I have to deal only with Restons as they are now responsible for the debt, yet the letter from Restons referred to them (HSBC) as "our client". So sounds like it is still a HSBC debt (shows as such on my credit file) but that HSBC don't want to deal with it. Any advice on what to do next? I copied Restons with my CCA request. Nothing back on that yet from HSBC but they have at least another week to respond. I can escalate the complaint at HSBC but I presume they will do nothing about it.

Silverfox, sorry to hear about the problems you are having. Hope it gets resolved for you.

Just tried the Vodafone web team form, doesn't work - when you complete it and click send error message says not available.