Yea that's why I just got him off the phone.......I though to myself oh you've finished with your tantrum now and now you will accept my payment? I don't think so!!!!!!

I will most certainly do that, thank you and I will keep you updated.

Hey thought I had heard the last of PDCS but lo and behold they rang me today!!!!! Said they had received my letter (see above) and that they are willing to go through an income & expenditure with me. It was inconvenient at the time as I had just left work so they are going to ring me back.........shall I tell them to prove what I owe as I know that I do not owe British Gas for this debt now (£186)

No I didn't as it really doesn't matter what they have done to my credit rating, it's in tatters anyway so not really an issue for me. It is PDCS who hold the debt so the payments go to them.......they don't pass them BG as they bought the account from them. It just seems a bit strange to me that they are being so obstructive when I was so close to clearing this debt? Paranoid? Cynical?

Yeah I reckon you are right and from what they have said in the latest letter ie: they will instruct BG to take me to court (when BG have said they don't own the account anymore!!!) I'm beginning to think there is not they can do if I don't pay the rest of what I owe as they clearly do not know their bum from their elbow!!!!

In response to dx The first letter I ever got from PDCS was about a year ago, (I have made around 12 payments of £30 to this company) I knew I had this debt for BG from my previous address as I had been paying through a meter but thought I was paying it in with my new account at new address but that wasn't the case and didn't get any correspondence from BG regarding it, just the letter from PDCS

They won't accept any payment from me unless it is the £186.58 (full payment) that is left outstanding on the account. I am a single mum working part time and just do not have access to a lump sum like that as literally all my money is paid out each month at the moment.

Thank you very much!!!! Credit rating doesn't really matter as that's knackered anyway...........I've got no issue with paying what I owe it's just the fact that this company are twatbags who have cancelled my payment plan (when it's so close to being finished) to probably add more charges on just coz I was a couple of days late ringing them. The problem I have is that they can't set up a standing order as I have a maestro card so I have to ring and pay it every month. Sometimes the payment date will land on a sunday so then I have to ring on a monday which counts as me being late and as this has occurred 3 times in a year they won't allow me to pay £30 and want the full amount. The debt is originally from my previous address, I had got into financial difficulty and not paid gas for a while so a meter was installed and the debt was being repaid through that. I then moved house so had to stay with British Gas to continue paying my debt to them but there was an issue regarding the previous tenants of my current property and it took a while to get my saccount set up here. This is where BG screwed up as I was led to believe that my previous debt payments were rolled into the payments I was making for my gas at my current property. This wasn't the case and the first I knew of it was when PDCS wrote to me requesting this account be paid. Then followed the farce I have endured this last month. Posted that letter off today so can't wait to see what response I get. They allow for phone but not things like hire purchase, ie: Brighthouse payments and also wouldn't amend the I&E even when I rang back straight away to correct the error. PDCS were saying that I had a disposable income of around £250 per month which is most definately not the case!!!!!!!! After coming off the phone I realised that my sons nursery fees had not been accounted for which is £62 per week...........there goes that disposable income!!!!! But they wouldn't adjust it even when I said I could send them proof that's what I have to pay out.

Yes, i rang asked British Gas and they said that the account was ''purchased'' by PDCS so basically British Gas got paid whatever amount by them so any money owed is owed to PDCS as they ''bought'' the debt.

I pay £45 a fortnight in a 3 bedroomed house. I have an electric cooker and heating is only used as when needed, not on constantly. I think this amount is excessive.......especially as my neighbour pays around half of that amount!!!!!! I tried to query it British Gas would not help. May be worth comparing energy prices online, I intend to!!!

Also my offer was going to be £1 per month lmao

Well I am interested to see what their response to this would be

Update: I have had a few phone calls from this company, which I ignored and awaited the inevitable letter........it arrived today. Basically stated that the above account remained unpaid and if continued to remain unpaid then they would instruct their client to issue court proceedings against me. My response to this letter is as follows and is what i will be mailing to them tomorrow. Just wanted to check that what I have put in my response is ok........here goes....... Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing with regards to letter you sent dated 15/11/12. The account remains unpaid as I was two days late making payment (as I was working) and my plan was cancelled as I was unable to pay the £186.58 in full and could only afford to make the £30 payment I was scheduled to make. Your so called ''friendly and helpful'' advisor’s were anything but and I was left frustrated at being unable to make my payment. I was asked to go through an income and expenditure form over the phone and was told that my disposable income was too high to continue making £30 payments and the full amount HAD to be paid. I am a single working mother to three children and knew for a fact that I did not have the disposable income stated by the advisor. After terminating the call I checked through my paperwork and realised that some outgoings had been overlooked. I then phoned back to correct this error and was advised that my payment plan could be reinstated if I phoned the following morning (01/11/12) at the start of a new calendar month. When I phoned as arranged the next morning I was told by a manager that she had over ruled what the previous advisor had said and that I had to pay the full amount. I explained that some outgoings had been missed off but she said that that was what the income and expenditure form stated and she had to go by that. I now know that only a Magistrate can request an I&E and that your company do not have the power to demand, let alone act upon such information. Also, any offer payment must not be refused when a client is willing to pay as set out by the Office of Fair Trading. I very much wanted to settle this account as I was near to clearing the amount with only a handful of instalments left to pay so, I rang British Gas to see if I could pay them directly. I was advised that I do not have any outstanding debt with them and my account was purchased by a Debt Collection Agency ie: PDCS. In your letter it is stated that if full payment is not received then your company will advise your client (British Gas) to make a claim against me in court. As British Gas no longer own the account (and the call centre operator that answered my call categorically stated that they would not chase me for any such amount) then this threat of ''recommending to our client that they should issue a claim in court'' is made under false pretences and is therefore unlawful. I found the whole business of dealing with your call centre staff most distressing, intimidating and humiliating. They believe it is appropriate to question people on essential outgoings and then dismiss them if it doesn't 'fulfil' the criteria on their form. They are just call centre staff, NOT registered bailiffs (which even if they were would still not have the authority to conduct themselves in the manner that they do ie: not being a Magistrate and requesting completion of an I&E). I just wish I had had the information I now posses to deal with your bullying staff at the time they refused my payment and treated me as second rate just because I owed some money. Whatever happened to ''without prejudice'', considering I had already paid a substantial amount on this account and wasn't refusing to pay, just merely two days late calling to make payment. I would just like to add, this account should never have been passed to/bought by you in the first place as it was an oversight made by British Gas. However, as soon as I was aware you held this account, I phoned to arrange to make payment in instalments which I continued to make for many months until this unfortunate situation arose. I am still willing to clear this account but, at a rate that is affordable to my circumstances. Which either I or a court will determine, not a Debt Collection Agency. I look forward to your response regarding this matter, with a view to continue a payment plan. I would commence this through the online payments system as I would not wish to deal with your rude and aggressive call centre staff again. I did try to make payment online after my plan was cancelled, however this option had been suspended to me so maybe you could look into resolving that.

I will be doing when PDCS undoubtedly contact me with one of their lovely letters!!!!

Hmmmmmmm British Gas rather unhelpful, basically just said that the debt doesn't belong to them anymore as they have sold it to PDCS and it's them I need to deal with. I double checked that British Gas are not going to chase me for anything and was assured no... ..it's nothing to do with them. I'm coming to the conclusion that PDCS can kiss my arse for the other £186 that is owing, I have already paid them around £360 which I'm sure is a hell of a lot more than they bought my debt for. If anyone has any further advice other than what I have decided to NOT do (i:e pay bullies who make peoples life a misery) I would be very happy to hear it. If PDCS ring me I will tell them to contact me in writing only and also to prove what I have outstanding. Good strategy? Thoughts appreciated.