Hi All,
I was just wondering if I could get some advice.
in April this year I received a letter from Lowell requesting £323 for debt to JD Williams.
Some history
- JD williams (premier man) first contacted me about 3 years ago saying I had out standing debt,
at the time I asked them to send me a statement and a copy of my agreement where I agreed to the £12 administration charges on my account.
They could not provide them and I never heard from them again.
About 2 years ago I heard from another debt collection agency with the same thing,
again I asked for a copy of my statement and the agreement - I never heard from them again.
Around April this year I heard from Lowell, who had bought the debt from JD Williams and were seeking payment.
I informed them I had had this conversation with JD Williams and the other debt agency several years ago and neither of them could provide me with any proof why I owed this money.
Lowell have now provided my account statement but have been told by JD williams that I signed up too long ago and they no longer have a copy of the agreement I would have agreed to.
Looking at the actual statement it starts in Sept 2009 but there are already charges on it so I assume my account was older than that.
Back when JD Williams first contacted me about the outstanding payments my question to them was what the administration charges were for, some months there are two lots of charges, some months one charge, some month no charges.
For example, between September 2010 and Sept 2011 - there are 12 admin charges despite making 5 payments of over the minimum required.
The last goods I bought were in March 2013, the first in over six months, which is when I noticed all the addition charges and interest and got in touch with them.
At that time, I believe, we agreed to a partial payment to cover goods and interest and I paid £102 in August 2013 and I never heard from them again after that, until the debt collectors started calling.
Lowell today acknowledged that the admin charges do look strange and dont make sense and that there are some double charges that they will take off and reduce it to £170.
As far as I can work out from the statement:
Opening ballance of -£44 at the start of the statement in 2009
between 2009 and 2014
£483.87 worth of goods and postage
£193.45 worth of interest charges
£564 worth of administration charges.
I've paid £859.16 over the years
Leaving balance of £338
My argument is
I've paid for all the goods, postage and interest and all the pre-2013 late charges (plus a bit more) when I spoke to premier man back in 2013.
The remaining balance is administration charges and interest on those charges that they can't provide any evidence for me agreeing to or a copy of the T&C I would have agreed.
I hope all this made sense.
Any advice for what to tell Lowell when they call back would be appreciated.
I really dont have £300+ to pay for some shirts I bought 4 years ago!
Although I'm sure many of us are in the same boat.
Thanks!