hi guys, i recently sent off a template letter to restons solicitors regarding an old o2 account telling them my o2 account that has been passed to them is now statute barred. they have responded with a letter stating the account was opened on or around 21 june 2005 and a credit in the sum of £8.50 was made on the 8th june 2008. i am 100% sure no payments were made then, i have no proof, but by the wording of their letter (the on or around 21 june 2005) neither have they. they are now asking me to complete a financial statement and return within 2 weeks or legal proceedings will commence. have i opened a can of worms here?? i am guessing i can ask for proof that the credit was made and that i made it? any help please friends and thank you for reading.

Hi Guys, I hope your well. I had a mobile phone contract with Vodafone back in 2011 and made regular payments on time never having any issues. Towards the end of the sim only contract Vodafone were contacting me to try and encourage me to upgrade to a new contract along with taking a handset as part of a new contract. I refused to this but when sales rep was discussing my options he said I had never used more than 300 minutes in a month. However maybe a month later I received a bill from Vodafone saying I had exceed my allowances of minutes and I owed them something like £150. I was immediately suspicious of this as had never used anywhere near my allowance of minutes in a month and the vodafone service where you can check your minutes had stated I will still within my allowance. I contacted Vodafone and disputed the charges and asked for an itemized bill listing all of the numbers I was alleged to have rang so I could I could check the charges were valid. I never received any response to my requests and as the contract was due to terminate anyway I took out a contract with another provider and never had any further correspondence from Vodafone. That was till yesterday when I received a letter from Bryan Carter Solicitors on behalf of Fredricksons stating that unless I pay them £202.00 prior to the 09/04/14 they are going to issue court proceedings for an amount of money I don't believe I owe and have never had any sort of bill for. I have also checked my credit file and it shows a default on there from a company called Lowell who have performed numerous unlawful searches on my credit file as well as registering a default in 2013 although the alleged debt related to 2011. I am unsure as to how to deal with this threat from a company I have never heard of and debt I have never had any notification of. I believe there is some kind of prove it letter I can send to Bryan Carter asking them to provide any supporting documentation to go along with any claim they are trying to bring against me. I appreciate the amount of money owed is only small but I have always disputed the charges and never had any bill. I was also completely unaware my credit file was being accessed by a company (lowell portfolio) who I have never had any dealings with. If there any template letters I can send to Bryan Cater solicitors I would very much appreciate it. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated as I only have till 09/04/14 to decide how I am going to deal with this issue. Thanking you in advance Chris

Hi, just received a County court claim form from Arrow Global via Restons solicitors for a shop direct account that I know nothing about. I vaguely recall having letters from them in the past and I told them then that I have no knowledge of the account and also sent a prove it letter and as such have heard nothing for a while until now. Here are the particulars of claim: The Claimant claims payment of the overdue balance due from the Defendant(s) under a contract between the Defendant(s) and Shop Direct dated on or about 18/04/2005 and assigned to the Claimant on 13/05/2011 in the sum of 960.50 PARTICULARS a/c no:- DATE ITEM VALUE 01/05/2013 Default Balance 960.50 post Refrl Cr NIL TOTAL : 960.50 I have sent AOS online today 14/02/2014 stating that I will defend the total amount a nd I have also sent a CPR 31.14 request to Restons today via recorded delivery. Do I need to also send a Part 18 request and if so to who? any help will be appreciated.

Hi Can anybody offer me some advice please Situation : house is in joint names although now divorced and I currently live in property with my daughter who is 9 and I pay all the bills There is a charging order on the property in favour of ME III Limited as I understand it - I have today received a claim form from stating they are applying for Order of Sale. I did offer back in October 2013 to pay £10 per month and asked they provided me with bank details to set this up, they never did this although amazing a letter has appeared in the witness bundle which I never received. What is my next course of action I called them today and s aid I am happy to pay £15 a month ( I thought that because of the charging order they would get there money back when the house is eventually sold but obviously this is not the case) I am not sure how to proceed Any advice would be great From a worried Mum

I had the misfortune to have a legal dispute with a neighbour ( a big corporate business) over parking rights. Knowing the history of the land and that predecessors in title had parked for over 35 years and being physically threatened and harrassed I went to a solicitor for some initial advice. That solicitor advised that a potential witness was a friend of his and we agreed that I would write to my legal insurance company to see if they would cover him undertaking the work, given his unique position. To cut a long story short, though I wrote to my insurance company straight away my solicitor did diddly squat in respect of contacting potential witnesses and thus provide my insurance company with the information they required to assess if they would cover my claim. I only found this out when he presented me with a bill. He only started doing any work after I received court papers from the other party some three months after I had initially visited him. It was at the point that he forwarded details of his costs and I discovered that my legal insurance only covered claims and not defences and I was f*cked financially. The other party settled out of Court and I won my right to a parking space but I was left with large legal bill. I complained to the Legal Ombudsman after complaining to the solicitors and getting no response within 8 weeks. Initally the Pre Legal Ombudsman found that there had been a delay but that there no issues re costs and that as I had no written evidence of my right to park it was doubtful that the insurance company would have funded the matter.. My solicitors had by then responded to my complaint acknowldeging a costs issue and offering a 20% reduction in fees which the pre Omdudsman person felt was fair. The firm presented me at this time with a bill for just over £5000. I appealed this given that the solicitors had accepted that there were cost issues and that the legal premise for my claim to park, prescriptive easement was based on there not being any documentation but witness's statements from those who had been parking there since the 1970's The actual Ombudsman then found that there was no delay ( no reason given) but that there were costs issues. He dismissed the fact that I could have had legal insurance to cover at least part of the costs on spurious grounds and found that the firms offer of a 20% discount was reasonable (what a surprise) but should extend to all the fees paid to them in the past and the future.He stated that he would not get into the reasonableness of the costs which I may latter wish to complain about but that I would have cause t complain if they did not offer a discount in the future. I was presented with a bill for just over £5000 to cover all the outstanding costs by the firm.. I have already paid over a grand to the solicitor and £2500 for the barrister. I paid £4500 and promised to pay the £500 + at the beginning of the next month. I hand delivered a cheque for the outstanding amount as promised and thought no more. Then I get another bill for just over £1700 relating to costs that I thought I had already paid when I paid the £5000 bill, especially given the firms letter of offer states that I owed just over £5000 and that following the Ombudsman's decision ( which I didnt accept) the firm again wrote to advise “that the total from start to finish of your case is £5000” inclusive of VAT taking into account the 20% discount offered. I knew this was incorrect as Id already paid them a £1000 and the legal Ombudsman seemed to arrive at a different figure but I just wanted to draw a line under the whole matter and move on and similarly to not challenging the Ombudsman's decision, which I could have as he gave no reason as to why he found no delay, I didnt challenge it and just paid it. As work was still continuing I expected a further invoice for approx £1000 minus 20% Anyway, I ignored the bill thinking they would realise that they had made an error but then a further letter arrived stating that I still owed monies but not specifying what they were. I checked my online account and noted that the cheque I paid had not been cashed. I wrote another cheque for the £500 + which I hand delivered and emailed advising that I had again hand delivered a cheque for the outstanding monies as my first cheque appeared to have been uncashed by them and highlighted the erroneous letter wanting £1700 Today, a four days later I receive a letter advising that owe £1000 for the continuing work which I have no problem with apart from them appearing not to have included the 20% reduction, and further stating that I still also owe a further £1000+ for some retrospective stuff. Included was an intinerary of invoices sent and paid, which is incorrect in that one invoice, the most recent I have never received and others dont tally with dates or amounts I have been invoiced, and a credit note for over £200 as they had made some other errors and miscalculations. Im finding this all absurd and stressful. Its a bill that wont die even though I make payments. I cant believe, well actually I can, the incompetence of the firm. Im mindful to send the a cheque for the £1000 + minus the 20% and tell them to sing for the rest. Ive paid what they have invoiced me for and in accordance to their offer given the mistakes. Can they keep changing the goal posts? Informed advice needed please. Thank you

Hi can anyone advise my next step please. Had a letter from Bryan carter solicitors saying they were acting for Lowwel financial limited for an outstanding debt I sent Bryan carter a cca last week, I had a reply from them and they sent the cca and postal order back saying I must send the cca and request it direct to Lowell financial? Is this correct do I need to resend this or are they playing games? Thanks mw

ASA Adjudication on Hampson Hughes Solicitors Hampson Hughes Solicitors Edward Pavilion Albert Dock Liverpool L3 4AF Date: 5 March 2014 Media: Television Sector: Financial Number of complaints: 1 Complaint Ref: A13-251321 Ad A TV ad for a personal injury claim service featured two costumed characters walking down the street, one of which tripped over an exposed drainhole. The voice-over in the ad stated, "Accidents are never nice, but the £2,000 up-front on accepted cases from Hampson Hughes will make them a lot easier to deal with. Hampson Hughes. Finally something to feel good about." On-screen text stated "£2000 Ts & Cs apply visit http://www.hampsonhughes.com for details". Issue The complainant, who understood there were significant conditions associated with receiving a £2,000 payment, challenged whether the ad was misleading. BCAP Code 3.13.103.12 Response Hampson Hughes Solicitors said they believed the ad clearly stated that the £2,000 up-front payment was subject to acceptance of the case and made clear that the payment was not automatically awarded to clients. They said they encouraged people to visit their website to view the full details of the terms and conditions associated with the offer. Clearcast said the ad stated in the voice-over "£2,000 up-front on all accepted cases" and considered that that made it clear that £2,000 would be paid up-front only if the consumer's case was accepted by the advertiser. They said on-screen text qualified that acceptance was subject to terms and conditions. They said they had been advised by Hampson Hughes that any claim unlikely to result in an award of £3,000 or more would not be eligible for the £2,000 up-front payment, but they did not consider that condition to be so material that it needed to be explicitly stated. They considered that viewers would reasonably expect that any up-front sum would need to be close to any anticipated future financial award or settlement. They did not think that the other conditions of the award were significant enough to be explicitly mentioned in ad and therefore considered the on-screen text to be sufficient. Assessment Upheld The ASA noted that the ad stated "… £2,000 up-front on accepted cases from Hampson Hughes …" and considered that that implied that all cases taken on by Hampson Hughes would receive that up-front cash payment. We understood that there were a number of terms and conditions associated with the advance cash payment offer, including that the offer would not be honoured if the claim was unlikely to result in an award of £3,000 or more, and that therefore in some cases consumers' claims would be pursued by Hampson Hughes, but they would not be eligible to receive the up-front cash payment. Whilst we acknowledged that on-screen text stated "Ts and Cs apply", in the context of the claim in the voice-over we considered that consumers were likely to understand the terms and conditions to qualify whether or not the case would be accepted by Hampson Hughes, and not whether or not the accepted case would be eligible to receive the up-front cash payment. Furthermore, we considered that the exclusion of claims unlikely to result in an award of £3,000 or more was a significant limitation to the offer and therefore should have been clearly stated in the ad. Because we considered that the ad implied that all cases accepted by Hampson Hughes would receive an up-front payment of £2,000 when that was not the case, and because the ad excluded a significant limitation to the offer, we concluded that the ad was misleading. The ad breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.10 (Qualification) and 3.12 (Exaggeration). Action The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. We told Hampson Hughes Solicitors not to imply that an offer was available for all customers if that was not the case, and to make clear any significant limitations and qualifications to offers made in their future advertising. Perhaps they should have got some real legal advice first

,i had a letter can i get any help with this, im really worried about it, keep getting upset about, be grateful for any help possible

Hi guys i wanted a bit of advice. At a previous address i was paying arrears from an old address via an electric prepayment meter. I moved out of the property in december 12. I've had a bill for 300 odd quid addressed to my new address. Now at my new address have a totally different energy supplier so no ongoing realtinship with the company i owed that debt too. This letter that they have sent me has got no account numbers relationg to the debt on it they also have my name spelt incorrectly and no first name at all. Is the onus on them to prove that this debt is mine am i liable if they have my name totally incorrect where do i stand on this legally.

Hi guys I have the same problem now. I sold some ps3 controllers on Ebay and got the letter from Palmer Biggs last week, with all the feedbacks from ebay and a picture of the product (saying they bought it from one of my customer), claimed me to pay their solicitor fee (£1000), and also the certain amount of the profit, stop to sell, etc. I got these products from China and paid the supplier via paypal, I have all the invoices and funny thing is after I got the letter from Palmer bigs, I have asked the supplier if they are faked, and the supplier replied me via email say yes but sorry did not tell me that. I have also take one of the product to HMV and GAME, both of them told me it is faked but looks very close to the original one. I have stopped to sell them already. I have read quite a few threads from internet and got various answers. I am bit confused and scared. First of all, should I pay them or response to them? Doesn't the trading standard or police should knock my door first if I was selling something fake? Secondly, how big the chance I will lose if I do not pay them or just ignore them? I doubt I will be fined for a large amount because I only sold less than 50pcs, the total net profit I got only around £400. Thirdly, can I negotiate with them for the price? for example, I pay them £300 or the whole profit I got? Thanks

Hi, I would like advice on where I stand regarding a CCJ against me which I have defended received acknowledgement from the court and the solicitors (Mortimer Clarke) but have not received anymore correspondence since 30/8/13 from Courts and 22/8/13 from solicitors which states they have given me a 1 month extension to file my defence. Am I now able to have this CCJ struck out? Any help appreciated

I have owned a flat for three years and always paid service charges etc on time with no problems. Recently i received a letter stating I was being taken to court for upaid ground rent dating back three years. I had not received any letters about this and had thought ground rent was part of service charges. I was annoyed but decided to pay as it was my mistake and was willing to pay charges (despite not having received a single letter. This was before the solicitors email (complete with scanned letter I didn't receive). My debts are £100. They want £2779.52 in total and are threatening repossession. is there anything I can do?

Reputable solicitors to be recommended?

Hi there, We have received a Repossession Order from the halifax. We owe £4000 arrears,and until last week thought we were coming to an agreement.We havent actually missed a payment, just not paid the full amount. I did manage to secure more hours at work and was going to make an offer to pay our contractual monthly payments plus an extra £150 to help clear the arrears,this would be paid every 4 weeks (that is how my wages are paid,and it makes it easier,on payday just go to the bank and pay it directly) we received a letter from the solicitors on Tuesday saying our case was being handled by them, and yesterday we recieved a court repossession order for 19th December.Its all happened so quickly and I really dont know what to do, I am typing this through tears so apologise for any spelling mistakes. Thanks.

Hi I have been paying my DCA Idem then passed to Arden for almost a year but I have just gone into a Debt Management Plan so have not paid them for 2 months I just dont have the money as i couldnt keep up the repayments i instructed a debt managment plan I owe Arden 2,000 they have just landed with a solicitors letter what should i do contact the solicitors or not?

Hi everyone, I'm new here, but never did I think I would be in the situation where I would need help. I was shopping in Sainsburys on the 16th Nov and myself and my partner brought about £60 worth of items with the hand hold self scanner, anyway, after walking through the exit, two of the guards grabbed us and said ''I know what you did''. Took me to the back room, and accused us of stealing a tin of roses as my partner put it in the trolley without my knowledge simple mistake,, in the shock of it all i must of dropped the receipt outside the store,, as the guards wanted it and i could not find,, they said well it was in your hand i said well its not now is it we were escorted through the store one in front and one guard behind,, I was shocked, in hindsight, I know I was on autopilot mode as my partner had paid for all the items and had pushed the trolley out of the store I explained that to the guard, but he wasn't having it i said theres been some mistake and offered to pay for the item, and looking directly over me in an intimidating manner whilst we were seated and he said ''you purposely placed items in the trolley without scanning them and we have already called the police,,, he then started the previous wk shopping where myself and my partner had been "randomly tested" at the scan and go tills but through a fault of the scanner everything had to be redone through a normal check point and it came to £227 as we had brought alot more than normal as we were getting ready for xmas & it was my mothers birthday but he said there was only £97 on the scanner before it went through which i replied thats incorrect the guard then said well this is you nector card isnt it? I said well i used mine to activate the scanner but after the confusion at the till point we used my partners and she paid,, but on his paper work only my details were present,, he said i was lying and that i could explain it to the police he and the manager then said all your visit to sainsburys comes to 60-80 per wk thats pretty consistent and by this point i had enough of there manners, i replied with well its called sticking to a budget which he then said well he cant manage that consistence..i said thats not my fault The police turned up whilst we waited in there holding room with the door open and staff continued to walk past very embarrassing for the both of us,,,, after the store discussed the matter with the police came into say they would service me a a penalty notice of £100 and i said to both of us? the officer said no its been treated as u were working together and i said well put it in my name then which the officer did,,,, Anyway, they gave us a form, banning us and let us go. To be honest, I was glad to get out and didn't care if I was banned for life. we were also refunded the amount we had paid but even then i still offered to pay bcus i really didnt wanna have to go shopping again that day , (which i did to tesco and spent £80) then when they refunded the money they gave us £4 to much as we had used a coupon so this proves there tils can not be accurate but on the 21st (the letter was dated the 19th 3 days after the incident) we both get a letter from DWF stating: Dear Sirs (seriously? as my partner is a women) Our Client: Sainsburys Supermarkets Balance Due: £150 This sum is broken down as follows: Value of goods stolen £0.00 Value of goods damaged £0.00 Value of cash stolen £0.00 Security costs £150.00 my first question is why have me and my partner got a letter each when the guards and police dealt with it as a joint offence and secondly is this scare tactics? will there be more letters with threats of civil actions? Please Advise guys! Many Thanks

Hi, I think this it the right place to post this? So a week or so ago I receive a letter from Restons Solicitors acting on behalf of Arrow Global Limited, regarding a debt owed to HFC that was taken out in 2001. This debt in my mind is statute barred no payments have been made towards it and it was never acknowledged for a 6 year period, and it no longer appears on my credit record. This evening I get a phone call from a someone at Restons solicitors asking for payment, I told here the debt is statute barred. She said a payment was made in 2010 for £273. I told her this wasn't me and wasn't likely to be someone else. I told her I wasn't making any payment, she told me she would get further instruction from her client and the call ended there. Now I've had time to think about this supposed payment, I think I know where this figure has come from. I few years ago when checking my credit file I saw I had a CCJ on there which I think was for £273. (I can't be sure without the person who paid it for me looking at their statements). It sounds like it could have been in 2010 as well. Now when I rang up to pay this off at the time, the DRA (Not Arrow) who dealt with it had 2 debts of mine. The one that was a CCJ and the other which I now think was the HFC loan. I only paid the CCJ off, and ignored the other, as that one was not on credit file. So what I think Restons are trying to do here is claim that me paying off this unrelated debt, although it is with the same DRA is counting towards payment of the HFC loan that they are now chasing me for. Where do I stand here exactly? So I can be ready if they contact me again. Thanks.

I recently received letter from them about trying to obtain ccj against me and the claim form from northampton county court. The debt itself is related to capital one credit card which i had till roughly 2006. On the claim it states this debt was assigned to Lowell Portfolio on 07/09/2006. Can they still obtain cccj against me as it's over 6 years and i don't remember acknowledging it in any way? What I should do now? Thanks

I have received same letters from same solicitors since August. I am in the process of dealing with it. I have done reasonable amount of research into legal cases involving this Palmer Biggs and Ebay however no one have confirmed of the outcome after ignoring the letter. Anyone have any new updates?

Hi guys, Received a registered post with piles of papers from this same solicitor PM Legal, demanding 1000 pounds + compensation, in the same situation as Dempsey40. Can anyone received same letters update any outcome or solution? Thanks!

Hi everyone, I'm new here, I've been lurking around for some time (it's always good to learn from all the smart people on here) but never did I think I would be in the situation where I would need help. I was shopping in Sainsburys a few weeks ago and brought about £25 worth of items, anyway, after walking through the exit, one of the guards grabbed me and said ''I know what you did''. Took me to the back room, looked at my receipt and apparently one of the items did not scan, I was shocked, in hindsight, I know I was on autopilot mode and if the item doesn't scan, the self checkout alerts me via 'unexpected item' response, so I carried on unaware. I explained that to the guard, but he wasn't having it, and looking directly over me in an intimidating manner whilst I was seated and said ''you purposely covered the barcode with your hard and waived it over the scanner!'' At this point, I wanted to headbutt him, but had to control myself. Anyway, they gave me a form, banning me and let me go. To be honest, I was glad to get out and didn't care if I was banned for life. Today, I get a letter from DWF stating: Dear Sirs Our Client: Sainsburys Supermarkets Balance Due: £150 This sum is broken down as follows: Value of goods stolen £0.00 Value of goods damaged £0.00 Value of cash stolen £0.00 Security costs £150.00 From reading this forum, I would venture to ignore them, however I have a few issues, I am moving house next week and then relocating the following week again, but this time down south, so how do I respond back to their letters if I don't know what they send, what are their timeframes in sending letters? Since I don't want or need a royal mail re-direction service. I also have a new job as a 'Immigration Officer' and was wondering if this would affect it, I have to hold a high level of security clearance. Please Advise guys! Many Thanks!!!

Hello. I just want to say, I don't dispute my loan with WDA. I know I owe them money, I just disbute how much I owe them. I took out a loan with WDA for £385 (with interest total owed was £518) last year, I was unable to pay it back and was put on a payment plan. In the summer this year I could no longer stick with the payment plan and WDA refused me another payment plan. Since july this year I have not made any payments to them. while I was on a payment plan they froze my interest. My balance was £350 at this point. Last month I got emails from ardent DCA asking me to pay up, they are asking me for £515. I have told them my balance was £350 but they are telling me WDA has added £165 interest for no payment since 31/05/13. They claim to have put a *Daily Interest applied £2.75 charge onto the balance but that doesn't even add up to £165. Also on the statement of account letter that WDA provided me with last month it says "Default Date: 29/06/2012" so how can they default me and then add interest? Or freeze my interest and then re-add interest? Ardent DCA told me they will accept £360 in full and final settlement of this account, if I don't pay and want a payment plan split into 3 months it will be on £515. How is that legal? Anyway, I refused and today I got a letter from moon beevers solicitors, please advise me guys; 14 november 2013 Ref;xxxx Re; wage day advance We act for the above named, having been instructed by its collection agents. Debt & revenue services, whom we understand attempted to contact you regarding the det you owe wage day advance in the sum of £515. You will appreciate that you are contracually bound to make payment and our client cannot continue to tolerate non-payment of that which is due. If you are experiencing genuine financial difficulty, then we urge you to contact debt and revenue services to explain your circumstances and agree to a payment plan which you are able to manage and maintain. In the absence of such contact by you and/or payment in full within 14 days of the date of this letter, then it is our clients current intention to issue county court proceedings against you for the sum of £515 in addition to legal costs and any interest due. Such proceedings will be issued out of northampton county court and served upon you by post. If proceedings are issued and you fail to sere a legitimate defence our client will request the court to enter a judgment against you in its favour. If any judgment so awarded remains unpaid it will be subject of enforcement action without further notice. For the avoidance of doubt and so that you are fully aware of our clients intentions, we feel it only fair to inform you that out clients preferred methid of enforcement in your case is to apply to the court for an attachment of earnings order. This means the court will be requested to order your employer to decuct monies from your wages in payment of your debt and legal costs etc, subject to a protected earning rate. This matter has now reached critical stage, but not to late to resolve the matter. Contact debt and revenue service. Yours faithfully, xx

Hi New to this thread, received the same letter haven't signed anything yet. Please can people update as and when things happen and will do the same. Also @ Tom what was the final settlement agreed as solicitors fees seem extreme. Thanks

This morning I have recieved a court claim form from Bryan Carter solicitors from a debt from 2008 worth £1701.43 with the costs and interest they are pursuing it is £2368 It was a debt from 2008 I made some payments in 2008 before being hospitalised for 18mths. I have had one letter from them in 2009 but nothing since. Is there anything I can do? My house is in my name. I do not have an income or savings and receive just DLA Issue date of my claim form is 04 Oct 2013

Have just received the attached letter from Bryan Carter Solicitors. Have been fighting Lowells and a number of other DCA's for years. None have been able to provide a signed CCA despite numerous SAR and CCA requests. Any advice on what I should do (if anything)? Thanks.