Hi all, Very sorry for the long post, hope it makes sense. I have seen quite a few posts here regarding Xercise4Less but every case seems to be different and i just want to check what i have done is correct. I was with the gym for approx. 2 years, i changed jobs and could no longer attend the gym so i went into the gym and spoke to a lady at the counter to cancel my membership this was around the 21st May, at this point there was no mention that i needed to go online to cancel and no mention that i needed 30 days to cancel my membership, the lady simply said that my membership has been cancelled. on the 25th May the following months membership come out (i had no issues with this, maybe it takes a few days to go through etc) , on the 14th June i received a letter saying they haven't received payment, i ignored this letter as i had cancelled my membership and paid on the 25th (probably my first mistake?) I dont have the letter but before the 1st July i received another letter saying i owed £34.99, i emailed them trying to explain as this way i have records, they emailed back on the 2nd saying i need to cancel on the website, which i then did (figured i had nothing to lose by trying) I sent 4 emails sent to Harlands with Xercise4Less copied in between 13/07 and 31/08, I received no replies from them then on the 02/08 I received a reply saying they don’t have any records of me emailing them, I emailed them back explain again all the issues saying I am happy to pay the £9.99. On the 28th July I received the next letter saying i owed £69.98, i phoned the gym, they told me i needed to speak to Harlands, Harlands said i had to pay or speak to the gym about my cancelling (i was going round in circles for a few days. My final email to them was from your messages boards to which they didn’t reply. If you confirm in writing that you'll accept the amount of £9.99 in settlement of all that I owe, I will pay you promptly. If you fail to accept my offer within 14 days or you demand any other payment, I will pay you nothing and my offer will be withdrawn. On the 12 August CRS got involved sending me a letter saying i owed £104.97 On the 12th August CRS sent another letter saying i owed £171.47 On 28th September CRS said i owed them £171.47 and gave me two options, Legal Action or Outsourced to external agents if i don't pay. On the 18th October CRS said i still owed them 171.47 saying it is now being passed to Zinc Ltd. Suggestions on what to do now? Currently I am just ignoring them, i have received only a couple of phone calls which i didn't answer.

Hi all! Thanks for all your advice on these forums! They've helped a tonne and I've tried to keep well informed. I thought I'd just ask for some advice to make sure that I'm not doing anything wrong 26 Nov 2015 - Xercise4Less Membership for 12 months 26 Dec 2016 - Last payment made of £9.99. At this point I filled on the form online and cancelled my DD. And then the troubles and the letters started... 28th Jan 2017 - I sent a letter to Harlands using the templates I found on here stating: - I cancelled my DD on 28/12/16 as adequate notice of my cancellation of gym agreement - That I will offer a further £9.99 if they confirm in writing in 14 days this as full settlement of all amounts due. 1st Feb 2017 - Letter from Harlands stating that "All cancellations go through the Xercise4lEss website and that unless they have confirmation from the Xercise4Less head office to cancel, they cannot action my request" As per advice from this forum, I've ignored all further emails, letters and phone calls. 9th Jun 2017 - Letter from CRS stating an account balance of £171.47 and that I have 10 days before the balance is passed onto Zinc. I'm pretty sure that I should ignore further letters but was just wondering if there was something I missed or something that I should do? Again you guys are great! Fortunately I have the means to pay for this if it came to do it but I am not paying out of principle but it makes my blood boil to think of the kind of people they manage to extract money from

Hi there, I was first contacted by The Zinc Group on 24/02/2017 asking me for £171.47 for their client 'CRS on behalf of Xercise 4 Less'. I was a member of the Nottingham branch of this gym during my final year of university, and I paid the minimum of 11 monthly instalments of £9.99 between 26/10/16 and 25/08/2016. After this point, I had already moved away from nottingham I just cancelled my direct debit and assumed that would be the end of it. I now realise I made a mistake and should have notified the gym that I wanted to cancel. Since the first email from Zinc, I have received two others, the first offering a reduced one-off payment of £128.60, and then another asking for the full amount around a week later. I have not yet responded to any of the emails. Having read numerous other threads on this topic I realise I should not pay the full amount, although I do accept that I made a mistake so would be willing to pay something, just not the extortionate fee that they are demanding. Do you have any advice as to what (if any) move I should make? Any help would be greatly appreciated. N.B. The address they have for me is my old uni address, so I think the only correct information they have on me is my email address.

Good evening one and all. I have, over the past several weeks received several emails from these companies chasing a debt. As I have never heard of these companies, nor received any letters, etc. from the original creditor I have told them that I will not deal with them as I have never signed anything with them, no contract, nothing, indeed until the emails started arriving I had never even heard of them. The Zinc Group emails are pretty straight forward, however the CRS ones come with an envelope in the email to click, like opening an attachment. I do not open attachments from anyone I do not know. Can any of you give me chapter and verse on where I stand with these companies legally as I will not provide personal details to anyone I do not know. I appreciate that these two companies have been mentioned in the Health and Fitness forum but that doesn't really cover my issue. On another note, when a company rings me up and asks me to confirm details I tell them to tell me what they have, and if correct I will confirm. This usually results in "data protection" getting mentioned by the call centre operative, and an ending of the call. Where do I, indeed any of us, stand in such a situation? Do we have to provide details and what can happen if we refuse? Again chapter and verse if you have it please. Apologies for the long post. Best regards The Teacher.

I am looking for some advice. I received a txt today from CRS (Credit Resource Services) stating "We are now able to offer you an amazing 50% settlement. Please call CRS on 01444 449 165 between 08:00 and 6pm in order to agree with us. This confused me as i wasn't aware i owed them any money so i called up to see what this was about. According to them it was a Gym membership from Nov 2012. They claim that i had spoken to them in March 2013 and agreed to provide proof of address as i had moved away from the area in Feb 2013 around 80 miles away. Now hears were i got confused, I recall speaking to the Zinc Group about this query on 04/04/13 and they agreed that as long as the proof was sent to them that the account would be closed so i got a letter of my local council to say when i moved out of the council house which was 23/02/13. From which i have never heard any reply about this. And in speaking to the Zinc Group today, as far as they are aware the account is closed. CRS are adamant that there is over £200 on the account outstanding and they can reduce this to £165. I told them that as far as i am aware the account was closed and that i wasn't going to pay them a penny. They said they would put the account on hold for a week and the call me back? why i don't know. I did when i decided to cancel the membership speak to staff in the Gym and they just said its fine. As i moved and was at the time suffering from Severe Depression and Anxiety and this info was relayed onto the Zinc Group as all the harassment was making things worse. At the time of signing up i was unaware that it wouldn't be with the Gym but with some other company. Any help or advice on what to do next would be Greatly appreciated.

HI all, In 2015 I joined Exercise for Less. I cancelled the direct debit having spoken to the gym manager as I didn't like the facilities and naively thinking that would be the last i heard from them. I then battled with Harlands (I offered them the 9.99 as advised by this forum) then CRS (who gave my account back to Harlands after II sent them an email composed by the legendary Slick132). This happened in November 2015. However, as I was clearing my inbox I found this email from Harlands dated 05/01/17 ( this is the first I've heard from them since November 2015). ".......we note that you still have an outstanding balance £xxx.xx. We want to help you resolve this as soon as possible. We can set up a payment plan or look at a settlement figure to resolve this. Please call us today on 01444 449165 between 08:30am and 6:00pm. Your reference number is 829xxxxx. If you would prefer us to call you, please confirm a suitable number to reach you on. We regret that if we do not hear from you within the next 7 days, your account will be transferred to our Solicitors Spratt Endicott for further action. Many thanks,//......" What do I reply? I'm now worried they're going to take me to court. All help is much appreciated. Thanks

Hello. I do not know how I should proceed - I am quite worried as I am in the process of wanting to purchase my first home and cannot afford to have silly companies like the ones above impose court junctions against my name / affect my credit rating... Around May 2015, I had the usual nonsense posted on here that Xercise4Less wished to claim £126 from me, for "prematurely" cancelling a DD with no notice. So in result, they sent the Zinc hounds after me, to which after A LOT of harrassment, they accepted all the proof i provided to them and closed my account. This was the final email i received from Zinc "Good Afternoon Mr XXXX, Thank you for your email correspondence which contents have been noted. This has been accepted by ourselves and no further contact will be made. King regards, Amy." Great. Yesterday I received an email now from CRS "Hello XXX We are writing in regards to the account that has been passed to us by Xercise 4 Less. Your file has recently been returned to us by the Zinc Group. Your CRS reference number is ...... and your outstanding balance stands at £126.49. We urgently need to speak to you about this matter and would be grateful if you would call us today on 01444 449165 between 08:30am and 6:00pm. We are happy to set up a payment plan if you can not afford to settle the balance in one go. We are also willing to consider a reduced settlement with you if this will help resolve the matter. Alternatively, if you would prefer us to call you, please confirm a suitable number to reach you on. Many thanks, Rob Avery CRS Collections Manager" I don't want to leave this floating, how can i tell them that this has nothing to do with me anymore, when will this stop . Thanks MN

Hello! It seems I am another persons struggling with CRS/Harlands etc etc. Way back in 2012, I entered into a gym contract with Fitness First in Leeds whilst at University. I then moved back home (40 miles away) and called Fitness First and asked them to transfer my "home" club to being back at my parents home, they said this was fine. Fitness First then shut down my local gym, I called them and they said everything was cancelled and that they were sorry for any confusion. I then found a DD on my bank account to "Harlands" in around February/March 2013, went into my bank, said I didn't know who this was and they reversed the charges, I didn't hear anything at all. Then came emails in August 2013 from The Zinc Group, asking me to contact them. Being a naive early 20's anxiety ridden mess, I only communicated with them once to tell them to stop calling me. This went on for a few weeks as I ignored their calls, then I heard nothing from them. Roll on to Friday last week (December 9th 2016) and I receive a text message from CRS saying "Please call CRS today on 01444 449*** as your account has now been returned to us from the Zinc Group. We're open between 8:30am and 6pm" I then received an email asking me to contact them regarding my account at TruGym Leeds (which is what the Fitness First turned into - I never stepped foot in the place), and I have received another email this morning asking me to contact them today, other wise they will pass it on to Spratt Endicott Just looking for some advice really. I don't think they have my correct address as I have not received anything in writing from them, and old emails from Zinc have my old student house address on them. The balance is apparently £193.35, but I do not plan on paying them a penny. I do not have a copy of my old contract with Fitness First, and I have never signed ANYTHING with TruGym Leeds. I never even set foot in the building to my knowledge. If anyone could advise what I need to do next that would be great. Should I continue to ignore everything from them? Seems a bit strange for them to contact me three years since they last attempted to. I genuinely thought all this had gone away. Thank you for taking the time to read this, you lovely bunch of people!

Hello I have got a debt with Spark for £1110.10, I have been passed over to Zinc I emailed them and offered to pay £5 per month, they agreed to this and said they would get in touch with Spark to see if I could pay this rate for the next 24 months rather than the usual 12. whilst still awaiting an answer to this and a date to start paying the £5 I got a phonecall from BW Legal who said they were dealing with this and wanted to go through income/expenditure, I asked them to ring during my dinner hour, they didn't, I rang them and they said they were on their dinner and would ring later, I told them to post me a form as I cant answer my phone at work. I have got the form and it is asking who my employer is, what my car is worth? what my partners wage is? do I have to answer these questions? seems a bit intrusive, plus, as far as I was aware I had sorted this debt with Zinc?? anyone help.

Hi there, I'm looking for a bit of advice on a gym membership gone wrong. I was a member at Xercise4less in Renfrew, I joined within a couple of days of the 8.7.14 on a 12 month option. By April 2015 I knew I was moving out the area and wanting to cancel after the 12 month period was up. I took a cancellation letter into main reception at the start May stating that my membership should cancel after my June payment. I didnt go again because I had moved house. It was only in January when I received a letter from CRS to my new address that I owed them £207.10 for missed payments of membership. I tried dealing the centre direct but they refused saying it had been handed over to the 3rd party. After reading on here I seen I wasnt the only one with the problem so I used a couple of the template emails that I seen and sent them off. All was quiet till April when they gave me an option 'to pay significantly less' and close the deal. It was still £140 they wanted so I ignored them. Now it has been passed over to the Zinc Group after receiving an email from them yesterday. Sorry for being long winded here but can anyone suggest what I can do next to get this lot of my back . They are a nightmare, not to mention a stress I can do without at the moment! Below I have put copies of the most recent emails CRS and the new one from Zinc. What frustrates me is that they had my email and mobile number the whole time but didnt once think to get in touch that way. Thanks in advance, Chris CRS email: Dear....... Re: CRS Ref No: / Xercise 4 Less Ref No: Further to our previous correspondence, we initially wish to advise that letters regarding your arrears have been sent to you on 27th October 2015, 11th December 2015 and 12th January 2016 prior to our letter of 5th February 2016. These earlier letters, however, were sent to the address you supplied, which was ********, Renfrew, Renfrewshire, . We have had to employ tracing agents to locate your current address and our costs in doing so have been added to your balance because of this in line with the terms of your agreement. The balance of £207.47 consists of three missed payments of £9.99, three £25.00 administration fees, £66.50 recovery fees and £36.00 trace fee. We have contacted the club regarding your request for cancellation and have been advised that: "This member never filled out a cancellation form and did not follow procedure, she has offered to pay us 9.99 for her final direct debit payment. This was refused." For the above reasons we must advise that the balance of £207.47 is correct and due. As a goodwill gesture we are willing to accept £132.47 as final settlement of this debt if paid in full within 7 days. Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW. A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, there are organisations who offer free debt advice and assistance such as Step Change (0800 1381111), National Debtline (0808 8084000) and your local Citizen Advice Bureau. Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken. Yours sincerely, David Castle Collections Department Zinc Group email: Dear Sir / Madam, Welcome to the Zinc Group, we have been instructed by our client to assist you with the resolution of your account . We would therefore like to invite you to review the options we have made available to you as a priority customer, these have been designed to make the process as simple as possible while ensuring that you have full control of your circumstances. At Zinc we understand that not all of our customers are the same, but we are committed to treating all of our customers fairly. You can visit our website...................or contact your personal account manager in order to: Client CRS on behalf of Xercise 4 Less Your Zinc Reference Your Client Reference Current Balance £207.47

Hi everyone, I would be really grateful for some help as I'm loosing sleep over my ongoing battle with Zinc/Harlands/CRS. My partner and I joined Exercise for Less on an 11 month contract in March 2014, by April 2014 we decided to cancel our membership as the gym was not to our liking. I mistakenly believed that I could just cancel my direct debit. Within a few days we started to receive letters. So on 20th April, we sent them a letter offering the £9.99 (taken from the forum). Harlands have denied receiving this letter. So now the debt (which currently stands at £226.00) has been passed to Zinc. Two days ago I sent Zinc the following email: "I refer to your attempts to contact me seeking payment for gym membership.membership. Harlands were made fully aware in April 2015 and Later about why their demands are wholly disputed. They failed to accept my reasonable offer to settle, nor did they attempt to discuss any alternative (please find letter attached).Accordingly, your demands are in clear breach of the OFT debt collection Guidelines and, if you contact me further, you will be included in my formal complaint to Trading Standards." Zinc replied with this: "Thank you for your email, the contents of which have been noted. It is not our intent to cause any distress or inconvenience.In order to resolve this matter, please provide evidence that you cancelled your gym membership in writing.I look forward to hearing from you within the next 2 days to prevent the possibility of further action." I don't know what to do to make them stop and I can't afford to pay them. I truly appreciate any help you can give me

Hello, just stopping by to bring you yet another issue with the infamous Harlands/CRS/Zinc triad. me and my girlfriend joined the gym back in 09/14. I went for about a month (typical) and then decided I did not want to go anymore, I cancelled my direct debit. I have very recently sorted it out and gave Zinc an offer for what I owed exactly (11 x £9.99 payments), did not take the offers they were giving me of course as these included 'charges' which obviously I am not liable to pay in any way. They accepted this with no issues and as far as I am aware my side of things is sorted. My girlfriend's situation isn't as simple. She had sent them an almost identical e-mail as me (only things different were the number of months owed and hence, the settlement offer.) She received a response saying that they would accept the offer, however they would refer the remainder back to Harlands (i.e. themselves, as we all know they are in the same office, doh) to decide on. My problem is that I don't know where that leaves my girlfriend. Does this mean that they are technically still trying to incur extra charges on her that she isn't legally liable to pay? Should we take that as a termination of agreement? Should we tell them we are going to wait for Harland's verdict before any payment is made? I would know what to do usually but the way they have worded their response seems a bit crafty in an attempt to strike fear and guilt. I will provide the e-mails below for context. Any advise would be appreciated! Dear ..... Thank you for your email 18th August. I understand that you are querying this amount from our client and I can confirm that this balance is a result of the gym membership that you signed up to with Xercise 4 Less Bristol for £9.99 a month. In order to resolve the matter, we can offer you a settlement of £147.32 which can be paid in 3 monthly instalments. Once payment has been made, we will close the account and return it to our client If the settlement amount is not affordable, we would be happy to set up an affordable repayment plan on the full outstanding balance of £196.42. Please contact us on the details below at your earliest convenience, so we can discuss the best way forward for you. If we do not hear from you within 7 days, your account will fall back into the collections process and may run the risk of being returned to our client. Kind regards .............. Dear Holly, Please see e-mail dated 20th Aug 2015 below for reference. This reply is further to said e-mail. I regret I will have to decline your settlement offer. The reason for this is because my agreement with Harlands is for a minimum term of 12 monthly payments of £9.99. According to my records, I have currently paid 4 of these monthly payments and therefore have 8 more to pay, equating to a total of £79.92. This is of course different to the balance you claim is £196.42, and is also different to the settlement amount you have offered me for £147.32. Therefore, I am currently only willing to settle with the amount equal to what I rightfully owe your client, Harlands, which is indeed £79.92. I am more than happy to pay the full settlement of £79.92 immediately as I am in a position to do so at this moment in time. I must add that if any further requests from yourselves or Harlands are directed at me to pay any more than the amount rightfully owed, this will be regarded by myself as an attempt to incur penalty charges. This would be an unlawful action on your/your client's part, and by continuing to request such penalties which are not enforceable by law, it would therefore mean that I would have to consider my agreement with Harlands as terminated on this basis. I look forward to your response. Sincerely, ...... Good afternoon Thank you for your email, the contents of which have been noted. I would be happy to accept your payment of the undisputed balance of £79.92. I need to make you aware that the remaining balance of £116.50 will be returned to our client advising them of your dispute as they may wish to pursue the matter further. If you are happy to continue on this basis, please confirm that the payment of £79.92 is an affordable amount and you are up to date with priority bills such as rent / mortgage / council tax and utilities. Please contact us on *** or 01789 273149 as soon as it is convenient, so that we can set up your repayment plan. If we do not hear from you within 7 days, your account will fall back into the collections process and may run the risk of being returned to our client. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Kind regards ......

Hello, Please I need advice, I wrote a pocket book for the first in my life and invited friends and family for the launching. Before the event I got this new mobile card payment called Zinc from wordplay no contract just pay as you go but initial you pay for the card reader. I told them what I wanted to use it for, that I am going to launch a book and with my past experience going to events like that people tend to use their debit card for payment. Since the launch three months ago worldpay refused to release my fund to me. The amount is well way under the amount advertised for one day transaction allowed by them. The first reason withholding it according to them was that the amount was an unusual amount and I explained to them was that people supported me by a way of donating what they can afford and I gave them copies of the book. They are still holding on it and said I have no way of proving by giving the receipt for the books. I had to borrow money to pay for the printer and for the editing since they refused the release of the fund. Please help.

Hi Everyone, I have a few questions and I'm hoping to get some advice. I joined xcercise4less where I stay for university in Nov '13 on a year long contract and then cancelled the membership in Oct '14, which I believe means I paid for all 12 months of the contract. After I cancelled, letters were sent to my parent's address from CRS saying that I owed money. Now the "debt" has been passed on to Zinc and is somewhere in the region of £200. I spoke to them on the phone, which was probably ill-advised a few weeks ago, and, if I remember correctly, the majority of the charge was from admin fees. I didn't get much useful information past that. I realise that I didn't cancel properly, so I'm not sure whether I'm in the wrong and owe the full amount or if they're just trying to throw the book at me and charge me a great deal for admin costs. I'd imagine I'm liable to pay for a month of membership because I didn't give them notice, but I think that'd be it, right? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi I joined a lifestyle fitness gym in October 2014, my job moved (but not my home address) so I didn't want to go to that gym anymore. I cancelled the direct debit in December 2014 - without contacting them. I knew they wouldn't let me cancel so thought no point in contacting them. I have since had a couple of letters from Harlands and CRS - the 'debt' now stands at £288.20. I know from research that they are all the same company. I have ignored every single letter... rightly or wrongly? I have never had a phonecall or an email chasing me? Now I have received a letter saying the debt will be passed to Zinc Group in 10 days. Just wondered if there was any advice on what to do next? Or just continue to ignore? I have been advised that these type of debt are not enforceable? Also, if the debt is enforceable, surely the 'debt' should somehow relate to the potential loss to the business etc? Thanks in advance

Hello, I signed up for a years membership with Xercise4Less Leeds branch in October 2013. After the full year had passed, I emailed X4L querying what the cancellation process was I had moved out of the area and did not wish to continue my membership. I received an email back stating that I must fill out a form and send it to them, either by post or email. I did so and sent it back to them, I asked them for confirmation of receipt however no one replied to me. I waited a month before cancelling my direct debits. Since January 15 I have been receiving numerous calls a day, and have been sent many letters from ZINC collections. I have left voicemails / emails however I am just going in roundabouts trying to explain my situation. ZINC are demanding me to pay £126.49 that I supposedly owe. I paid every month of my contract and believe I cancelled it correctly. What would you advise me to do? I have copies of all emails sent, and bank statements showing the money left my account each month. I am worried that this collection notice is going to affect my credit rating in the future, will it? Regards mn11aah

I have been using this site for a while for information and advice given to others and have found it very valuable, so first of all well done to all involved helping consumers. thought i would post my issue as seems i need some specific advice on what to do at the moment... I moved down to London last year and signed up for a gym membership on a corporate rate through my work. I didn't actually involve my work, but when i went down to discuss the membership i mentioned i worked for the company i did and negotiated a deal with them. when negotiating i specifically asked (because my work contract was only 10 months and wasn't sure how long i may stay in london) if i move house or leave my current employment am i able to cancel early, i was told most definitely that wouldn't be a problem. and that was it.... the contract i was on in their T&Cs meant my monthly fee dropped from £100 to £75 a month. low and behold in the summer i decided to leave as my employment had finished and although i would be staying in london, i had found a closer gym to me, but i had left my job and was freelancing or as far as the gym were concerned 'unemployed' i called up to cancel and was told that, if i was to cancel early, i would have to give 3 months notice, but also my membership would have to be upgraded back to a full membership and pay the back dated £25 for the months i had had it discounted, as well as 3 further months at £100, as you can imagine i kicked off with them big time. The gym advisor had not detailed any of these charges when i confronted him about the process of cancelling early, and i said this basically amounts to mis-selling a contract or product which of course is illegal(it?). I played hardball and told them i had sought legal advice from my solicitor (which i hadn't) and that was told to demand them to release me from my contract i told them the advisor that had mis-sold me the contract had intentionally done this to get my to sign up. i was told as a 'gesture of goodwill (ha!)' they would 'waive' the back dated payments and i could cancel for the remaining £100 each month. i told them this was not acceptable, i said i wanted to be released from the contract and that i would serve a months notice as a fair compromise. i didn't hear anything back. so as a compromise i decided to just pay the remaining 3 months and then cancelled my standing order with them. shortly after the standing order had ceased, i received letters telling them that i had missed payments and still had a contract with them, they basically ignored my letters and continued to try and take the payments as normal. i sent them another email saying that back in march we had had the discussion to cancel, you had told me it was 3 months. i paid april may and june's payments and now i consider myself no longer a member. please cancel down my membership. i didn't receive a reply. i called and the account managers' argument was that i hadn't paid the full membership 3 months notice, i had only paid the £75 a month. so therefore i still owe £75. On the phone she had confirmed that £75 would cancel down the account... i wish i had got this in writing!! hindsight... FYI the advisor that sold me the contract has ceased working with them. either he left or more likely he was let go for using this technique (probably more than once?) i received standard letters with requests to pay from the gym and then finally good old CRS got in touch. i haven't made contact since. from looking at forum threads, i made the decision to ignore them. the balance now apparently stands at £434.20?!? i receive a weekly or fortnightly letter from them with new ways of saying i should pay, and i could be in big big trouble if i don't pay. i receive regular text messages telling me to contact them .i have not made contact the latest letter says... 'We regret that despite out attempts to reach an amicable resolution on your account (haven't made contact yet??) you remain in arrears to ROKO We must therefore give notice that failing to reply to this letter within the next 10 days will result in your account balance being passed to Zinc Group, one of the UK's leading providers of debt recovery solutions WE WOULD STILL LIKE TO RESOLVE THIS MATTER (oh yes I'm sure you would lol...) We're still happy to listen to your reasons for not paying (are you really?) and will do whatever we can to reach an acceptable resolution for both parties (lol)/ all that is required for you to call us on NUMBER so we can discuss the matter further (thanks for making it so easy for me..)" anyway, aside from the sarcasm, it seems they are either giving up on the dept and selling it on? or moving it to Zinc Group to pursue having looked at the forum it seems Zinc are the same type of jokers as CRS so what do you think I should do? quite happy ignoring the letters and messages but wondering if that is the best resolution To be honest i would probably pay the £75 just to get them to go away . but then i think, no why should i? they have taken the mickey and mis-sold me the contract. i acted very reasonably considering what i was led in too so is there a more legal and legitimate way to approach this or should i just ignore them. excuse the essay, but its a complicated one... any help is GREATLY appreciated in advance! thanks

Hi, my girlfriend has received a letter from capquest about her outstanding debt to orange for a mobile contract. This bill is for calls she made whilst on holiday in the carribean. She owes £2000 !!!!! This was in 2009 the account was defaulted july 2009. It got passed to debt collection and it started with the usual threats. Then a debt collection agency threatened her with bankruptcy. She received a statutory demand. I did not know about this site got no advice and we ignored it. Some time later she got a letter saying the debt had been passed to capquest. ALL OF THIS HAPPENED IN 2011. She has received letters from capquest just with the usual threats. She has now received one saying she has to make contact immediately or the debt will be passed to ZINC to arrange collection. We was hoping to wait untill it becomes statute barred but thats 2 years away. What should we do? What are ZINC likely to do I have seen on here that they seem nasty peices of work.

A couple of weeks ago I had a letter from Zinc, they had bought an old debt from Capquest (who had given up on me after ignoring them for abour 3 years) who in turn bought a debt of £600 from Vanquis Credit Cards. They have started calling, I must say they are more aggressive than most DCAs. Anyway my brother took the call (I live with the parents) and just said he hadn't seen me for a while and took a telephone number from them. My question being, if I did CCA them, I know it's a bit like how long is a piece of string, but what liklihood would they have of being able to come up with a credit agreement and how long do they have to find this. I have never CCAd before so its new to me. Thanks in advance

i am constantly getting phone calls from a company called Zinc collections in Glasgow regarding a debt i had with Capital One, this was in 2005-2006, the debt was ours although i dispute the figure. My husband had an accident around that time and broke his neck, therefore causing loss of job...no income and many debts, we took out an IVA in order to clear these debts and Capital one was included. we continued to pay the IVA company each month as arranged but found ourselves struggling financially on benefits that we were unable to cover the IVA and it subsequently failed. This company now say they have bought the Capitl lone account and i should pay them, while i admit there is some debt owing to this company..surely the IVA would have reduced the debt somewhat? Also my husband now only receives pension credits and i am not working as i care for my 8 month old terminally ill grandson... i cant all the phone calls they keep making demanding money... what can i do..??

Hi all, Longtime no speak. I am after a little advice. The back ground is as follows:- My wife has two CCJ's going back to early 2008 for HSBC Loan & Credit Card accounts. The original defaults/last payments on these accounts go back to Jun 06 and Jan 07 consecutively. These payments were made after the accounts were transferred to the DCA CL Finance. Recently, these accounts have been chased by the DCA's Zinc Recoveries and Lowell Portfolio I Ltd. I sent a CCA request to both of these DCA's on 17/10/11 and neither have been able to produce any CCA's etc. I received a reply from Lowell Portfolio I on 11/11/11 saying that they had not received a CCA from HSBC and were therefore putting the account on hold. Since then I have received a "Notification of Oustanding Account" from UK Default Recovery for the same account. Zinc Recoveries continue to bombard the telephones with nuisance calls from 'Mr Allen'. On 21st March 2012 I escalated matters by sending "Account in Dispute" letters to all three DCA's still no CCA's have been forthcoming? However, Zinc recoveries are still actively pursuing her with threatening calls and letters. What is my next best course of action. Also, how do I determine if one of the accounts (last payment date Jun 06) is 'statute barred'? Can I get these debts written off as they are unenforceable and can I get the CCJ's removed from my wife's CRA report? Is it a case of waiting until Jan for both of the original debts to become "statute barred" or do the CCJ's mean that the period for this would extend to the date that these were imposed? Any advice would be most helpful.