Thames, just to show it is worth taking them on

[Quoth]

6th September - Thames letter received stating they had tracked me down through publicly available sources, believed they had found me and I need to contact them about the matter.

 

7th September - Email sent back

 

Dear Sir

 

Your Ref: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

You have written to me requesting contact about an account. I have never held an account with Thames Credit and have no idea what you are refrring to. I am not going to contact anybody I have no reason to deal with.

 

If you wish me to communicate further in this matter you will need to provide me with some details so I can check my records. Otherwise we have nothing to discuss.

 

Please note that if this matter relates to a debt, I in no way acknowledge such a debt and will contest any legal action.

 

22nd Sept - Letter received from Thames. They decided that since I was saying this had nothing to do with me they could not release details unless they were clear about my identity. I was asked to forward proof of name, dob and signature to their 'fraud department'.

 

22 Sept - Email sent

 

Your Reference: xxxxxxxx

 

No admission of any debt to yourselves is made by ths email. Any legal action will be defended vigourously.

 

With regards to your letter dated 15 September 2007, received today. I have received your letter and noted the contents. My position on this matter remains the same: I do not recognise ever having an account with Thames Credit, I do not recognise the reference number you provided on your last letter or the latest letter, and I do not acknowledge any debt to yourselves.

 

You have requested that I send you identification. The answer to that request is no. It is not my responsibility to prove to you who I am, it is your responsibility to prove to me that this matter has anything to do with me.

 

I THEREFORE REQUIRE YOU TO SUBSTANTIATE THIS BY PROVIDING THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTATION BEFORE I CORRESPOND FURTHER :

1. True copy of original credit agreement
   
2. Statement of account
   
3. If this account has been purchased, the name of the original creditor, a copy of the executed deed of assignment from the orginal creditor and yourselves.
   
4. Fair Processing Notice.

Until this information is received this matter is in dispute.

 

17 October - Letter received from Thames dated early in the month. They are investigating the matter, but require further information to help them, such as previous addresses. Sudenly a second reference number appears for another account.

 

17 October - eamil sent

 

Your Reference xxxxxx & xxxxxxxx

 

Dear Sir

 

NO DEBT IS ACKNOWLEDGED TO YOURSELF OR ANY OTHER COMPANY. ALL LEGAL ACTION WILL BE CONTESTED VIGOROUSLY.

 

I have receved your recent letter. My position on this matter remains the same as it was when I wrote my previous email. I have never held an account with Thames Credit and therefore this matter has nothing to do with me.

 

Once again you seem to be under the impression that it is up to me to prove this matter has nothing to do with me and that I have some responsibility to resolve it. You are wrong. I know I have never had dealings with you, I know this matter has nothing to do with me and therefore I have no obligation to cooperate with you in any way, shape or form. As far as I am concerned there is no matter to resolve since this has nothing to do with me.

 

Take note:

 

1 - I have never had an agreement with yourselves I am not going to give you my personal details in any form whatsoever, be it letter or telephone. I take my personal information in this age of identity Theft very seriously and will not give it out just because somebody asks for it.

 

2 - I am not going to telephone you to discuss the matter, I know of no matter that needs discussing and you have not provided me with the details of any matter that relates to me.

 

3 - I have no dealings with Thames Credit, and have never given you the right to process my data. Since you have not advised me of any matter that would allow you to process my data, I require you to remove my data from your systems and confirm you have done so wthin 21 days. Failure to do so will result in a complaint being made to the Information Commissioner.

 

Once again I will state that before I will deal with you further I reuire evidence that this matter relates to me. As such I require you to send me:

 

- A true copy of the original credit agreement that this matter relates to.

- A statement for the account this matter relates to.

- If this account has been purchased from somebody else, the name of the original creditor, a copy of the executed deed of assignment from the orginal creditor and yourselves.

- Fair Processing Notice.

 

While I recognise that you are bound by the Data Protecton Act not to dsclose the information to anybody but the person such data reates to, and that I would be the first person to report you if you disclosed data that was not mine to me, I am afraid that without the above details I cannot reconsider my position.

 

NO DEBT IS ACKNOWLEDGED TO YOURSELF OR ANY OTHER COMPANY. ALL LEGAL ACTION WILL BE CONTESTED VIGOROUSLY.

 

I think I made my point. Okay so far I had nothing in writing and no proof I'd sent it, but they were responding, so I thought go with it. At this stage I still had no idea what this related to.

 

22 October - letter received from Thames, basically saying that they have decided to write off the debt. Sounds good, but not good enough. I want assurances, especially since they only mention one account. Email sent.

 

NO DEBT IS ACKNOWLEDGED TO YOU OR ANY OTHER COMPANY

 

Your Reference xxxxxx & xxxxxx

 

Dear Sir

 

I refer to your letter rceived today and note the contents. While I welcome your decision, I refer you to my previous emails; this has nothing to do with me. I am also afraid that I require your reassurance that this matter is indeed closed.

 

Your previous letter refered to two accounts, xxxxxxx & xxxxxxxx. I note that your current letter only referred to xxxxxxx. Therefore please confirm that you have also written off xxxxxxx or provide the information requested in my previous email (enclosed).

 

I also require your assurance that having written off this alleged debt, that you will not attempt to seel it to a third party or assign it to another collector, and that any information you might have entered on my credit file has been REMOVED. I must advise you that I full dispute this matter had anything to do with me and as such, marking this account at all would be a breach of the Data Protection. Knowing how dedicated you are to complying with the Data Protection Act, I know that you will do the responsibile thing and ensure that any data or searches you might have entered against me are removed before I need to complain to the Information Commisioner/ Financial Services Ombudsman.

 

A Swift reply would be apprecated to put my mind at rest, although I am willing to allow you what remains of the 21 days specfied in my earlier email.

 

23 October - letter confirming wrte off of other account received.

 

This morning -

 

Dear Sir,

 

We refer to your recent correspondence.

 

We can confirm there are no adverse entries marked on your crdit files for the above accounts.

 

As previously stated, the above accounts have now been written off and will not be passed to another for collection

 

We hope this satisfies your query

 

Thames

 

I personally think that as soon as they started to use the Data Protection Act as a shield they backed themselves into a corner they could not escape from without my cooperation or them providing the information.

I'm counting this as a win, but boy I need to spell check my emails.

[Curlyben]

Nice one, take them on at their own game.

IF any DCA or otherwise cannot prove the validity of a debt then there is nothing to answer.

 

This seems to be another DCA phishing trip.

[djdave]

Nice work.

 

As is so often the case, a DCA tries it on then backs down when challenged by somebody willing to stand up for themselves. Typical behaviour pattern of a bully.

[ODC]

Having similar dealings with the River Rats. Still waiting a response to a put up or shut up letter

[stormo]

Hello Quoth,thats great that you managed to argue your case against this DCA,i wish in my own case with these people had known my rights over 3 years ago.

 

Because i didnt this has cost me well over £1000 via direct debits over a 3 year period with apparently no chance of getting this money back. as this was deemed voluntary.

I too thought, mistakenly now, that i had to prove everything to them and not the other way around.

 

I too have sent off for my agreement under the 1974 CCA after finding this site, which eventually went way past the statutory time limits earlier this year,even so they have still pursued me in respect of my "alleged debt" as dispite having no agreements, or supporting paperwork, hasnt appeared surprise surprise.

 

Also i have contacted my local trading standards but they have taken copies of my letters from this DCA but i am reluctant to pursue it further due to me having to give Authority to Trading standards to act on my behalf due to data protection

 

Meanwhile this has been passed onto another DCA and i now have them asking for payment of the alleged debt.

These are saying i must pay the alleged debt,or will escalate litigation

 

I know i am in the right but they are so annoying we will see

 

Best regards S

[stormo]

Hello All its been awhile since i last posted on here,but thought i would inform you that i`ve just had a letter from the OFT asking me to submit all paperwork /historical dealings with this DCA.

 

The OFT want to investigate Thames credit`s fitness to hold a consumer credit license,my question is what would you do? as the OFT say that my complaint would be investigated on condition i have to give permission to reveal my identity to Thames so that the complaint can proceed.

 

Its been very quiet as they unlawfully passed the collection of the alledged debt to another DCA whilst in criminal breach of the 1974 consumer credit act,i`ve had 3 letters from the other DCA todate

 

Any help or advice on how to proceed so do i say yes or no to begin investigations on consumers behalf by the OFT.

Can they take reprisals or damage my credit ratings etc

 

Regards S

[Allwood]

Yes pass on any information about them to OFT Thames Credit are up for a renewal of their licensed in 2008 so the more people complains about them the better. They cannot take any reprisal against you in fact they will be on very good behavior because of the investigation.

 

Thames Credit are **** and I think the only used to go through the CRA files and just pick names out of it and harass people with threating letter, phone calls and then pass your information on to other without permission they repeatably break the law.

[babybear39]

I had a letter from OFT yesterday asking me to submit details re: complaint against 1st credit Seems like the OFT are finally getting off their butts

[stormo]

Hello Allwood,thanks for the reply got to contact the OFT and send the details for 4th Jan 08 ,didnt know about the renewal of Thames credit license though.

 

Might help many people on this site who have been unfairly targeted by this DCA.

 

Regards S

[stormo]

Hello babybear39, looks like a campaign is underway hooray for us

 

Regards S

[babybear39]

*BB gets photocopying like mad*

 

Bad thing for Thames and 1st credit that I bought printer cartridges yesterday

[sillygirl1]

Good, nice to hear the OFT are beginning to look at things properly, with all the complaints from this site they should have enough to chew on. Maybe a moderator could make an announcement about this and everyone who has posted on Thames could flood the OFT with paperwork showing how the scums operate.....

[stormo]

Hello sillygirl1 ,yes thats a good idea it would be a good "class action" from us all.

 

regards S

[ODC]

The river rats were a penalty kick. Folded after one cag email