united utilities debt and 1st Credit

[Hacked_Off]

LATEST:

 

Recieved a letter from UU telling me i hadnt paid the agreed amount so the dca has been instructed to continue colection. i DID in fact pay the amount i agreed with the girl from UU. Also the letter she prmised with the agreement never turned up suprise suprise!!! So today i get anoter letter this time from robbers way.

 

"thankyou for your offer of payment, which is accepted. Pease pay on time. You risk further action being taken if payments are mssed or payed late.

 

HOW TO PAY:blablah

 

your second payment of £70 must be paid to us by the : 22/12/10

 

and then you mus tpay £70 by the same day each and every month.

 

A new pay sip wil be sent to you to make payments. please pay early to make sure your acount is credited on time. your account will be reviewed from time to time and me may increase your payment amount so that your account is payed as quicklyas possible."

 

There having a f*&8£ng laugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this has realy hacked me off. I did not make an arrangment with them!!!!!!!!!!!! Also the amount has changed again GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr

[Hacked_Off]

ive changed my number to stop all the calls but ive just tured onmy other one. LOADS of txtsoffering me loans!! grr!! ad one from robbers way "please call chris immidiatly" ha ive txt it back "naff off chris from robbers way":smile:

[Bazooka Boo]

IMO I would be as abusive as possible on the phone to them, staying within the Law of course, just stick to foxtrot oscar maybe?

I fail to see how these fools honestly believe that they can even begin to harass and threaten people over their own personal phone, be it land line or mobile, it just shouldn't happen, but clearly does, and will continue to do so as long as people are prepared to accept it as a god given right, I would hammer their complaints procedure, and use all the relevant Laws I possibly could, to have them slung to the wall...

:phone:FOXTROT OSCAR!!!!

[Hacked_Off]

Another letter today from BCW. There's two of them now chasing the same debt. Isn't that illigal?

 

"Balance: 122.57

 

We refer to recent corresponence regarding the above debt with United Utilities, and are disapointed to note from our records that the balance remains outstanding.

 

We are prepared to assist you in clearing this debt by offering you the exceptional opportunity to settle on highly favourable terms. We are willing, without prejudice, to accept £81.99 in full and final settlement of this debt provided this sum is recieved at this office by 03/12/2010.

 

to take advantage of this opportunity, you must first contact this office within 5 days of the date of this letter quoting the above reference. one of our account representitives will be able to give you full details of this opportunity and advise you how and under what circumstances pyment will need to be made.

 

I suggest you contact this office upon reciept of this letter on 0844 571 4004.

 

ACT NOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY. Should you not wish to avail yourself of this unique offer, we my have no option other than to pass this account to our solicitors in order that they may consider litigation for the full balance only."

 

Im quite amussed by this. I like the little threat on the end. No mention of the £70 i paid either which seems odd.

Edited November 29, 2010 by Hacked_Off

[Bazooka Boo]

Complain to the OFT&TS via http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/contact about the use of two DCA's chasing the same debt.

I see they have offered you a discount, obviously something wrong with the paperwork!

Ignore.

[jimbo45]

Another letter today from BCW. There's two of them now chasing the same debt. Isn't that illigal?

 

"Balance: 122.57

 

We refer to recent corresponence regarding the above debt with United Utilities, and are disapointed to note from our records that the balance remains outstanding.

 

We are prepared to assist you in clearing this debt by offering you the exceptional opportunity to settle on highly favourable terms. We are willing, without prejudice, to accept £81.99 in full and final settlement of this debt provided this sum is recieved at this office by 03/12/2010.

 

to take advantage of this opportunity, you must first contact this office within 5 days of the date of this letter quoting the above reference. one of our account representitives will be able to give you full details of this opportunity and advise you how and under what circumstances pyment will need to be made.

 

I suggest you contact this office upon reciept of this letter on 0844 571 4004.

 

ACT NOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY. Should you not wish to avail yourself of this unique offer, we my have no option other than to pass this account to our solicitors in order that they may consider litigation for the full balance only."

 

Im quite amussed by this. I like the little threat on the end. No mention of the £70 i paid either which seems odd.

 

Hi there

IF they are offering a discount on a debt have they actually BOUGHT it -- AFAIK utilities NEVER offer discounts to customers for services actually consumed.

 

If they did this it would would obviously be a carte Blanche method of ALWAYS getting cheaper bills -- never pay until the DCA steps in and offers a discount.

 

This obviously won't work so something is VERY FISHY indeed here.

 

Mind you Scottish DCA's collecting debts in England -- well that's another problem.

 

Cheers

 

jimbo

[Hacked_Off]

The saga of UU continues....I got a letter off them saying they now had the account back and to write back with a payment offer. I wrote back offering £15 a week which i dont think is unreasonable. Ive actually been paying £20. I got a letter back from te accepting the offer and a new payment card. Then out of the blue i get this:

 

CONCILIA:

 

Thankyou for your letter dated 12t jan requesting a payment arrangment on your account.

 

I have set up a payment arrangment as follows:

 

Your current balance is £173.65

Your weekly payment is £10

Your first payment is due on 1st feb 2011

 

A payment card will be sent to you within the next 5 working days. Please be aware that if you do not keep to this arrangment further recovery action will be taken.

 

Miss Angela Gimeno

 

I have no idea what they are drivvleing about. I did not write to temnor offer them payment.

 

Then today i get this:

 

YOUR OUTSTANDING WATER DEBT

 

Despte several requests for payment our client united utilities water has stll not recieved payment for your water services charges and they have now instructed us to collect on there behaf.

 

PAYMENT IS DUE IN FULL NOW

 

Please take tis oppurtunity to contact us directly and make this payment. If you fail to contact us at this stage we will have no option but to recomend that are client begin legal action against you. This woud add further costs to your existing debt.

 

If you are unable to make this payment in full it is vital that you contact one of our collection team to discuss alternative options for cearing this debt. We may be able to offer a repayment plan by installments.

 

CALL US NOW

 

 

[Bazooka Boo]

Have you started their complaints procedure? If not why not? And get on with it.

 

If you have how far into it are you?

Who is chasing this I believe Concilia IS UU's in house DCA, however there was some debate a while back as to whether they actually had their own licence or where simply operating under that of UU, either way a complaint to the OFT&TS via http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/contact is in order.

[Hacked_Off]

I have sent them another complaint letter yes. No reply as yet. They were quick replying to the offer of payment though.

[Bazooka Boo]

OK, once you start their complaints procedure they only have 8 weeks to give you a satisfactory response, and deal with your complaint, Once they fail to give you a satisfactory response you can then escalate your complaint, have you got a copy of UU's complaints procedure?

[WS82]

hello all,

 

Well I see BCW is a popular topic in these forums.

So, I'll add my own little story to the mix and see what everyone can come up with.

 

I've been contacted by them, have received two letters thus far - 1. Formal Demand 2. Final Notice. Also, of course, about 15 phone calls which I have duly ignored on the advice of numerous posters. Ranging from about 7am until 8pm I might add, quite a pain. I have been to their website and contacted them by email, got hold of a Hunter Milligan (probably not a real name, lifted straight from Mills & Boon to make them sound heroic, shame...).

 

In the emails I have mentioned that the amount in question, due to O2, was approximately 2 years ago. Since the initial contact by O2, I spoke to debt advisers, who then wrote to O2. Being on benefits and unemployed, I was advised to offer them a token payment of £1 a month. I agreed with my adviser and the letters were sent off. All of this was more than a year ago; I have the emails and letters saved regarding my liaisons with the debt advisers. There was another debt at the time, which initially took a while to hear back about, but eventually I got Wescot Credit Services to accept the token payment I offered - this was another debt remember, but I am currently paying it back. Anyway, O2 didn't respond to my offer, which I took in good faith as legally acceptable seeing as my actions were advised by a debt professional.

 

Now, 1.5-2 years or so later, O2's attack puppies Buchanan Clark + Wells have roused themselves and are nipping at my heels. I informed them, by email (after tracking that down, I emailed 'Hunter Milligan', as mentioned before). He ignored my detailed explanation of the steps I had taken and said 'call us now' (a real rock of a man...). I then mailed back reiterating my belief that I had acted in an acceptable manner and in good faith by following the advice of my adviser and offering payment to O2 many moons ago. (I also emailed O2 with the same details, as mentioned - they also contacted me and said to call them, with account details for the phone bill in question, which of course I don't have now). So, another email or 2 to BCW, along with their incessant nuisance phone calls, and 2 text messages... I have now finally received an email back from Hunter Milligan, saying that I should get the documents/info that my adviser sent to O2, and send it to them. I have duly contacted my adviser to ask for these documents, so that I can send them (should I?). However, since then I have been called even more vehemently, morning and night - and received the 'Final Notice' letter, and a text message telling me to call them with a reference number. Of course, I asked Rock Hudson or whatever the name was again to ensure that my phone number was removed from their system, and that we could correspond either via letter or by email - not done, suffice to say.

 

So, here I am now. Am I correct on holding out, seeing as I took steps to clear the debt over a year ago, and could very well now have cleared it if they had responded and agreed to my monthly payment offer? Of course I am not flush with cash and definitely can't afford to pay it now, I still have other debts too as mentioned. It seems that now that 'Hunter' has asked for this info, it's a kind of acceptance by them that they may be in the wrong and need to heed my actions...or am I being too hopeful?

 

Well, let me know anyone...appreciate any and all advice you can give. I must also say that having heard about the threats and nonsense they use during their phone calls, and that they 'lose' recordings when you ask for the information, I thought it might be funny to record a phone call from them from my side - I could then see if they make silly threats and say things they can't substantiate, and then I would have it recorded my side in case they decided to 'lose' it... could be quite good, and I could upload it to Youtube or something for people to listen to - or at least have it as proof of their antics should I need it...

 

Thanks, take care

 

W

[Hacked_Off]

Start your own thread

[WS82]

OK. Didn't mean to impinge on your thread if that's what I did, just seemed a good place to discuss BCW as there were many discussants. Thanks.

[Hacked_Off]

no worries

[jimbo45]

Hi there

 

BCW are a pain in the But.

 

Just tell them (by letter) to Foxtrot Oscar and not bother you again as you will IGNORE any further communications -- you don't have to give a reason either.

 

They don't OWN the debt so they have even LESS powers than your Grandmothers's Cat in debt collection.

 

The next step will be the "Debt" will be sold on to "Snotty Call" (Scot Call) who can easily be seen off -- they threaten Doorstep collectiobns etc but if you DEMAND the name of the person who mailed the letter threatening Doorstep collections you can threaten with all sorts of sanctions such as Extortion etc etc.

 

Don't be put off by a bog standard reply "This is a Computer generated letter" -- somebody must have composed it and somebody else must have authorized the sending out of mail.

 

Snotty Call are usually involved in Mobile Phone contract type of disputes. --After a while it will go away - Orange haven't the time or inclination to go chasing for what are normally very small debts (although I understand when evey penny counts then no debt is "trivial").

 

If in the really unlikely event it goes to Court YOU are in control -- the Court might if it seems fit to make you pay anything at all will probably allow a token payment f 1 GBP a month and thats end of.

 

No more Hassle etc.

 

Usually companies like BCW and Snotty call haven't actually bought the debt so you can quite easily tell them to go and make "The proverbial sexual move with a duck".

 

Cheers

jimbo

[Hacked_Off]

Well the saga of uu continues. After several complaits im STILL getting snotty letters. I have ignored several letters from concillia the last one said they were passing it back to UU ie the next desk! I recived this years bill which seemed awfully high to me (forget the numbers ill have to dig them out) so emailed them asking what was going on. They replied saying its so high because they have combined this years bill and the arrears. On the back of the bill it says i should be paying £6 a week. Ive been paying 10. Ive asked UU what the issue is as i am paying MORE than what they said on the bil!! not yet had a reply. Ive turned on my old phone in total i have 288 txts offering me loans etc the txts convieneintly started along with the dispute with UU. humph.Then today i get a letter in a bright yellow envelope saying to "call them now or further action will be taken" ??

[Bazooka Boo]

OK so what response have you had from your complaints?

 

Not with UU, but to the OFT, TS, and ofgem?

[Hacked_Off]

Ive not gne that far yet.

[Bazooka Boo]

Come back when they have given you their response.

[Hacked_Off]

Ive not gone down that road yet. I did complain to consumer direct . There reply was to get debt advice.

[Bazooka Boo]

Well if you complained to CD, then they will have automatically passed it onto the OFT&TS.

 

CD are either good or bad, there is no middle ground with them, and it seems that this time they were unhelpful to say the least!

 

How far into UU complaints procedure have you got? They have 8 weeks in which to satisfy your complaint or you can then escalate it to the Energy Ombudsman.

[Hacked_Off]

its been well over 8 weeks. i wasnt aware of a energy ombudsman!!

[Bazooka Boo]

OK, just to get this straight before flying off at the wrong tangent.

 

You mad a complaint to UU? They looked into it? Or are still looking into it?

 

If the response you had (if any) was not satisfactory then you should escalate it further within their complaints procedure, OR until they send you a 'deadlock' letter stating that their opinion is final and if you wish to complain further then you can contact the Ombudsman.

 

Before you contact the Ombudsman they will want to know if you have been through UU complaints procedure and given them a chance to rectify you complaint.

 

So you might need to go back to UU and ask them if that is their final response on the matter.

 

If it is, then here is the EO details.

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy.html

[Hacked_Off]

Had an interesting letter fromUU today. I keep telling them WRITING ONLY but everytime i write back they phone me! I always ignore there calls

 

So anyway i have it in writing now that they are liars. There saying they have no record of me recieving threatograms from them within the past to months!! Despite the fact i have literally a big pile off threats. They have also confirmed i should be paying 6.90 a week but ive been paying 10.

 

Were now at stage two.

[Hacked_Off]

9 letters in total just for the two months there claiming to nt have sent any.