Tesco passed paid debt to debt collectors

[Ed1967]

Hi all

 

I have only just joined this group and this is my first post, so please be kind! Apologies if it is in the wrong forum.

 

OK,

the background to the story is that

 

some months ago I put some petrol in my car at the local Tesco garage,

and went to pay for it,

only to find that I had forgotten my wallet and didn't have any means of payment.

 

As you can imagine, this was very embarrassing,

but I explained the situation to the store manager who took all my details down in a little book that they kept for this very purpose.

 

I only lived about a five minute drive away from the garage,

 

having left all my details, I drove home, picked up my wallet and drove straight back again,

and paid the £10 within thirty minutes.

 

Unfortunately, I can't remember whether I paid cash or card, but I was given a receipt and the assistant marked the debt as paid.

 

As far as I was concerned that was the end of the matter.

 

A little while later, I relocated due to a change of job so was no longer living at the same address that Tesco had for me.

 

This week, I have received a letter from a debt collection agencv (Commercial Credit Services)

stating that I owe Tesco £10 and that it needs to be paid within seven days of the receipt of the letter.

 

The letter was dated 9th March and I received it on the 16th.

 

I visited CCS's website yesterday (17 March) which was well within the seven days that I was given to pay,

but the debt had mysteriously risen to £20.

 

Nevertheless, I paid it to get the agency off my back and emailed them to request a call today to discuss the issue.

 

I did not receive this call.

(Whilst on their website, I also updated my contact details with them).

 

Today, I checked back on their website, the £20 was still showing as outstanding and my address details had not been changed.

 

I emailed them again and requested that they call me tomorrow (Tuesday) without fail to discuss the problem.

 

(Apart from the fact that they have doubled my debt, my issue is not with the debt collectors, it's with Tesco).

 

At this point I should add that at no point have Tesco tried to contact me to discuss the "debt".

 

I also emailed Tesco as I am absolutely furious with them and requested them to call me back today.

I have not received a reply from them either.

 

At the very least, they can remind me of the date of the incident so I can check my statements to see whether I paid by card.

 

So I have a few questions -

 

I want to take this as far as I can - please can somebody tell me whether I am able to take legal action against Tesco and if so, how do I go about it?

 

Does anyone have any experience with Commercial Credit Services?

 

Is there any other action I can take because as far as I am concerned, Tesco now owe me £20.

Can I put a debt collection agency on to them?

 

Thanks for any advice anyone can give.

 

Ed

[citizenB]

I suggest you make an official complaint to Tesco at their Head office. I dont think you are going to get rid of these leeches any other way.

 

It is a real shame you didnt keep the receipt from when you returned to pay, but then who would think this nightmare would erupt over £10.00 worth of petrol !!

 

Simply head your letter Official Complaint, explain the situation as you have above and ask how many times are you going to be expected to pay for this Petrol.

 

If they dont respond properly or to your satisfaction, then you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman when they will charge Tesco £800.00 to investigate the complaint ??

[Sidewinder]

Tesco also have to keep those books which IIRC are in triplicate. They should be able to look up the original record and you would have been able to get rid of CCS without even speaking to them - in fact I wouldn't bother doing so any more!

[dx100uk]

if you paid by a card to the [no powers DCA] CCS

 

then phone your bank NOW

 

and do a chargeback

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/

 

dx