British Gas Business disputed debt / Advantis

[clagnut]

All help / advice/ support / sympathy gratefully received.

Apologies for the length etc.

 

I'm new here,

 

In Sept 2005,

my friends and I moved into a shared flat.

 

Being the organised one, I was in charge of bills.

I rang up British Gas to sort out a gas account.

As the flat had recently been converted from industrial units,

we ended up being with BG Business,

despite being residential occupants and pointing this out to them at length.

This led to BG never quite getting our address correct on correspondence.

 

Out of the blue, in about April 2007,

I received a final bill from BG Business, confirming that we had closed our account.

We hadn’t, and I (and another flatmate) queried this with BG over the ‘phone on more than one occasion.

We continued to receive gas.

I moved out of the shared flat into a place of my on on 1st Sept 2007.

 

As I was in possession of a final bill from BG Business and the issue of the account was still in limbo,

I left it to my friends to sort out and set up a new account for gas and electric with BG at my new address.

 

In late 2008 (possibly 2009) after a further house move,

I was contacted on my mobile, out of the blue by BG who alleged that I owed them for gas from the original shared address.

I pointed out that I had a final bill from them.

They asked if I knew the names of the tenants who were living there after I left and I passed on the relevant details.

 

Fast forward to late 2011,

I am just about to become a dad and have moved house again.

Having had no further contact from BG,

I start receiving post redirected from my previous address from a DCA (I forget which one).

 

Having been spooked by the first couple of letters, I took to carefully removing the redirection stickers

and returning the letters to sender (no such person) and scrawling ‘please update your records’ across the front.

 

Fast forward to now. It’s 2014.

I’m in another new house.

 

And suddenly, I have received a couple of letters from Advantis to me (my full name) at this address.

The first one was the traditional phishing message

(‘we have an outstanding business issue with [my name]’); the second says I owe BG Business £3k for gas at the 'not correct' address (as mentioned above)

 

My question is:

 

can I continue to ignore these letters?

 

Do I need to send a ‘prove it’ letter?

 

Is the debt ‘statute barred’ since it relates to 2007?

 

What is my next move??

[fkofilee]

IF last payment was in 2007 Deffo Stat Barred... aslong as no admittance has been made towards the debt.

 

It cant harm to fire off the SB template letter... see what they say.

 

Plus if you had a final bill and you still have it, think it could be HUGE leverage in getting this matter closed.

[clagnut]

Plus if you had a final bill and you still have it, think it could be HUGE leverage in getting this matter closed.

 

There's the rub: after a couple of house moves, I can't lay hands on the final bill from BG - I guess it got shredded in a clear-out after one of the moves.

[dx100uk]

next moved is totally ignore them.

 

under back billing

they don't stand a chance in hell.

 

just check they've not trashed your cra file

[clagnut]

Cheers. Really hoped someone might say that...

 

Will check credit situation asap. Any recommendations as to best credit-checker? Experian??

[dx100uk]

noddle is free

 

the rest ENSURE you cancel before 30days are up

 

Credit Reference Agencies:Experian Equifax CallCredit noddle

fed up with DCA's calling get a TRUECALL BOX!! - HERE

 

Sort Your Debts Now - -

here

 

Start Your Own Thread - HERE

 

 

1. Single Premium PPI Q&A

Read Here

2. Reclaim mis-sold PPI Read Here

3. Reclaim Loan, Credit Card, mortgage & CAtalogue Charges Read Here

my views are my own...seek legal advice if ness

NEVER EVER - act on a private message asking you to visit another website, make contact 'off list' or by telephone

- alert the siteteam IMMEDIATELY by hitting the black warning triangle on any message - Particularly if this results in a request to pay a fee to help you.

 

 

Please consider making a small donation to help keep this site running

Click here to donate through PayPal (opens in a new window)

 

 

DX

RIP Martin3030

[clagnut]

I've now received a notice of intention to start debt recovery.

 

They state an exact figure,

refer to BG Business by name etc etc.

 

I am starting to lose my nerve a little, as it's pretty intimidating rhetoric,

although the threatened means of collecting the debt is advising their client (ie. BG) to contact solicitors / go to county court etc.

 

Do I:

(a) belatedly bash out a prove it letter?

(b) belatedly bash out a statute barred letter?

© continue to ignore and hope they'll go away?

(d) continue to ignore and see them in court?

(e) contact BG and try to remind them of the facts of the case?

 

Any advice gratefully received (again!). Thanks for previous comments, dx and fk.

[dx100uk]

big deal!

 

debt recovery means scary letters & phone threats.

 

you need to remember here:

 

DCA's are NOT BAILIFFS

 

they have NO SUCH LEGAL BAILIFF POWERS.

 

what does the Cra file say.

 

dx

[dx100uk]

Never ever pay a dca on a old utils bill

[clagnut]

big deal!

...

what does the Cra file say.

 

Just checked the CRA - all fine, clear, no problems.

[dx100uk]

ignore them

 

advantis are proving quite quickly to be the new LInk Financial

 

spoofers on any debt they can possiblly fleece people on

 

dx