Westcot re Thames water debt

[sillygirl1]

Received a "NOTICE OF DEBT COLLECTION" letter from Westcot today regarding a bill of £267.24 to Thames Water Utilities. It states failure to contact their recovery department on an 0870 no or pay the debt in full by 20th July MAY RESULT IN RECOVERY VIA THE FOLLOWING METHODS (their CAPS, not mine)

1. Westcot Credit Services may instruct their solicitors to commence legal action in the county court/sherrif court. This may result in a judgement/decree being recorded against you

2. A debt collector my be instructed to visit your home and collect the debt personally.

 

I need a template letter to send to them as this debt is from a property which was repossessed and I believe it relates to a bill I don't even owe, the property was repossessed in October last year.

 

Do I send a CCA letter or do my usual tactic of asking for a copy of the original bill and the address it was sent to?

 

I'm just in the mood for another tussle with this lot, won the last three so they should know by now that they

 

a) should not be processing any data on my name

b) be reported to the Trading Standards people and to the FSA for breach of practice.

[spiritgirl59]

Hi there

 

I would ask for a copy of the original bill and the address it was sent to first if I were you. Send your request by recorded delivery so you have proof you have responded to their letter with a valid request in case they start any funny business.

 

That way at least you can save yourself £1 as you may not need to CCA them if as you suspect this bill relates to someone else entirely.

 

You can then let battle commenced based on what you receive back

 

Good luck!

 

Love Spiritgirl

[diskmandave]

A CCA request is no good for a utility bill.

 

Regards, Dave.

[spiritgirl59]

Thanks Dave!

 

Of course, it didn't click with me (sore brain tonight LOL) .

 

Love Spiritgirl x

[tooth_fairy]

Dave is right, no CCA exists for supplies of Gas, Electricity or Water I believe (got this from CAB website a few months ago, can't find the link now sorry)

 

I think what you may need to do, although I am unsure, is to SAR Thames Water so you can find out what period this bill relates to.

 

Do you think the bill is for a period you lived at your house or is it possible it was from the new occupiers or the period it was possibly unoccupied?

 

I'd get all the repossesion documents together (was it your repo or were you a tenant?) and the day you ceased to live at the house and have all of these ready so as soon as you get the bill details you can provide proof you were not at the address.

 

Good Luck

TF