Fredrickson International

theninja · 10 August 2011 at 9:56PM

Oh my god - how persistent are these guys!

Out of absolutely nowhere my girlfriend recieved a letter demanding payment for a debt of £90 that she knows nothing about for Carphone warehouse. She did have a phone with them 5 years ago, but to be fair paid all of the bills and has never recieved any notification of this outstanding amount.

We have sent the standard letter from here asking for further proof but have since recieved another letter demanding that we pay in 7 days or there will be additional court costs added etc. My girlfriend phoned these guys tonight and came off the phone visibly shaken by the way she had been spoke to and still none the wiser as to how this debt has been incurred. We have no problem paying the debt if it is indeed valid, but I am loathed to randomly hand over £90 without at least a bit of evidence (although I can see why people do just for a quiet life)

Where would you guys take this from now. I have never been on the recieving end of these type of organisations. Is the letter that we sent enough (although they claim to have no record of it) ? Should I send another copy recorded delivery this time or is there a different approach I should take ?

Thanks in advance

Tixy · 10 August 2011 at 10:00PM

Probably send another recorded deliv, its a paid but probably worth it.
Hope they didn't get her number when she rang them?

Has she checked her credit file to see if this debt appears on there anywhere? might be worthwhile?

fatbelly · 10 August 2011 at 10:44PM

Tixy's advice is good - you need to be able to show that they received your letter. Stick to writing. As you've just learned, it's never a good idea to phone these idiots. Doesn't get anywhere.

From OFT Debt Collection Guidance 2003 they are engaged in the following unfair practices:

2.6h ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are
disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment

2.8k not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or
disputed debt.

and probably others - you can tick them off against the guidance.

Incidentally, they're unlikely to take court action for £90 and neither are Carphone Warehouse, who probably still own the debt.

If this persists, something like this might wake them up:

Dear Sirs

Complaint

On [date] I wrote to you regarding the account with the above reference number, for which you claim I owe £90. I pointed out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to [The Loan Company]. I asked that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless/until you could provide evidence as to my liability for the debt in question

Despite this, you have continued to write [and phone] and make demands for payment.

I wish to complain that you have breached the following sections of the OFT Debt Collection Guidance 2003:

[copy and paste the sections]

This has caused me considerable distress and I consider it appropriate that you compensate me for this.

In case you are unaware of the rules of that you are required to follow, I have been told that they are as follows:

On receipt of this complaint, which will be deemed to have occurred two working days after it was posted, you must promptly acknowledge it, in writing, and provide me with a written copy of your Complaints Procedure.

You must keep me updated with the progress of your investigation of my complaint.

Once the complaint has been investigated you must issue me with your final response, explaining your findings and including any proposal you may wish to make in order to put things right. Your final response must tell me if I may take my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service and how long I have to do so.

If you are unable to provide me with a response within eight weeks, you must write to me to explain why, confirm that I can then ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to consider my complaint and provide me with a copy of its leaflet.

I look forward to hearing your proposals.

Yours faithfully

victoria921 · 12 August 2011 at 12:09PM

Arrrrrghhhhhhh!!! I feel your pain! I had a an o2 contract with carphone warehouse (8 years ago) I recently had a change of address and suddenly I start receiving letters from fredrickson international. I have had 2 conversations with them in which I said I DO NOT owe any money, and as the debt is over 6 years old it is STATUTE BARRED. I have recieved another 2 letters since then which are becoming increasingly nasty. I would advise no further telephone communication with them. I have decided to write to them now, being very caucious of my wording to advise them of legislation. These companies pray on vunerable people, they will not take you to court for such a small amount. It would cost them more. If they cant prove you owe the money they can not do anything. One thing I would advise ( I will be quoting this in my letter ) is Section 40 of the administration of Justice Act ( google it) S40 Punishment for unlawful haraassment of debtors. Also if they can not prove this debt make sure you tell them to remove all your details from their database & if they put any mark on your credit file you will sue them for defamation & report them to the office of fair trading. Good luck!!

fatbelly · 13 August 2011 at 10:49AM

Phoning them does tend to encourage them, unfortunately.

Everything in writing

Complain, complain, report, report.

S40 AJA has been superceded - latest info in this factsheet

Factsheet | Harassment

Fredrickson International

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