Strange letter from a Debt collection agency! re:SKY

Karma67

Hi all,
I'm hoping to pick your very knowledgable brains about
a letter my hubby received today from 'Lowell Portfolio I Ltd'

I will type it out so you can get the idea of it with my comments i brackets!

"Dear Mr *******

Our ref: **********
Original Creditor: Sky Subscribers Services Limited
Balance Outstanding: £300.00

We write to give you fromal notice that we, Lowell Portfolio I Ltd, have been instructed by Sky to collect the above outstanding balance, which relates to your digital subscription account with Sky.
(Hubby was a customer with them about 4 yrs ago and as far as I am aware owed nothing to them espescially not £300! He had the account well over the minimum year)

If you are an existing active Skydigital customer who had paid all amounts due from you to Sky, you should telephone the following number immediately quoting your Skydigital account number or veiwing card number (no idea what they were...was 4yrs ago!!) to avoid receiving any further correspondence regarding this matter.

If you are NOT and existing active Skydigital Customer who has paid all amounts due from you to Sky, but would be interested in reinstating your Skydigital accoune, which may avoid further persual of the abovementioned debt, then please contact the number below without delay. (surely they would know if he owed money to Sky since they want money from use thus the letter??!!!)

Lowell Financial Ltd have been appointed buly authorised collection agents on behalf of Lowell Portfolio I Ltd abd any further communications and payments in connection with the Debt referred to above, should therefore be addressed to Lowell Financial Ltd at thee address below:

LOWELL FINANCIAL LTD
PO BOX 172
LEEDS
LS11 9WS"

So...any advice ideas would be gratefully received!!

Thanks

wigginsmum

It does sound very strange. Get your husband to get a copy of his credit report from someone like Experian (it can be ordered online) - it might give further details on this.

Jules

Justicia

...perhaps also formally write to them, requesting that they provide a breakdown of what this £300 consists of?

Sounds a bit bizarre if you are not aware of any outstanding balance (and you sure would remember an amount like that being owed!) remaining from that account many years ago...

jellycat40

Sounds odd to me. If you owed Sky £300 they wouldn't want you back. So by virtue of them saying if you sign back up with sky they won't persue doesn't make sense. Caution, call sky!

Good Luck

Louise

fuzzgun19

I would write to them and ask them to provide proof thet you owe the debt, I would use one of the letters here-
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#6
If they cant prove that you owe this money then you dont have to pay them a bean.
Good luck!

Justicia

I've been thinking about that £300 amount...

Firstly, I am not in any justifying this letter or advising you that you owe it in the slightest.

But £300 / 4 years = £75 per year...

I am not and have never been a Sky customer so not sure of fees, etc., but could it have resulted in some idiot not closing the previous account properly and therefore the annual fees just building up to this amount in a file somewhere?

Karma67

Just phoned up SKY :mad:

As hubby has not got a password on his old account they can't discuss anything with me! :rolleyes: So he needs to call and set password for me to sort this mess out!

Thing is that hubby hates dealing with this type of thing....that's y i'm in control of debts bills etc....and i know he's going to be sooo cross about this.....he hates talking on the telephone at the best of times!

also as you suggested if someone didnt close the account and we have been charged £75 a year....surely we would have had statements coming to the house??? Also would we be liable for the fees if it's their error??

just what I need b4 Xmas!

The man at Sky said he could see that Hubby had an account with them but wouldn't/couldn't tell me ANY details ie if it's open account etc GRRRRR!!!!! and even advised me to call Lowell ...i think not.....

Karma67

Ooo also..
when i mentioned about the letter saying about if we didnt owe the money and wanting to subscribe again......etc...he siad we want customers to come back and not be put off by debt they had with us in the past!!!:rolleyes:

Justicia

Karma67 wrote:

also as you suggested if someone didnt close the account and we have been charged £75 a year....surely we would have had statements coming to the house??? Also would we be liable for the fees if it's their error??

NO! If they have made a billing error and you have not been using the service, then you are not liable at all as far as I can see.

In regards to the lack of statments, I guess it would depend on the system they use. If they, for example, use one system for the financial aspect of accounts and another (linked but not the same system) for "customer service" correspondence and an/your account was closed on one system but not the other then that may account for it... Depends on their system used?

But NO! If it's an error on their part, then be sure to tell them that!

Justicia

Karma67 wrote:

Ooo also..
when i mentioned about the letter saying about if we didnt owe the money and wanting to subscribe again......etc...he siad we want customers to come back and not be put off by debt they had with us in the past!!!:rolleyes:

Hmmm... Now that's an interesting business logic...

Bossyboots

Karma67 wrote:

Just phoned up SKY :mad:

As hubby has not got a password on his old account they can't discuss anything with me! :rolleyes: So he needs to call and set password for me to sort this mess out!

Thing is that hubby hates dealing with this type of thing....that's y i'm in control of debts bills etc....and i know he's going to be sooo cross about this.....he hates talking on the telephone at the best of times!

also as you suggested if someone didnt close the account and we have been charged £75 a year....surely we would have had statements coming to the house??? Also would we be liable for the fees if it's their error??

just what I need b4 Xmas!

The man at Sky said he could see that Hubby had an account with them but wouldn't/couldn't tell me ANY details ie if it's open account etc GRRRRR!!!!! and even advised me to call Lowell ...i think not.....

What I do with my mum is make the call for her while she is present. I explain what is needed and that she doesn't like dealing with things on the phone herself. I make sure they are all ready their end so she only has to answer questions which she can manage. Whoever we are dealing with then speaks to me again and we can sort it out. This has worked everytime and people have always been sympathetic and made it as simple as possible and my mum has the minimal contact over the phone.