Buchanan Clark + Wells

xcoerw

Hi Everyone, I'm new here. :cool:

Got a letter from these !!!!!!!s a couple of weeks back, saying I owed £45.98 to Orange. I called them, and they said it related to a broadband account I had with Orange. I told them I had never had a broadband account with them. They said it was probably an old Wanadoo account (I had an account with Freeserve, who were then bought out by Wanadoo who in turn were purchased by Orange).

It was at least 3 years ago, possibly longer, they said they couldn't really say.

Tried calling Orange, they refused to speak to me and said that as it was such an old account they did not hold the records 'on their current systems'.

I should make it perfectly clear that I have received NO contact whatsoever from Orange in my life. I never received a request for the payment from Wanadoo either. BC+W said it was due to a missed Direct Debit after I had closed the account (having given the appropriate notice). They said that Orange had tried to contact me many times, by e-mail. On the address that was tied to the account I had cancelled. I do not believe this to be sufficient as hey had my address all along and made no effort whatsoever to contact me.

I received this letter from BC+W yesterday

Dear Mr xcoerw

FINAL NOTICE

We refer to previous correspondence regarding our clients Orange PCS Ltd and regret to note that your debt, in the sum of £45.98 remains outstanding.

Since you have failed to notify us of any legitimate reason for non-payment we can only assume that you do not wish to settle this amount amicably.

Accordingly, this letter should be accepted as Final Notice that unless payment is made immediately, we shall seek to commence Legal Proceedings against you, with payment of Interest and Costs in addition to the Principal Sum being sought.

Should you wish to discuss your financial circumstances in relation to this debt, we would ask you to contact uas immediately.

How to pay, blah blah blah.

So, bearing in mind their contact has made no effort to contact me at all, I assume they have no right to start 'Legal Proceedings'.

Any advice? I will write to them tomorrow, by recorded delivery. I've heard some of the horror stories regarding them.

Thanks in advance.

poorandindenial

Hi xcoerw

If you do a search in these forums for their full name or BCW or BC+W and yu will get threads back about what a joy they can be to deal with.

The key thing here is that THEY have to PROVE to YOU that you owe the debt and that the debt is theirs to collect.

Do not sign anything that you send to them, just print your name - the www.nationaldebtline.co.uk website has advice/template letters on what to do if someone if chasing you for a debt that you don't think is yours.

I will also post a link to the OFT guidance on how these companies are meant to behave.

poorandindenial

Here is the OFT link:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/cca/debt-collection

xcoerw

Cheers guys

Merlinexcalibur

This is just another typical letter from the (in)famous BCW. Who are as far as I am concerned the low lifes of DCAs. Which is saying something. After speaking to the toxic outfit on the one one day was enough. Won't be making that mistake again, though!

No doubt BCW has purchased this debt for around, let's see ... for a debt under £50? Probably 1 pence.

Just be careful where you say ...

I will write to them tomorrow, by recorded delivery. I've heard some of the horror stories regarding them.

Are you absolutely SURE this is not your debt? This is BCW we are talking about. The fact they DO target people incorrectly, pursuing them maliciously in some instances - there have been a few deaths as you'd expect when people are hounded beyond reason by these low lifes; and I am being polite when I describe them thus - just shows what a shoddy bunch of people they are. Recording keeping - hah! Words don't even describe what goes through my head when I think of a DCA and record keeping.

The time factor, too. Why has it taken Orange 3 years to reach you?

You can write to them, but only to tell them to prove it's your debt. Leave it there. The ball is in their court not yours. You will probably get further letters telling you otherwise. Ignore if you can or come back here and someone will give you advice. Someone runs up to you in the street, demands payment from you for no reason ... This is exactly what (seemingly) BCW are doing with you. If they don't provide an account number, final bill end of story. For them.

I would say, however, that it's usually unlikely a DCA would go to court for anything under £50. The costs alone would exceed that and if they cannot prove this debt is yours. Well, it wouldn't go well in court for them.

I love this bit from them:

Should you wish to discuss your financial circumstances in relation to this debt, we would ask you to contact uas immediately.

'Oi, if you don't give me yours monies I will bash your little conker with my BIG conker. Got it? Ug, ug.'

My final piece of advice - for any DCA and especially this bunch of cowboys ... never phone them. I am sure you won't but if you aren't used to this kind of thing, their letters will get you jumping, phoning them up 10 minutes in a sheer panic afterwards. They are swines. Who don't care one jot how they treat you on the phone. Must go to a special school or something where they learn. Or just born like it. Prefer the latter because that's why most get employed by a DCA.

Sorry for the long post. But each time I see BCW I always like to post. My experience with them ... had I known then what I do now ... what was said, how they threatened me down the phone with all sorts. It beggars belief until you actually hear it for yourself. Conveniently, all such recordings 'made for training purposes' usually go missing if you ask for them. Cos one thing a DCA doesn't like above all is being caught out and shown up for what they are like towards people.

Anyway, yes DO report them to the organisations concerned. I find now, rather than messing around with any DCA because I know it gets you nowhere, reporting them saves a lot of stress, and misery.

As for Orange. I wouldn't touch them with a very large bargepole.

Peekay32

That letter you've been sent is a template letter, you were probably one of 2000 people who received one that day.

Also, send them a "prove it" letter, and ignore all further correspondence. They won't take you to court over a £45 debt and if they do you have an automatic defence.

tallyhoh

I had this problem with Orange as well, oddly enough I only shredded the letters yesterday. They did cancel the "debt" after I complained to them but now I wander if they will try it on again.

Should have kept those letters!!

Oilfan

I've had a demand for £17.99 from BCW for ISP account I had with Wanadoo three years ago. Wanadoo cut me off when they upgraded some equipment, I had no service for weeks and had to go to another ISP. I told BCW it was outrages for of them to dare to ask for money. They said my credit rating would be effected and someone would come to house if I didn't pay. I didn't pay and I won't.

Impossible_Princess

I got the same letter too yesterday!! I took ut wanadoo broadband like back in October 2005 and they switch over to Orange sometime in 2006. As being a 12mth contract, I know that my contract would expire in October 2006 which means I am free to close my account and not owe anything thereafter... so in Feb 07 I moved house and closed my account with them and owed them nothing. But now, out of the blue - I get this letter DEMANDING me to pay this £120.00 which I know nothing about and they even sent it to my new home address too!

Im certainly not paying this and I am not going to be taken to court or have my credit rating affected by this scam, because I owe them nothing and I was already like 14 months out of my contract and told them I was closing my account and cancelled my DD because I didnt need it anymore as I was moving house.

I got the exactly the same letter yesterday but for £120.00

What are we going to do to resolve this???

:mad:

bigmouthstrikesagain_2

Ive just had a phone call from DLC! saying i owe £19.99 to an old orange/ wannadoo b/b account from june 2007 i ve rang orange just to send me proof of this debt, i will keep this going as i heard this is a regular stunt from orange,cheeky [EMAIL="B#@**S"]B#@**S[/EMAIL]!

CJa_2

I went through a similar situation with these guys over a flat I had moved out of a few years ago but got stuck with the bill, and followed a mix of advice to resolve the problem from this site and others. Firstly this is the path of letters I got.

1. Formal Demand
2. Final Notice
3. Legal Notification
4. Inspection by debt collection officer.

At this point I had managed to get the company, not the collector (BCW) off my backs. But at first I struggled to talk to BCW over the issue, whose essential phone conversation consisted of either you provide us with your tenancy agreement or you pay up.

Naturally this disturbed me so I took it up with the company who had contracted them. Now, the thing here is that even though BCW have bought the debt they have to listen to that company otherwise they can't buy other debt from them, so always take it up with the original company, who gave me other options to prove it, and I proved it through council tax bills. Now I was civil with both companies throughout the process, and eventually resolved the problem, to the point where BCW asked for the same documents as the company in question, proving they were hiding options from me.

The point to this post is complain direct to the company in question, and tell them of the situation and ask for options to prove this debt isn't yours. They will listen to you,, and to prove you are even more cooperative stay in contact with the debtors, maintaining your stance but being civil. This helped me get the situation resolved.