funny letter

TallyFrog

Thanks for this thread!
I've just received the same letter, dated 2nd April from 'Direct Recovery Solutions', a 'trading name' of Complete Credit Management Ltd. Again, addressed to 'The Occupier', on behalf of 'our client TTISPC for SP1 regarding your energy supply from British Gas, who has a query relating to your property'. Saying they need to speak to me regarding the Gas supply since 29/11/2005, and giving an 0870 number (which again, I checked for alternatives on saynoto0870.com - an excellent site by the way!) to contact them.
As I'm a tenant, and have only been in the property since 2008 (paying all bills on time), but didn't want to be caught up with bailiffs on the doorstep or a cancelled gas supply because of any previous tenant's behaviour, I contacted the agents for the property to tell them I was going to forward the letter to them. I will still do so, but I'll also send them a link to this useful thread. And as a result of all you guys posting up your experience, I'll also be calling British Gas and OFCOM.
I was going to reply (in writing - not on expensive 0870 number) to Direct Recovery Solutions to let them know it was something to take up with the agent - but I think I'll save myself the cost of a stamp.
thanks again to all for sharing experience and advice - good to know we can act together to clamp down on such sharp practice - horrible that they play on people's fears to drive them towards an expensive phone line.

waryone_2

I received the same letter 0n 8/4/09, and having had previous letters and a caller from debt collectors regarding previous occupants thought it to be genuine despite the cheap paper and lack of firm detail. I also notice now that they give only a telephone and fax number - no address. I felt a little intimidated by the threat of a visit which I associated in my mind with harrassment for debts (which I do not have).

Content was:
In respect of <address>

We are contacting you on behalf of our client TTISPC for SP1 regarding your energy supply from British Gas, who has a query relating to your property.

We need to speak to you regarding the Electric(sic) supply at this adress from 26/07/2005.

Please contact us [on] 0870 2400764 to enable us to update our client's records accordingly. Our opening hours are Monday to Friday 8.30am to 8pm.

[emboldened] If you fail to contact us we will schedule a visit to the property by one of our representatives in order to obtain the required details.

End of quote.

There was no signature.

When I called the number and had given the propbably spurius reference bumbers, my first question was to ask what rate the call was being charged at. I was told it was charged a local rate. (I now seriously doubt that it was).

I told the woman on the end of the line my name and that I was a customer of X and had been since Y. She replied that it was obvious the "query" was nothing to do with me. She then asked if I was an owner or a tenant. I foolishly volunteered that I was a tenant, whereapon she asked me for the landlord's address so that she could send him/her the same letter. She would not accept a fax or telephone number, and being aware that they could obtain the landlord's details from the Land Registry I gave her his/her address.

I did a google this morning on their company name and found this forum. I now feel something of a fool.

I am now going to contact my energy supplier to check that my supply is not redirected without my knowledge to a different supplier. I will also call British Gas and will also call the local police. I don't expect the police will be interested but if this is a scam then they should be made aware of it. I will also see if my telephone supplier is aware of the scam in case they can block the number.

Apart from probably being conned myself I am concerned that this is obviously a long running scam and it isn't being dealt with by the authorities. Please take care and be aware.

TallyFrog

An update:

called British Gas - they do not have a query relating to the gas supply at my address - so the letter is lying about that.

called Ofcom - who referred me to PhonePayPlus, who referred me straight back to Ofcom. Ofcom have recorded the details of the issue 'for monitoring purposes' - but won't actively follow it up unless they get a substantial number of complaints.

so, if you've had a letter like this, and you're concerned about it, please flag it up with Ofcom rather than just ignoring it - there may be more people out there who are just scared into calling the number.

the Ofcom number to call is 0300 123 3333
it's a standard national rate call, and should be part of any inclusive minutes.
there's no obvious way to do it online (or I couldn't find any)

good luck!

waryone_2

I contacted British Gas who confirmed they have no charge or query regarding my property from previous tenants or owners. The person in Customer Services I spoke to was not aware of "Direct Recovery Services" acting on behalf of British Gas. I made sure they were fully aware that I didn't want to change energy supplier (in case that was something to do with the scam).

I contacted my energy supplier and made sure they knew I didn't want my energy supply changed. Apparently that cannot be done unless the caller knows certain energy supply codes unique to your supply reference.

I contacted my telephone supplier and verified I was charged 69p for the 6 minute call to the DRS number in case the scam was harvesting profit from call ins.

All in all I haven't worked out how this DRS company is making profit out of these letters. They are obviously getting something out of it, but what?

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread. It is reassuring to know there are people who are more astute at spotting scams than I was!

Godd luck

spicy0103

Thanks for this thread!
I've just received the same letter, dated 6th April from 'Direct Recovery Solutions', a 'trading name' of Complete Credit Management Ltd. Again, addressed to 'The Occupier', on behalf of 'our client TTISPC for SP1 regarding your energy supply from British Gas, who has a query relating to your property'. Saying they need to speak to me regarding the Electricity supply since 06/01/2006, and giving an 0870 number (which again, I checked for alternatives.

As I'm a tenant, and have only been in the property since Feb 2007 (paying all bills on time), but didn't want to be caught up with bailiffs on the doorstep or a cancelled supply because of any previous tenant's behavior,

I contacted British Gas and the account is ok.

I also found this email address for the other name mentioned at bottom of the letter info@completecreditmanagement.com

waryone_2

Further to my previous posts: I contacted Ofcom who, as you might guessed were polite but disinterested. I said I realised that they would not so anything unless they received a lot of complaints but I wanted to be added to the list! The guy at the other end of the phone line was polite and he took my details (or at least rattled his keyboard), and refered me to the Information Comissioners as this wasn't really a telephonic matter. I said if the company involved were clocking up profit by intimidating people into phoning an 0870 line then it clearly was a telephonic matter and Ofcom were the people to be able to scrub the 0870 number and prevent new ones being approved.

Anyway, I found a link which indicates that Direct Recovery Solutions are not the only company pursuing this questionable activity.

I'm not allowed to post links so Google on the capital letters BILLED-NONEXISTANT-GAS-SUPPLY and look for a thisisplymouth site.

I still can't work out why DRS are doing these mailings. Perhaps it is not the retail section of British Gas that is involved, but some sort of associated holding company - the TTISPC for SP1 mentioned. (I'll have to reread the letter to get the name right). I'll look into it.

Maybe this is just a ruse to get people to identify themselves at a given address. Perhaps DRS are hoping to chase down debtors for other debts by accusing people they suspect of of having a non-existant British Gas debt they will naturally deny having, but in doing so inadvertantly tag themselves as a debtor who maybe did a flit, or else someone who used the address as part of an identity theft scam! OK, that is pretty paranoid and unlikely, but I have had another debt collection company knocking at my door recently in the belief that I was someone else who owed them money. For what it is worth I received a letter of apology today but they still didn't explain why they didn't check the electoral roll before knocking on my door.

I'm sorry if this is getting a bit too far fetched now, but identity theft is a real problem these days, and it is probably very sensible to give away the absolute minimum of personal information you can.

Take care.

Lensman_2

Some clickies:
Hounded for nine years by British Gas
Hounded by bailiffs over gas supply he doesn't have
When will British Gas bungles end?

Energywatch was mentioned in one article. They have been incorporated in to Consumer Direct. They can be reached on 08454 04 05 06 or at http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/EnergySupplyandPost/energysupply/

Please complain!

Lemon_Tree

any bill addressed 'to the occupier' is not enforcable as far as i know.

waryone_2

Hi,
I did some surfing but wasn't able to find out much. Reading their parent company's website reveals DRS had their origins as a service unit for a "large utility" but now seem to be a separate company - although their company address is still the same as that of Severn Trent water in Birmingham. It says they have recently completed a relocation - if so they haven't updated their address at Companies House. They proudly boast of their expertise and cost effectiveness in tracking down debtors.

The reason I have been (over) concerned with this "funny letter" is that I was induced to give my landlord's address details in claiming I was not present at my address over most of the period claimed. In the back of my mind was a story from Radio4's "File On 4" which detailed how fraudsters are indentifying unmortgaged and/or remotely owned properties, and then using gaping holes in Land Registry security and verification procedures to transfer title to such properties to themselves without any knowledge or involvement on the part of the true property owners. The fraudsters then take out a mortgage on the property and disappear with the cash. The fraud may not be discovered for a long time - for example, until the dispossessed owner tries to sell their property. The Land Registry pays compensation to the dispossessed in such cases, but all of us, as tax-payers, pay into the compensation fund. Millions of pounds have had to be paid in compensation already, and who knows how many scams have yet to be discovered?

Properties which are vacant or have remote ownership (for example buy-for-let) seem to be especially vulnerable as the only security check the Land Registry does is to notify the title owner by mail that registration details are to be changed. As the fraudsters have diverted such mail to themselves beforehand this check is useless.

The logic of this is that if asked we shouldn't give the address of remote owners away in case fraudsters are trying to identify vulnerable properties. There is of course, no evidence that DRS is involved in such activity.

This fraud is very profitable and more information can be found from the web page for BBC Radio4, File On 4, Tuesday 31st March 2009, "How a fraudster stole our house". (Sorry the forum won't permit me to post links). I apologise for drifting so far off-topic. Unfortunately the Land Registry do not appear to be in any hurry to tighten procedures so I thought it best to ensure anyone who gets a "funny letter" should keep schtum and not pass on information.

Take Care

Purplestar

Hi,
I also received a very similar letter from Direct Recovery Solutions this month. I wasn't going to answer because I know that I have no outstanding debts. Curiosity got the better of me. I withheld my phone number and rang the 0870 number. A woman answered and I gave her the dodgy looking reference number. She then asked for my name which I declined to give. I asked her to write to me by name, detailing the information the company required and then I would reply. That didn't go down very well! I asked her what were the specific 'details' that they required. She told me she couldn't tell me because they were bound by various 'data protection laws'. All I did reveal is that I wasn't living in the house on the dates specified in the letter and no, I didn't have the forwarding address of the previous owner.
I got a frosty 'goodbye'.
Glad to know it wasn't just me that received the letter though!