Wescot Letter

sportbeth

troo wrote:

I've had another letter too, I took great delight in shredding it and mixing it in with the compost :rotfl:

Did they send you a postage paid envelope? Fancy a snack?

tru

sportbeth wrote:

Did they send you a postage paid envelope? Fancy a snack?

Unfortunately not Shame, I've just finished a big bag of minstrels

IndiansFan

I received a letter this morning demanding that I pay nearly £100 for a debt relating to Shop Direct.

I called the number on the letter and reluctantly gave them my name and address and date of birth. The woman on the other end said that this debt related to someone else and could I send a copy of my birth certificate in order to confirm and close the case.

I asked if she could tell me who Shop Direct were, but she said under the Data Protection Act she was not allowed to tell me who the company is.

All of this relates to a property I used to live in back in the 90's. Someone there is purchasing goods and services using my name and address with another date of birth. I thought all this had stopped, but it looks like one of the companies has sold its debts to another debt recovery company and is trying to dig it all up again.

So my questions are:

Do I send them a copy of my birth certificate? I was and still am reluctant to give out personal information.

Can I demand they tell me who the company is, or can I (as has been quoted in another post) demand a copy of the original credit agreement?

sportbeth

IndiansFan wrote:

I received a letter this morning demanding that I pay nearly £100 for a debt relating to Shop Direct.

I called the number on the letter and reluctantly gave them my name and address and date of birth. The woman on the other end said that this debt related to someone else and could I send a copy of my birth certificate in order to confirm and close the case.

I asked if she could tell me who Shop Direct were, but she said under the Data Protection Act she was not allowed to tell me who the company is.

All of this relates to a property I used to live in back in the 90's. Someone there is purchasing goods and services using my name and address with another date of birth. I thought all this had stopped, but it looks like one of the companies has sold its debts to another debt recovery company and is trying to dig it all up again.

So my questions are:

Do I send them a copy of my birth certificate? I was and still am reluctant to give out personal information.

Can I demand they tell me who the company is, or can I (as has been quoted in another post) demand a copy of the original credit agreement?

Don't tell them anything - it is up to them to prove that you owe the debt, not for you to prove that they don't. I would be very reluctant to give out a document that personal to someone that can't even get their paperwork straight at their own end!

You can certainly demand a copy of the original agreement. That way you can know in your own mind that the debt is not yours

Tootsie_Roll

I'm pretty sure that Shop Direct own the Littlewoods group of companies.

As for sending out a copy of your birth certificate - a difficult one. Part of me agrees with Sportbeth - why should you have to jump through hoops when it is not your problem ? You may however want to know for certain that they are not going to come after you again so for peace of mind it may be worth sending it off to them.

EasilyAggravated

shop direct own a fair few catalogue companies.

she told you she couldnt tell you who shop direct was because of the data protection act???
biggest load of kak ive ever heard. if you were asking for the personal details of a company boss then fair enough. you want to know which company you supposedly owe money to. thats nothing to do with the data protection act.

id ignore em. complete bunch of unorganised, uneducated eejits. the lot of em

sportbeth

Why are you even considering sending a copy of your birth certificate to a company who won't even name the company they say they are acting for?

If they are certain enough it is you then they should be able to send you proof of a signed credit agreement or they should get stuffed. If I banged on your front door tomorrow morning, said I was a debt collector and wanted a copy of your birth certificate would you let me have it? Erm... I think not.

Ask them for proof that you owe the debt. They won't be able to because they're clutching at straws hoping you are the debtor and they can earn a few quid. And I bet they will give you some bull about data protection being the reason why they can't send it. It's all rubbish

Tootsie_Roll

sportbeth wrote:

Why are you even considering sending a copy of your birth certificate to a company who won't even name the company they say they are acting for?

If they are certain enough it is you then they should be able to send you proof of a signed credit agreement or they should get stuffed. If I banged on your front door tomorrow morning, said I was a debt collector and wanted a copy of your birth certificate would you let me have it? Erm... I think not.

Ask them for proof that you owe the debt. They won't be able to because they're clutching at straws hoping you are the debtor and they can earn a few quid. And I bet they will give you some bull about data protection being the reason why they can't send it. It's all rubbish

I can't disagree with anything in your post - The OP however might want a quick end to this and know for certain that it's not going to come back to haunt her. The problem with making demands on the catalogue company is that they have little incentive to actually sort it out unless they know for a fact the OP is not who they think she is - make sense ? No not really I know but she will get 'closure' much more quickly by sending in proof.

SILENTLUCIDITY

This is typical Wescot my wife worked there for 6 years they didnt know half of the laws and were told that they had to get some money out of you anyway they could even a token payment over the phone while they sorted the rest out as for threats against your parents complete and utter bull