Billing SRJ Debt Recoveries LTD ?

Ukfrog_2

Hi
I received a letter from SRJ last week, I doubt very much I have any outstanding debt, as I like to keep my house in order and pay any bills I would be liable for.
In addition to this, the last time I moved (three years ago) I past on my new address to all services providers so they could send me the final closing bill for their respective accounts.
And just to be on the safe side, I forwarded my mail for six months and left my new address with the current owner of that property.
Having done all that I didn’t think I would ever receive a letter from a debt recovery company. But I have…
The letter doesn’t present any information as of who their client is, nor does it include the amount of the debt. It is called a Trace Confirmation ( BIG RED BACKGROUND). LOL
They do kindly provide a premium telephone number for you to call back on. But as it's not recommended to call and deal with them over the phone, I will not be using it.


My questions is for any future correspondence I may have with them.


-I read somewhere that you could fight back these debt recovery companies (that sometimes are just fishing for someone with close enough name to answer and pay off the debt, regardless if it’s them or not), by charging them for the letter you send to them.

-Is this true? Is it possible to bill them for my time and any correspondence I have to send them?

-If so, is there a figure, what can you charge them per letter? Or does anything go?

-What are the chances they will pay the fees I charge them.

-Will this dissuade them from contacting me any further?

Any help welcome

Many thanks
Ukfrog.

DarkConvict

No, as there is no contract in place for you to charge them per letter you cannot do this.

You could state further letters i have to send will be charged at x amount, if you do not agree then cease writing to this address, as you are then sending them notice of potential costs. But i doubt they would pay up. But should they they pay, i think so, it takes time, effort and costs of postage of us to reply, maybe if we could charge them they would stop sending out 1000s of fishing letters.

Sadly DCAs can just waste peoples time. It is worth noting they arent allowed to ask you to ring on premium phone numbers under OFT guidelines on debt collection.

Ukfrog_2

Thanks DarkConvict,

Yeah that's the idea behind it, STOP THEM FROM FISHING.
Even if I have nothing to fear because I have no debt, this has been very stressful for me and it stopped me from sleeping for a couple of nights. It's not right to do this to people.
We all have enough to deal with in our every day live without having to put up with unnecessary stress input from malicious minded companies like this.

In the unlikely event they do write to me again (maybe it did forget to pay someone), I will send them a fee notice for £50 per letter I have to send, and when they default on the payment and they will, (I cant see them paying it up that would be to good to be true), I will have no choice but to take action to recover the payments, (maybe through a company called SRJ) . LOL

The way I see it, it will be bill for bill, then maybe we can come to some agreement, you stick yours, I'll stick my bill.

If everybody does the same, as long as, like you say we give them notice to charge, what can they do?
They are going to end up owing the money rather than collecting it...
Ha Ha Ha that's sounds great actually. And I’m sure they haven’t the infrastructure to support so many claims against them.

Who knows they could even close shop….
Naaaaaaaaaaa, I’m dreaming now aren’t I.

Cheers again DarkConvict.

Ukfrog

DarkConvict

They can't actually default on payment, as there was no contract

But then again, look at parking fines. We agree to the terms by parking, you could state they agree by replying, although parking fines do have regulation.

It would be nice if we could, so many topics on this forum involve sending the prove it letter and they either do not reply, do not reply with evidence, or skip straight to a CCJ, even when the debt is not theirs. Sure we could attend the CCJ, provide evidence the debt is not ours, but this is at our cost and time. Something i hold very valueable, I managed to get BT to cough up ~£200 for wasting 3 days of my time for failed installations and taking 3 months to install a simple phoneline, very long story but they did pay up.

Ukfrog_2

I’m not one to deny a debt if it is indeed my responsibility. But like I said, I like to keep my house in order and I don’t think I have any debt left behind.
What I find odd is that my mail was forwarded for 6 months, I was still in touch with the new owner of the property for many months after that. And I never got a bill or anything close to one. In addition to that, I past on my new address to all my service providers for them to send me the final closing bills.
So I really don’t understand who could possibly want to trace me trough SRJ.

Anyway, I guess I’ll have to just wait and see what comes in the next letter, if any! One thing for sure, they better not be wasting my time, or I will demand compensation.

Can anybody advise on claiming compensation from debt collectors?

pepe2008

Send them this, which gives them fair warning of your intentions,

Dear Sir/Madam

Ref: xxxxxxxxxxx

You have contacted me under the above reference number, quoting an amount which you claim is owed by me.

I would point out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to XXXXX.

I am familiar with the ‘Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance’ which states that it is unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the Debtor in question.

I would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

Furthermore, ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

I would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above accounts unless you can provide evidence as to my liability for the debt in question.

I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a Complaint to the Office of Fair Trading ( and to any other Official body that I deem relevant) and seek compensation from yourselves.


Yours


( do not sign with usual/any Signature )


Mrs A N Other


...and if they keep it up, carry out your threat!

I voted YES

DarkConvict

Nice Letter, Saved

JasX

I got a fishing letter from one of these types,

"we are conducting an investigation into the utility supply at this address, in order to eraditacte yourself from this enquiry please call us on xxx permium rate number and provide details of...

your name...
date you moved into this address....
previous occupier...
forwarding address given...

blah blah blah groundless threats
....

I ignored it and have heard nothing since from anyone for 18+ months

Think I know what it was too, new build flat but the inept developer left heating, lights etc on for about 18 months before getting round to selling the apartments off so when I moved in and set everything up there were a few '000 kWH on the initial meter readings I gave the suppliers.

didn't get on with the developer but attractive as dropping them in it would have been I view companies on fishing trips for old debts on a completly different level

Ukfrog_2

pepe2008 wrote: »

Send them this, which gives them fair warning of your intentions,

I voted YES

Thanks pepe2008,

I'll keep this letter for when they do send me an account No, an amount due and client name. For now I don't even have the name of whom the debt belongs to, so I can't refute it!

Thanks for voting YES

expectingstandards

There are certain aspects of this that sound "unfair" by SRJ Debt Recovery.

I am aware that Surrey Trading Standards are "...carrying out research into the activities of debt collection companies based in their county....", an area which SRJ Debt Recovery operate in.

With this in mind, I encourage anyone being harrassed by SRJ Debt Recoveries to contact Consumer Direct 08454 04 05 06 and ask them to pass your concerns onto the Surrey Trading Standards who are at present looking at the issues here.

The more calls, the bigger the issue, the bigger the action.

veekay65

[FONT=&quot]I have received letter from SRJ and looking to send them a letter like this one.
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[FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]Dear SRJ[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I am in receipt of letter which I found on street outside my letter box duly opened which does not indicate why it has been written, and also it may have been read by the neighbours or anyone in the stree which is also agains the OFT [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Debt collection guidance, Final guidance on unfair business practices[/FONT][FONT=&quot]July 2003 (updated December 2006) OFT664[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 2.6 ([/FONT][FONT=&quot]j) which clearly says acting in a way likely to be publicly embarrassing to the debtor either deliberately or through lack of care, for example, by not putting correspondence in a sealed envelope and putting it through a letterbox, thereby running the risk that it could be read by third parties.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Whereas it has been asked in the letter to contact on premimum number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, which is also agaist the guidance of OFT [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Debt collection guidance, Final guidance on unfair business practices [/FONT][FONT=&quot]July 2003 (updated December 2006) OFT664. Parga 22 (h). Further you have violated as per guidance set forth in 22 (g) which say it is an example of violation when ignoring or disregarding debtors' legitimate wishes in respect of when and where to contact them, for example, shift workers who[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]ask not to be telephoned during certain times of the day[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You have kept calling on my number with clear warning that either you should introduce yourself or write me a letter but you ignored all the instruction and caused severe mental stress which has affected my personal as well as life at work. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You have also violated the para 2.8 ([/FONT][FONT=&quot]d.) which says contacting debtors directly and bypassing their appointed representatives also you asked for date of birth and other personal details which are violation of 2.8 (j). requiring an individual to supply information to prove they are not the[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]debtor in question, for example, driving licences, passports, full name,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]date of birth, signatures[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]