Warning and advice about LCS Utility Investigation Civil Enforcement Debt Recoveries

dolly1_2

Widelats wrote: »

I got a letter asking me to provide info of my name (they don't know), length of time at the address i just moved into (they have no clue), name of previous occupier (they have no idea), forwarding address of previous occupier (they are stumped), landlords name and telephone number (like it wasn't already given to them by british gas) and any other info i deem relevant to this enquiry. I know that this is stage 1 in their bully campaign, i will soon receive letters telling me i owe them money for the previous tenants bills to British Gas.

All they do is buy the debt from British Gas and then bully people to get the debt paid, that is how they make their money and they use some horrible tactics to do it on innocent people.

Having dealt with these LCS bullies before, the very best advice i can give to anyone who gets their letters is screw the letter up and put it in your bin, do not respond to them by any means, they have to go to court for debt recovery and it will cost them dearly when they lose the case.

British Gas are also to blame, it seems British Gas do not inform this company of any other details except there is a bill outstanding.

If LCS pay you a visit politely tell them on your doorstep to get lost and that you do not wish to help them with their enquiries at all, give them no information whatsoever.

This company is nothing but a debt collection service, they have no right to visit you or demand monies unless they can prove you are the debtor.

I received a letter from this company today saying I owed money from a previous address for scottish power A, I didnt live there at this time B, I certainly didnt have scottish power as my supplier, it makes you think as to where they have got my details from and do they think i am totally stupid? unfortunatlly for them I worked with legal contracts and debt collectors for 10 years so I know how to handle people like this they have no legal clout or any backing from any govermant or legal organisation. something needs to be done about this company now the knew laws have come in about bailiffs maybe companys like this will disappear.

Scottish_Power

Dolly1 Please can you e-mail details to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and we will look into this for you? Thanks David

Daniel0108

I received a letter today from LCS, and was wondering if it was some kind of scam or something at first? then thought that they are chasing after the previous tenant who moved out in late 2011 and DID NOT inform gas and electric that he moved as I kept receiving letters from EDF demanding payment for gas & electric, plus after many phonecalls they actually realised that I was a new tenant and stopped bothering me with loads of letters.
I pay my gas and electric to my new supplier regularly and have done since moving in since May 2012.
Water rates are paid by the council so it's not me that owes anything.
The letter was addressed to FAO/the occupier of.... and had a case ref number then asked:
your name, date of occupancy, name of previous occupier, landlords name and address, etc...
Is this thing some kinda scam or real?

inamess1985

if i was, id ignore it, chuck it in the bin and ignore it, and if it ever goes to court (which is highly unlikely) you just need to show the evidence that you moved in on a certain date and that you have never been with the company at that address, it will cost them more than it will cost you, be confident and say you have no contract with the fraudsters who are trying to gain money from you with no evidence or contract, and through intimidation and bullying tactics

Lozzz32

Glad I found this page! I was going to ring them however I do have a couple of questions if anyone could answer it will be greatly appreciated

Firstly will these letters affect my credit rating in any way ie will credit companies see where I live and refuse credit

Also my property is rented would it be worth forwarding the letter to the housing association who I rent off?

Thank you and kind regards

Philio2

You try to talk to them on the phone, to explain their mistakes, and they carry on with their threatening letters.

If you type CSA code of practice into your search engine, you can see that you have an option to take the fight back to them

Basically, if you make a complaint, they have to investigate the complaint, before they can carry on pursuing you!

I'm trying this out now

Elainne

My son bought a house in Dec 2012 and is renovating it and changed his energy supplier from Scottish Power to EON. He received gas bills from both companies and an electric bill only from Scottish Power.
I rang Scottish Power and EON and basically the gas meter readings were inconsistent with each other and Scottish Power stated that the electric wasn't going to EON. (YES IT WAS). After several phone calls they each agreed meter readings for the gas bill and I duly paid them on Friday. The gas bill from Scottish Power was dated 19th Feb 2013. The electric is still being changed and figures agreed between both companies. My son was sent a bill on the 12th Feb 2012 from Scottish Power for Electric of £35.28. It hasn't been paid due to this incomplete switch over and both are sorting it out. My son hasn't received a red bill for the £35.28 or any other electric bill from either company.
Yesterday he receives a letter to the Legal Owner, from LCS dated 27th Feb 2013, to recovery the costs of the bill of £35.28 and £13.75 admin = £49.03, even though it is in dispute with Scottish Power & EON as to who owns the supply and he hasnt had a red bill or any other communication from Scottish Power since 12th Feb 2013 of their intentions. I am absolutely fuming. Unfortunately it's Sunday and no one is in, God help them tomorrow. Angry mum:mad:

Scottish_Power

Hi Elainne If you e-mail us at [EMAIL="social@scottishpower.com"]social@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] we can help Thanks David

Adamasa

A few months ago I received a similar letter as ones described from LCS asking for information on the property, previous tenants, the landlord etc. which I duly ignored.

A month ago I then received a letter for a person that I had never heard of, which I placed in the bin.

Today I received a letter that had both the name of the person that the previous letter was for and my own name on it. I opened the letter to find that it was from LCS claiming that both I and the person who I had never heard of owed British Gas £786.53 for electricity, they claimed that this debt was owed from the 3/5/12 to the 26/12/12 for the property that I am currently living in and that action was due to be taken against me in the next 7 days as I had not disputed this claim, despite this being the first I had heard from them.

What immediately struck me was firstly I had no idea who this person was that I apparently 'shared a debt' with. Secondly that I had only moved in on the 3rd August of that year on an entirely new contract with my friends. Thirdly that my electricity is supplied by EDF and had been by the previous tenants as when I moved in they simply changed my name over on to the bill. And fourthly that almost £800 seems a hell of a lot of money for electricity for under 7 months.

This was quite a few things to strike me all at once but I recovered from the shock of the utter stupidity of the letter and thought that a simple phone call would be all that was needed to straighten out the utter idiocy of the letter....more fool me!

When I was put through to LCS I explained this situation and said that it was obviously a mistake and could they take my name off it. I explained that I only moved in in August and had copies of bills from EDF proving that I had paid my bills and that British gas were not the suppliers of electricity to this address on said dates. I was then told in a very unfriendly and borderline rude manner that this was a very serious issue and they could not simply remove my name from it as I had been at the property during these dates and so was liable and had to make a payment.

I then explained that the simple act of posting me a letter did not then make me liable for any debt and that it was not my responsibility to prove anything to them, that I had simply rung them to point out there mistake. He then repeated the line that I must take this seriously or risk bailiffs or court. I then repeated the line that I had an EDF bill in front of me that clearly demonstrated that they in-fact provided my electricity and that I had paid my bill. Then a miracle happened and he began to comprehend both his own and LCS's utter stupidity, so he proceeded to ask me for my meter number, I gave it to him and he said 'oh, that doesn't match up with the one I have' and I said 'yes that's because you are wrong, now send me a letter confirming that I have been removed from this and it will not effect my credit rating' and to my surprise he said 'no', he needs to confirm it with British Gas first, to which I replied okay I will call you back in an hour, he said fine and I hung up. For anyone's reference this guys name was James and he is stupid, if you do happen to ring up LCS and talk to James bare this in mind.

So I rang up and hour later and this time I spoke to Tom, I asked Tom if LCS and James had confirmed that they were in-fact idiots, but alas Tom was also an idiot. Tom proceeded to tell me that James was actually still in discussions with British Gas about this and that he had not yet resolved it, I got angry and hung up.

I calmed down a little and thought about how it had happened that both my name and a complete stranger had become entangled in a web of stupidity and decided to phone my landlord who told me that the other accused stranger had lived in the house over 4 years ago. Yet apparently according to LCS he was also liable for a debt from last year, I smelt a violation of the data protection act and thought I better ring back LCS and see if Tom or James's lobotomy was complete and if they had resolved the problem before running off in the sun set together to join Mensa.

Unfortunately Tom and James were really struggling with what was obviously a task way above them and I spoke to a woman this time who's name I cant remember. She told me that they still didn't have confirmation. So I gave her my spam email and told her in my most official sounding voice that of she didn't email me confirmation that they were wrong, that it would not effect my credit rating and they were very very sorry for wasting my time I would be complaining to the office of fair trading, as under their guidance on unfair practice (2.4 part F) pursuing third parties for payment when they are not liable constitutes psychological harassment and that the OFT has a duty under the consumer credit act 1974 to ensure that licences are only given to and retained by those who are fit to hold them, I also informed her that I would be contacting the police for said psychological harassment. She responded in a typical LCS confused manner.

I then asked as to how they had got my name and the name of the other person on the letter and was told that LCS had bought the information from Equifax who kicked up a storm in America for going round selling personal financial information willy nilly a while back. I'm not sure but can any one tell me if this is against data protection? At the point when they bought the information they didn't know my name only the address and then seemed to have just gone pot luck on anybody that happened to live or had lived here, is this legal? She told me that it was perfectly legal I had doubts so I hung up on her.

Anyway from this point I could feel myself regressing from talking to such a group of utter bully boy/girl morons so decided to ring British Gas to see what they had to say about it. I spoke to a very helpful guy at their complaints department, who explained to me that there had obviously been a mix up somewhere along the line and that it was clear that my property was supplied and had been for the last few years by EDF. He also told me that LCS had no right to accuse anyone except the person who's name was on the bill (which wasn't either myself or the other innocent accused) and that no one else could be liable for it. his exact words to me where 'ignore them and they'll go away'. I agreed and filed a complaint about LCS with British gas.

My advice to anybody having problems with them is firstly when on the phone they will try and get more and more info about you, don't give it to them, for some reason they were desperate to get my date of birth and were even about to hang up on me for not giving it to them. Secondly don't be intimidated by them that is their only weapon. And thirdly speak very very slowly, especially if its to James as it takes him a very long time to process information and he doesn't always get things, such as a basic grasp of the English language.

fatbelly

A long post but a good 'un from Adamasa.