Newlyn Article In The Times

hallowitch

esmerobbo
thank you very much for taking the time to post this it is very much appreciated

Hadeon

hallowitch wrote: »

esmerobbo
thank you very much for taking the time to post this it is very much appreciated

Seconded...:beer:

trisontana

I don't know if this was esmerobbo who somebody else, but the above transcript has now appeared on CAG and Pepipoo.

esmerobbo

Not me there. I is same username on here and them both!

Too befuddled just being me to have different names!!!:p

I bet the guys in-box is nice and full!

trisontana

While we are on the subject of debt collectors. This from today's This Is Money:-

M.A.P. writes: You wrote last year about how alleged debts can be passed from one debt collector to another, all pursuing the wrong person. It's time there was more protection for the innocent.

I've been receiving demands for a debt that has been passed on and is going down this well-trodden path.

Answer:-

According to a growing list of debt collectors, you owe £7,791 on a car loan that you took out with Yes Car Credit. But the truth is that you never had any such loan. You simply have the same first name and surname as the person who did take out the loan and who failed to repay it.

You have even carried out your own investigation and found that the real debtor is more than 15 years younger than you and single. You are older, married and have lived at the same address for more than 23 years.

But despite this, for the past two years you have no sooner convinced one debt collector of your innocence than a new one appears on the scene and issues you with the same demands and threats all over again.

The latest calls itself Philips. Its letters do not reveal that it is a limited company, nor do they carry the name of any proprietor
They do not show its company number, its Office of Fair Trading licence number, or its registered office. Letters simply demand that you send £7,791 to PO Box 231 in Darlington. And the latest correspondence to land on your doormat is not only outrageous but illegal.

Philips threatens that 'attendances will be made to your premises by our Bailiffs/Recovery Agents to either remove goods or commence alternative recovery procedures without further warning'. In fact, this would be against the law.

According to OFT records, the company's full name is Philips Collection Services Limited and it is based in Garden Street, Darlington, County Durham. However, this seems to be the offices of a connected company that trains bailiffs. Local sources indicated that Philips is really some distance away on the Faverdale Industrial Estate.


I asked what it thought it was playing at by threatening you when you had already protested that you were not the debtor.Without a court order, which it does not have, its threats were completely idle anyway.

Director Robert Bell told me: 'Unfortunately, a letter that should only be used on enforcement debt was incorrectly uploaded on to the wrong batch of work and was sent to Mr & Mrs P in error.' He said nothing about why you were falsely pursued in the first place but assured me that he would be sending you a written apology and £50 of shopping vouchers.

Philips claims to be Britain's biggest independent debt recovery service, acting for local councils and government departments.Oddly though, its licence from the OFT ran out last September.


The company is allowed to stay in business as long as officials are considering a renewal application. But the fact that this process has dragged on for more than five months may indicate that you and I are not the only people to have qualms about the way this debt collector acts.


Note the part about them not having a licence!

HO87

trisontana wrote: »

Local sources indicated that Philips is really some distance away on the Faverdale Industrial Estate.

Indeed he is correct:

Philips Collection Services Ltd
1-2 Trinity Court
Faverdale North Industrial Estate
Darlington
County Durham
DL3 0PH

This address was current as of 25 January 2011 and may be seen here in Streetview - the two brick built buildings in the middle distance to the right of the white/grey-clad building.

trisontana wrote: »

Note the part about them not having a licence!

Still stands as having expired in September but I note that in their last licence application they identified their principal place of business i.e. where their staff are actually based not a registered office as the Garden Street address. Seems that no longer applies. I wonder if the OFT are aware of this and the Faverdale address?

hallowitch

trisontana wrote: »

I don't know if this was esmerobbo who somebody else, but the above transcript has now appeared on CAG and Pepipoo.

tomtubby(bailiffadviceonline) posted it on CAG