Unbelievable

bubblehead08

I previously posted a thread about 10 days ago seeking advice after Fredricksons International began chasing me for an alleged debt for an Orange mobile phone.

I genuinely had no knowledge of this debt but began to receive various demands for money coupled with harassment, by telephone, of not only myself but my relatives and even my ex-partners parents (can only assume they got the phone number by checking who was linked to me and then checking my ex's file). They then began to threaten to take me to court over the matter and I must admit, I questioned whether it was simply that I had somehow completely forgot having this alleged account and forgot about not paying my bills. They even sent me a 'Statement Of Account' on Orange headed paper with my details on it and various alleged payments.

HOWEVER........ I arrived home today to find my historic bank account statements had arrived (only ever used this one account) and after careful perusal it became very clear that I was, in fact, completely right in my belief that this had nothing whatsoever to do with me.
There is absolutely no trace of any of these alleged direct debit payments and my direct debits for completely different amounts, to a completely different service provider are all there.
I can only assume that these people really are as unscrupulous as they lead me to believe and they have 'created' the documentation they have sent me, either by adding my details to a genuine SOA or simply 'creating' an SOA.

Anyway, a huge thankyou to everyone who offered me help and advice in relation to all of this - it's much appreciated.

fatbelly

bubblehead08 wrote: »

I can only assume that these people really are as unscrupulous as they lead me to believe and they have 'created' the documentation they have sent me, either by adding my details to a genuine SOA or simply 'creating' an SOA.

Previous thread

So you must report them - to Trading Standards via Consumer Direct, Office of Fair Trading and Financial Ombudsman.

Have you incurred any costs? How many hours have you spent researching /defending this case? Put it to Frederickson that you want compensation of £x and refer their final response to FOS to adjudicate

This thread might be useful

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/27362873#Comment_27362873

Hannah_10

It's not unbelievable at all, it's pretty common sadly. They call it fishing. If they can't find Joe Bloggs they go looking for other Joes Bloggs'es, or Joe Black, or Jay Bloggs... they're not fussy. It's illegal/wrong. The Office of Fair trading set out guidelines for debt collectors which they are supposed to adhere to. Download this and read it (it's in very plain language). Be sure to read point 2.8a, but read the rest of it as well because I only scan read and there will probably be a few more.

Reporting them is really important. For one thing it means you have a better chance of getting this dealt with and cleaned off your credit file where it doesn't belong and for another thing they deserve to have thier consumer credit licence revoked.