Fredrickson International & unknown CPW debt

chriss84

Hi there, I'm a first time poster so I hope I have got the right place. Any help greatly appreciated.
I received a letter to my current address about two weeks ago from Fredrickson International (FI) asking myself to contact an 08 number, regarding an 'urgent matter' as I have never heard of FI before and I had no idea what this was about, I ignored the letter and put it down to shock marketing tactics from a random sales.company.
I then received three days ago two letters both on the same day, one again from FI and another from a Bryan Carter Solicitors, this time both stating that I owe 379 ponds to them in respect of an outstanding account from a well known mobile phone retailer (CPW). It threatened court action and further fees if the account wasn't settled, fully, within seven days. I then received another letter from FI yesterday stating that despite 'trying to contact me by various means' I have continued to ignore them and further action 'shall now be sought, but as a gesture of goodwill, the account can still be settled, without further action, if I call and fully pay within 48 hours'.
So on my lunch break today I gave them a call, after quoting the ref number, they asked me to confirm my name, which I did, only to be told by them that the account had been passed back to the CPW and that they couldn't help me any further. Now I must add that I have no recollection of this debt or anything from CPW, when I stated this to one of the agents from FI, they still insisted that they had no information to help me with and that I would have to speak to the CPW, but how can I do that when I don't know what I'm calling for?
Shall I just keep quiet,sit tight and wait for the next letter to drop through, or chase it up myself, as I certainly don't want 'collecting agents' or bailiffs knocking on my door as I have children and I certainly don't want them to see that.
Does anyone have any advice?
Thanks all

fatbelly

Hi Chriss84

Probably better to start a new thread but no problem.

You will not get bailiffs - they can't be appointed until there is a county court judgement and you have defaulted on that judgement. So lots of stages before you get to that point.

We are seeing a lot of cases where people are being pursued for old mobile contracts where either there never was a contract or it was paid off many years ago. I'm not sure whether this is poor record keeping or a deliberate scam.

The original poster on this thread started by asking 'for a copy of my credit agreement'. That was a mistake on two counts. Firstly, mobile contracts do not fall under the Consumer Credit Act, and secondly making a written request for 'my agreement' may be taken as an acknowledgement of the account.

In many of these cases, it is around six years since any contract ended and, under England/Wales law, they have six years to take court action from when the debt was last acknowledged by payment or in writing. So what you don't want to do is reactivate the clock!

If you get anything from another debt collection agency (DCA) and I suspect you will, your choices are to either ignore them or send a prove-it letter.

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jmheggie

Chriss84

Both Frederickson and Bryan carter are both part of the same company hence why you are getting letters from both, when they say they have passed this back to CPW they are probably talking crap and will pass it between themselves as a way to try and keep pressure on you. I have done some digging on this and it looks as though CPW have sold all there bad debts off to these companys and due to paperwork ect not being kept up to date many people who in fact dont owe money are getting caught up in this!

I have sent both prove it letters and they have now dropped the case (or there words are handed it back to CPW) the bit that makes me laugh is I have gone back into my CPW account online and its has been deactivated and they hold no records on this account. So if they have no records these debt companys dont have a leg to stand on. So its probably worth just sitting on for a while and depending on when the debt was wait until it becomes statue barred which it is probably near now anyway

good luck

jmheggie

And remember dont admit anything even if you do owe the debt, never talk to them on the phone, do it all by letter and it has been known for this type of company to use your signature on a letter to them to put on to a document to use to say you do own the debt. I always sign the letter as someone else just in case

chriss84

Thanks everyone this is all great advice, I'm certainly not going to try and avoid this, as I am fortunate to be in the financial position to pay, I just don't know what this is for. I personally think it best to just sit tight and wait for any more correspondance from anyone regarding this and send the 'prove it letter'.
I did hear conflicting stories in other threads on here, so its nice to get some clarification.
Thanks all.

jmheggie

chriss84 wrote: »

Thanks everyone this is all great advice, I'm certainly not going to try and avoid this, as I am fortunate to be in the financial position to pay, I just don't know what this is for. I personally think it best to just sit tight and wait for any more correspondance from anyone regarding this and send the 'prove it letter'.
I did hear conflicting stories in other threads on here, so its nice to get some clarification.
Thanks all.

Keep us updated on what happens with your case as I have just had a slight shock :mad:

Bryan Carter have sent me basically a 3 page excel document which shows every payment made on my account, it shows some of the payments I made to a different collection company a couple of years back but not all. I dont really know what to make of it to be honest and need to play it safe as I cant admit to them I know about the debt as they will be all over me. But at the same time being as the debt was written off but I dont have this letter anymore will find it hard to prove this.

I dont see how what they have sent me shows anything which links the debt to me as its just some paper with numbers and my name on basically though it is from CPW. But if I play the its not me game unless they can come up with something better then I may be in luck

Just kicking myself for not keeping the letter now

chriss84

Hello again, a quick update. I did indeed just sit tight and ignored my previous letter and I heard nothing. I assumed that it was just a clerical error and that was that,...... until today.
I received a letter addressed to from Moorcroft in Stockport asking for information about me! in regards to an account with CPW, again no mention of how much is owed. I now have a copy of a prove it letter, should I receive any more letters from them, I will be sending this.