Another aspect of the scam (info)

Nozone

As the Parking Eye - Nasty Tricks thread has moved away from the original topic somewhat, I thought I'd just share this as a new topic (I'm sure many of you are aware of what I'm gonna say here anyway, but I thought it can't hurt to raise some more awareness).

I can verify that TPS/Roxburghe/Graham [STRIKE]S[/STRIKE]White are also employing similar tactics by posting things well into any time constraints they are setting.

The best example I have is a letter from Roxburghe with the meat of the letter being - Please be advised that should you not contact us within 14 days to arrange payment of this debt, we will be passing this matter to our solicitor Graham White and reccomending this matter be taken to court. Should you fail to settle this debt it will affect your credit rating and bailiffs may be employed to recover the debt. You can avoid legal action by Monday the 5th of March.

The letter is dated 20th February 2012. Stupidly, they have posted it in an envelope with a first class stamp on it, which was stamped by the Royal Mail dated 1st March 2012. That leaves only 4 days of the 'time limit' to respond (unfortunately we didn't record the dates each letter arrived). Obviously more scare tactics to get people to panic and pay up quick!

Similar story for most of the other letters - certainly I remember them arriving a few days later than they were apparently written in all cases. A few I can verify using the above method, some have the 'postage paid' stamp so I'm not sure how I can check the date they were processed by the Royal Mail.

Just had to post this as it had me laughing, of course I noticed earlier but I paid it no attention because I wasn't really taking any of these cowboys very seriously.

But my point is - Why would any reputable company with a reasonable claim behave in such a dishonest (at worst) or shoddy (at best) manner in order to [STRIKE]extort[/STRIKE]extract what's owed to them?

No need to answer that one, it's rhetorical/obvious!

trisontana

"Should you fail to settle this debt it will affect your credit rating and bailiffs may be employed to recover the debt. You can avoid legal action by Monday the 5th of March."

Of course they fail to mention that for that to happen the case would have to go to court, you lose and then you don't pay whatever the judge orders within 28 days.

Talk about being "economical with the truth".

give_them_FA

and what they also fail to mention is that never, in his long and glorious career as a solicitor, has their beloved "Graham White" ever managed to get it together to bring a case against anyone at all.....

In short, they are con-artists. Hands up anyone who didn't realise that...

esmerobbo

Remember all Roxburghe/Graham White statements are for information only.
Nice of them to be so informative, as it would not be another ploy to panic the unknowing into paying would it?

robredz

Letters full of ifs, but,s and maybe's with as much legal authority as next doors cat.

treeboa

at least the cat next door has real teeth

HO87

This is an entirely standard ploy used not just by Poxburghe Roxburghe et al but by DCA's generally and has become more widespread through other service suppliers who arbitrarily decide that you may be late in paying them.

It's viewed as being simply a means of applying pressure. It might be disingenuous but you try and prove that a specific letter was deliberately posted late. You can hear them now: "Oh, it must have got lost in the mail room", etc etc.

It's fairly widespread and I have even seen some utility suppliers using the same trick. They all disclaim knowledge, of course.

give_them_FA

.......but as we are not going to pay anyway, it doesn't make a lot of difference what they ask for.....

taffy056

give_them_FA wrote: »

and what they also fail to mention is that never, in his long and glorious career as a solicitor, has their beloved "Graham White" ever managed to get it together to bring a case against anyone at all.....

In short, they are con-artists. Hands up anyone who didn't realise that...

Actually they did manage to do one claim a while ago, but it all fell apart for various reasons if I remember rightly. Still it's all a scam as we know.

give_them_FA

Yes, I believe he cocked it up, and then gave up on it. Maybe I should have said "successfully"!

HO87

There was a second case, at least, that we know of with which Michael Sobell was involved - but that's amazingly current as it dates back to 2006 and, in any event, related to a housing issue. He lost that one.

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