Suddenly being chased by debt collectors after a company botched my direct debit

El_spectre

Hi all,

I really hope you can help. In July 2011 I signed a direct debit with a famous national opticians for monthly disposable contact lenses. Then, either in June or early July last year, I rang them to cancel the direct debit as I was getting my eyes lasered. I also needed to return the spare lenses I'd already been sent (as they send three months' worth at once).

It was when I went into the store in my city where I'd originally signed the direct debit that the staff found that something was amiss, and later on (some days later, I think) I got a call to say that due to an administrative error, they'd never debited any money from my account. I was told they'd be in touch to arrange repayment, and I also got a letter to this effect, telling me to contact some named individuals at the same store. When I tried this, I was unable to reach them, and told they'd get back to me, but they never did, and I assumed they must have decided that the issue wasn't worth pursuing.

I'm not sure when I last had contact with the opticians (except for their regular postal reminders that my eye check is overdue, despite the fact that I told them I was having laser surgery), but I'm fairly sure that they haven't been in touch since Summer 2012.

Now, however, it seems they have sold my debt on. On August 20th I received a letter from a company called The Corporate Consortium asking me to make a payment for £143 as I "currently subscribe to a scheme for contact lenses operated by our Client, [opticians]. Payment for this scheme is by direct debit, however we have been instructed to inform you that they have not received the above amount." Obviously, I no longer subscribe to the scheme, and the opticians never gave me a means by which I could pay them.

Somewhat stupidly, I have to admit that I forgot all about the letter, which was tidied away, and today I received another letter, dated September 17th, from another company, Capitol Commercial Collections, who happen to have exactly the same address as The Corporate Consortium. They write, "We have been instructed by our Client to act on their behalf to recover the above outstanding amount. It appears that you have ignored all previous requests for payment. We are obliged to inform you that further action will be commenced unless you make payment in full, or contact us to discuss this matter before Tuesday 1st October 2013." The amount has now gone up to "£143.00 + £15.00 costs to date".

I am furious with the opticians for selling on my "debt" and for handling this matter so badly, when I was fully prepared to arrange payment with them, in spite of the issue being their mistake. I have no clue how to progress with this matter: I have no idea how much power this organisation has, or why I've been written to under two different names, and I am loathe to pay them (surely none of the money will actually go to the opticians, will it?), particularly if they keep adding on £15 every time they mail me a letter.

What would you advise me to do? I could afford to pay, though it isn't just small change to me - it would mean struggling next month.

Many thanks for any help you can give me.

Jess

Tixy

Sounds like the debt is probably still owned by the original creditor. So if you pay the debt collector this is passed to the creditor and they pay the debt collector a fee.

You could contact the original creditor / optician to see if you can arrange to pay them (you may want to offer to pay in say 2 payments if paying it all in 1 month would leave you short).

They may say you need to deal with the debt collectors. If they do then again you could offer to pay in installments, best to make any offer to them in writing rather than make any calls to them.

Did they never take any money from you by DD? i.e. you pay nothing from June 2011 to June 2012? Would that equate to the £143? it doesn't seem a lot for a years worth of lenses.

El_spectre

Thanks for your response.

The DD was for £13/month, which was definitely a good deal! I think I paid in the store for the first month's lenses, and they were meant to set up the DD for every following month, but never did. So the £143 equates to 11 months of lenses.

I was unsure about whether to bother contacting the opticians because the debt collectors want me to pay via their own online card payment system (paymentsbycard dot com).

Their first letter told me to select Corporate Consortium, and the second said Capitol Commercial Collections.

Would you advise writing to the opticians rather than ringing?

Thanks

happy_bunny_2

I would write. If you phone the opticians, follow up in writing.

Are you sure the sold it? The DCAs could be collecting on behalf of.

The DCA wants you to pay them, as if they don't own the debt they will get commission.

Uncle_Fester24

Hi all, I'm to the site and hope you can help. I have a default on my CRA file which will drop of on the 4th Oct 13 after six years of almost silence from the creditor who issued the default notice. I got a letter from Arrow Global in Oct 11 which i ignored. A letter arrived from Restons Solicitors almost two weeks ago, i replied with a statue barred letter, they reponded with a veiled court threat siting BMW Financial Services v Hart which i looked up. Can they issue a claim after 4th Oct 13 ? thanks

Tixy

Uncle_Fester24 wrote: »

Hi all, I'm to the site and hope you can help. I have a default on my CRA file which will drop of on the 4th Oct 13 after six years of almost silence from the creditor who issued the default notice. I got a letter from Arrow Global in Oct 11 which i ignored. A letter arrived from Restons Solicitors almost two weeks ago, i replied with a statue barred letter, they reponded with a veiled court threat siting BMW Financial Services v Hart which i looked up. Can they issue a claim after 4th Oct 13 ? thanks

What did the debt relate to? was it car finance?
The date of the default is not relevant to the date a debt becomes statute barred. When did you last pay anything towards the debt? or write to them?

Uncle_Fester24

The debt was a credit card, only ever written to Restons re statute barred but did not acknowledge the debt.

Uncle_Fester24

Sorry, forgot to confirm that the last payment was over six years ago !

Tixy

That court case is not in anyway relevant then.

If you have sent the SB letter then I would leave it at that. If they tried to commence court action (very unlikely) then you would defend on the basis that it was SB. The onus would then be on them to prove to the court otherwise.

Uncle_Fester24

Tixy wrote: »

That court case is not in anyway relevant then.

If you have sent the SB letter then I would leave it at that. If they tried to commence court action (very unlikely) then you would defend on the basis that it was SB. The onus would then be on them to prove to the court otherwise.

Thanks Tixy, a bit of reassurance, many thanks:T

El_spectre

Hi again,

Re: my contact lens debt

In looking for an address for Specsavers (I thought it was customary to not name names - I'm not sure why! - so didn't say it was them before), I came across a MSE thread which mentioned that it's a franchise. Is it likely that the individual branch would have hired the debt collectors, and should I contact them, or is it advisable to go to the main organisation?

Thanks again.