Do debt collection agencies have to reply to letters?

Howitto

I have an old debt with British Gas and LCS have ignored my letters (recorded mail) with offer of settlement. They continue to hound me daily on the phone around the time I get in from work; this completely angers me as just want to wind down.

I have contacted British Gas and they won't deal with me directly and that LCS do not deal with debtors via letter...

'Hi, I'm sorry to say that it's too late to make an agreement with us to pay this off. I've checked your account & we didn't receive any letters from you about the final bills. Once a final debt has been to LCS you have to deal with them. As far as I'm aware, they don't deal with people by letter and will keep calling until something is sorted. Thanks, Steve.'

Advise please? I refuse to deal with them on the phone.

sourcrates

oliverhowitt wrote: »

I have an old debt with British Gas and LCS have ignored my letters (recorded mail) with offer of settlement. They continue to hound me daily on the phone around the time I get in from work; this completely angers me as just want to wind down.

I have contacted British Gas and they won't deal with me directly and that LCS do not deal with debtors via letter...

'Hi, I'm sorry to say that it's too late to make an agreement with us to pay this off. I've checked your account & we didn't receive any letters from you about the final bills. Once a final debt has been to LCS you have to deal with them. As far as I'm aware, they don't deal with people by letter and will keep calling until something is sorted. Thanks, Steve.'

Advise please? I refuse to deal with them on the phone.

I have never heard anything so stupid in all my life.

If they won't deal with you by letter, then they can never take court action against you, as part of the pre-action protocol, the process they must follow to take you to court, they must write to you asking you to pay before they can take you to court.

Stuff em, block there number on your phone, or if your phone won't do that, report it as a malisious call to your phone provider, bunch of idiots.

You can't take them to the FOS for a untility debt, but if you ignore them, eventually they will pass it back to British Gas.

Incidentally how old is the debt ?

Howitto

It's a recent debt within the past year. It's actually my partners debt but I usually deal with them.

They have just called yet again and when I again told them someone within their office has signed for our letter, they say they haven't received it.

I've now demanded they remove my phone number but why do they continually IGNORE my letters?! I have my receipt and tracking to say it's been signed for!

sourcrates

oliverhowitt wrote: »

It's a recent debt within the past year. It's actually my partners debt but I usually deal with them.

They have just called yet again and when I again told them someone within their office has signed for our letter, they say they haven't received it.

I've now demanded they remove my phone number but why do they continually IGNORE my letters?! I have my receipt and tracking to say it's been signed for!

Your assuming your dealing with a reasonable company, you arnt !!!

A DCA exists for one purpose only, to make money from you.
They are not too bothered how they go about it either.

They will lie, cheat, exaggerate the facts, break the data protection act, in fact they will do anything in order to get money out of you.

They are not bothered, any fines etc from the FOS or other bodies, for non compliance, are factored into there business model.

Sometimes you are just wasting your time.