Suprise Vet Bills - Debt Collection

DavyJS

Hopefully this is the correct forum, none of them quite seem to match my requirements.

I've recently had a call from a debt collection firm regarding a £700 vet bill from January of this year. They rang with my details but an incorrect address. I'm assuming all of the details regarding this bill have been going to that address and I was unaware of it.

With this being in the hands of debt collectors now they will have added various costs to the bill as well as accruing interest. What are my rights regarding this? It seems that they have not made much of an attempt to contact me before passing this to the debt collectors and I'm annoyed that various charges will have been added without having a chance to clear it.

Any help is much apprecieated.

marcarm

Do you owe the money?

They have made attempts to contact you, albeit the wrong address. They are not to know the address is wrong and would have thought you were ignoring them, hence passing it over the dca.

pinkshoes

Did they get the wrong address, or did you move and not tell the vet?

(Assuming you used their services?)

DavyJS

Unfortunately yes. There were several bills to pay during this time totally £4700 unfortunately this one slipped through the net. Am I liable for any extra charges due to late payments when no bill was recieved?

DavyJS

The incorrect address was their mistake.

DoaM

No, you are not liable for any additional costs ... unless these have been added due to a court claim having been made (and won by default, if you knew nothing about it) and the debt company are acting as court enforcement.

If the vets have simply engaged a debt collector then any such costs are their own, you simply refer them back to the vets as "debt denied - no invoice has been received".

If they have "sold" the debt to a debt collector then you simply refer them back to the vets as "debt denied - no invoice has been received. And anyway, no notice of assignment of debt has been communicated, therefore you have no claim as there is no chain of authority". (Or words like that).

Check your credit rating (can be done for free using Noddle, or for a small charge for one-off checks with the likes of Experian) in case you have a CCJ registered against you.

DavyJS

Thank you! Monday is not going well for me.

unholyangel

Just to add on to the helpful post above, I'd perhaps contact the vets first and talk to them, explaining what you think has happened.

Have you paid off the other £4000? Were separate bills for this sent to the correct address? If so, perhaps point this out to them as proof that the debt collection costs have been incurred due to a mistake on their part rather than any breach on yours.

How different is the address? Like can you see its obviously a mistake on their part like wrong door number, xxxxx street instead of xxxxxx place or a digit wrong on the postcode with the right door number? Or is there no connection at all?

TBagpuss

Just to check - were you given an invoice when you took your animal tothe vet?
If so, then I don't think you can argue that the invoice was not recieved,even if you did not receive the postal reminder.

However, it may be worth you contactin the vets directly, making payment of the invoice amoubt and requesting that they waive the additional fees as the invoice / reminder was sent to n incorrect address due to an error on their part.

[Deleted User]

TBagpuss wrote: »

However, it may be worth you contactin the vets directly, making payment of the invoice amoubt and requesting that they waive the additional fees as the invoice / reminder was sent to n incorrect address due to an error on their part.

If the debt has been passed to a debt collector, then payment goes to the collector. See post #6 about "Debt denied"

We are still none the wiser as to how it's the Vet's fault that the postal address was wrong.

sheramber

Was this amount not included with the other charges totalling £4700?