Debt company sudden contact and court threat (C and H Group)

itsravenfire

Hi all,

I received a letter from a debt recovery specialist called 'C and H Group' which was stated as being a 'notice of court proceedings'. The letter claimed that the company had attempted to contact me a number of times over a total balance of £174 on behalf of their client. As they were unable to get in touch with me, the letter threatened that unless I got into contact with them within 72 hours and resolved the matter, they would submit it to the county courts. The letter also indicated that they had a record of attempted telephone communications, copies of prior letter's that they had sent and a recording of me confirming to the client and being notified of an invoice that would be provided as evidence to the courts.

Attached to the letter was a one sheet print of the claim form they intended to send. It had all the details specified, with the claim costs of £174, representative costs of £150 and court costs of £75.

The letter had me slightly panicked but confused as well. The confusion comes from that until this very letter, I had never received communications from this company in any shape or form. I have not seen nor received one phone call or letter from the company. Secondly, the client's name wasn't familiar to me at all and lastly I had never traded as the business name the letter claimed I did. (Webelop').

This letter was sent on the 28th of March this year and arrived on the 29th of March prior to the bank holiday weekend, so by the time I read it I was unable to contact them that same day. I opted to sending the company an email enquiring this and asking them to get back to me or providing me with information for the best phone number to ring. I received nothing back, and opted to calling them yesterday ( 4th April 2018 ).

I spoke to a fairly unpleasant representative of the company who immediately degraded me and the situation. He claimed they tried over and over again to get into contact with me with no success and threatened me by saying that if I do not resolve the matter by Friday they will go ahead with the courts. I asked how much would be required to pay to avoid this, and he indicated £349 was the total balance. Being confused, I asked how that made sense as the total balance is £174. The representative went on to explain that the total cost is £174 from the client, and £175 was the representative costs. I corrected him in saying the representative costs on my sheets said £150, which he tried to say was a mistake and should be £175, but then settled for £150.

Confused, I asked him why I would be liable to pay the representative costs of £150 if it wouldn't go to the courts, which the representative claimed that those amounts came from late payment fees and so on. He then explained to me that this debt is all the way from 2013 and they tried to contact me ever since. However, the number he provided me for which they tried to reach me was incorrect, to which the representative simply said 'that's probably why!'.

I enquired further about the possibilities of breaking down the payments (if I was to agree and go ahead and pay their costs), to which the representative could only offer 3 instalments of £108, with one instalment required by Friday. I told the representative I would call back as I needed to look into the matter further, he then took my number and though I told him I would contact them, has attempted to call me 5 times already today.

My question is, should I just shallow it and avoid additional hassle by complying and paying the company this amount? Or should I allow it to go to the courts due to what I outlined above?

sourcrates

Hi,

Never, ever, ever speak to these people on the phone, and never give them a current contact number, they will say anything, and harass you, all times of the day and night, and its a seldom productive experience..

Send them the "provit" letter, this has the legal effect of putting everything on hold.

Letter available here :

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247

No one can simply write to you demanding payment of a debt without providing proof of liability when asked to do so, there time scale is irrelevant, so ignore it.

The "Representative" you spoke to was talking garbage.

Don`t even consider paying a debt that may not be yours just because some debt collector threatens to take you to court, if they take you to court and they have not followed due process, which they have not, you have every chance of winning the case, do not ever just assume you will lose.

The process is there to determine liability, they must prove to a court its your debt, the court will not simply take there word for it, you have every chance to provide a defense to the claim, you should never be afraid of the court process, it is often used a tool of leverage, to get you to pay up, for the life of me i cannot understand why people listen to the garbage a lot of these companies tell them, well i do, it can be intimidating, but a little knowledge can go a long way in situations like this.

Don`t be bullied by them.

fatbelly

itsravenfire wrote: »

Hi all,

..., the client's name wasn't familiar to me at all and lastly I had never traded as the business name the letter claimed I did. (Webelop').

Fortunately nothing you said on the phone constitutes acknowledgement. It would have been different if you had put it in writing.

Why would you pay something which sounds like a dispute between a business that isn't yours and a 'client' that you've never heard of ???

I agree with Sourcrates - if they have irrefutable proof that this is your debt then they must send this to you ahead of court action if you ask them . This is the new pre-action protocol set out here. But despite all their threats we are not at that stage yet.

Just send the prove-it.