Brtiannia Music and Film Club and Intrum Justitia

littletigger

My daughter has just rec'd this letter, she spoke to IJ first time they said they'd remove it from their records; the 2nd time (she didn't believe them) she was told someone was obviously using her details and to report it to the police and they wouldn't remove the debt until she had a crime number! She doesn't owe them anything - this forum has proved invaluable and we will be writing the credit letter etc to them. Still concerned it will affect her credit rating - against her home (my) address (she's at uni) ! Has anyone checked their credit rating as a result of this letter.....?

balders_2

Evening ladies, gentleman.

What a palava!!!!

Just a quick post to say thank you for the amount of replies to the original post, it has shown me what a bunch of players this debt collection company really are. I noticed they were on BBC's Watchdog. "%&£&£**!"*!!¬!!!"

Firstly, as a consumer, you have a number of legal rights, all of which this company (Intrum, whatever they are called) seems to have forgotten about when they sent out their 'bullying' letters.

Maybe this will help some people, but I sent them this letter because I cannot deal with ignorant, superficial people like this, and I just haven't got the patience to be nice anymore (I never owed them ,BCLUB, any money whatsoever).

It is always advantages to CC letters like this to your solicitor (and say so on the letter to these people)

This was the letter I sent, use it as a template if you like.

PS. I haven't heard back from them yet.


Dear Sir/Madam

With reference to the above account, I am writing to inform you that I have not used the services of Britannia Music & Film for over a year at the very least (In fact I think my last purchase was back in 2006). In my history with Britannia Music & Film all balances were always paid in good time. It has come as quite a shock to see that a letter of notice of debt collection (the first of its kind), for a settlement figure of £33.96, related to my account (apparently) was received this week (after more than a year of latency on my account). I have no recollection of such an order, nor have I ever received an invoice for this amount.

As I have never received any correspondence, nor any invoice to prove I am at fault for your (unreasonable) claim, I have absolutely no idea as to where this bill has come from, and to be honest, why this is the first letter of this nature from this club (Britannia Music & Film), or any administration party (as I have only just discovered they have gone into receivership) I have ever received (We are talking years here!). Normally a warning letter(s) is/are issued as a standard corporate policy, in accordance with the law, to any outstanding invoices. You cannot instantly resort to sending out a warrant for debt collection.

It is also highly inappropriate policy for a firm to issue a bill for outstanding services without even informing the client/consumer what that bill is actually for. Just saying that ‘you owe us £33.96’ is frankly not good enough and will not stand in court. As this bill has been somewhat of a surprise, I thought it prudent to first research authorities on this matter to see if any similar circumstances exist and to address my course of action. To my amazing discovery, I found that HUNDREDS of people have been sent these bizarre letters in error, and to top it off you were recently questioned by WATCHDOG on BBC for exactly these reasons. I just hope that more people have the common sense to question your actions before submitting payment in fear.

I do not take kindly to ‘Bullying Tactics’, which based on my research, is exactly what your company is attempting. Trying to forcefully acquire random moneys based on a company having moved into administration, is not something I will be taking lightly.

In highlight of the above statement, I hope you will see sense and terminate any further action, otherwise it is now your legal obligation to forward me a copy of this credit agreement and a full breakdown of the account/charges, a description of the services rendered, as per my rights as listed under the Consumer Credit Act. It is my understanding that under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with the request for a copy of the agreement and statement of account under these sections of the Act, as summarised in the above text.

For your attention please note that this letter has been CC to my solicitor for security purposes, both copies were sent via recorded, signed for, delivery 1st class.

Yours Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXX

DanO12

I've just recieve the letter from IJ too. When I phoned it said it was for a DVD I got months ago. I never paid for this as the site wasn't working, etc and I never got a bill with it.
I called IJ today and they explained that "Britannia's billing system was down" and they couldn't raise the invoices.

It says I owe £30.47, £17.48 for a DVD which I have and a further £12.99 for not making an order !!!

How can I make an order if their site is not working, etc ???

Do I have to pay this ??

Please help !!, Thanks-

fermi

DanO12 wrote: »

I called IJ today and they explained that "Britannia's billing system was down" and they couldn't raise the invoices.

What utter twaddle! :mad:

Their billing system isn't "down". Britannia Music went into administration and the company was shut down last year.

See BBC Wathdog: http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/consumer_goods/consumer_200711281.shtml

Britannia Music Club

This year, Britannia Music Club went into administration. But we’ve heard that debt collection agency Intrum Justitia has been contacting old customers to call in Britannia’s old debts - debts that Intrum Justitia can’t explain, and that many people believe they don’t even owe.

oldcrooner

I've just been reading your thread as I received a letter from IJ today saying I owed them £12.99, with no other details of course! I don't owe them a penny as I bought a couple of DVD's from Channel about 16 months ago, all of which were paid for. I didn't like the threatening tone of the letter

What annoyed me even more was the threat of adding a £20 charge to the account "if they have to write to me further to chase the debt".

So I googled to see if they were a scam collctor that may have been reported to a Trading Standards Office somewhere. I see that there have been complaints and they've been featured on programmes.

I think I'll follow the advice of sending them the recorded delivery letter asking for proof of debt. I'm not sure trying to ring them will be much good.

Thanks for a really usefull forum.

FTW

Hello everyone,I'm a newbie (haven't quite figured out how to create threads), and sorry to jump in on this one, but it does concern Intrum Justitia, if not Britannia.I had an EBay account, and got a very threatening letter off them about three years ago. Because it was a small amount, I disputed it and explained to IJ that it was in dispute. That was basically disregarded by them, so I just paid up to avoid the hassle. I realise now that I was very wrong to do that.Having contacted them by phone recently, I got the expected 'sorry - can't help, the account's back with the client, and we're not getting what you ask for'. I've pre-warned them I'd take them to the FoS over this, which would cost them about ten times more than what the debt was worth.However, I want them to prove the validity of the debt by getting the deed of necessary assignment/original agreement/statement of account details. I realise now that as it was in dispute, EBay should never have passed the account to them in the first place. Nor do I believe that IJ had any 'legal right' to collect on this account, and their 'but you paid the debt - proving your guilt' spiel really doesn't sit true with me at all.Even taking the fact that the debt was paid into account, can IJ still refuse to comply with this request. Can anyone help on this one?

andrewman

Only last week i got a letter out of the blue from IJ stating that brittania is in administration. If this is true why wait till now which for me is over a year to contact people. Brittania music is on a list of debts on an administration order i have and been paying since march 2007. I was at county court today to make my next payment on my order,Whilst there i informed the lady at the desk,that i have heard that brittania is in administration and a debt collection agency is stating that i still owe over £30 and they want to collect. I have reported this matter to the county court enforcement officer for investigation into this matter. Maybe IJ would like to take me to court,so i can hear the judge tell them to get lost,that would make my day.:D

DanO12

oldcrooner wrote: »

I've just been reading your thread as I received a letter from IJ today saying I owed them £12.99, with no other details of course! I don't owe them a penny as I bought a couple of DVD's from Channel about 16 months ago, all of which were paid for. I didn't like the threatening tone of the letter

What annoyed me even more was the threat of adding a £20 charge to the account "if they have to write to me further to chase the debt".

So I googled to see if they were a scam collctor that may have been reported to a Trading Standards Office somewhere. I see that there have been complaints and they've been featured on programmes.

I think I'll follow the advice of sending them the recorded delivery letter asking for proof of debt. I'm not sure trying to ring them will be much good.

Thanks for a really usefull forum.

The £12.99 is apparently an "Admin Charge" for not ordering!!
1. Why would you want to order?
2. How can you order if they are not trading !!???

Phone 0151-472-7155 - speak to them and they can write it off. Don't ring the 08 number because they will fob you off

andrewman

Do write to these people for details by recorded delivery, that way you have proof that you have contacted them, ringing is not proof and can be ignored. Make sure you keep copies of everything you send them or they send you,just incase you need to report said company to trading standards. You could goto your local trading standards for advice and help before you send anything, I have used trading standards to deal with some of my problems with debt collectors. trading standards can contact them on your behalf if they think it will help. do not give up.:cool:

Jamsindahouse

I also had the same letter from Intrum recently, asking for a whopping £41.73!

This was a previous charge Britannia had tried to charge me for a DVD I didnt actually get. Oddly Britannia agreed to refund the cost of the DVD but not the postage which they stated was over £15! Was it posted by the Queen?

I sent copies of the letters to Intrum, if they think they will be getting a payment they are very wrong.

Also regarding showing on your credit file, I have used Credit Expert for a good few months and the Britannia Club was never mentioned, as far as I am aware its not actually a credit agreement you make with them.

Its more an agreement to buy more items from them so cant see why it would register on a credit file

Hope that helps