Control Account Letter before Claim

nemo888

Hi Guys I hope you can offer me some advice.

I recently had a letter from a company called control account saying they were acting on behalf of a company called TNT to recover £70 for import duty's. I don't do business with TNT had no record of receiving anything from abroad from TNT so I asked for proof which they eventually provided. It turns out it was for a delivery received almost 15 months ago.
I'm in no way trying to avoid paying what I owe so I paid as soon as I got the email.
They added a small fee of approx £3 I guess for fee's so the total was now £73. I paid this amount.
A few days later I received a text from control account ( i have no idea how they got my number) saying to call them and also 2 missed calls. I didn't call back and instead sent them another email asking why, after paying I was still being contacted. I didn't get an email back but rather a letter a few days later claiming I still owe there client TNT £15.
But I have paid.
I can only assume this is a late payment charge added on by the debt collection agency.
Would it be possible one of you fine people could advise me of my rights in this case as I have tried to do the right thing but I feel this company is exploiting the situation for their own gain.
Can they do this?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated and thank you in advance!
Many thanks,
Nino

WhenIam64

Are you sure this is a LBC for £15 and not a simple debt collection letter? Letters before Claim have to be set out in a formal way detailed by the pre-action protocols.

You can ignore or deal with any claim (if ever) that may come. You don't need to reply to a LBC.

nemo888

Hi Wheniam64. Thank you for the reply.

To be honest i'm not sure as i've never dealt with this kind of thing before. I will copy out the letter for you so you can see for yourself.

LETTER BEFORE CLAIM

Re; TNT UK Ltd -v- ***************
Ref **********

Amount outstanding £15.00

We are instructed by our above named client with regards to the amount outstanding as detailed which, despite several requests for payment from both our client and us, is seriously overdue.

You will have already received details relating to the outstanding debt which our client deems you are liable to pay. Given the period of time the sum has been outstanding, consideration of the county court is being considered and this is your final opportunity to settle this matter prior to any action being taken.

Such action would invole the issue of a claim for the pincciple balance owed by our partner solicitor, DWF Law LL, along with an application against you for repayment of the court issue fee our client would incur and interest at the current county court rate ( this amount is calculated from the date upon which payment fell due).

Itemised below are general documnents that may be relied on in court, copies of which would form part of any proceedings.

a) copy invoices

b) copy airway bills

c) dairy notes of our collection attempts

if you wish to avoid this action being considered we request that you make contact with our offices be telephoning 01527549533or provide a full written response to our claim within the next 14 days.

The letter than goes on to list ways of payment.

The letter is dated 30/07/2019 so I still have time to respond but I have no idea what to do.
The original demand for £70 + the small fee added by control account was paid on the 28/07/2019 so how can they say they are acting on behalf of TNT when I have paid the amount TNT asked for plus money on top?
I'm I in the wrong here? Should I just pay the £15 to make them go away?

Thank you for any help / advice you can give

Nemo

sourcrates

Hi,


A letter before claim, under the pre-action protocol, civil procedure rules, is a questionaire type document, that allows 30 days for completion and return.

What you have recieved is a debt collectors standard template letter, threatening legal action, designed to imitate a real "letter before claim".

99% of the time, its bluff, but occasionally these companies will take you to court for money amounting to less than £20 quid.

My guess would be that this £15 is their finders fee, so they will want it paying.

Its really up to you what you do, if the original debt has been paid, as you say, then should they issue a claim, that would be your full defence, as no debt exists, its a matter of legal argument as to weather these type of fee`s are enforcable or not.

WhenIam64

Have a read of the relevant page on the Fedex site

https://ask.fedex.com/help/en-gb/account-payments/Control-account

Draw your attention to the following phrase

Controlaccount also manage any accounts that FedEx Express wishes to pursue through Legal / Court procedures.

So any debt is a Fedex debt and they make the decision. You have or had no contractual relation with CA so they have no standing to issue a claim and any claim would be seen off on that single item alone.

If you have a shredder, these letters make excellent cat litter.