Waters & Gate Threatening Debt Collection - Province of Pisa Italy

pogofish

D_P_Dance said:

Post on the expats forum, I very much doubt that any of us are experts on Italian traffic violations.  

Waters and Gate however are a British-based debt collector and we do have plenty of experience of them here and they are no different to any of the goons dealt with in Post 4 of the Newbies Sticky.

And the only reason they have picked this-up is because the Italians have no intention/interest in taking it any further in their legal system.

zoetree

Hi - we have had a threatening letter from Waters and Gate for speeding near Pisa, 2 fines within minutes of each other, this was from Aug 2018, in Feb 2020 we received the fine to the company I work for as it was a company car.  I logged onto their website and advised of drivers name (my husband) so they would send the paperwork to him.  We didn’t hear anything from City of Pisa after that but last week a threatening letter from Waters and Gate saying we owe them nearly £1500!!!  As it’s in the name of the company I work for I am a bit concerned, any advise please, thanks 

beamerguy

Suggest you read back through this thread and the post above yours by Pogofish.

Same as .... same as ..... same as

Umkomaas

Money grasping attempt, ignore them.  Nothing else you can do; they're only interested in the lira in your pocket!

Coupon-mad

Same old stuff.  Ignore.

johnny2424

I have had the exact same experience as Lukas. I am also not inclined to just ignore it and let it go, as it has caused me great anxiety and distress. So far, I have complained to them under their own 'Complaince (sic) and Complaints Policy', published on their website, and reported the matter to the Financial Ombudsman. I am not confident of an independent investigation by them, as the person sending the threatening emails is the director of the company, and therefore the employer of the 'investigator'. 

Umkomaas

johnny2424 said:

I have had the exact same experience as Lukas. I am also not inclined to just ignore it and let it go, as it has caused me great anxiety and distress. So far, I have complained to them under their own 'Complaince (sic) and Complaints Policy', published on their website, and reported the matter to the Financial Ombudsman. I am not confident of an independent investigation by them, as the person sending the threatening emails is the director of the company, and therefore the employer of the 'investigator'. 

What could you possibly be hoping for?

Coupon-mad

I doubt Waters & Gate are governed by the FO.

Half_way

johnny2424 said:

I have had the exact same experience as Lukas. I am also not inclined to just ignore it and let it go, as it has caused me great anxiety and distress. So far, I have complained to them under their own 'Complaince (sic) and Complaints Policy', published on their website, and reported the matter to the Financial Ombudsman. I am not confident of an independent investigation by them, as the person sending the threatening emails is the director of the company, and therefore the employer of the 'investigator'. 

Ok, Its understandable to want a situation to be sorted one way or another so at least you know where you stand and how things may be going forward. They are preying on peoples fears and anxiety's in order to encourage payment, they will send a barrage of letters and threats etc  in the hope that you will pay.

 So the simple solution would be a put up, or shut up approach something like/along the lines of  this ( but not the same )

Dear sirs, i note your recent letter claiming that i owe you the sum of £xxx for an alleged motoring issue that occurred in Italy.

 I deny, and dispute that  i owe you any  money at all , you have failed to provide any evidence for this claim and as such your claim is entirely without merit or justification.

as such i will be making no such payments to yourselves unless ordered to do so by UK a court.

 You now have Two options available to you:

1: To issue compliant court proceedings in order to recover this so called debt - any court case will be vigorously defended and you may be liable for additional costs for unreasonable action as well as a counter claim. Failure to pay any court costs could result in a CCJ being obtained in the county court against you which could affect your ability to obtain credit

2: To cease and desist for contacting me as so far as trying to claim that money is owed,  and to stop processing my personal data as so much as processing this non existent debt is concerned  you must also remove my personal data from your systems once you have issue an apology letter as well as a confirmation that this matter is now closed.

 I am also withdrawing any implied consent to receive any marketing materials  including so called unwarranted demands for moneys, if you continue to pursue this then i may be forced to take action against you under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR ).

I may also charge you to the sum of £19 per hour, or part thereof for my time that you are wasting in sending so called groundless debt letters as well as a storage fee broken down as follows:

for each letter received ( excluding confirmation that the matter is closed/apology/compensation for harassment)

£19 for time wasted in dealing with the letter

£6 storage fee - documents should be stored for 6 years this equals a reasonable fee of £1 per anum

Total £25 per letter

As a gesture of goodwill, i am prepared to drop any charges / costs that i have incurred upto now  upon the confirmation that the matter is now closed.

 

 The above is just for an idea on where you could go - basically a put up, or shut up to as an attempt to get rid and close the mattter

Le_Kirk

2: To cease and desist for contacting me as so far as trying to claim that money is owed,  and to stop processing my personal data as so much as processing this non existent debt is concerned  you must also remove erase my personal data from your systems once you have issued an apology letter as well as a confirmation that this matter is now closed.

Just a couple of amendments