LCS and E.ON demanding payment.

OlsBean

Hello any advice on what our next steps should be with the following issue would be very much appreciated.

Back in the early Summer we received a letter from a debt collection company called LCS demanding payment on behalf of their client E.ON for electricity used late in 2020 and into early into this year for a property that is located in Somerset. This was a house that we did live, it was tied to a job I had at the time but we left the property some 14 years ago and if memory serves me correctly we were not even supplied by E.ON ourselves back then. We've lived in Scotland for almost 11 years and have been in our current home for nearly 8, we own no other properties and have never been Landlords.

So we wrote to LCS and heard nothing back, but then received another demand for payment from them, so we followed the script provided on the MSE website and sent them a request to provide proof of the debt and asked them not to contact us again with out it. We heard nothing for a while but then another demand arrived from them, so we then followed the correct procedure and sent them a formal letter of complaint requesting to be kept up to date on the complaint and their procedure etc. We received no reply, despite all correspondences being sent via recorded mail and being received and signed for by LCS. Then yesterday we received a "Final Notice" demanding payment, basically stating that we'll be black listed until the debt is settled.

I'm quite thick skinned and am not too worried about it but it is really upsetting my wife who works extremely long hours in a very stressful job, she's taking it quite personally as she has always paid her debts etc. Some people will just say pay the debt even though it is clearly not ours, just to be rid of them but I really feel we should make a stand against them as it appears to me that they had debt with no one to tie to it so they've simply searched the old electoral register to find the first traceable name and landed the debt there, which quite frankly I feel is verging on extortion! I wonder how many people they have done this to and how many people just pay it.

So my question is what should our next steps be, the debt is not for a huge amount so I am not sure if that matters or not? Who do contact next, it's obvious LCS is not interested in communicating.

Once again any words of advice would be very much appreciated, thank you.

molerat

What date did you submit the first complaint ?  If over 8 weeks you can take your complaint to the FOS

https://www.lcsdr.com/web/website/complaints

I would also send a formal complaint to E.On as LCS, according to your op, are acting on their behalf rather than chasing a bought debt.

OlsBean

molerat said:

What date did you submit the first complaint ?  If over 8 weeks you can take your complaint to the FOS

I would also send a formal complaint to E.On as LCS, according to your op, are acting on their behalf rather than chasing a bought debt.

Thank you, it is over 8 weeks and I've just submitted a detailed complaint to the FOS. I'll look at complaining to E.ON as well.

MutleyMilo

Received this letter today from LCS. I have intentionally not shown the address details.

It didn't say owner/occupier but actually had our names on it, the home address where we live and the address that E'on were supplying electricity that we own as landlords. There was a tenant living in it for all of the period of time that they are asking for money. The tenant is no longer living there. They are chasing payment of over £3,000. 

Do we ignore? 

Best wishes everyone. 

MutleyMilo

In addition, I have sent the above letter to our letting agents. 

JJ_Egan

This is better posted in the Energy forum as opposed to praise vent or warning .

sheramber

Also, start your own thread,