Straetus Utrecht - anyone had any dealings?

jamesy84uk

Hello there,

I have joined the forum just to ask whether or not anyone has had any dealings in the past with Dutch debt collectors Straetus Utrecht?

I began receiving emails from them a couple of months ago regarding money I'd alledgedly owed to Cyclemasters. I did have a Cyclemasters account on a free trial, but had cancelled before the free trial expired. In any case, when checking back, I must have missed the deadline for it because it said I did have one month outstanding at £8.99, which I paid on my debit card.

I then started receiving emails from this company regarding payment of the outstanding amount, telling me I now owed them £45 to cover fees. I replied stating I had no current active subscription and that everything was paid up. They have continued to email every couple of days regarding the debt - I have to run the emails through Google Translate to be able to read them obviously, but the terms used are quite clear.

They have now sent me an email stating that the summons has been drawn up and will be sent to the court, where I "have to answer to the judge", despite my earlier emails - with image evidence - that I have no money outstanding and no active subscription.

I am under debt management with StepChange, so I will also call them for advice on the matter too but I just wanted to know if anyone here has had any similar dealings with this company?

Cheers

Jamie

Grumpelstiltskin

So in which country do they say they will take you to court?

It would cost them much more than £45 to take you to court in the UK>

jamesy84uk

Yeah I thought that too, they haven’t said.

They DID mention that I’d be responsible for their legal costs though, as they said they would pursue the matter “with confidence”.

Grumpelstiltskin

I would just ignore them, don't encourage them by replying.

If they do want to take you to court in the UK you will receive paperwork from the court.

If they want to take you to court in the Netherlands, well you don't intend going to Amsterdam in the near future?

jamesy84uk

That's kind of what I've been leaning towards yeah - no plans on heading to Amsterdam any time soon unfortunately

Thanks for the advice @Grumpelstiltskin!

sourcrates

It’s all utter rubbish, first off, email is not a recognised way to serve court papers.

Second, they are in a foreign country.

Its basically a fishing trip hoping you will bite, just ignore them.

jamesy84uk

The plot thickens. Just had yet another email from them, which when run through translate says this:

Dear Mr/Mrs Jamie, Despite the fact that you have been in default for some time now and we have repeatedly summoned you to pay my client's claim, we have not yet received full and/or payment from you. 

At the moment there is still open:
Invoices: £8.99 
Cost: £35.27 
Interest: £0.10 
Open: £44.36 

I give you a last opportunity of 2 x 24 hours to pay the total amount of £ 44.36, quoting reference number 108.3127.kxi6, by urgent transfer to account number (I’ve removed the number from here) in the name of Stichting Straetus. You can also simply use the following link: (I’ve removed the link from here)

If the amount has not been credited within 48 hours from today, the petition for bankruptcy will be sent to the competent court. We would like to point out that if you start filing for bankruptcy, you will also owe the costs for filing for bankruptcy in addition to the currently existing claim as referred to above.

These costs amount to a minimum of €1,575.00, which is ex. Art. 3:288 sub a of the Dutch Civil Code will be recovered from the estate with priority. Hoping you will not let it come to this and expressly reserving all rights, I remain, Yours faithfully,Straetus Utrecht Roy Bakker E: utrecht@straetus.nl T: 088 - 044 00 98

This is definitely just an attempt to try and instil some panic isn’t it - I’m not replying to it anyway as I’ve already sent them two replies previously

Grumpelstiltskin

Yes well as I said earlier you are not going to the Netherlands so just ignore them.

I have no idea how Dutch bankruptcy works but my guess would be it wouldn't be worth it  for that small amount.

Grumpelstiltskin

Here you are the official government website..

Petitioning for bankruptcy in the Netherlands | Business.gov.nl

sourcrates

jamesy84uk said:

The plot thickens. Just had yet another email from them, which when run through translate says this:

Dear Mr/Mrs Jamie, Despite the fact that you have been in default for some time now and we have repeatedly summoned you to pay my client's claim, we have not yet received full and/or payment from you. 

At the moment there is still open:
Invoices: £8.99 
Cost: £35.27 
Interest: £0.10 
Open: £44.36 

I give you a last opportunity of 2 x 24 hours to pay the total amount of £ 44.36, quoting reference number 108.3127.kxi6, by urgent transfer to account number (I’ve removed the number from here) in the name of Stichting Straetus. You can also simply use the following link: (I’ve removed the link from here)

If the amount has not been credited within 48 hours from today, the petition for bankruptcy will be sent to the competent court. We would like to point out that if you start filing for bankruptcy, you will also owe the costs for filing for bankruptcy in addition to the currently existing claim as referred to above.

These costs amount to a minimum of €1,575.00, which is ex. Art. 3:288 sub a of the Dutch Civil Code will be recovered from the estate with priority. Hoping you will not let it come to this and expressly reserving all rights, I remain, Yours faithfully,Straetus Utrecht Roy Bakker E: utrecht@straetus.nl T: 088 - 044 00 98

This is definitely just an attempt to try and instil some panic isn’t it - I’m not replying to it anyway as I’ve already sent them two replies previously

They can`t make you bankrupt in the UK, for that to happen, your debt must be £5000 or higher.

So you are safe, yes.

They could make you bankrupt in the Netherlands, it seems, however, it would not affect you here, nor would it appear on the UK Insolvency register, nor on your UK credit file.

I remain convinced its a ploy to persuade you to pay up quickly.

See here-

Bankruptcy

Any debtor (being a natural person or a private legal entity) can be declared bankrupt by the District Court, as long as the debtor has the center of its (his/her) interests in the Netherlands (for natural persons, this means that they should live in The Netherlands). Applications for bankruptcy can be filed by:

• the natural person or private legal entity itself;
• a creditor, or
• the public prosecutor.

And here-

Claims where the defendant is in another EU Member State

If your dispute is against a person or business in a different Member State, you will have to find out which Member States courts has the jurisdiction to deal with your case. Jurisdiction in cross border cases is governed by EU Council Regulation (EC) No 1215/2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, otherwise known as the Brussels Regulation. Normally the usual place of residence of the defendant is the country with jurisdiction to process the case. People who normally reside in a particular Member State must, whatever their nationality, be sued in the courts of that Member State.

As a British Citizen, they would have to petition for your bankruptcy in a UK court, and as you don`t meet the criteria for bankruptcy in the UK, there is nothing they can do.

It may be theoretically possible to obtain a CCJ against you, but that would be as far as it went.