BW Legal/British Gas

Marco84

Hello, I had a letter addressed to me from BW legal saying I owe £300 to British Gas for the supply period of 2023.

I moved in to the address in 2024 and never been a customer of British Gas.

I’ve told BW legal this, they said they want personal information to prove this. I said I am not interested in giving my documents to them, if they want to see I can prove it in court. 

They said if it goes to court and it was avoidable, I’ll still be liable costs, is that true?

la531983

You are jumping the gun massively. Send them a "prove it" letter, there are templates available on this site and online.

Make them do the legwork.

As for the question, of course not, they have to prove a valid debt exists.

wild666

Send them the prove it letter, it should stop them from continuing to try and claim you owe money. The letter will have said to the occupier on it so they don't know if you have just moved in or have lived there for years. 
If they cannot prove you owe them or another company money if it goes to court you won't have to pay a penny in costs to the firm that instigated the claim, what they do is hope that the person they send the letters too will just pay up even if they don't owe any money to a company they represent.

 

Dear Sir/Madam


Account No: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You have contacted me regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself.

I would point out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to CREDITOR

I am familiar with the Consumer Credit sourcebook of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which states the following rules.

"A firm must not ignore or disregard a customer's claim that a debt has been settled or is disputed and must not continue to make demands for payment without providing clear justification and/or evidence as to why the customer's claim is not valid." 7.5.3

"A firm must suspend any steps it takes or its agent takes in the recovery of a debt from a customer where the customer disputes the debt on valid grounds or what may be valid grounds." 7.14.1

"Where a customer disputes a debt on valid grounds or what may be valid grounds, the firm must investigate the dispute and provide details of the debt to the customer in a timely manner." 7.14.3

"Where there is a dispute as to the identity of the borrower or hirer or as to the amount of the debt, it is for the firm (and not the customer) to establish, as the case may be, that the customer is the correct person in relation to the debt or that the amount is the correct amount owed under the agreement." 7.14.4

"A firm must provide a customer with information on the outcome of its investigations into a debt which the customer disputed on valid grounds." 7.14.5

"Where a customer disputes a debt and the firm seeking to recover the debt is not the lender or the owner, the firm must:
(1) pass the information provided by the customer to the lender or the owner; or
(2) if the firm has authority from the lender or owner to investigate a dispute, it must notify the lender or owner of the outcome of the investigation." 7.14.6

In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

Furthermore, ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

I would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above accounts unless you can provide evidence as to my liability for the debt in question.

< add if required ---

In addition, if any default, adverse information, or account details have been reported to the Credit Reference Agencies regarding this account, I require you to remove any such information forthwith.

Recording false and inaccurate information on Credit Reference Files is a breach of the Data protection Act 1998, and may also constitute an act of defamation on your part.

--->

Marco84

Thank you, I’ve sent them a prove it letter. What I find weird is that the BW legal letter was addressed to my name and not to the occupier, despite never being a customer of British Gas.

brewerdave

Marco84 said:

Thank you, I’ve sent them a prove it letter. What I find weird is that the BW legal letter was addressed to my name and not to the occupier, despite never being a customer of British Gas.

Is it a rented property? If so, they MAY have been provided with your name by the landlord.

molerat

Marco84 said:

Thank you, I’ve sent them a prove it letter. What I find weird is that the BW legal letter was addressed to my name and not to the occupier, despite never being a customer of British Gas.

Who was the incumbent supplier of the property when you moved in ?

Marco84

Yes it’s a rented property, I had OVO when I moved in and switched to Octopus.

Marco84

I had a reply from BW legal after my prove it saying “We would like to assist you further with your query. Please see below in order for us to correspond with you“

They want me to sign up to their customer portal. Which I am not keen on doing, is that a must?

MeteredOut

Marco84 said:

I had a reply from BW legal after my prove it saying “We would like to assist you further with your query. Please see below in order for us to correspond with you“

They want me to sign up to their customer portal. Which I am not keen on doing, is that a must?

No. Just reiterate the "prove it" message to them.

Marco84

So they sent me a letter in the post today replying to my prove it email. They sent me a copy of the British Gas bill address to occupier and the dates before I moved in.

what should I do next? I’m still not keen showing them my tenancy agreement unless it gets me into trouble legally if I don’t.

FreeBear

Marco84 said:

So they sent me a letter in the post today replying to my prove it email. They sent me a copy of the British Gas bill address to occupier and the dates before I moved in.

what should I do next? I’m still not keen showing them my tenancy agreement unless it gets me into trouble legally if I don’t.

If you write back, simply put "Thank you for confirming the dates precede the date I moved in and therefor no liability for this debt. If you have any further queries, I refer you to Arkell-v-Pressdram".
Personally, I would ignore any further communication (except court papers) on this matter.