Debt Collection letter from Shakespeare Martineau

cjawright

Hi

I recently received a collection letter from Shakespeare Martineau claiming that I owed OVO £6,627 for an address I lived at a couple of years ago.

I've never been a customer of OVO (they did supply that address but the customer was my housemate and he's still with OVO and has evidence that the account was transferred to his new address).

I emailed them at the address supplied indicating that I have never been a customer and I certainly don't recognise a debt anywhere near that figure!

They've now sent a second letter despite my first email.

I don't see why I should be chasing them around for a mistake they have clearly made. I've emailed them and I don't want to spend hours on hold to talk to someone.

If I just throw these in the bin will they eventually realise that they have incorrect information and give up? I assume at some point a real person will look at the case and see that the information is wrong?

Thanks for any advice.
Carl

born_again

Send a prove it letter.

But are you sure your name was not on the account where you lived?

Brie

Have you checked your credit history to ensure this is not listed there?

How long ago is the debt?  If it's in excess of 6 years then it may well be stale dated and not be enforceble.  

Frankly I would stop emailing them and send them a letter by post asking them to prove the debt.  If you look on the debt free board you should find a template for the "prove-it" on one of the top posts.  Don't ring them as that would just give them a way to harass you.  

There is one thing of concern....while you may not have been the customer of OVO if you were living in a property and consuming utilities they may assume you need to pay for it as well.  On that basis I would keep everything simple - "I am not and never have been an OVO customer and don't recognise this debt".  Don't mention the roomie or that they were/are an OVO customer.  

As for this just going away...it may eventually but they may take a bit of time believing you.  Meanwhile the clock ticks and the 6 year mark comes (& goes) and then they normally can't collect.  They may also pass the debt back to OVO or sell it to another debt agency and the process might start all over.  

fatbelly

I've never heard of this rather flamboyantly named company but it appears that they are a legit firm of solicitors.

It depends how they have been employed by OVO. If they have been employed as collectors, they will just run through their standard letters and then return the debt.

If they have been employed to litigate you will get a preaction protocol letter with reply form and 30-day limit, followed by a court claim.

It is concerning that an apparently legitimate organisation has not responded to your email Have you quoted their reference? Remind them that it is their duty to investigate a disputed debt. There are some standard letters here.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter

Aylesbury_Duck

cjawright said:

Hi

I recently received a collection letter from Shakespeare Martineau claiming that I owed OVO £6,627 for an address I lived at a couple of years ago.

I've never been a customer of OVO (they did supply that address but the customer was my housemate and he's still with OVO and has evidence that the account was transferred to his new address).

I emailed them at the address supplied indicating that I have never been a customer and I certainly don't recognise a debt anywhere near that figure!

They've now sent a second letter despite my first email.

I don't see why I should be chasing them around for a mistake they have clearly made. I've emailed them and I don't want to spend hours on hold to talk to someone.

If I just throw these in the bin will they eventually realise that they have incorrect information and give up? I assume at some point a real person will look at the case and see that the information is wrong?

Thanks for any advice.
Carl

This is the pertinent bit.  It sounds like you're still in touch with your former housemate.  Is he certain he didn't leave an unpaid amount?  Are you certain you weren't named on the account? 

Is there any indication of how the debt is broken down?  It's a huge sum for an unpaid utility bill, surely accounting for years of energy use.  I wonder if something weird has occurred with a meter reading, or your housemate was only ever paying for gas and not electricity, for example.

Whatever the situation, by responding you've acknowledged their letter and probably only encouraged them to continue if they now know you lived there in the period the debt was accrued.  There's no point ignoring them now.  As advised above, you need to ask them for evidence of how the sum was arrived at and how it's anything to do with you.

cjawright

Yes 100% not on the account. My housemate has checked all of that. He dealt with the utilities and when we moved out he just continued with OVO at his new address.

This was 3 years ago so within the 6 year period.

We had smart metering at the address so I would assume that the readings were all okay. Apparently when my housemate moved to his new property OVO gave him a refund so there was no debt run up, and OVO have not been in touch with him in the last 3 years chasing any sort of debt. 

It sounds like I should then send a prove it letter, they clearly don't monitor emails very accurately, it was all referenced correctly. Talking of references, the ref number they have quoted on the chasing letter isn't the account number we had at the address so the size of the debt, the account holder and account number are all incorrect, the only thing that is correct is the supply address. It seems like they've cobbled together bits of information and created a debt from it!

Thanks for your help.

Aylesbury_Duck

cjawright said:

Yes 100% not on the account. My housemate has checked all of that. He dealt with the utilities and when we moved out he just continued with OVO at his new address.

This was 3 years ago so within the 6 year period.

We had smart metering at the address so I would assume that the readings were all okay. Apparently when my housemate moved to his new property OVO gave him a refund so there was no debt run up, and OVO have not been in touch with him in the last 3 years chasing any sort of debt. 

It sounds like I should then send a prove it letter, they clearly don't monitor emails very accurately, it was all referenced correctly. Talking of references, the ref number they have quoted on the chasing letter isn't the account number we had at the address so the size of the debt, the account holder and account number are all incorrect, the only thing that is correct is the supply address. It seems like they've cobbled together bits of information and created a debt from it!

Thanks for your help.

I wouldn't!  One of the problems with smart meters is that people assume all the readings are automatically being taken and that the billing is therefore automatically correct.  It's sensible to take regular readings to check that correct usage is being reported and billed for, and that there isn't gradual drift from reality from a non-reporting smart meter.  You can't rely on any in-home display, either, it should be the actual meter that's checked.

Something weird hs clearly happened here.  Given the amount, I assume they've muddled meters, readings and addresses somehow.

cjawright

Yes true. Thankfully we have the readings and the confirmation that the account was closed by OVO. I would also assume that if there was an outstanding debt they would have contacted my housemate who is still the customer, not me who's never been a customer. Like you say, there's clearly been some sort of muddle here.

fatbelly

The reference they are using may be their own but they should be able to quote the creditor reference.

Note the difference between water and energy debt

https://debtcamel.co.uk/joint-debt/#:~:text=Electricity & gas bills The person named on,to that point, but not for future usage.

This company have a lot of hurdles to overcome if they want to pin this debt on you

Rivers_mum

Was it rented accommodation? and if so was your name on the rental agreement? My son had problems as a student, the housemates each took responsibility for payment of a specific bill and collected everyone’s share of the bill. Unfortunately the girl who should have paid the electric collected the cash but never paid it, the others had no idea, they all left assuming it was ok. 

Some time later we got a letter out of the blue threatening bailiffs at our home and it turned out the landlord had passed their names and addresses to the supplier who said because they were tenants they were jointly liable despite not having signed up for it. 

We were first alphabetically. Unusually after a great deal of hassle they accepted 1/4 of the outstanding amount from us and contact details of the others to chase them. At least we only had to pay 1/4 twice. 

cjawright

Hi All

So this has progressed a little bit more now. 

Basically they have now produced a PDF bill with my housemates name on. This bill is for gas/electricity the period 28th Jan - 27th Feb 2024. It also specifies that the contract start/end is 1st January 2024 to 8th February 2024. We moved out back in 2020!

It also has an opening balance of £6426.45, gas electricity usage of £161.46 and a closing balance of £6587.91. No indication whatsoever of where this opening balance came from, it seems like a figure just plucked out of thin air!

Interestingly the meter reference on the bill does match the reference at the premises but like I mentioned earlier my housemate has never been a customer of OVO, I was the customer and I have corresponding bills that are all paid.

I can't see how this bill they have produced proves anything really. This ludicrous opening balance and usage for a period we weren't living there.

They've asked "Please find a copy of the invoice attached.

If you believe you are not liable for the supply period, we will require a tenancy agreement, council tax bill or letter headed document confirming when you were liable for the premises." 

Again, I don't see why we should be spending time proving to them that we weren't living there at the time of this usage or where this opening balance has come from?

It's stressing my old housemate out now so I am tempted to just get my solicitor involved and ask them to contact this DCA. Although I don't particularly want to incur legal costs it seems like it might be the quickest way to get this closed down?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Carl