Mis-sold Debt Between 2 Companies, That Are Now Pursuing My Client To Pay

JustJinny

Please note - this is a duplicate Post from another part of MSE Forums, as this location might be more appropriate for my post. 

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I need advice/opinions on Mis-Sold Debt between 2 companies, as a result of a company admin error, that affects a third party (my Client).

DETAILS: 
I am a Volunteer Community Support Worker - helping a vulnerable adult in the Community.

My Client had a BT account in 2021, which they ended in 2022, when they moved to Sky.  Sky paid out the Contract (BT emailed them to tell them that the other company was dealing with them), they returned all the equipment, and got email confirmation that they owed no fees for ending the contract, and there was no money owed.  They still have that email.

In late May 2024 (date is important!) They got a Solicitor Letter, mentioning Debt owed to a company that they'd never heard of.  They thought it was a scam, and put it aside, where it stayed.

Then in late June 2024, they recieved a Court Order from CNBC, about this Debt, and they immediately contacted me (a Volunteer Community Support Worker) and I asked if they had got anything about it before.  They pulled out the letter, and we looked into it, and I discovered that both said companys are legit. So we phoned the Solicitor, as it requested. 

We discovered it was a debt sold by BT for the contract in 2021, to a Debt Collections Agency, and then they sat on it until the BT Account had been archived, making it near on impossible to find out anything about it, or correct any issues.

Thankfully, I kept pushing, and we discovered it was all an Admin error.  The debt isn't real.  BUT due to BT archiving the account it was really hard to get things corrected their end, so we lodged a complaint (we have 2 running at BT now, in relations to this matter), and in the interim, the chap adjusted the amount on their systems, of the now sold on debt, by all he could, and added a note to the system, we believe mentioning the error.  As the account is now archived though, another Operator at a later date, said he can't open the notes.

We informed the other Solicitor, as they requested, and they said they'd speak to their Client - Lowell Portfolio I Ltd.  We made it clear we dispute the Debt.

Next, in very late June, my Client received a CBNC Court Order, and a Directions Questionnaire from the Court.  We filled it out and sent it back. It was signed - but we got a message saying the form was unsigned which we thought was weird.  We contacted the Court, and was told to re-send it to an email address, which we did.  Making clear that we still dispute the Debt.

It went quiet for a bit and in July we got an email back saying the Defence Document was unsigned, and couldn't be used - so we rang again.... This time we were told that the Defence was to have been submitted before the Court Order and the Directions Questionnaire was sent out.  Which confused us both.  My Client and I searched everything we had about this case, and we found nothing - so again, phoned the Court back.

This is a side line issue - but strange none the less! - On 11th April, a Defence, unsigned, was submitted "from [my Client]"! .  We didn't - as we didn't know about the case then! .. We have no idea what it says.  We asked but we were told that we are not allowed a copy without paying £22 for it - weirdly - and not only that, but it will take 10 working weeks to get!.... except..... a) My Client doesn't have that money to spare - and b) we have been given a Mediation Hearing in early Sept 2024, so we have no way of knowing what's been said before the Mediation Hearing!

Regarding the Mediation  - My Client asked if a Representative could speak with them, and we were told no. We also sent over evidence, for the Mediator to review, as instructed on an Email from the Court. The documents sent, shows there is no debt with BT (they have since ammended their accounts to zero balance - but because the account has been archived, they can only do it, by forcing a fake payment, so it reads "this bill has been paid"), and we sent all the original emails, and so forth too - but they sent it back saying that the Mediator will NOT consider, or review any Evidence, as that is for the Judge to do.....Errrrr..... But without the Evidence - what is there to mediate? It would be based on Hearsay, not proof? The fact is, that the Debt never existed - it was an admin error - and the case SHOULD be between the Debt Collector and BT only.

The Defence was submitted over a month before I was even aware of anything, it is a mystery, and an entirely seperate issue. Without seeing it - We've no idea what it's claiming, but I nor my Client, have any record of it. The Court phone guy said of it "they did you a favour by doing it - because it granted you more time", and told us that it was sent by post, but they definitely bought us time... that we were unaware of needing!... and according to the Archive timing,.... it seems that it was just enough time, to get to the date, that BT had archived the Account. But anyway - that's a separate issue.

So now we have to go to Mediation, and likely Court - and I don't know what to do for the best for my Client as this is Litigation Law, and not an area I'm too familiar with.

Because of that, we have phoned the Law Society and got numbers of Solicitors and Legal Aid people - and they've all said that they aren't able to help, as its too low an amount of money - that doesn't exist.

We phoned Debt Charities, who've refused us, as they say that there is no debt - which is correct.

We phoned Law Centres. It's either not their area of Law, or my Client is out of their Catchment Area.

We have phoned the Citizen's Advice - again, not helpful. They said to call Support Through Court - who couldn't help, only told us to go to Mediation, which obviously we are doing, but wanted advice so I don't mess up for my Client.

I don't know who to call to help me. My Client doesn't owe the money - and doesn't have a debt to BT.... I am not sure of the legalities when it goes to a third party. This is all just one big mess up by BT, and I'm worried my Client is going to be charged, if a Judge were to rule against them, for any reason, even though they have the proof of the no money owed to BT... but the Debt company will claim, that the Debt is to them now, not BT.

Can anyone advise me about this? Or has anyone been through this, and can share their experience?

Thanks in advance.

sourcrates

Hi,

Think I got the gist of that, basically Lowell pulling a fast one, which is not uncommon.

I see from your previous post, you have already had some good advice from fatbelly and others.

Nothing more to add really.

fatbelly

The other thread is here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6550320/mis-sold-debt-between-2-companies-that-are-now-pursuing-my-client-to-pay#latest

Op, in dealing with these matters you need to be precise, and concise.

Eg in june you had a court claim. It's in the court process and the next stage is a hearing.Lowell is a debt buyer, not a collection agency.

Your defence is not that BT are showing this at a zero balance now, as they would do that once they sold it to Lowell. It is that you have evidence that this matter was cleared by a third party to the contract (sky)

ManyWays

Compulsory mediation for small claims is pretty new. I suggest you listen to what the other side says, be very polite but keep repeating that your friend has cleared the debt before the claim was bought and that you have provided the proof of this. (I hope your friend has made a witness statement about this?)

Perhaps Legal Begles may have something extra to add to that, which is common sense not based on any experience of court mediation.

JustJinny

ManyWays said:

Compulsory mediation for small claims is pretty new. I suggest you listen to what the other side says, be very polite but keep repeating that your friend has cleared the debt before the claim was bought and that you have provided the proof of this. (I hope your friend has made a witness statement about this?)

Perhaps Legal Begles may have something extra to add to that, which is common sense not based on any experience of court mediation.

We were not asked to provide a Witness Statement.  It is something we are going to put together tomorrow.  The Defence held by the CNBC was filed on 11th April, over a month before my Client received the letter from the Solicitor that she thought was a scam letter.  So we don't know what the Defence says - only that it was sent by post and was unsigned.