BW Legal - bogus car hire allegation

Downthedrain

I've received a letter today from BW Legal which is demanding payment for car hire in Peterborough in 2020. They have previously attempted to obtain money from me with the same wording, which resulted in a formal complaint and what I thought was the end of the matter, but they continue to harass me.

I have never hired a car. Never been to Peterborough and do not owe anyone money.

They have been unable or unwilling to supply details of the original debt, or copies of previous correspondence they claim to have sent to me.

Unfortunately the reply to my complaint was discarded after I though the matter to be closed, but this has now been ongoing for a number of years and I'm unable to to resolve the situation.

What should I now do?

Mildly_Miffed

Tell them that you look forward to receiving the details of the court case they will lodge against you, since that will have to include the supporting documentation they're unwilling or unable to supply now.

Then you'll be able to lodge your defence, which will inevitably get their baseless claim thrown out.

Herzlos

They claim to be members of the SRA and FCA: https://www.bwlegal.co.uk/about-us

So I'd complain to both of those authorities about BW legal chasing about a fraudulent debt and being unwilling to provide any details of said debt.

I'd simply reply to BW legal with something basic like "The alleged debt does not exist. Please provide evidence of it now or in court or cease harassment. Full costs will be sought for time wasted".

Downthedrain

Here's an update:

After grinding along for months now with repeated insistence of bad debt, today I finally have proof of the original debt. BW legal told me it was for car hire, but the evidence from Dial Direct Insurance (BFSL T/A Budget Financial Service Ltd.) is that it's car insurance for a Honda Civic. I now have;

The name and address of the policyholder.

Proof of no-claims.

The make, model and registration of the car.

The bank payments showing payment default.

Same first and surname only - all other details are someone else at a completely different address in a town I've never been to, a car I've never owned and an insurer I've never even heard of.

BW Legal says my complaint is not upheld and the case is now resolved, the debt stands and "your case will return to our collections process and you will receive additional contact, which could mean letters, calls, emails or SMS, after 7 June 2025."

I have reported this as a data breach to Dial Direct, but don't hold out any prospect that they will do anything.

What should I do now?

MattMattMattUK

Downthedrain said:

Here's an update:

After grinding along for months now with repeated insistence of bad debt, today I finally have proof of the original debt. BW legal told me it was for car hire, but the evidence from Dial Direct Insurance (BFSL T/A Budget Financial Service Ltd.) is that it's car insurance for a Honda Civic. I now have;

The name and address of the policyholder.

Proof of no-claims.

The make, model and registration of the car.

The bank payments showing payment default.

Same first and surname only - all other details are someone else at a completely different address in a town I've never been to, a car I've never owned and an insurer I've never even heard of.

BW Legal says my complaint is not upheld and the case is now resolved, the debt stands and "your case will return to our collections process and you will receive additional contact, which could mean letters, calls, emails or SMS, after 7 June 2025."

I have reported this as a data breach to Dial Direct, but don't hold out any prospect that they will do anything.

What should I do now?

Tell them to cease their harassment, if they continue tell them to go and procreate with themselves and you will see them in court. 

Report them for harassment. 
https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/beta-stalking-and-harassment/what-is-stalking-harassment/

Submit a formal complaint, if they do not respond adequately escalate the complaint to the SRA.
https://www.bwlegal.co.uk/complaints-procedure
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/

WellKnownSid

Oh that crowd of idiots.

I dealt with them for over a year regarding an unpaid gas bill from British Gas (we didn't have gas - nor indeed have I ever lived in a house with a gas connection).

Some tips:

• They will have bought this debt for pence in the pound.
• They've 'found you' because your name / address or shoe size may be similar to their debtor.
• Yes, they are registered with the FCA / SRA but they are not doing anything which either can get involved with
• They don't care how annoying they are.  They believe if they continue to pursue you that eventually even innocent people would rather pay them money they don't owe than have yet another letter.
• I don't know if they will ever actually attempt to take you to court.  Certainly we went back and forth for 14 months.  They kept "pausing" then "writing to tell us they would be writing to us" and then "writing to tell us that dark sinister things may happen in the future if this remains unpaid" then they would write to say "if you pay 50% now we'll write your debt off".  I guess some would be tempted by the 9th or 10th threatening letter.
• Corresponding with them turned out to be a complete waste of time.  They only want your credit card number - it takes weeks for them to get back to even basic questions.  The ONLY thing that helped in our case was to complain to British Gas directly even though we were not a customer.  They DO have obligations that BW legal didn't have to follow.

They work on the "accountability sink" principle - so personally I would report that data breach of your namesake to the ICO and include the CEOs of both Dial and BW Legal (Rachael Withers) in carbon copy and see where that leads...

Herzlos

I'd complain to everyone you can, including MP, and then just ignore it. 

BW Legal are notorious for fake parking ticket debt and doing no dilligence (because it's a numbers game and dilligence costs money). If they ever bother taking it to court they'll lose and you can claim costs. 

jimjames

Downthedrain said:

I have reported this as a data breach to Dial Direct, but don't hold out any prospect that they will do anything.

What should I do now?

I'd report it to the ICO if they are providing data on someone else and giving you the details as that is a breach of the data protection regulations. ICO might have more teeth than just complaining to the company

m0bov

Ico, report to police for harresment and fraud. Mp and tell also see if you have legal cover with your car insurance. They might lodge an injunction to stop further contact.

Check your credit file.

Downthedrain

I'll contact my MP and take a look at the ICO. The SRA says 16 weeks to investigate a complaint - too long. I wish I'd kept the letters from over three years ago, but I thought this had all gone away. Has anyone got experience of doing an FoE request to get copies from BW Legal, or is this a waste of time? They deny that I complained to them years ago about this debt, despite sending them a copy of the wording in November.

Also, I made the mistake of communicating via their online portal - this means I don't have  copies of that exchange, which is further evidence that I could usefully do with.

WellKnownSid

Downthedrain said:

I'll contact my MP and take a look at the ICO. The SRA says 16 weeks to investigate a complaint - too long. I wish I'd kept the letters from over three years ago, but I thought this had all gone away. Has anyone got experience of doing an FoE request to get copies from BW Legal, or is this a waste of time? They deny that I complained to them years ago about this debt, despite sending them a copy of the wording in November.

Also, I made the mistake of communicating via their online portal - this means I don't have  copies of that exchange, which is further evidence that I could usefully do with.

Why complain to the SRA?  Did BW legal give you poor legal advice in a case or did they fail to keep you informed of progress of the case?  Their SRA registration is a handy smokescreen for people who want to complain but you have no grounds to do so because you are not paying BW legal for legal services...

What is an FoE request?  I presume you mean DSAR?  You can try... but they've already denied you've complained presumably because they thought you were the other Joe Smith!  As someone else said - diligence costs money - they ain't got time for that nonsense.