Being chased by UKSearch Limited for a utility debt that is not ours - advice please

Mr_Crunch

1. My wife has received a letter at our current address from a company called UKSearch Limited claiming that she owes about £250 for an unpaid water company bill at someone else's address for "water supply arrears".
2. We have never lived there.  It is not our debt.
3. It is a mystery why my wife is now being targeted for a debt which is not hers, with a letter from UKSearch to our current address.
4. We have not responded to UKSearch's letter.

We have an untarnished credit record. We obviously do not want it to be affected by spurious claims that we have an unpaid debt. The question is, what should my wife do now?  Is it "safe" to contact this debt collection agency and explain the situation or does that just give them an opportunity to harass us further?

Brie

Likely your wife has a similar name to whomever actually owes the money and UKS has gone fishing to see if they can get a response.

Your wife could ignore it. Or she could write a "prove it" letter.  Basically asking UKS to provide proof that the debt is hers.

If she goes down this route send the letter by snail mail.  Don't ring or text or email as that just makes it easy for them to harass her.

Grumpelstiltskin

Prove it letter.

Letter when you know nothing about about the debt - AKA "Prove it" letter — MoneySavingExpert Forum

sourcrates

This statement from their website really fills me with confidence they always get the right debtor:

"UK Search has perfected the art of making contact with customers where others have failed. With our superior trace products and data enhancement tools we are able to apply a full range of collection methods to cases where we have established the correct contact details".

Mr_Crunch

Thank you.  I have done a 'prove it' letter for her, as per the template.