MIL collections - HELP!!

steiff1

Guys.

I have received a letter today from a company called MIL collections. it says I have 72hours to settle the debt or its court action.

Its regarding a radio rentals debt outstanding for £124.
firstly, I have no idea what this is for. the very rude chap on the phone couldnt even give me a date specific of how old this so called debt is, secondly, he said it has been passed to them from a company called mackenzie hall.
I remember receiving a letter from them last year, basically saying the same thing, however reading reports on here, and from other sources, the general consensus was to NOT reply. so I didnt.

What should I do next?? I am reluctant to ring this mackenzie hall. I may just wait for court action, and see what happens??

Help and advice please


thanks steiff

Clive_Woody

You can ask for more details of the debt without acknowledging the debt is yours. This would be my first action, find out who the debt belongs to, they may not even have the right person. Perhaps it would be wise to request this information by post (send the letter recorded delivery so you have proof of posting and delivery should it go to court). Keep your letter short and simple, simply state the case number and ask for full details of the debt.

It's probably not wise to just ignore this (I may be wrong there, I am no expert, but generally these things are best dealt with).

Keep records of all your dealings with them.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

The debt collection agency has to prove to you that you owe this debt, so you need to send a letter asking for a true copy of the signed credit agreement - has to be the original one. Here is the letter you need, its letter N. When you have sent that they have to reply to you within 12 days +2 if they don't you can stop any payments being made. If you still haven't heard from them by a further full 30 days then they have committed a criminal offense and the debt cannot be enforced in court (correct me if I'm wrong on this) .

So first things first, send the letter and then post back on here for what to do next, and don't worry or let them bully you. the chances are they wont be able to get hold of the agreement = you can either make a settlement on it or forget it.

EDIT : NEVER phone a DC. They will run rings around youa nd bully you till your head is spinning and you are probably in tears.

Zanzibar

Didnt 'Radio Rentals' cease trading ages ago - looking it up that name was dropped in 2000 - so an 8 year old debt?

Looking here:

http://www.payplan.com/debt-library/joint-and-several-liability-the-limitation-act-1980.php

"You may have assumed that your creditor has "written-off" a debt if you have not heard from them for a long period. In many cases, it could be down to your failure to inform them of a change of address, but the debt will still exist and creditors are entitled to chase the debt indefinitely (even after the debt has become Statute Barred), however they can only use the legal system to recover the monies for up to 6 years after the last payment was made to the account."

inmypocketnottheirs

Just do a search on these boards for Mackenzie Hall. If they have passed a debt on it just about says it all!

Steve7292

Today I received an identical letter from MIL Collections passed on by McKenzie Hall I suspect. It is also for Boxclever (which is the new name for Radio Rentals btw) for £121.80 and is an alleged debt which I know nothing about. I last had dealings with RR about 8-odd years ago and as far as I know I owe them nothing. I refused to acknowledge a letter from McKenzie Hall last year after reading about their (mostly illegal) practices on similar forums to this one. Everyone's advice was 'sit tight and ignore them completely'. The onus is on them to prove that you owe this money. These people send out demands willy nilly in the hope of bullying and terrifying people into paying them money they don't owe. Don't acknowledge them and PLEASE don't send them money if you don't think you owe it.

inmypocketnottheirs

Steve7292 wrote: »

Don't acknowledge them and PLEASE don't send them money if you don't think you owe it.

Even if you do owe it, by the time it gets to the likes of MH, you may not have to pay it.

fitzgerald

Steve7292 wrote: »

Today I received an identical letter from MIL Collections passed on by McKenzie Hall I suspect. It is also for Boxclever (which is the new name for Radio Rentals btw) for £121.80 and is an alleged debt which I know nothing about. I last had dealings with RR about 8-odd years ago and as far as I know I owe them nothing. I refused to acknowledge a letter from McKenzie Hall last year after reading about their (mostly illegal) practices on similar forums to this one. Everyone's advice was 'sit tight and ignore them completely'. The onus is on them to prove that you owe this money. These people send out demands willy nilly in the hope of bullying and terrifying people into paying them money they don't owe. Don't acknowledge them and PLEASE don't send them money if you don't think you owe it.

Hi I have been receiving letters from MH for the last 3 years regarding a mobile phone I have never owned. I finally reported the matter to the police yesterday who have had 3 calls this week. The police have given me a crime reference number and have promised to investigate. I had 3 calls from the police yesterday so they must be taking this matter seriously.

Woodville

My wife received a text message on her mobile, which is in my name, informing her that she should contact MIL asap re an outstanding debt. I phoned the number given, and they were not helpful, only stating that they were trying to contact a Robert *******. No apologies, no help. Once I had established that the mobile number was not involved, I told them take sex and travel! We have not heard from them since. Cheers, Woodville.

Dicko45

Well, it's been a long time now since I reported on MIL Collections. Their local Trading Standards in Truro have been looking at them. On the last time I rang MIL it was a follow-up to a letter I sent, co-signed by my wife (the "Debtor") authorising me to deal with them on her behalf.
Mr Nobody refused to even listen to me, he would only speak to her - so I whispered to him (really!) to take notice of what I was about to say and then roared down the phone that I thought he ought to go forth and multiply, to which he said "What?...." and so I offered to do it for him if he was stupid enough to try or let anyone else try to collect this imaginary debt. Shouldn't have lost my rag, really - but he is lucky I didn't have a couple of days for an 800+mile round trip (my party-trick used to be opening a can of peas or beans with one hand, no can-opener and without rubbing it on a brick!)
Haven't heard from them since.
I did persuade Radio Rentals/Granada/Boxclever to write to each of the DCAs they've set on us over the years (including Red Castle, Mackenzie Hall, MIL Collections, Oxford Servicing, Varde Investments and a couple of others) asking them to assure us that they would not cause or allow us to be persued for this "debt". Not one of them replied. In fact, when I spoke to Mackenzie Hall some weeks later they couldn't trace the matter, and I was told that in any case they could not assure me as asked, because "somebody might buy the debt in the future........."
The file I have is now my unofficial pension plan; I hope to hear from them in the medium term the, damages might pay for a good holiday or a round of drinks!

MrsNoir

I hope its okay to bump this thread but I would appreciate some help!

Myself and my family live in a housing association property and have lived here for almost 3 years. The previous tenant had left quickly it seemed as there were items of furniture etc left. There were letters left which I returned to sender as I had no forwarding address. Then one day a bailiff turned up asking to speak to the previous tenant (I'll call her S), he could see we had just moved in, were decorating etc so he took our word for it and left.

We kept getting letters and after a while I opened a few - I didnt know what else to do by this point and had my concerns now after having the bailiff visit. They were debt collection letters by the Mackenzie Hall people, I actually phoned a couple of times and spoke to a friendly enough woman - I explained the previous tenent hadnt lived here for however long, no I didnt have a forwarding address but I gave the housing association details so they could contact S through them (my partner had spoken to the housing association to see if there was anything they could do, and they advised him to give their details.)

So everything addressed to S stopped, though both myself and my partner then recieved a couple of those 'Telogram' letters, instructing us to phone up and retrieve a message, we didnt take any notice and binned them.

Today Ive recieved a letter from MIL Collections, saying that S owes £800 for a water bill. I dont really know what Im meant to do now - its not addressed to us so maybe I ignore it? Return to sender? Phone? Im just concerned that Im going to have someone come knocking and if that happened I wouldnt know what I was meant to do then either.

Any help very much appreciated