Another letter on behalf of Capquest need advice

piratess

ok about a month ago i recieved a letter from telogram asking me to ring them to confirm my address etc .. i ignored this thro advice from the boards
anyway this morning ive recieved a letter from H L Legal (in association with sampson)

it says ... they act on behalf of telogram who in turn act on behalf of capquest and are instructed that our clients have attempted to make contact with you at the above address but have recieved no respoce or communications from you

we have been informed that our client has corresponded with you with regard to information that was recieved from a major reference bureu that indicated this address was correct

it is necessary for you to contact our ckient at the earliest opurtunity to establish whether information our client holds if relevent to yourself then we will be able to bring this matter to a conclusion

If no responce is recieved by the 12th april (only recieved letter this morning) our client wil then report back to capquest that they have been unable to conform information supplied by equifax

as a consequence we have been informed that one of capquests group companies capquest debt recovery or its doorstep agents scotcall will be contacting you on or around 12th april

what do i do ?? I have no idea what this is for! not even a clue! ... i dont want anyone knocking at my door! ... if i ring them what would happen? ... they dont give me time to do anything as its now the 15th and i only recieved the letter this morning ! ?

Is there any chance this could be linked with the mackenzie and hall letters ive had? . i did send a letter as was statute barred ... and heard nothing apart from them threatening with door knockers! .. could they have passed it onto this comapny ??

piratess

bump .. hoping somone can help xx

bargainbetty

They won't waste money sending an agent to an address that might be wrong. More likely it'll generate a round of letters from the DCA detailing whatever it is they are chasing, which then gives you the information you need to send them 's*d off' letters.

If anyone does turn up, don't open the door. Talk through it, and demand evidence of court documented rights of access, otherwise you'll call the police.

fermi

It's another vague attempt at "fishing" for information.

The tactic of always saying a response is needed before you actually receive the letter is an old and deliberate trick, and is meant to make you ring them in a panic.:rolleyes:

You have no reason to call them. If they had any definite information then it is up to THEM to provide it.

H L Legal are a firm that CRAPQuest uses to send out automatic and meaningless letters for 75p a go. You yourself can log on to the HL Legal website with a debit card and send your own letters using their letterhead. Letters from H L Legal are MEANINGLESS.

And I agree with bargainbetty about the doorstep callers.

stapeley

I recieved three fishing letters . Never ever call these people . Just write, say you have no knowledge of any debt and tell them they have incorrect details . Do not confirm address or name details , just use their referance number and never sign the letter .

rachpoppy

I too have been receiving some rather scary letters from these particular firms. It all started when one of my neighbours received a call from a company called 'Telogram' and asked him if someone of my name lived in the his street! What a nerve!
Shortly after I received a letter from them claiming that I had a debt of £544.99 to a company called Shop Direct. My husband did some searching and concluded that this was part of the Kays Catalogue group. I am a customer of Kays but I certainly do not owe this kind of money to them neither do I have any outstanding debt of any kind with them.

After reading the messages on here I decided to ignore the letter. Shortly after I received another letter from a solicitors company (can't remember the name now and don't have the letter to hand) basically saying the same thing. Again I ignore it.

Today I've also received a letter from ScotCall Debt Collecting Services giving me a doorstep collection notice. It says i have 7 days to pay or contact them or else they will arrange a doorstep call. I really don't know what to do next!

I was under the impression from the posts on this and other threads that such companies were unable to make personal visit unless you'd actually agreed that you were the person and also that you admitted the debt. Am I right in thinking this.

The other thing I should have mentioned is that although the letter is addressed to Mrs rachpoppy it has my maiden name rather than my married name on it and I've been married now for nearly 5 yrs!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really don't fancy ringing this pratts to be honest but if I ignore it am I going to get a visit? What should I do next?

RAS

rachpoppy wrote: »

I was under the impression from the posts on this and other threads that such companies were unable to make personal visit unless you'd actually agreed that you were the person and also that you admitted the debt. Am I right in thinking this.

This is correct. Door step collectors have the same rights as the tea-boy. And they are only allowed to visit by agreement. There appear to be instances when the odd one does turn up unannounced, but that is in breech of the OFT Guidelines.

rachpoppy wrote: »

The other thing I should have mentioned is that although the letter is addressed to Mrs rachpoppy it has my maiden name rather than my married name on it and I've been married now for nearly 5 yrs!

So there is a reasonable chance that this debt is statute barred anyway. It may not even be your debt if you have a reasonably common name.

rachpoppy wrote: »

I really don't fancy ringing this pratts to be honest but if I ignore it am I going to get a visit?

It is not usual at all. the OFT has just written warning letters to one quarter of DCas about their behaviour, so you would hope they had enough wit to stick to the Guidelines?

rachpoppy

Thanks very much for the quick response - this has certainly helped to put my mind at ease :-)

rachpoppy

Hi all

Just to keep you updated on this one.......

Since my last posting I've received no letters at all from any of these companies then 20 minutes ago I just received a doorstep call from someone on behalf of capquest!

As you can imagine, my blood began to boil when she said who she was!

I told her that I no longer have that name as I have been married for 5 years. She checked my date of birth (which in hindsight I shouldn't have given her, but you don't think at the time do you?) and said that it was my details she had. I told her that I have checked my credit rating and do not have any debt of this kind against my name. She asked how long ago I'd used a company called shopdirect and I explained that I still use them now (as I believe this is kays catalogue) and that I still don't currently have this kind of balance with them.

She basically just said "OK", smiled and and said goodbye! I think she could tell I wasn't very happy though :-)

I hope I've gone about things in the right way - again any comments would be gratefully received!

As many of you have said before, I believe I'm right in thinking that if I do not admit to the debt then they basically can't do anything anyway. Is this correct?

Sorry to dwell on this, but I really feel that I'd like this whole situation cleared up now and I really can't believe the nerve of this company!!

Bertram_2

You shouldn't have spoken to her at all. But they sent somebody to your door without an appointment , which is against the OFT debt collection guidelines , so now you write to them for a copy of their complaints procedure . Once you get a final response to your complaint , take it to the financial ombudsman should you feel unhappy with the response .


Forgot to say , don't sign any letters you send them , just print your name . Don't sign anything at all in any communications with them, ever .

ps , you cant go giving people that knock on your door information like this, what with identify theft / fraud so rife. Don't do it again .. that goes for any telephone calls you get from them , if it is them calling you then its them that need to be providing answers to security questions, not you . So never answer their security questions either. You have never received a notice of assignment from them ever have you ? , how do you know they are authorized to collect on this alleged debt anyway . It's the same as me going around your house or phoning you up for money with no evidence I have any right to collect it, you'd tell me where to go, so do the same to them.

Bertram_2

Dear Sir

Harassment Warning & Notice of Formal Complaint

In breach of :

Public Order Act 1986 (c. 64) 4(a)
Administration of Justice Act 1970 (c.31) s(40)
Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidelines 2006 2.8 (a,b,j), 2.12 (a, f, g)
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 section 7 (2)

Following the unsolicited visit of your agent to my premises on [date] , I wish to make a formal complaint . Please forward me your complaints procedure by return of post .

For your future reference :

I am only prepared to communicate with you in writing. Should it be your intention to continue to send 'doorstep agents' to my premises, please remember that there is only an implied license under English Common Law for certain people to visit me on my property without express permission; (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.) and doorstep agents representing your company are not of the afore mentioned prescibed list.

Take note therefore that I revoke license under English Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so without my permission, you will then be liable to damages for a tort of trespass. You would also be conspiring in a trespass if you sent someone from a doorstop collection service company to visit me and should it be necessary, I will seek an injunction.


Yours

[print name]

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Always good to get off on a complaint footing with these companies from the start , they don't much like the Financial Ombudsman's case fee of £400 per complaint submitted.