Warning and advice about LCS Utility Investigation Civil Enforcement Debt Recoveries
Comments
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Hello All
I HAVE GREAT KNOWLEDGE OF 1ST LOCATE AKA LCS.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DONT PAY THEM ANYTHING - THEY DO NOTHING!
All they ever do is send letters, sometimes if they are really keen they will send out little calling cards to get you nervous but other than that they do absolutely NOTHING.
They act for all Utility companies and some other companies like SKY, BT etc. Of all clients only Scottish Power register defaults and no other client does anything at all!
NO NEED TO PAY ANYTHING - THEY DO NOTHING! NOT ONE PERSON HAS EVER HAD A BAILIFF INSTRUCTED BY LCS OR BEEN TAKEN TO COURT - ALL "SCARY TACTICS" - DONT FALL FOR IT
MAKE LOADS OF MONEY FOR SENDING NONESENSE LETTERS AND NEVER FOLLOW UP...
AS FOR SETTLEMENTS - WHAT THEY PUT IN THE LETTER IS NOT WHAT YOU CAN GET, IF YOU WANT A BETTER SETTLEMENT THEY CAN GIVE IT BUT WILL NEGOTIATE HARD BEFORE AGREEING - INSIST THEY CONTACT CLIENT AND GENERALLY YOU WILL GET 50% DISCOUNT
HOPE IVE HELPED 0 -
Thank you so much Widelats... I rang them and they asked for previous tennants and such and I was worried that I would have to pay it. However, after reading your post I at least have some knowledge before any problems occur. 0
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Three years since the first post on this thread and LCS still use the exact same tactics, right down to the wording of their threatening letters. I'm just glad there seem to be many others who have had the same problems I'm having with these idiotic vultures, and nobody has reported any serious repercussions for non-payment.
I moved out of a shared apartment in York around 4 years ago, and when I left I asked EDF to remove my name from the electricity account. I then left the country, and haven't been back since but for a couple of brief visits.
Two weeks ago a notice from LCS appeared at my sister's home in Liverpool, addressed to me and demanding £2,500 in unpaid charges accrued at my old apartment between 2010 and 2012. Two things struck me as odd about this demand: 1) I was living in Mongolia and Thailand during that period, and I wasn't aware that EDF supply electricity to apartments in Ulaanbaatar or Bangkok, and 2) I have absolutely no connection to my sister's address. She moved there long after I left the country, and until last Christmas I'd never so much as set foot in the house. For some reason LCS decided it was OK to try to reach me there.
My first impulse was to ignore the letter as I know I'm not liable for the debt. However, since it arrived at my sister's house I'd feel like an !!! if I didn't attempt to sort it out. I immediately emailed LCS to inform them that I did not owe them any money, and directed them to either EDF or the property manager at the old apartment to confirm that I didn't live there and wasn't the bill payer during the period in which the debt was generated.
I also warned them that contacting my family member (and revealing the amount owed) was harassment, and was in violation of the Data Protection Act and the CSA code of practice. I told them that if they wanted to reach me they could contact me only through my email address, and that any attempt to contact me again at my sister's address would be a further violation of the above act and code.
If I'd read this thread earlier I wouldn't have been surprised when another letter arrived last week. It was the standard escalation threat you can find earlier in the thread, threatening several kinds of legal action and a possible doorstep visit as I'd 'failed' to immediately repay the debt.
My next move was to send another email, once again informing LCS that it is illegal to contact my family members with regard to a debt, and requesting once again that they contact EDF and my old property manager to confirm that this debt has nothing to do with me. A few hours later I received a reply in which LCS told me that they could not discuss sensitive information by email. They then asked me to send them a copy of my tenancy agreement to prove that I had left the property before this debt was generated.
Obviously my response was a politely worded version of 'stick it up your !!!'. I know I don't owe this money, and I'm not willing to run around trying to prove a negative. In my final reply I told them that my next step would be to file a complaint with every regulatory body with which they're connected, and that if a representative showed up at my sister's address she'd immediately call the police and press charges.
After reading this thread from end to end I can see that the best course of action going forward is to simply ignore any further letters. Should they decide to follow through on their threats and take the case to court I assume they'd be compelled to provide some sort of evidence that I actually owe the money, which would be impossible. In the meantime I've sent a message to EDF, demanding that they call off their dogs.
I know I'll never be forced to pay this debt, but it's just so frustrating that my completely innocent sister has to deal with this mess, simply because she's related to me and these muppets have decided she's a soft target. It seems this sort of thing happens all the time, and it baffles me that nothing has been done to protect innocent people from these criminals. How is it possible that any business could be allowed to harass and threaten obviously, demonstrably innocent people without any fear of repercussions?0 -
Hello, can anyone help? I moved house and Scottish and Southern, the previous owner's elec and gas company provided our gas and electricity for the first 28 days of our residency in the house. Unfortunately the meter readings provided by the last occupiers were wrong so I was advised to provide 3 sets of meter readings at various intervals, which I have done (by email - unanswered) and phone - 6 calls of which none was less than an hour. They keep taking the readings and then saying they will generate a new bill and get back to me - but they never do meaning I have to call again. I have asked to speak to a manager on 3 occasions and have threatened to go to Ofgem but was told it wasn't possible up speak to a manager. I have also been receiving chasing letters on the original bill but when I call up they tell me to ignore and that they have "this time" put a hold on the account until the new bill is generated. But then today I got a text message from LCS (googled and found this thread) sent me a text message today asking me to get in touch re my Scottish power account. I haven't called them back but instead called SP WP again said they would sort the correct bill out and put a hold on the account but I don't know what to do. The last thing I want is for my unblemished credit history to be affected because of mortgage applications etc in future. SP were rubbish once again. Should I call LCS or what can I do given SP are being so ridiculously bad? My main concern is protecting my credit history0
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I've been having the same issue with British Gas since I purchased a house in August. Gave them the readings on the day we moved in and all our details in order to pay what we owed until our gas/elec were transferred to our existing provider. I then started receiving some letters from LCS.
If you definitely know its not your debt then just ignore them. I received ~6 letters in the first couple of months addressed to 'The Occupier' and haven't heard from them since.
The Great Declutter Challenge - £876
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I vacated a rental property 5 days before my actual leaving date. I called British Gas 10 days later and arranged to pay my outstanding balance with the meter readings for gas and elec I took along with my letting agent. My letting agent wrote to British Gas informing them of the readings, and as a back up I called them in also and paid the bill. They informed me that the account was up to date and now closed.
About 1 month ago I receive a letter forwarded to me by the new occupier (I happen to know him). The letter was addressed to the Occupier. I paniced at them thinking I owed british gas £26 and called them. Of course I told them my name and forwarding address as they bullied it out of me. I have no reason to lie and they told me to talk to British Gas. They are unable to talk to them directly (even though its BG that have asked them to recover a debt?) I should have clicked.
I called BG and they confirmed for a second time I owe nothing. I told them about LSC and they put me on hold while they spoke to them. The man from BG came back to me and told me not to worry, the matter was sorted and apologised. 'You won;t hear from them again'.
A week later I receive another letter. Followed by a text message to my phone saying to call about my case. Baffled - i did call as i thought the matter was closed. I speak to Andrew Wilkinson. An aggressive young chap who says there is no record of their conversation with BG. I said 'so they are lying to me?'
He told me to send proof of the gas meter readings on my departure to the new tenants entry. I did this. He then tells me that he has made a mistake and its not the gas its the electric readings. So i send these in to. The same letters my letting agents sent to BG. I have no also called BG again - who still maintain I owe nothing. They are kindly sending me and them a letter to that effect.
I don't know what more proof I can give these people to go away. Will they chase me still?They are rude, scary and horrid and I don't need this stress. BG tell me they haven't heard of this company.
I don't know what to do.0 -
zoedwyer13 wrote: »I vacated a rental property 5 days before my actual leaving date. I called British Gas 10 days later and arranged to pay my outstanding balance with the meter readings for gas and elec I took along with my letting agent. My letting agent wrote to British Gas informing them of the readings, and as a back up I called them in also and paid the bill. They informed me that the account was up to date and now closed.
About 1 month ago I receive a letter forwarded to me by the new occupier (I happen to know him). The letter was addressed to the Occupier. I paniced at them thinking I owed british gas £26 and called them. Of course I told them my name and forwarding address as they bullied it out of me. I have no reason to lie and they told me to talk to British Gas. They are unable to talk to them directly (even though its BG that have asked them to recover a debt?) I should have clicked.
I called BG and they confirmed for a second time I owe nothing. I told them about LSC and they put me on hold while they spoke to them. The man from BG came back to me and told me not to worry, the matter was sorted and apologised. 'You won;t hear from them again'.
A week later I receive another letter. Followed by a text message to my phone saying to call about my case. Baffled - i did call as i thought the matter was closed. I speak to Andre Wilkinson. An aggressive young chap who says there is no record of their conversation with BG. I said 'so they are lying to me?'
He told me to send proof of the gas meter readings on my departure to the new tenants entry. I did this. He then tells me that he has made a mistake and its not the gas its the electric readings. So i send these in to. The same letters my letting agents sent to BG. I have no also called BG again - who still maintain I owe nothing. They are kindly sending me and them a letter to that effect.
I don't know what more proof I can give these people to go away. Will they chase me still?They are rude, scary and horrid and I don't need this stress. BG tell me they haven't heard of this company.
I don't know what to do.
It's total nonsense. they are chasing you for the 'void' period which is between your departure and new tenant arrival. The property owner is responsible for this period. They usually wildly overestimate the reads, then wildly estimate who owes it and go on a fishing trip (the letter addressed to 'occupier').
Your mistake was responding to a letter addressed to the occupier, which you were not. This should have been ignored or passed on to the letting agents.
First: stop speaking to the clowns. Respond in writing only. I'm not sure of the actual terminology you might use but the general message is 'I vacated the property on this date, and my account was brought up to date with British Gas. I am not the occupier of the property, go away.' There is no debt to enforce, there is bog all they can do to enforce it so frankly they can go spin. Forward on the correspondence to the letting agency as it will relate to a period when you weren't actually at the property.
I once (long story) ended up dealing with these people as part of my role in a housing association. The number of enquiries I dealt with just shows how nonsensical it all is. I used to phone the debt collection agency until I realised that as landlords it was better to just ignore the letters and go straight to the supplier. One once threatened to take us to court, she was obviously used to dealing with individuals. I told her she was welcome to take the local authority to court for £55, I was a temp and frankly I didn't care. Funnily enough they never did...0 -
We have just received a letter from LCS regarding confirming utility owenership. The story is very similar to those which have gone before. Moved into a housing association house, which by their own terms all bills and debts have been wiped. However EDF are like a dog with a bone. We moved in on 16 December. All information was passed to them and all seemed ok. We supplied them with the housing associations name and location. EDF seemed fine and we had a structured payment agreed on our part however we started receiving two bills. One we owe and one dated from Sept 2013. Now I am no way giving the information as this little old lady who lived her moved into a nursing home and there is no way I'm going to supply details which could send her into melt down to these chancers. Let the letters roll. By the way I love the idea someone put about sending a lot of envelopes to their freepost address just to cost them time and money as I'm sure If I tried charging them they would ignore it. So time to buy some cheap envelopes and address them to their freepost address.0
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had a call from them.... oops did call them back.... however they are trying to claim £186.95 for electricity from 3 years ago.... a debt we never had. in fact I have a final statement from EDF stating we were £54.23 cr!!!
So what I'd do... is engage a solicitor. explain what you are doing.. instruct said solicitor to pass his fees into a debt recovery firm's coffers.... and instruct debt agency to chase LCS for the money.
Also contact Action for fraud, and your local Trading standards office. This is a cowboy loan shark company.0 -
I am dealing with an LCS letter for a relative. Or rather, advising her not to deal with it.
British gas helpdesk first said they had never heard of LCS then suddenly had when I pointed out the ref started "BG/".
As the person is elderly and not very savvy she was worried about this letter.
BG then more or less admitted the enquiry from LCS was about a void period in the account that belongs to the landlord.
Now, if BG had nicely asked on their own headed paper if we could tell them more info they'd have the landlord's details by now!
As it is they are fruitlessly paying LCS to send confusing and alarming letters out. Anyway, I've warned the person at the address not to reply to or phone LCS on any account.0
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