DLC are to start proceedings against me for... wait for it...

[FastShow]

...£7.47!

Seriously, I kid you not, seven bloody pounds and forty-seven bloody pence! Jesus, how petty can these people get?

To be fair, it's actually a touch more complicated than that; let me explain.

I received a letter from the local friendly debt collecters, DLC, in December last year for £14.54. Bear in mind this was for an unsettled debt on a bill I'd never actually seen, but hey, that's beside the point.

Anyway, as per standard DLC procedure, they simply sent a demand for £14.54 with absolutely no explanation as to what the hell it was actually for. So, I ring them up, in my own personal time at my own personal expense and request a copy of the bills that show this supposed debt.

A week or so later, I get a bill through the post, but not mine, oh no, that would be too simple. Instead, it's the bill for some other customer who possibly owes WOL money. So I ignore it, 'cos they said they were sending me my bills, so I was going to sit and wait for my bills. They didn't arrive, but DLC turned on their super-duper-mega-phone-dialler thingy that rang me every single day, several times. I know this 'cos my caller ID logged it, but luckily, they only rang during office hours when, funnily enough, I was at the office.

Eventually they left me a message saying I must ring them immediately regarding my 'account'. So I rang them and gave my reference number:

DLC: "Ah, Mr Prescott, we're waiting on payment since we recently sent you bills."
ME: "No, no you didn't, what you actually sent me was someone else's bills, not mine. I'm still waiting for my bills."
DLC: "Ooops, aren't we crap? I'll get your bills in the post."

My bills arrive and the fun is only just beginning. Enclosed with my bill is a big list of itemised phonecalls and dates. Fine, these calls I obviously owe WOL for (despite them having a valid payment method in place from which they still take money), so I agreed to pay them. However, also on this bill was a mysterious charge labelled 'Other' which totalled £7.47. Nice and descriptive. So I ring up for an explanation and am passed from pillar to post whilst people try to fabricate some story as to what this 'Other' charge is supposed to actually be.

To cut a long story to a medium length, I eventually sent them payment for £14.54 minus the elusive 'Other' charge which appeared to be made up and today had a conversation where the lady on the end of the phone informed me they would be starting legal proceedings for the outstanding balance. Which is £7.47. Which is bloody stupid.

Anyway, I fully intend to see it through court and thought I'd bore you all to death with my story. Any comments are more than welcome.

TTFN.

[bkind]

well, here is my weekend update........
I got some - limited legal advice with regards to the bills themselves - this was posted on a legal message board (but so far no news about possible joint action.....)

They are registered under the Data Protrection Act as:
Data Controller: TISCALI UK LTD
Address:
CHELFORD HOUSE
RUDHEATH WAY
GADBROOK PARK
NORTHWICH
CHESHIRE
CW9 7LN

I suggest that you make a Subject Access Request (S.7 DPA).
They will (should) provide you with all of the information needed to check
your bill. If they are wrong, you are entitled to have the information
corrected.


However, that is the address I myself have been writing to and I cant say that I have had much luck from them at that address. Although I DID get two letters back from that address last July/August, the two letters were apologizing profusely and at the same time managing to quote another 4!!!! different amounts of money my bill supposedly now comes to. However, I did not at the time know about this subject access request.......... worth a try I suppose for those still chasing the correct bills...........

I also wrote to the computer magazine ComputerActive who apparently did a feature on T/WOL previously, Dinah from the magazine emailed me back almost immediately saying she would call early this morning, but she didnt so far...........

not heard from ian dobson either...............

went to the official tiscali site to discover there are more people with similar problems who posted the watchdog email there - wrote to them (again ) but tried that last year already as well, so not holding my breath there either..........

so for now i will just bide my time and wait to start my own proceedings for the court case - the deadline i gave them to respond to my gallant invitation to meet me in court is 10th of march............. and rti, i will email you in the near future with the details of my case, according to your suggestion - please let me know when u have got a date for the hearing - right now i am totally snowed under with work and wont be able to do any paperwork for a couple of weeks. but if u need anything before then, just let me know........
will still make more legal enquiries in the near future as well......

in the meantime, all the best
bea

[Worldlife]

FastShow the bill might be trivial but one must always be aware of the potential consequences of an alleged unpaid bill.

When us "oldies" were fighting our cases one of the background fears was that a vindicative Company (or debt collection agency) could quite easily affect one's credit rating.

Indeed it does W/L.

Been there, done that, seen the movie, read the book.

If your need to see justice done out weighs any fears of black listing then carry on.

But I would also counsel caution, especially over such a small sum.

[FastShow]

This is getting bloody stupid now.

Received a letter yesterday from a company called Scotcall who are apparantly coming round to visit me to collect the outstanding balance I don't owe.

Thing is, I truely, truely don't have time to be dealing with this, this week - I'm off on client site until next Friday, by which time the measly 7 days I have to respond will have expired.

I'm sick to bloody death of having to write letters, make phone calls and generally waste my time dealing with these incompetents - still, I guess that's what they're betting on. So, looks like I'll have to find some spare time to write yet another letter to explain why I'm not going to be paying anyone anything for the time being.

I wish they'd do what they bloody told me they were doing in the first place, and take me to court.

[taxman]

Don't let these idiots push you about. You might be interested to read my post on the Yet more harassment thread.

Bryan

[frmarcus]

FastShow: I know exactly what you mean. I just gave up trying to contact sundry bodies in the end. I suspect the policy of theses DCA's is to waer one down with letter after letter 'til one just pays up. It stinks. My non-debt was passed from DLC to Scotcall: I e-mailed the latter with my account details, told them I didn't owe anything and threatened them with counter-action if they contacted me again or tried to affect my credit rating. Fingers crossed, I've not heard from them...

Best wishes,