Energy company and debt collectors pursuing previous occupier debt for years

[YummySunnyMummy]

Hi everyone, I’m hoping someone can give me some advice because I’m completely stuck going round in circles with an energy company and their debt collectors.

Back in June 2021, I moved into a house and almost immediately started getting debt collection letters addressed to the "legal occupier". They were chasing about £800 for unpaid energy bills from before I moved in. I contacted the utility company and the debt collection agency, sent them evidence showing my move-in date, and the letters stopped. I thought it was all sorted.

Fast forward about four years (I had actually sold the property by this point) and the same debt collection agency started harassing me over the exact same debt. Bizarrely, they started sending demanding letters to my mum's house (where I don't even live!).

I contacted the debt agency, explained the situation, and sent them the same evidence all over again. They assured me they would close the case. They didn't. The letters kept coming to my mum's house. Every time they sent one, I’d send my evidence again.

Getting fed up, I submitted a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the debt agency. They completely ignored it.

Realising they were a brick wall, I raised a formal complaint with the original utility company and provided my proof again. They told me they had contacted the debt collectors about it, but the letters still didn't stop.

I then submitted a SAR to the energy company. They actually complied, and ironically, their own evidence proves I didn't have an account with them when the debt was accrued!

Despite this, the utility company is now completely washing their hands of the situation. They’re telling me it’s not their responsibility and that I need to deal directly with the debt agency. I completely disagree; it’s their error, and I’ve already tried dealing with the debt collectors, who just ignore my complaints and my SAR!

I’ve asked the utility company to just issue a deadlock letter so that I can escalate this to the Energy Ombudsman. They are refusing to do so until the standard 8 weeks have passed since my complaint. However, every time I ask for a resolution, they just repeat "contact the debt collection company and complain to them". They haven’t even offered a basic apology for the mess and the stress of them harassing my mother's address.

To summarize:
I've proved to both companies that the debt isn't mine time and time again.
The debt collectors are ignoring my complaints and SAR.
The utility company refuses to call off the dogs or issue a deadlock letter.

Has anyone dealt with something like this before? How can I force the energy company to take responsibility or get this deadlock letter sooner? Any advice on how to stop the debt collectors harassing my mum would be hugely appreciated too!

I think you are picking the wrong argument. The issue is now with the debt collection agency - you have proof from the energy company that this wasn’t you but practically you need to submit that proof to the debt collection company, no?

We had similar and we used to put the letters (addressed to the people we bought the house off) back in the post as “Not known at this address - return to sender.” When the bailiffs came fortunately it was abundantly clear that my husband was not the Mr Patel that the letter was addressed to, even the bailiffs laughed.

Energy companies are a nightmare for this. I feel your pain. I have tried several approaches varying from retur b ing everything as 'not known at this address', to invoicing for every letter sent. In the end the only thing that worked was suggesting that we go to court and they can present their evidence to a magistrate, I will present my evidence which was namely that the debt is not mine, and we can let the judge decide, and when I win, they'll be paying legal costs. That stopped it.

Why should I even have to do this? This debt has nothing to do with me.

The utility company has incorrectly passed on my info to this debt company. I think that they should be the ones correcting this? It is their error, not mine.

Also, the utility company never ever contacted me about this debt prior to them passing my details on.

That said, I have complained to the debt company multiple times. They just ignore me.

So as someone above has suggested, let the baliffs turn up. Show them your evidence & see them off.
OR
Tell the bailiffs you’ll see them in court. You have good evidence so hopefully that’ll drive them off?

You shouldn’t have to do any of this. I’m so sorry you’re going through this worrying harassment. I hope it’ll soon be resolved.

Get help from CAB. This type of stuff is just their type of thing.

This is probably very bad advice but we moved into a property a while back and got a lot of "To the legal occupier/estate of" debt letters to the people who had sold the house to our sellers!!
So many many years ago - very clearly not our debt.

We sent a few back saying No longer lives here and then we ignored the rest of the letters and then the letters stopped and no one has followed up since.
It felt like they were trying their luck to see if we would engage or felt obligated to pay.

Debt collection companies should be regulated by thr FCA so check that this company is legit and regulated. Write them a letter with a formal complaint as youve set out here and if they haven't responded then take them to the Financial ombudsman.

The last time I had a nightmare situation with my energy supplier, the only thing that solved it was contacting my MP, who very swiftly wrote to them. That seemed to do the trick, a case that had rumbled on for about 3 years got sorted in a matter of days after his intervention.

The energy company didn’t pass your debt on to the debt collector, they sold it to the debt collector. Therefore, it is the debt collector you need to deal with as they now own the debt.

I’m sure there is a template letter on the moneysaving expert website that you can send to debt collectors advising that the debt is not yours and they need to stop sending letters to you.

A friend in Scotland who was similarly harassed threatened to get a restraining order and make a criminal complaint that they were unlawfully harassing her which seemed to work!!

The supply company sells debts to collection agencies for a few pennies in the pound. They're then passed down a chain of collectors for ever decreasing sums. Each one starts afresh with the same sort of letters/threats.

Mobile phone companies are a pain for this.

I'd just ignore the letters.

what are they proposing to do in the rest of the 8 weeks until the deadlock letter? Are they actually doing something to resolve the situation? If not they should deadlock it now.

i have some knowledge of debt collection in the energy industry. The industry is under an enormous amount of pressure on debt and some whacky things get done. I reckon they have done some tracing activity and decided you must be liable, especially if they are writing to your Mums address.

what’s crucial is whether the debt has been sold, or whether the collection agency is acting on behalf of the energy supplier. That’s what you need to ask the supplier next. It it’s the former, you need to deal with the collectors. The latter - supplier is in complete control of it.

I would suggest looking at Ferguson V British Gas Trading

https://www.5rb.com/ferguson-v-british-gas-trading-ltd/

Other summaries are avalible

I might also complain to The Police as its harassment

I would add by the way that sending a letter mentioning the case to the legal departments of both organisations mentioning the case should shut them up.

I did have an issue with an Internet (non) provider that I had sent a payment of £1 in full and final settlement which they cashed. When they tried to chase it up a letter to the ISP resulted in them calling off the collectors sharpish

Scary stuff.
I moved into my current home 6 months ago after the tenant was evicted, and have had 2 debt collection letters from different companies. They both say they've closed the account after I submitted evidence that I own the property and am not the person named on their records. Really hoping that's definitely the end of it.

I worked in a debt collection company albeit years ago when I was a mature student. I learned some interesting things about the debt industry which is corrupt and rotten to the very heart. You don't have to prove you DONT owe the debt. They have to prove that you DO.

The posters who said that these companies buy and sell debts among themselves in a Dickensian manner are correct. Also that they work on a cyclical principle. When they find that they can't collect a debt they sell it on to other companies who are even more inept and corrupt than they are. I would not bother with the correspondence. Just mark as "not known/gone away" or drop in the recycling.

The electric company sold your debt to the debt collectors but who gave them your mums address? Surely that is a huge gdpr breach? Harassment too if they have been given proof and still continue to contact you.