capquest letter before action

[charliecheswick]

Hello,can anyone help me out? My father has received two letters from a debt recovery company called capquest.They claim they've purchased a debt from littlewoods finance and he owes nearly 200 pounds,which they are demanding be paid.

The second letter he was sent states that they are intending to progress the account to their pre-litigation system and also threatens to send ballifs around to his house.As my father is in his late 60's,you can imagine the worry this is putting him through!

Here's the thing though,he has no idea what this debt relates to as he has never had finance from littlewoods in any way,shape or form.He dismissed the first letter as a [problem] and googling capquest led me here to you good people.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,thankyou.

[silverfox1961]

Hi,

You are right, they are on a phishing trip for someone with a similar name.

You can ignore them or send them this letter.

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Account no:

 

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

 

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (insert company name).

 

I am/we are familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

 

I/we would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

 

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

 

I/we would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my/our liability for the debt in question.

 

I/we await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

 

I/we look forward to your reply.

 

**Edit to suit**

 

Remember, don’t sign the letter.Just print your name.

 

 

If you decide to send the letter, do it by recorded delivery as otherwise they will deny ever receiving it.

 

 

They won't send bailiffs round. It has to go to court first and if they did try it, they would get laughed out of court as you are not the person they are chasing.

Hope that helps.

 

 

fox

[charliecheswick]

Silverfox,thankyou so very much.I hope this puts a stop to it and will post the outcome of it all.Thanks again and have a great weekend!

[crane9]

Well Well Well,

My partner has had the same two letters as well in the past week or so, claiming to be a past Littlewoods debt of £80.18p.

 

She insists that she has never had any credit with Littlewoods, in fact she has never had credit with any company as she doesn't believe in it, and is probabaly a lot wiser than I have ever been I suspect.

 

The 'Letter Before Action' is a particularly threatening one as well, probably done to make people pay up even though they don't owe any money.

[ODC]

Crapquest should not be allowed to get away with this disgraceful behaviour. Report them to TS, the OFT and your MP. What they are doing is WRONG.

[crane9]

capquest should not be allowed to get away with this disgraceful behaviour. Report them to TS, the OFT and your MP. What they are doing is WRONG.

 

Yes it is disgraceful, and I'm sure that we are not the only two people that are the victims of this abuse.

I have now written a letter to them as in the above post with another paragraph at the end demanding a full apology.

 

I expect a full apology from you concerning this matter. Be in no doubt that if you continue to harass me I will start complaints as mentioned.

[charliecheswick]

Hello silverfox! Thought i'd let you know after sending off the letter you posted above,my father has today received a letter of apology stating that after investigating further,they now consider the matter closed.Apparently,someone in the local area has the same name as my father.....not chuffin' likely!

After reading the replies to the post and searching for capquest on this forum,it is clear that this practice of phishing is common for the company in question,with some poor souls actually paying debts that they know nothing about.With that in mind,plus the worry they've caused,i've decided to report them to the OFT and the trading standards regardless of them dropping the matter,as in my opinion,they should be stopped.

Thanks again silverfox,you're a saint!

[silverfox1961]

Now where did I put that halo

 

No thanks are due to me. I only passed on to you what I gleaned from this wondeful site.

 

Keep that letter as there is a very small chance capquest will sell it on to some other mug and try again.

 

Glad it got sorted quickly.

 

fox