Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
Wescot try to get you to pay up and try to scare people with legal action, but they wont actually do this if your debt is small, acording to my ex who has a £241 unpaid gas bill. She ignored lots of letters and phone calls and after 2 months heard nothing more. I think its disgraceful that Wescot try to use scare tactics like this with no intention of actually doing anyting about it. If you get chased like this, the thing to do is complain to the OFT.
Hey dont worry if u get letters or fone calls from this lot there is really no need to pay them much, or even nothing, to get them off ur back. In fact if your debt is small like £100 it will be written off if you dont reply. If you do want to pay something, then £10 a month will be enough - just fone in and say this is all you can afford. If the Wescot person says you must pay more, just say you cant, put the fone down and fone back to speak to someone else. Thats what I did and by the 3rd call I got my £1200 credit card bill agreed at £10 a month. yey!!!
If you have received a letter from this company it means that the company were the debt originated has sold this debt to Wescot. The best thing to do is call wescot and arrange a repayment plan, you do not have to pay it all back at once and how much you pay is dependent on your income and expenditure details. The threats of home collection and court action are empty threats. If you do not contact wescot the debt will get passed through lots of debt collection companies accumulating charges along the way. If you speak to wescot and they are not cooperative or cannot arrange an amount that is suitable for you then contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau who will accommodate your needs and deal with the company for you.
Does that mean even after writing to wescot (sample letter posted by andbaxt)i can still refuse to pay?
few days back i have received a letter from Credit Security Ltd. acting agent for Wescot, contents of the letter are
we have been instructed by our client Wescot to recover the £700/-.
we demand the above sum to be sent immediately to our office.
Your failure to comply could result in a debt collector calling upon you for payment OR a CCJ being registered against you. (end of letter)
could someone please tell me what should i do next ? so far i have been ignoring any of these letter (not replying to these letters) but whenever i get this letter i get worried and tense and start asking you guys for advice. Thank you for any and all the help. Nas
Hi, I would really like someone to help me here. Around 1999 I could not carry on paying (a normal payments) to GE Capital due to divorce, lose of job and tensions etc etc. and in 2000 i went abroad for 2 years and till now i have not paid a cent towards outstanding balance (£700)and i know there was no CCj issued In the recent past 3 months i started receiving letters (so far 4 letters and I never replied or contacted them) from Wescot credit services demanding the money and I have no intentions of paying. Today i received another letter which has a wescot name but also in bold "Door Step Collection" asking to pay up or they will pass this case to "door-to-door debt collectors" for recovery.
Can someone help / guide me on this matter? I would be greatfull for any guidance. Thanks Nas
DO NOT PAY WESCOT or any other Doorstep collectors. Instead, send them a letter asking for proof of an agreement btween them and yourselves and ask for proof of any purchase of your debt being bought from your original company that you owe money to and a break down of the charges acumulated to the total debt owing. Also inform them that the debt and charges are being disputed and still ongoing and that they have no legal right to have your personal details or to be contacting you in any way at all. . . . . . . . You can also use this letter below to warn them off altogether for good. . . . . . . . .
Ref No. ?????????
7th Jan 2009
To The Manager of Wescot Services
Ref No. ?????????
Dear Sir/madam
I note it is your intention to arrange a “home collection visit”, please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and
I have no wish to make an appointment with you, your company or representatives.
With reference to a card/letter received this recently from one of your "representatives". Ref: ?????????. It will not be convenient for anybody from your organisation or anyone representing your organisation to call at any time. Therefore I insist that you terminate the intended callers visit immediately and or any future ones commencing 7th January 2009 onwards. If any person or persons do
call after this notice it will be deemed harassment. Also any person or persons from your organisation or representatives of your organisation that do call and are present on any part of my property after this notice, they will be deemed to be trespassing and the police may be called and informed that a breach of the peace may occur. Reasonable force may be used to remove any such persons if necessary.
I would also like to point out to you that any further letters or communication of this nature will be regarded as harassment and reported to all relevant authorities including the police.
I do not acknowledge any agreement with Wescot and myself and do not expect to hear from you again
Should it be your intention as you have warned to arrange a “doorstep call”, 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; such as the postman etc and this does not include doorstep collectors. etc,
Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.).
Please therefore take note 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 and claim for various illness, stress related and
harassment issues.'
The above also includes no hand delivered form of documentation as this too will be deemed
as trespass because you have already received notification through delivered Royal mail service,
my written correspondence informing you that you are not welcome on my property, nor is any
representative acting on your behalf.
You are not allowed to make telephone or mail contact or this will be taken as harassment and along the claims of stalking charges may be made. Calls are recorded at all times.
A copy of this notification has been passed onto various legal officials to act proof of Wescot being informed of their presence not being welcome or allowed.
Wescot have been calling me repeatedly and asking to speak to someone of whom i have no knowledge. despite having confirmed my personal details, and despite their assurances that they would not bother me further, they continued to call. today (after another call from a snotty wescot operative), i complained to bt, via their nuisance caller line (0800 411 422 - bt customers only). bt rang wescot while i held the line and have confirmed that they told wescot to remove my number from their records and not to call again.
i call this a result!
obvuously, you should only use this recourse if you are genuinely not in debt to wescot or one of their clients.
if anyone wants to phone this company then they have the number 01482590500 or better still they have a free phone number 08000920035 good luck with this firm
Hi, I really really need help. I had a loan with greenwoods personal credit and was paying every 2 weeks as agreed. The rep stopped coming to my home to collect the payments and so I had no way of paying them, they did not come to my house after that and i regularily went to the rep myself where she was also working as a lollypop lady and payed her some money. However because there was a gap in my payments I have been issued with a letter from wescot demanding the payment of £230 in full. I am unemployed, 19 years old and on job seekers. I am not refusing to pay the amount I just can't possibly pay it in full. Does anyone have any tips on how I can srt this out? Any help would be appreciated as this is causing so much worry and stress for me. Thanks
I'm writing to register my absolute horror at the way Wescot have attempted to retrieve my student loan debt!
While obviously the responsibility of this debt is my own I cannot believe how difficult Wescot have made it for me to actually repay it!
Despite contacting Wescot by telephone in August 2007 when I moved home I did not receive the form promised on which I was told to record my income, outgoings and therefore allow Wescot to determine a ‘fair’ amount of repayment. After two months I contacted Wescot again and was told a new form would be sent- it was! I promptly completed and returned the form, keen to resolve this matter and clear my debt.
Unfortunately this did not happen. I received no further correspondence for two months. Was this a payment plan? NO! I received a letter headed with the name of solicitors (no phone number provided!) informing me that they had been instructed by Wescot to retrieve the full amount of my debt or obtain a judgement. As the letter instructed all telephone enquiries to be made to Wescot, I rang first thing the next day.
The person answering my call was rude, ignorant ,patronising (and I assume a fairly inadequate and unintelligentindividual who needs to feel important!) He made comments like “did you not read the letter?” in a saracastic tone when informing me that he could not speak to me about this because it was passed back to Honours Loans company 2 weeks ago. When I asked for the number I should phone his response was “ you should already have it” before eventually reading the number off to me in a monotone drone! My attitude towards this person had been nothing but polite and I was extremely offended by his tone. When I expressed this he was nonchalant.
Having taken his name I asked to speak to a manager, which I did, she was equally uncooperative, showed no concern that her staff member had been so rude and simply repeated the statement that they could not deal with this matter! I explained (again) that I understood that and would be contacting Honours student loans, I was now simply registering my complaint about her staff member’s attitude. I finished the call appalled that either of these people could be employed in a job that requires effective communication when clearly both were incapable of it!
Unfortunately, the ineptitude of Wescot does not end here. On contacting Honours Loans Company (who were friendly, organised and immediately set up a payment plan for me!) I was told that Wescot had not yet passed my account back to them. They had not heard of the solicitors named at the top of my letter. However, unlike the employee at Wescot this gentleman told me he would sort the misunderstanding out by contacting Wescot, have my details passed back to Honours student loans and as I mentioned set up the payment plan I had been attempting to establish with Wescot for months!
I assume companies such as Wescot charge others to retrieve their debts, ironically in this case ( and I imagine many others) they have failed and simply increased it!
EC
Well jbell, I would like to say how I enjoyed reading your 'text speak' type of rant about how you work for Westcot and how you are treated by the public but my question to you is, how old are you and do you send out the same kind of letters in text speak to all those that owe the company you work for money?
i work for wescot and after reading sum of the comments i think most of the people who leave them are the ones that ring up and scream "i'm not paying it" then hang up! lol seriously if thats your way of dealing with it then ur an idiot n no wonder ur in debt! i mean how are we suppost to help u if u dont give us a referance number how are we even ment to know who u r!
however for the clever people who call up, confirm their name address and tel (which we need for dpa reasons and yes with out them we cant help u) then proceed to TALK to us and not yell they find that they get alot further then the ones who just scream at us who we are unable to help cuz they wont listen! (we get alot of those aday who if they'd just listen to the information we're trying to give them would be able to reslove things quicker)
if people have a valid dispute we do help to try to resolve it cuz it's in our intrest as well as urs!
if u recieve mail for sum1 else to ur address thats not u we can remove that address u just have to talk to us and let us know if we ask who's calling and how long u've lived at the property its not cuz we're trying to make u pay for a debt thats not urs its so we can see how long ago that dtr may have left and also note that u called so if theres an error and u happen to recieve a letter again we can see that yes u have called b4 and we already have the details so can just update it quiker!
if u have already paid us or the client then tell us the details or send us in proof so we can sort it out, dont say i've paid it be arragont and not helpful if u dont give us the details how are we ment to sort it out!!!
alot of the comments on here made me chuckle we arent rude! nor do we do bully boy tactics infact i get alot of people who call up say how helpful and polite we are, i even get some people that have a joke with us on the phone! so we cant be that bad can we! infact i think if u listend to most of the calls u;d find that it was the people calling up who were rude! the other day i had sum1 want to put a complaint in against me wen all i said was "good morning *** speaking can i take ur wescot referance or debt number please" apparently i was being rude! so u see people call up just to say we're rude wen infact my opening speech was alot more polite then anything that guy said to me all the way through the call in which he then tryed to complain about how rude i was to my manager, and wen my manager informed him they'd listend to the call the man then quickly tryed to back track and hung up as he knew it was pointless as i had been my usual polite helpful self! and not rude in the slightest! even through his constant swearing at me
altho if u do call up and u dont have a referance number and we're unable to locate u through the postcode or tel number dont get grumpy its no our fault u dont have ur number!
and also if u've called 6 times already that day to tell us the same thing and u dont like wot the prev op's said its pointless to keep calling unless u have any further info to tell us as we're just gonna have to say the same as the last op and u seem to get grumpy at hearing it again but its not our fault!
so best advise if u recieve a letter or call from us is call us bk, be polite dont yell and swear at us, if ur disputing it have the relevant information at hand so we can take the details and resolve it quicker for u, if u want to make an arrangment be aware we may ask for income and expnediture details and we are within our right to do so! and if the debts not urs dont panic! we can sort it out if its not urs we're not gonna force u to pay it!
and also the letters of debt collection dont say a bailift will call to ur house it says sum1 may come to visit ur home to discuss the debt! this is not a bailif! and nor does it say we;re gonna come take ur stuff just read it properly instead of panicking and if ur wanting to resolve it then u have no reason to panic!
so put ur time to more constuctive things then complaing on here.
Hi all, im afraid to say that most of what I have read on here is usual practice for debt collection agencies and perfectly legal. With regards to debts that have reared their heads after years, the statute of limitations on debt is 6 years and so they are perfectly entitled to chase you for debts within this period, it is only if you have not heard anything from the company for 6 years that legally you do not have to pay it back.
With regards to legal action being taken debtors, they will only do this as a last resort and do not do it very often, say for example on smaller debts it's not worth the costs they incur.
The reason they ask you to confirm your address or any other personal identity information is so that they can verify they are speaking to the debtor as under the data protection act they cannot discuss a persons debt with a third party, they can also not call you at unreasonable intervals or at unreasonable times of day (although there is no solid legislation about what constitutes this).
Also if you are telling them that you can't afford to pay the amount you are asking them you do have to prove this by giving them a full income and expenditure which they are perfectly entitled to ask for by law.
It is also worth knowing that Wescot do buy a lot of bad debt so much so that they have a write off code for this on their database!
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this morning I received A notice of debt collection
fromwestcot credit services Ltd, on behalf of WCS-Littlewoods for£377-69 This is the second letter from them no bill to tell me what it is for
Just came across this site while trying to get some information on Westcot Credit Services Ltd based in Hull....and registered in Ayr.
I received a rather startling letter this morning, dated the 10th August, stating that I had to contact them before the 17th August - which was yesterday - or else.
It went on to tell me that I owed
"WCS-Littlewoods" a total of £932.08. It was also accompanied by a letter from "Littlewoods Finance Company Ltd", dated 2nd June, informing me that they had "legally assigned" my account to Wescot on 17th May. I never received any letters from either Littlewoods Finance Company or Wescot Credit Services in May, June or July!
I tried immediately to phone Wescot on 0870 902 0574.........yes, you've guessed it, I was left hanging on for "an operator". As this was a premium number, I did not stay on the phone, but tried several times throughout the morning to get through. I then phoned 118 500 and asked for the telephone number of Wescot, and was given 01482 590 590. Natually when I rang it there was no answer.
I then decided to phone "Littlewoods Finance Company Ltd" on the number given on their letter - 01204 873 960 - it was unobtainable. I contacted 118 500 again, just in case the number had been changed, only to be told that the only Littlewoods registered in the phone records was Littlewoods Catalogue Group. I tried contacting them on 0870 263 1000 to find out that they were closed for the weekend. I am assuming that is the administration number, as I had thought that all catalougue companies now operate a 24 hour ordering service.
Westcot Credit Services Ltd have spelt my surname wrong, though they do have my address correct.
I was rather concerned when I first read these letters, especially as it is Saturday, and the likes of Citizens Advice are not available until Monday. Though, having read some of your comments here, I have calmed down a bit!
I would greatly appreciate anyone's thoughts or comments.
I received a letter from Wescot Credit Services Ltd claiming that I owed £302.42. This was completely news to me as I dont have any outstanding debt.
It did not state which company I supposedly owed the money to.
The first name on the letter was not mine but the surname was wrong by 1 digit. It was sent to my address. I tried to phone them but couldnt get thru. Does anyone know if I have to pay this debt as the name is incorrect? Also will this blacklist my house if I dont pay this? Please help.
I been receiving mail from this Company for several months regarding 3 debts for loans, credit cards etc that do not belong to me.Initially I contacted them by phone and told them the debt was not mine and despite assurances that I would not hear again they wrote again. I have therefore corresponded by letter since. Each time I have denied the debt as they are not mine and informed them that it would be vigorously defended if took to court and asked for proof of the debt ie id of person paid to and account it has been paid into and not heard further. However received a letter about a debt for littlewoods and sick of this rang them today. I have never spoken to such an obnoxious unhelpful woman in my life who was only concerned as to my details which I refused to give as I do not trust them. I have therefore put my complaint in writing that the debt is not mine and askin for further details if they persist persuing me. Don't give them details if the debt is not yours and let them prove it!
i have read several queries on this site of people not having wescots phone number, so seeing as i have 3 i thought i'd share! 08709020562, 01482590590, 01413005300. good luck to those who contact them!
I have just received a really aggressive letter from Westcot demanding £35.91. They make no reference to who they are acting on behalf of and when I telephoned them they told me I had purchased 'adult' films from Sky in 2004.When I informed them that it could not possibly be me as I was not living at this address with that Sky account then, and that in fact the last time I purchased a film on sky was something like 6 years ago. They were totally disinterested in that information and demanded that I prove all of this to them and give a lot more of my personal details to them. I inturn stated that as they were asking me for money it is up to them to prove that this debt is in fact mine and that they should provide me with whatever evidence they have that states that I owe this money. They have refused this and just stated that they intend to take this matter further. Well we will wait and see.
My concern is that they are trying a soft form of blackmail by implying that I have taken out or rented these 'porno' movies and that I'll be too embarassed to complain. I think this is some form of try on. has the same happened to any of you.
i recently took out a hmv store card, i agreed the re-payments with hmv, due to teh fact i had become unemployed, then wescot got really rufe with me, and said they were takin me to court even tho i had agreed it with hmv that i wud pay a set payment each month.
First of all, after having experience of Wescot Credit Services and the supposed "ethical" way in which they work, i would advise anyone to be as unco-operative with them as you could possibly be. Wescot Credit Services are bullies!
I work as a community psychotherapist, and having suffered problems from patients stalking me was forced to move away into a bedsit for my own safety. The downside was that i accrued debts with BT on the previous address which were subsequently sent on to Wescot - I refused point blank to deal with Wescot Credit Services and still dealt directly with BT, so whoever tells you that when your details are sent on to recovery agencies they no longer hold details are lying! Its them the money is owed too!
Getting back to my individual circumstances - i paid BT directly through Giro Credit, and the day after received a letter from Wescot saying i still owed the original amount! Then, when they got wind i had paid BT before they issued their demand, still tried to demand their administrative costs from me - this was illegal!.. To demand money from a debtor either imagined or otherwise is stated in English and Welsh Law as "‘harassment of debtors’ and is considered a special statutory crime under the Administration of Justice Act 1970"
If you accept that you are in debt - my advice is not to worry (which i know is very hard to do!), but talk to the people you initially owe the money too (if it comes to it, refuse to deal with the debt on a third party basis), don't ignore phone calls or refuse to talk too them, deal with them directly and arrange an agreement thats suitable for you - If you are showing a willingness to pay there is no possible action that can taken against you!
Recieved a letter from wescott credit services, Stating that i owed £152 to 3G, I am currently in a dispute with 3 because they sold me a contract which i didnt agree on, I agreed to the contract over the phone and did not sign anything. I have asked them loads of times to provide me with a recording of teh conversation that took place between me and the sales team but they claim to only recorded random calls. I have contacted ofcom who asked me to request the recording in writing. Anyway i dont like being in debt so i called wescott to arrange a suitable repayment plan. they told me that i had to pay the full amount within 3 months, i told them i couldnt since i have a very tight income and asked if i could repay 30 pounds a month so i could clear the debt within 5 months but the lady was not very helpfull at all and told me to give her a break down of my incomings and outgoings, i instantly refused because such information shouldnt be discussed anyway, i asked her to pass me to her manager whcih she declined at first but with my persistancy she agreed in the end, As i was talking to the manager he also asked me to give a break down of my income, So i told him and he agreed to give me a suitable repayment plan, and asked me to pay 10 pounds for now and start the rest in 2 weeks at £30 a month which i though was reasonable. i told him i was gona call him back with my card details which i did and as i was about to give him my financial details i realised that i dont get paid until the 28th which is 3 weeks away, thats when he started getting nasty, he even start accusing of lying, thinking i didn't have a job and gave him the wrong location of the compay i work for, he even told me that i was irresposible thinking that i racked aup a £152 phone bill and couldnt pay it off. I mean this gguy was an idiot on the Phone, I have wrtten a letter to 3G asking for a recording which hopefully they can provide and unveal the real truth behind my contract or even if they dont them that would mean i never agreed to a contract renewal anyway.
What do you think i should do ?
Add a comment about this blagger
Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
few days back i have received a letter from Credit Security Ltd. acting agent for Wescot, contents of the letter are
we have been instructed by our client Wescot to recover the £700/-.
we demand the above sum to be sent immediately to our office.
Your failure to comply could result in a debt collector calling upon you for payment OR a CCJ being registered against you. (end of letter)
could someone please tell me what should i do next ? so far i have been ignoring any of these letter (not replying to these letters) but whenever i get this letter i get worried and tense and start asking you guys for advice. Thank you for any and all the help. Nas
Can someone help / guide me on this matter? I would be greatfull for any guidance. Thanks Nas
Ref No. ?????????
7th Jan 2009
To The Manager of Wescot Services
Ref No. ?????????
Dear Sir/madam
I note it is your intention to arrange a “home collection visit”, please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and
I have no wish to make an appointment with you, your company or representatives.
With reference to a card/letter received this recently from one of your "representatives". Ref: ?????????. It will not be convenient for anybody from your organisation or anyone representing your organisation to call at any time. Therefore I insist that you terminate the intended callers visit immediately and or any future ones commencing 7th January 2009 onwards. If any person or persons do
call after this notice it will be deemed harassment. Also any person or persons from your organisation or representatives of your organisation that do call and are present on any part of my property after this notice, they will be deemed to be trespassing and the police may be called and informed that a breach of the peace may occur. Reasonable force may be used to remove any such persons if necessary.
I would also like to point out to you that any further letters or communication of this nature will be regarded as harassment and reported to all relevant authorities including the police.
I do not acknowledge any agreement with Wescot and myself and do not expect to hear from you again
Should it be your intention as you have warned to arrange a “doorstep call”, 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; such as the postman etc and this does not include doorstep collectors. etc,
Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.).
Please therefore take note 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 and claim for various illness, stress related and
harassment issues.'
The above also includes no hand delivered form of documentation as this too will be deemed
as trespass because you have already received notification through delivered Royal mail service,
my written correspondence informing you that you are not welcome on my property, nor is any
representative acting on your behalf.
You are not allowed to make telephone or mail contact or this will be taken as harassment and along the claims of stalking charges may be made. Calls are recorded at all times.
A copy of this notification has been passed onto various legal officials to act proof of Wescot being informed of their presence not being welcome or allowed.
Your sincerely
Ref Number : ?????????
i call this a result!
obvuously, you should only use this recourse if you are genuinely not in debt to wescot or one of their clients.
good luck.
While obviously the responsibility of this debt is my own I cannot believe how difficult Wescot have made it for me to actually repay it!
Despite contacting Wescot by telephone in August 2007 when I moved home I did not receive the form promised on which I was told to record my income, outgoings and therefore allow Wescot to determine a ‘fair’ amount of repayment. After two months I contacted Wescot again and was told a new form would be sent- it was! I promptly completed and returned the form, keen to resolve this matter and clear my debt.
Unfortunately this did not happen. I received no further correspondence for two months. Was this a payment plan? NO! I received a letter headed with the name of solicitors (no phone number provided!) informing me that they had been instructed by Wescot to retrieve the full amount of my debt or obtain a judgement. As the letter instructed all telephone enquiries to be made to Wescot, I rang first thing the next day.
The person answering my call was rude, ignorant ,patronising (and I assume a fairly inadequate and unintelligentindividual who needs to feel important!) He made comments like “did you not read the letter?” in a saracastic tone when informing me that he could not speak to me about this because it was passed back to Honours Loans company 2 weeks ago. When I asked for the number I should phone his response was “ you should already have it” before eventually reading the number off to me in a monotone drone! My attitude towards this person had been nothing but polite and I was extremely offended by his tone. When I expressed this he was nonchalant.
Having taken his name I asked to speak to a manager, which I did, she was equally uncooperative, showed no concern that her staff member had been so rude and simply repeated the statement that they could not deal with this matter! I explained (again) that I understood that and would be contacting Honours student loans, I was now simply registering my complaint about her staff member’s attitude. I finished the call appalled that either of these people could be employed in a job that requires effective communication when clearly both were incapable of it!
Unfortunately, the ineptitude of Wescot does not end here. On contacting Honours Loans Company (who were friendly, organised and immediately set up a payment plan for me!) I was told that Wescot had not yet passed my account back to them. They had not heard of the solicitors named at the top of my letter. However, unlike the employee at Wescot this gentleman told me he would sort the misunderstanding out by contacting Wescot, have my details passed back to Honours student loans and as I mentioned set up the payment plan I had been attempting to establish with Wescot for months!
I assume companies such as Wescot charge others to retrieve their debts, ironically in this case ( and I imagine many others) they have failed and simply increased it!
EC
Just wondered
Colin O at 19th Feb 2008, 09:53PM
however for the clever people who call up, confirm their name address and tel (which we need for dpa reasons and yes with out them we cant help u) then proceed to TALK to us and not yell they find that they get alot further then the ones who just scream at us who we are unable to help cuz they wont listen! (we get alot of those aday who if they'd just listen to the information we're trying to give them would be able to reslove things quicker)
if people have a valid dispute we do help to try to resolve it cuz it's in our intrest as well as urs!
if u recieve mail for sum1 else to ur address thats not u we can remove that address u just have to talk to us and let us know if we ask who's calling and how long u've lived at the property its not cuz we're trying to make u pay for a debt thats not urs its so we can see how long ago that dtr may have left and also note that u called so if theres an error and u happen to recieve a letter again we can see that yes u have called b4 and we already have the details so can just update it quiker!
if u have already paid us or the client then tell us the details or send us in proof so we can sort it out, dont say i've paid it be arragont and not helpful if u dont give us the details how are we ment to sort it out!!!
alot of the comments on here made me chuckle we arent rude! nor do we do bully boy tactics infact i get alot of people who call up say how helpful and polite we are, i even get some people that have a joke with us on the phone! so we cant be that bad can we! infact i think if u listend to most of the calls u;d find that it was the people calling up who were rude! the other day i had sum1 want to put a complaint in against me wen all i said was "good morning *** speaking can i take ur wescot referance or debt number please" apparently i was being rude! so u see people call up just to say we're rude wen infact my opening speech was alot more polite then anything that guy said to me all the way through the call in which he then tryed to complain about how rude i was to my manager, and wen my manager informed him they'd listend to the call the man then quickly tryed to back track and hung up as he knew it was pointless as i had been my usual polite helpful self! and not rude in the slightest! even through his constant swearing at me
altho if u do call up and u dont have a referance number and we're unable to locate u through the postcode or tel number dont get grumpy its no our fault u dont have ur number!
and also if u've called 6 times already that day to tell us the same thing and u dont like wot the prev op's said its pointless to keep calling unless u have any further info to tell us as we're just gonna have to say the same as the last op and u seem to get grumpy at hearing it again but its not our fault!
so best advise if u recieve a letter or call from us is call us bk, be polite dont yell and swear at us, if ur disputing it have the relevant information at hand so we can take the details and resolve it quicker for u, if u want to make an arrangment be aware we may ask for income and expnediture details and we are within our right to do so! and if the debts not urs dont panic! we can sort it out if its not urs we're not gonna force u to pay it!
and also the letters of debt collection dont say a bailift will call to ur house it says sum1 may come to visit ur home to discuss the debt! this is not a bailif! and nor does it say we;re gonna come take ur stuff just read it properly instead of panicking and if ur wanting to resolve it then u have no reason to panic!
so put ur time to more constuctive things then complaing on here.
With regards to legal action being taken debtors, they will only do this as a last resort and do not do it very often, say for example on smaller debts it's not worth the costs they incur.
The reason they ask you to confirm your address or any other personal identity information is so that they can verify they are speaking to the debtor as under the data protection act they cannot discuss a persons debt with a third party, they can also not call you at unreasonable intervals or at unreasonable times of day (although there is no solid legislation about what constitutes this).
Also if you are telling them that you can't afford to pay the amount you are asking them you do have to prove this by giving them a full income and expenditure which they are perfectly entitled to ask for by law.
It is also worth knowing that Wescot do buy a lot of bad debt so much so that they have a write off code for this on their database!
Good luck guys x
Have you had a bad experience that needs addressing? Have you been ripped off and want revenge? Does someone's bad service need highlighting to a national audience?
email or call us us in confidence, and we will get to work on your behalf.
email complain@northonetv.com
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The Complainers at 5th Sep 2007, 04:03PM
contactus@wescot.co.uk
Good luck everyone.
fromwestcot credit services Ltd, on behalf of WCS-Littlewoods for£377-69 This is the second letter from them no bill to tell me what it is for
I received a rather startling letter this morning, dated the 10th August, stating that I had to contact them before the 17th August - which was yesterday - or else.
It went on to tell me that I owed
"WCS-Littlewoods" a total of £932.08. It was also accompanied by a letter from "Littlewoods Finance Company Ltd", dated 2nd June, informing me that they had "legally assigned" my account to Wescot on 17th May. I never received any letters from either Littlewoods Finance Company or Wescot Credit Services in May, June or July!
I tried immediately to phone Wescot on 0870 902 0574.........yes, you've guessed it, I was left hanging on for "an operator". As this was a premium number, I did not stay on the phone, but tried several times throughout the morning to get through. I then phoned 118 500 and asked for the telephone number of Wescot, and was given 01482 590 590. Natually when I rang it there was no answer.
I then decided to phone "Littlewoods Finance Company Ltd" on the number given on their letter - 01204 873 960 - it was unobtainable. I contacted 118 500 again, just in case the number had been changed, only to be told that the only Littlewoods registered in the phone records was Littlewoods Catalogue Group. I tried contacting them on 0870 263 1000 to find out that they were closed for the weekend. I am assuming that is the administration number, as I had thought that all catalougue companies now operate a 24 hour ordering service.
Westcot Credit Services Ltd have spelt my surname wrong, though they do have my address correct.
I was rather concerned when I first read these letters, especially as it is Saturday, and the likes of Citizens Advice are not available until Monday. Though, having read some of your comments here, I have calmed down a bit!
I would greatly appreciate anyone's thoughts or comments.
It did not state which company I supposedly owed the money to.
The first name on the letter was not mine but the surname was wrong by 1 digit. It was sent to my address. I tried to phone them but couldnt get thru. Does anyone know if I have to pay this debt as the name is incorrect? Also will this blacklist my house if I dont pay this? Please help.
If you require advice, email me DirkMinge@aol.com
My concern is that they are trying a soft form of blackmail by implying that I have taken out or rented these 'porno' movies and that I'll be too embarassed to complain. I think this is some form of try on. has the same happened to any of you.
I work as a community psychotherapist, and having suffered problems from patients stalking me was forced to move away into a bedsit for my own safety. The downside was that i accrued debts with BT on the previous address which were subsequently sent on to Wescot - I refused point blank to deal with Wescot Credit Services and still dealt directly with BT, so whoever tells you that when your details are sent on to recovery agencies they no longer hold details are lying! Its them the money is owed too!
Getting back to my individual circumstances - i paid BT directly through Giro Credit, and the day after received a letter from Wescot saying i still owed the original amount! Then, when they got wind i had paid BT before they issued their demand, still tried to demand their administrative costs from me - this was illegal!.. To demand money from a debtor either imagined or otherwise is stated in English and Welsh Law as "‘harassment of debtors’ and is considered a special statutory crime under the Administration of Justice Act 1970"
If you accept that you are in debt - my advice is not to worry (which i know is very hard to do!), but talk to the people you initially owe the money too (if it comes to it, refuse to deal with the debt on a third party basis), don't ignore phone calls or refuse to talk too them, deal with them directly and arrange an agreement thats suitable for you - If you are showing a willingness to pay there is no possible action that can taken against you!
Best of luck to you all!
What do you think i should do ?
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