In the meantime, my thoughts are turning back to my friends at Cabot. I’ve just dug out their file and realised that the last I’d heard from them was in December. I wrote to them on Dec 18th and have yet to receive a reply. You don’t think they’ve realised that they don’t have a leg to stand on, do you?

 In fact, I’d almost forgotten about Ashbourne Management until a few days ago when another one of their computer-generated “threat-o-grams” arrived.

So today I’ve been to the local  County Court and have issued proceedings against Ashbourne for breach of the Data Protection Act, plus damages! I’ve also asked for compensation for the distress their two years of incompetence and threats has caused.

 To anybody contemplating similar action, the Court staff couldn’t have been more helpful. It’s a daunting prospect, going to a court building, but be assured that it’s actually easier than you might think.

Now let’s see if Ashbourne, or their pathetic solicitors, manage to ignore the Court’s letters in the same way they ignored mine for so long. I don’t take kindly to being treated like a criminal, and I’ll gladly see them in Court.

 Oh dear oh dear, Ashbourne. I do not have a debt with you, as bourne out by the screenshot you sent me. That was an expensive mistake, wasn’t it? Anyway, I cannot be bothered with arguing any more, so today I’m taking the N1 claim form to my local county court to start proceedings for breach of s10 of the Data Protection Act. I want this incorrect and unlawful default removed.

This is going to cost them….

Apparently they were sued in 1998 for a whopping £250,000 for allegedly cocking up the handling of a will. This extract is from an article first published in The Independent:

A firm of Midland solicitors is being sued for more than pounds 250,000 by two brothers over the handling of their father’s will.

Mr William Spring claims he has been in a dispute for the past 12 years with solicitors Williamson and Soden over part of his father’s pounds 140,000 estate.

He is now claiming damages and has issued two writs in the High Court in London, one against the firm and another against two senior partners, Ms Allison Scott and Mr Ian Williamson, who were involved in the administering of the will.

The firm vigorously denies the accusations made by 53-year-old Mr Spring and says it will fight the action.

Mr Spring, who was owed a total of pounds 11,956 from the estate, claimed he was seeking at least pounds 250,000 in damages.

He is drawing up a detailed statement of claim but said he was taking into account the fact he could have renovated two holiday homes in France and Cyprus and rented them for at least pounds 400 a week if he had received the money.

Mr Spring, who lives in Tottenham, north London, said: “We’ve had an incredible situation over the past few years in the way the will was handled and I’ve not received a penny from the estate and it looks as if I won’t now.”

Mr Spring’s father, also called William, of Baldwins Lane, Hall Green, Birmingham, died of natural causes in 1986. He left his common-law wife wife Mrs Violet Shakespeare pounds 10,000 in his will and bequeathed other amounts to members of his family and charities.

The full article can be found here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980722/ai_n14162287.

I wonder if they’ll find themselves in court again any time soon?

The ICO are writing to Ashbourne yet again explaining how to respond to a Data Subject Notice and have sent me some information about starting a court case. As I stated in my last entry, I’ve already got an N1 claim form ready to go if Ashbourne don’t start playing ball by the end of the month, so we’ll see.

The SRA have informed me that my complaint about Williamson & Soden is awaiting a casework officer, so again that’s good news. You may remember that Williamson & Soden are telling me (and presumably advising Ashbourne) that they have complied with the Data Protection Act when clearly they have not. So either they’re incompetent or lying – in my opinion of course!

This blog isn’t growing as quickly as I’d like, mainly because I’ve been away for the best part of a week. But I certainly haven’t forgotten it!

Some background first. I joined a local gym a few years back, and very good it was too. The facilities were on a par with a large chain but without the horrible impersonal atmosphere which pervades the well-known large players in the market. The price was reasonable too, partly because I’d signed a two-year agreement.

But then I had a spell in hospital and after a while it became apparent that I would not be able to use the gym in the near future. Thankfully the terms and conditions stated that I could cancel if a medical condition prevented me from safely attending or using the equipment – which certainly applied in my case as I could barely walk.

Like many small gyms, mine used Ashbourne Management Services Ltd to process it’s payments, so I wrote to them explaining my position and giving notice that I was cancelling my membership. The wrote back and – not unreasonably – asked for medical proof. My doctor had written out a certificate so that I might claim incapaity benefit, so I forwarded a copy to Ashbourne and heard nothing for a few months.

Then the letters started. In late 2005 I received a demand for £285, along with “confirmation that a bad debt has been registered against you and has already affected your credit status”. Naturally I wrote back telling Ashbourne Management that they had agreed to cancel my membership on receipt of medical proof.

They wrote again in January and April 2006, the exact same letter along with a demand for payment.  I was shocked to read that Ashbourne were seriously advising taking out a consolodation loan to raise the money – probably the worst advice for somebody in debt, let alone the victim of incompetence! Anyway, I wrote back both times repeating my position and enclosing a copy of my doctor’s letter.

A different response came in May when Ashbourne Management Services informed me that a default could only be removed upon payment of £57; followed a few weeks later by the now-standard threat-o-gram demanding £285.

Finding it difficult to keep my composure, I basically invited Ashbourne to “put up or shut up”, saying that if they genuinely believed I owed them money they should take me to Court for it where I’d be more than happy to explain myself in front of a judge.

October saw the arrival of their standard letter, so did November. Clearly Ashbourne Management Services were either incapable of reading my letters or simply so ignorant they thought I give in and pay them money I didn’t owe.

At the end of November I tried a new tactic: asking for a copy of any credit agreement under which they claimed I was bound. I sent a CCA request under section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act along with the required £1 fee. My accompanying letter gave them two choices: provide proof of the debt or admit there is none.

A few days later the cheque was returned without any accompanying explanation, and I decided to keep the envelope and the cheque safe. It would turn out to be a prophetic decision…

I heard no more from Ashbourne Management Services after that, but in March 2007 I noticed that the default was still on my credit file. Some reserarch on the Consumer Action Group website led me to send Ashbourne a Section 10 Data Subject Notice requiring that they stop processing my data on the grounds that it was inaccurate, and that they also contact anybody with whom they had shared this inaccurate data (i.e. the Credit Reference Agencies) and instruct them to erase the data.

If you’re familiar with Data Protection Law at all (and if not there’s a wealth of useful literature on the Information Commissioner’s website) you’ll know that a data controller has 21 days to respond to such a notice, even if they don’t agree with it. Basically the choices are: comply with the notice, or tell the data subject why not. Simple, hey?

So why, exactly 9 months to the day since Ashbourne Management Services signed to say they’d received this notice, are we no further forward?

I’d done everything by the book, and more besides. I’d sent Ashbourne a reminder after three weeks, and a letter before action a few weeks later – but still did not receive any reply. I know that my letters arrived – I’d sent them all Recorded Delivery and the same D.B. Thomas had signed for them all. 

Undeterred, I made a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office, hoping that their involvement would prompt Ashbourne Management out of their slumber and into action. Sadly the ICO was (and still is) snowed under with work so took quite a while to respond.

When they eventually did reply, though, it seemed like good news. A casework and advice officer had agreed with me that “Ashbourne Management Services’ failure to respond with my Notice appeared to constitute a breach of the sixth principal of the Act which requires that personal data be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects”.

The ICO went on to inform me that they would write to Ashbourne instructing them to comply with my section 10 notice. Hooray! Surely Ashbourne wouldn’t be so ignorant as to ignore an instruction from the ICO! Would they?

Then things got really interesting. Ashbourne’s solicitors, Williamson & Soden, got in touch saying that their client “had not forwarded the information as it believed that it did not have your current address in circumstances where its last correspondence was returned to it marked ‘not at this address’.”

Reeeaaaaly? So even though I’d written to them three times since then, and even though I’d never moved, Ashbourne thought I’d done a runner. How odd then that they hadn’t made any effort to find me when not so long ago they were convinced I owed them money!

No matter, I was happy to confirm my address to Williamson & Soden, who in turn wrote back reminding me that I still owed £285 (no I don’t!) and enclosing a one-page photocopy of a screenshot of my entry in Ashbourne’s database.

Now this should have made me really angry, as it clearly wasn’t what I’d asked for. But it proved quite revealling as it proved that Ashbourne didn’t have a leg to stand on. In the “additional information” field they had recorded receiving my medical proof (although they also wrote “blah blah”); and noted receipt of all the letters I’d sent since they claimed they didn’t know my address.

Their screenshot also revealed that the letter returned as “not known at this address” was the £1 cheque which I’d so carefully kept safe. Now I’ll stop short of calling them liars…

Back to the plot, I wrote a carefully worded letter to Williamson & Soden explaining the difference between a Data Subject Notice and a Subject Access Request, detailing exactly what was now required of Ashbourne Management and repeating my intention to start Court proceedings for non-compliance.

They wrote straight back insisting that their client had complied with my notice (oh and by the way still want £285), bless ‘em. Now I can understand Ashbourne being pig ignorant of the law, but for a firm of solicitors to share this ignorance is frustrating and unforgivable.

I got in touch with a very helpful person at the Legal Complaints Service who confirmed that even though Williamson & Soden weren’t acting for me, I was within my rights to make a formal complaint about them. So I wrote letting W&S know that their actions were unacceptable as their ignorance of the law was leaving their client open to regulatory and legal action as well as causing me considerable distress and worry.

With amazing arrogance Williamson & Soden wrote back by return of post stating that “the position is as previously stated” and that “we cannot see that our correspondence constitutes grounds for a complaint”.

I want nothing more to do with this ignorant and arrogant shower, so wasted no time making a formal complaint to the Legal Complaints Service about Williamson & Soden’s behaviour. I’ve also made one final attempt at writing directly to Ashbourne Management Services explaining in some detail what they need to do to comply with the Data Protection Act, and how their solicitors are giving them advice which I consider to be poor – dangerous in fact.

They’ve got this one last chance. I’ve followed their T&C’s to the letter and should not have this unlawful and unjust default on my credit file. Ashbourne Management Services Limited have got until the end of November to fully comply with my Data Subject Notice, otherwise I’ll be submitting the N1 County Court form I’ve already filled in. And to tell the truth, I’ll probably enjoy doing that!

Well thanks for reading this, I hope to update this soon with a happy ending but I’ve got a feeling it will run and run!

This blog entry will tell you the story so far, and hopefully give you some practical advice if you’re in a similar situation.

Cabot first contacted me via a debt collector called “Scotcall” back in February this year, demanding payment otherwise they’d send the boys round. Armed with advice from the Consumer Action Group I sent them a request for sight of the credit agreement they were relying on (see the “advice and templates” section). Despite having a strict timescale to adhere to, they ignored me until I got Trading Standards involved at which point they chickened out and passed the account back to Cabot.

So I sent a request to Cabot (not that I needed to, the account was already in dispute) who initially told me it could take up to 8 weeks for a reply as they needed to obtain the agreement from Barclaycard. They also sent a “Notice of Assignment” on Barclaycard headed paper – although it is interesting to note that this was undated and unsigned.

Cabot’s 8 weeks duly elapsed, and by allowing things to drag on for so long Cabot also committed an offence under the Consumer Credit Act. As Cabot clearly did not possess a credit agreement, I reasoned that they had no right to my money and, more importantly, no right to my personal data.

I therefore sent them a Section 10 Data Subject Notice asking them to stop processing my data, and to remove the default they had placed with the Credit Reference Agencies despite never having any paperwork to back up their claim.

This appeared to confuse Cabot, as all I received for the next two months were letters asking me for my patience while they investigated my complaint – despite the Data Protection Act allowing them 21 days to respond to the Notice I’d sent them.

When they did eventually respond they enclosed a barely legible copy of a Barclaycard application form, nearly FIVE MONTHS after I’d sent my CCA request. Notice I say “application form” rather than “credit agreement”, for that is what it was. The Consumer Credit Act makes it clear that a properly exectued credit agreement contains certain prescribed terms without which the agreement is unenforcable. Cabot also supplied a load of legal-sounding guff about how I was bound by its terms, and ended the letter with a demand for payment.

I wrote back, effectively asking “is this all you’ve got?” – seeking clarification as to whether this was their idea of a properly executed credit agreement, and which of the several companies within the Cabot group I was actually dealing with. The eventual reply boiled down to their assertion that as I’d been a Barclaycard customer in the past I must logically be in debt to Cabot.

Not convinced of the lawfulness of their arguement, I wrote back stating that I still considered the account to be in dispute and would not be making any payments.

And that, in a nutshell, is the story so far. You’ll realise that this is by no means a quick and easy process, and that Cabot do not give in easily. But neither do I, and if necessary I’ll take Cabot to court to prevent them processing my data without consent in the form of an executable credit agreement. However, I’m pretty sure that Cabot’s greed will see them taking legal action against me soon, and I’m genuinely looking forward to them testing their arguement in front of a judge.

You may be surprised to discover that many debts are legally unenforcable, and while the aim of this blog is NOT to encourage or condone debt avoidance, I’m sure you would agree that it’s in nobody’s interest to pay back an unenforcable debt. Nobody’s interest except the DCAs…

So who am I, you might ask. Well I’m not going to use my full name on this blog as I am actively involved in some ongoing battles against DCAs – at least one of which will involve Court action. I, like many people in the UK, borrowed quite heavily on credit cards when times were good. In the 1990s I was in a very well-paying job, and banks were virtually throwing money at me. Then I became seriously ill and had to give up work, relying on state benefits. My creditors’ glossy leaflets always boasted about how sympathetic they’d be in times of need, so I approached them asking for their help.

 Before I knew it, my creditors had washed their hands of me. So much for all their help, now I had debt collectors writing to me, phoning me and my family, and threatening to call at my house. Thanks a lot, banks!

Frightened and intimidated, at first I buried my head in the sand. I refused to answer the phone, I put letters straight in the bin. Of course, the problem did not go away, and eventually my family got dragged into the mess when I was admitted to hospital and they started taking my calls. I felt shamed into making repayments that I could barely afford.

Then in early 2007 I learned that I could reclaim unlawful bank and credit card charges, and began searching the internet for more information. I soon stumbled upon the Consumer Action Group website, and realised that I could also challenge the Debt Collectors to prove that they had a legal right to my money.

I learned that in many cases the original paperwork was so flawed that it would not stand up to scrutiny. I learned that in many cases the transfer between the original creditor (OC) and the DCA was not completed correctly. I learned that in many cases defaults had been registered without the proper procedure being followed. I was genuinely stunned that big banks could behave so poorly, and decided to start fighting back.

I won’t pretend it’s been easy. I won’t even pretend that I’m anywhere near finished. The DCAs don’t give up without a fight, and you may have to steel yourself for a fight involving the industry regulators, Trading Standards, even the Courts. But armed with the advice from the CAG forum I’m now in a position to clear my credit file – lawfully and for free – and make a fresh start.

On this blog there is no way I could hope to replicate all of the advice on the CAG forums and I’d be foolish to try. Nor can I answer any specific questions or offer any tailored advice. I strongly recommend that if you’re struggling with any kind of debt that you seek independent advice, and also join the community at the CAG forums.

Disclaimer: The contents of this blog are strictly my own opinion. I am not qualified to offer any legal advice, and you should always seek independent advice.