Ashbourne and I will get our day in court

Right then. Ashbourne Management Services have stated that they’ll be defending my claim, so I guess I’ll be seeing them in Court. I’ve been advised not to publicly discuss details of the case until it is concluded, so I’m afraid I’ll have to keep you in suspense until such time as the court have made their ruling. But I promise I’ll keep you posted!

 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?

Ashbourne Management Services – They never learn!

Sadly I didn’t get round to taking them to court as promised in my last blog entry, things got too busy over Christmas and it just dropped from my personal “to-do” list.

 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.

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to Court we go!

Ashbourne Management Services, bless them, have sent me a very dismissive letter which says that as I have a debt with them they cannot help me.

 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….

Turns out that Williamson & Soden have got form!

A quick bit of Googling revealed that Williamson & Soden, Ashbourne’s solicitors who can’t/won’t understand the Data Protection Act, have got a bit of form.

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.

Ashbourne Management – digging themselves a hole

It’s nice to see that neither Ashbourne Management nor their solicitors have replied to my latest letters. No matter, I’ve heard from both the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the meantime.

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!

Ashbourne Management Services Limited – the story so far

This blog entry has two purposes: to bring the reader up to date with my battle to have an unlawful and inaccurate default removed; and to appear on search engine results when people search for Ashbourne Management Services Limited. In fact, I’ll ask your forgivness in advance for using the company’s full name so often, but I hope it will help this page’s prominence on the internet!

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.

Cabot Financial (Europe) Ltd: the story so far

One of the biggest players in the Debt Collection industry is a company (or several companies!) in Kent called Cabot Financial. They take on debts for many of the major credit card companies, and in my case are claiming to act on behalf of Barclaycard and chasing me for a four-figure sum.

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

A brief introduction

Welcome to debtcollectoradvice, in which I will share my experiences (good and bad) of the Debt Collection industry, and explain how you can challenge the Debt Collection Agencies (DCAs) to comply fully with the law.

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…