back to article Debt collection can be harassment, rules court

A woman who took a case for harassment against British Gas has won a settlement from the company. One legal expert said that the case should act as a warning to all firms to make sure their debt collection and complaint handling operations communicate. Lisa Ferguson took the energy giant to court over a string of threatening …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fantastic precedent

    Should give TV licensing something to think about!

  2. dervheid
    Thumb Up

    Brilliant!

    Finally, signs of a 'switched on' Judge.

    About time the bully-boys were reined in.

  3. Andy Worth

    I think most of us have been there.....

    From what I read and what I hear from friends most people have been pursued by some corporation or other incorrectly at some time. Although this does seem like an extraordinary case of the company being incapable of dealing with a dispute.

    I have a friend who is constantly pursued by finance companies because he shares the surname, first initial and date of birth with somebody who seems to love to rack up bad debt. He's even had "debt collection agents" turn up at his house AFTER informing the companies on numerous occasions that he is a completely different person. Also he has received phone calls claiming to be holding a parcel for him and found people snooping around his property.

    I hope this case sets a precedent for being able to punish companies who pursue either the wrong people or unnecessarily hound customers over the companies own mistake. I will certainly be advising my friend to consider citing this case as an example and taking somebody to court over the matter he is suffering.

  4. Charlie Barnes
    Thumb Up

    Debt collectors

    If British Gas actually bothered to chase up their debtors themselves instead of out-sourcing then this lack of communication wouldn't have cost them an undisclosed amount.

    Wish I hadn't thrown out that "you owe us money" letter dated two years previous....

  5. Neil Brown

    TV Licensing - take note

    I can only hope that TV Licensing will realise that sending letters containing legal threats to those without televisions, threatening "home visits", and writing to households *after* being advised that there is no television there may well be construed in the same manner, as an act of harrassment.

  6. dreadful scathe
    Thumb Up

    well done

    all hail Lisa Ferguson - corporations are happy to stamp all over us - nice to know they can't always get away with it

  7. Paul

    British Gas and their automated system are a joke

    I spent the best part of a YEAR trying to get a correct bill from British Gas. They started with a year's worth of estimated (pulled directly out of their arse) values, then when they had a correct reading they made up all the data in between.

    Then i started receiving bills for at least seven different amounts each seemingly more random than the last. Absolute insanity.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Insane?

    "... British Gas's claims that in order to win a harassment case a person would need to demonstrate that the company had "actual knowledge" that its behaviour was harassment."

    Isn't that what they call an "insanity defense?" Is there any chance that a public claim that they have no "actual knowledge" of what they are doing will come back to haunt them?

    Great story. Hope she gets a good price for the television rights.

    -- Mike.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So..

    .. as long as you justifiy it in some way its fine?

    "The Act is there to protect people against unjustified harassment."

    "sorry i was harrasing him your honour,he looked at me funny 4 years ago so its was justified"

  10. Nigel Wright
    Thumb Up

    Absolutely brilliant

    My girlfriend has been on the receiving end of such treatment from Sky now for the best part of 18 months. Guess what we're going to do?

    When she moved in with me she cancelled her Sky subscription, but they failed to act on it and continued to charge her for another four months. Despite repeated letters and calls they continue to harass her for money she does not owe...with threats of legal action, bailiff visits etc.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Great result

    Its a shame she settled. Would of been nice to see how much they had to pay. We know this has cost them at least 30k in fees

  12. Onionman
    Happy

    About time

    The wife's being pursued for a disputed sum by one of the mobile companies. Their bahaviour has been utterly despicable, with four (yes four!) debt collection agencies chasing her.

    To date, she's replied to 31 letters, her mistake being that she assumes there's someone (a) reasonable and (b) literate, at the other end of the process.

    At least now she can refer to this and point out that this precedent suggests they may be criminally liable. Not that that will stop the cretins, of course.

    V

  13. alan

    Similar Thing Happened to me

    I was with powergen in a rented house, I moved out and bought my own place. About 6 months down the line I got some letters from a debt collection agency, after about 3 of them and 3 phone calls, and faxing them the contract showing the date I moved out was before the period of the bill and also the landlords name and address they were still just chasing me.

    I was still with powergen at the new house and one phone call to their complaints department explaining the situation and that if I heard anything other than an appology from the debt collection agency I would switch suppliers, sorted the matter out for me.

    So well done PowerGen and bad on you BG.

  14. Francis Davey
    Alert

    .... but would it still be if it was justified

    I did blog about this 2 weeks ago, so well done for catching up :-):

    http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/2009/02/the-gas-man-cometh/

    In this case British Gas were quite wrong about the debt (this is a well known problem that has existed for some time in their system for removing customers from their database) but what if they had not been? A more interesting question (raised by Lord Justice Jacob's comments) is when does trying to collect a debt lawfully owed become harassment?

  15. Dan
    Thumb Up

    Hoo-rah!

    Not harassment because, basically, you should have just ignored us?! Does that apply even when they send the bailiffs round to take your belongings? I've had this nonsense with British Gas myself, and will NEVER, EVER use them again. It most definitely does constitute harassment. To Lisa: Well done. To British Gas: F*** you very much.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Congratulations

    I wish I have the time and money to get this through with NTL a few years back. Their provisioning system decided that my modem is unregistered and put an ACL on its IP. As a result the Internet went south and they failed to fix it for 3 weeks so we ended up discussing the matter through debt collectors as they continued trying to charge me for a service which they could not deliver.

    Should have probably used this to deal with them at the time. Bummer...

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    TVLA

    I hope someone uses this test case to sue the shit out of the TV licensing scum. As anyone in the UK knows, TVLA assume you're a criminal until you tell them otherwise by pointing out you don't have/use a TV ...and then 3 months later, they assume you're a criminal again and start harassing you AGAIN, ad infinitum.

    They even publicise the fact that their letters are designed to be threatening and intimidating. To anyone who's not received one of these, my advice (speaking from experience) is to ignore it, and all the subsequent ones. And if anyone knocks at your door asking about whether you have a TV, tell them to piss off. There's nothing they can do about it.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    How much??

    My God, she had to spend £10,000 of her own money to this case to court? No wonder companies like BG can do what ever they please, your average Joe simply dosnt have the resources to challenge them. My family had a similar indecent with O2 after they messed up our billing. No matter how many letters we wrote asking them to clarify the situation we kept on receiving red letters threatening legal action. It was only after the bailiffs actually knocked on the door and we explained to them what was happening did it all stop.

  19. Paul Murphy
    Paris Hilton

    Well done.

    Hopefully this will prompt other companies to be better behaved.

    PH - better behaved? hope not...

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    automated?

    <quote>"[British Gas] also made the point that the correspondence was computer generated and so, for some reason which I do not really follow, Ms Ferguson should not have taken it as seriously as if it had come from an individual,"</quote>

    So from British Gas point of view, it's customers shouldn't take the invoice seriously since it was automated? Most correspondence now-a-days is automated and made to look like a person have written it with the intention of having a person read it. This include legal action threats, where a template is used then the blanks are filled-in by a person or pulled from a database.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Great decision

    Finally a Judge who applies the law properly, and uses his head in making a decision.

    All too often large companies get away with "but the computers did it!".

    Thank you Lord Justice Jacob

  22. Eden

    ARGHHH

    Bulldog DSL were sending me bills and threats of courts for 2 years for a phone line that NEVER EVEN EXISTED!!

    Shame I never thought of suing the B******Ds for the stress.

  23. Paul
    Thumb Down

    Don't take it seriously?

    "[British Gas] also made the point that the correspondence was computer generated and so, for some reason which I do not really follow, Ms Ferguson should not have taken it as seriously as if it had come from an individual,"

    Pretty sure all the ludicrously high bills I get from them are computer generated, think I'm going to stop taking them seriously............

  24. MarkP
    Happy

    Yah for common sense!

    Another reason I love our legal system (most of the time)

  25. Tim Spence

    British Gas have a point

    Actually, to the letter of the Protection from Harassment Act, it's my belief that British Gas weren't caught by it, but they merely settled out of court to avoid bad publicity.

    That said, they're still fuckwits for being so bloody useless, so good on the woman.

  26. Kerberos
    Flame

    TV License?

    So can I sue the government to get them to stop sending me demands and BIG RED LETTERS, and sending people to my home to try to 'enforce' me to buy a license for something I do not own?

  27. Pete James

    A welcome ruling

    There have been countless cases over the years of organisations relying on the excuse of their systems and processes being at afult for waging a relentless war of intimidation on individuals, then offering a mealy-mouthed apology only to do it all again on some other unsuspecting soul.

    Whether this ruling will stop such cases happening again is very unlikely. But this case will certainly give a person a much bigger stick to wave in front of offending organisations in the future.

  28. adam

    this line has been left intentionally blank

    Buy that woman a beer!

  29. John
    Thumb Up

    Good for her

    It's good to see someone being able to stick up for themselves.

    Shame you need to be rich to take the chance. :-(

  30. Les

    In the good old days....

    ...British Gas (or whatever they were called then) were just brutally mocked on "That's Life" for this kind of thing, without all that annoying legal stuff.

    "But I've got no gas...."

  31. Jord
    Thumb Up

    Hahahahahahahahaha

    Up yours, Bastard Gas.

    They did exactly the same thing to me - sent me a string of nasty letters and even bailiffs for a previous tennants' bill. I called them several times, each time being reassured by some useless, foreign call centre drone, barely able to form a coherent sentence, that the letters would stop. Instead they put my name on the previous tennants' bill, in effect creating 2 accounts under my name for the same address. And then sent round the bailiffs when I refused to pay.

    Good on you Lisa Ferguson! May there be many more people who take a leaf from your book and bring this robbing behemoth of a corporation to its knees.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    The big problem

    How many people have to suffer in silence because they can't stump up £10,000 to follow through court?

    The same applies to many areas of our law and is why consumer rights are so willfully ignored by so many companies.

    I'm involved with a used car dealership and on the verge of court, only because my case is so strong am I considering such action, at £180 per hour I can't pay a solicitor (even though I have a full time job)

    Should be that I could complain to trading standards or the department of transport, neither of whom have shwon the slightest interest beyond quoting my rights at me, rights which are useless without any will to enforce them.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Absolutely disgusting ...

    ... that even if BG had been unaware of the conduct of its servants or employees prior to the court caase, it should try to throw the case out rather than accepting blame honestly and dealing with it.

    It doesn't happen often, but in this particular case the judge has actually set the CORRECT precedent.

  34. micheal
    Unhappy

    Usual line from the companies

    I had threatening letters from Demon's debt collection company over 2 years after I left them, a friend had similar, the letters continued despite me forwarding an email from Demon customer service saying I had no outstanding account with them....several months and threat letters stopped when I sent a registered letter saying to take me to court, whether it was this or the fact that it would have been the most expensive £11.50 to collect I have no idea

  35. Paul Powell
    Thumb Up

    Fantastic

    Please somebody prove this against TV Licensing!

  36. Luis Ogando
    Thumb Up

    Incompetence

    No matter how you dress this up, BG were in the wrong. A former customer advised a human being (not a computer) that they had changed provider and the human being (again, NOT a computer) assured the (ex)customer that all had been resolved. But it hadn't. BG has a broken process which is the result of people, not computers, and should admit their incompetence.

    Also, their claim that computers sent the letters is utter drivel. Did the computer actually WRITE the letter? No. It was written by a person and stored on a computer. If I leave a dozen threatening voicemails on somebody's answer machine I can't get off scott-free because the MACHINE actually spoke to the recipient. Total rot!

    Finally a positive result for common sense!

  37. Fruitloop
    Happy

    Hurrah for the little people

    It's so nice to see David take on Goliath and win.

    It didn't really surprise me to find out it was British Gas, I had lots of problems when I was with them and the person on the phone telling you it's resolved when you're still getting letters rings a bell.

  38. John H Woods Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Glory? I think not!

    Without detracting at all from the courage of the complainant I note the following [MY CAPS]:

    Lord Justice Jacob praised Ferguson for taking a stand against the company at GREAT PERSONAL FINANCIAL RISK. "It is one of the GLORIES of this country that every now and then one of its citizens is prepared to take a stand against the big battalions of government or industry ... were she ultimately to lose she would probably have to pay British Gas's CONSIDERABLE costs."

    Surely it is one of the huge iniquities of this country that in taking any organisation - or even well funded person - to court you take on an unlimited and uninsurable liability. This largely constrains such actions to those in society who have nothing to lose and those who have a large surfeit of capital. The 'middle class' are effectively forbidden recourse in law.

    My ex wife received, over 8 years, a six figure sum from the Legal Services Commission, to bring a succession of child residence and financial cases against me. She will never have to pay it back, and despite the fact she lost every case, I have to shoulder the enormous debt that I accumulated in contesting these cases. Naturally, solicitors given access to unlimited funding, either through the LSC or by virtue of the resources of their client, attempt to win their cases by outspending their opponents. This seems to me to run absolutely counter to the requirements of justice in this regard.

  39. Peter Norris

    Big Companies need to learn some respect.

    Superb - and about time too.

    Big companies need to stop being so arrogant and to take responsibility for their actions. There is no excuse for treating people badly. People before business I say.

    This also puts a nail in the coffin of the 'pretend to care while screwing you' style of "Customer Service".

  40. Alexis Vallance

    Is it any wonder?

    Bill apparently unpaid. 'Debt' passed onto debt collector. Debt collector just writes letters to try and scare you into paying.

    Debt collectors are just private companies with no special powers. They merely write letters.

    They are just a way to avoid British Gas taking anyone to court.

    Fair enough if you don't owe anything and can get some compensation. But practically, just ignore the junkmail.

    Private parking companies use the same tactics, but the difference being that there is no debt in the first place.

  41. Dennis
    Thumb Up

    Welcome to the machine - It wasn't us it was the computer!

    Welcome my son

    Welcome to the machine

    Where have you been?

    It's alright we know where you've been

    You've been in the pipeline

    Filling in time

  42. Paul

    RE:Francis Davey

    "more interesting question (raised by Lord Justice Jacob's comments) is when does trying to collect a debt lawfully owed become harassment?"

    Basicly, never... However action on a debt under an IVA, CVA, bankrupcy or court order is limited, but can inclued deductions from your wages, bank account, a charging order on your property or ballifs.

    Also, for people talking about ballifs coming round, if they have a court order against you they are ballifs and you have little excuse as there has already been alot of action. If there has been no action they are "debt colection agents" and have no powers beyond handing you a letter and asking nicely if you will pay.

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    I hope this applies to TV Licensing too

    The bastards keep harrassing people without a TV license (by choice) the same way.

  44. Tom Paine
    Flame

    me too

    BG switched me back from the .alt supplier I'd jumped to as soon as I had the chance, despite my clearly saying to the cold-call sales droid "No, I will never be a BG customer ever again, do NOT make me your customer". I refused to pay, they passed it to a bunch of knuckle-walking debt collectors. I repeatedly called and explained, was assured they wouldn't be contacted again, then get another red-lettered letter threatening legal action six months later. This went on literally for years. In the end they claimed to have recordings of the sales call, "Great!" I said, "Produce a recording of me asking to be your customer and I'll pay every penny". Lies, lies, and more lies mixed with threats. I'm sure these sort of tactics screwed a lot of money from people who didn't owe it in the first place. $BG eq 'scumbags of the first order'.

  45. Ketlan
    Coat

    Go get 'em

    Re' the TVLA, I wrote to them about four years ago after receiving just a single extremely threatening and offensive letter, explaining that I hadn't owned a TV in well over a decade and never intended owning one again, and that if they sent me another extremely offensive letter in any way similar to the one I had just received I would have them charged with breach of Section 5 of the Public Order Act on the grounds that they were causing me 'harassment, distress or alarm'. I'm not even sure that Act is still in force. It worked though. I got an apology and have heard nothing since. If they want to play bully, let's play it properly.

    Of course, the next move is to throw your telly through their office window...

    Mine's the new coat that I bought rather than wasting my dosh to watch shite like Big Brother.

  46. Mister_C

    @ various posters

    @ oninonman:

    Is it H3G (aka 3) by any chance? My missus has just reached settlement via the ombudsman after 5 years' difficulties. 3 even amitted no debt existed, then resurrected it and sold it to a collection agency. Our MP's view "there's lots of bad service out there, nothing I can do to help".

    @ various TVLA posters (and at risk of drawing flames):

    Their letters have got more human recently. As was the lady I spoke to recently. Can't tell about the follow up yet - watch this space.

    And yes, I have several years' experience of being accused of criminal behaviour by them. Can't wait until the day when possessing a radio receiver won't indicate possible spies for the kaiser...

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Halo

    Reminds me of LA....

    Fitness who set debt collectors onto me. I rang them up and had the call recording software

    going. I explained the amount was not due etc etc. I asked him what they were planning to

    do. He said "we will come around and see you" . I said is that a threat. He said "yes".

    I then told him I had taped the conversation and he went strangely silent ,lol. End of

    debt and debt collection.

  48. ElFatbob
    Thumb Up

    @ Dennis

    showing your Floyd credentials there my good man ;-)

  49. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    Flame

    Well done to her.

    I'm not surprised by this. The SAP system that runs billing and CRM for BG Business was ill designed, built by idiots from Wipro, and tested and run by muppets in Leicester.

    I understand that the BG residential "Jupiter" system is still not right after 6 years and after throwing £450m at it.

    Centrica as a whole has a culture of slopey shoulders and corporate backstabbing so I'm not surprised that they (a) tried to wriggle out of this, and (b) that no-one took responsibility to resolve this in a professional manner.

    You probably won't read this Lisa - but very well done. The BG machine is interested in one thing and one thing only - charging you as much as possible for the least amount of service.

    I know I was in the thick of it for 3 years.

  50. Simon B
    Flame

    British Gas are hopeless, they never change!

    British Gas are a waste of space, I too will never use them again EVER after a right royal cock up over and over in the past.

    As for blaming automated systems, what was so automated about a person taking a complaint by phone AND another by letter? Nothing. What was automated about these people ACTING on these correspeondences and closing acounts/bills/issues so the automated system stopped sending nags? Nothing. Let's face it BG are like Sky and just after our money and have no sense of customer service.

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