Advertisng scam help

A question about : Advertisng scam help

I recieved a call this Morning from a Manchester based debt recovery company. He claims I verbally agreed to take out some adverts with three different companies.

When I told him I hadn't and had recieved no invoices, he said it was done verbally over the phone and basically wanted paying.

I then said I wouldn't be paying and they could take me to court. He then said it wouldn't go to court and he was going to get a warrant of execution and to expect debt collectors.

But i was under the impression that they have to serve me with a county court order before anything can happen.

Any advice would be great.

Best answers:

• I would send a prove it letter to find out exactly what debt you are alleged to owe, it is up to them to prove you owe them money, and not for you to prove you do not owe it. I would ignore his phone calls and if you do answer one, tell him you want everything in writing and will not be agreeing to anything unless you have seen documentary evidence that the debt is yours. Look on the DFW board for a sticky about letters to send.
• Could you link me to the DFW board please?
• DFW = Debt-free Wannabe.
  A 'Warrant of Execution' has to come from a court.
• And would I be able to challenge it if it does come?
  And thanks for the replies so far.
• Also just been researching one of the companies on Comapnies house.
  It turns out they have filed no accounts, and companies house are proposing to strike them off.
• They need to get a county court judgement against you before they can request a warrant of execution.
• He claimed because I'm based in Essex and they in manchester that they wouldn't need a county court judgement.
  Think he's just trying it on to be honest.
• Hi Rawhead, I wonder if the adverts you are supposed to have placed were for insertion in an emergency services booklet? The firm I work for was plagued by constant callers pretending to be working for either the police or other emergency services in the Manchester and Merseyside areas and insisting we had placed verbal orders for adverts in those booklets.
  My firm paid one of their invoices when the callers became quite threatening but when I got involved, I had a look on the web (just google Advertising Scams Manchester - very interesting) and then told all those callers quite firmly we had not placed any verbal orders and we were not paying any further invoices and if they continued to harass and block our switchboard we would report them.
  I then confirmed this by Recorded Delivery letter to the address on their invoices. We did not hear any more and the calls stopped. This goes back a year or so.
  By the way, the invoices included VAT but not the VAT registration number; when I queried this I was given a VAT number that did not exist. I was also told that all their calls were recorded and they could prove that we had placed verbal orders but when I asked for a transcript, they were unable to supply it.
  And as previous replies said, they cannot get a Warrant of Execution unless they have taken you to Court first and if they did issue proceedings (which I doubt they will) you would get a response pack with the Claim from the Courts giving you the opportunity to say that you do not owe anything. The Claim form should also have copies of those invoices attached.
• Thanks everyone really appreciate it.
  Let's see if they ring tomorrow.
• Had no calls yesterday or today so far.
• Sorry for the delay, it looks like Jenna has linked to the DFW board, you will find lots of knowledgeable people on there who may know more if you still have questions.
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...er=desc&page=2
• The northwest, Manchester, Liverpool, Ormskirk seems to be a hotbed of scam advertising companies and related dodgy debt collection agents. If you know you didn't place any advertising, hold firm and do not part with any money. Let threm threaten you with court, it's really unlikely to happen.
  Have you tried Googling the company name and the word scam, you will probably find you are not alone in being pestered by these people.
• I have googled them and they are all dodgy.