" Working on a 'no collection, no fee' basis, we successfully recoup millions of pounds of unpaid debt each year for public and private sector organisations nationwide"

The above statement will encourage the recipients of their computer printout "warrants"  not to pay up! In fact it looks like they are going out of business. We would like to hear more about their status as they issued a solvency statement 25/03/11.  

UPDATE: Philips have now been taken over by Serco.  They are still issuing unlawful paperwork. Send all their computer generated templates back to their companies house address for the attention of their managing director. Serco website states how they are socially responsible and "Trust is at the very heart of public service". When you have stopped throwing up looking at their website make them the trustees for any of their computer generated demands.

So when you need to send their paperwork back,  you dont have to return it to the PO Box address on their "Notices". Send it to their registered address.

Another Debt Collector Rundle and Co ltd, who have featured in our HALL OF SHAME have surpassed themselves recently. This company are contracted by Camden Council to collect outstanding council tax.

They issued  a laughable notice on behalf of  Camden Council  declaring December to be the season of goodwill and instructing their debt collectors not ot visit before Christmas providing that the the "debtor" contacted their office. They then threatened to visit before Christmas and remove goods if this "arrangement" was not made. The kindly letter finished with "Should the sale of of your goods be insufficient  to cover the sum outstanding we shall recommend that proceedings are commenced for your to committal to prison".  So who are they going to recommend committal to prison to ! No debt collector can have you sent to prison. Some of these debt collectors however may find themselves inside if the courts wake up.

The increasingly desperate threats coming form these debt collectors or "bailiffs" may be an indication that their threats and menaces may not be working as successfully anymore.

These excerpts from The Administration of Justice Act are very useful when dealing with dodgy debt collectors.

The Administration of Justice Act 1970 S.40 makes it a Criminal Offence for a creditor or a creditor's agent (often a debt collection agency) to make demands (for money), which are aimed at causing 'alarm, distress or humiliation, because of their frequency or publicity or manner'.

Equally, a creditor will be committing an offence if they falsely imply that non-payment of the debt will lead to criminal proceedings; or the creditor pretends to be someone they are not e.g. a court official or bailiff.THis is useful when their "warrants" state "Committal to prison" which of course they have no power to do for civil debt.

It is also an offence to send a person a document which looks like it has been sent from a court.

As previously stated local Councils , Child Support Agency and G4 security are some of the organisations who  print their own summonses