Threat to sue a dead man for £36

[ScabHunter]

Here's a good one for you, folks -

This morning, a moronic threat letter landed on my doormat. As a member of this site, you are probably familiar with this type of occurrence. However, this was a threat letter with a difference.

It was addressed to my late father, who passed away in July 2007. It is demanding the princely sum of £36, allegedly on behalf of some “publishing company” I've never even heard of, and threatening court action if this is not paid immediately.

Now, should my late father be worried that the authorities will force him back to the Earth dimension, give him a new body, drag this new body kicking and screaming into court, get judgment, and them employ a “surgeon-bailiff” to extract the organs of this new body and sell them to medical science for £36?

Or are they taking the wee? Thoughts, anyone?

SH

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

Well before any court they ought to be adhering to CPR which would suggest they had performed basic checks.... really?

Clearly they're fishing, I would actually write back and demand an apology etc or you'll be looking to sue them, for a lot more than £36.

Wankers. Why would they ever write out for £36!

[jon1965]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

Knowing some of these guys they may lose the plot and ask for proof. I would have a field day with them.

[SXGuy]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

Its not only DCA's that do this, our beloved HMRC do it all the time.

But they are worst, because they actually know the person has died.

The amount of tax returns ive seen turn up with Mr J Bloggs (Deceased) written on them is a laughable joke.

Now techically, if they died after 6th April, they would have to prepare and submit accounts from then to the date they died, but in reality, its never going to happen.

Ive even seen penalty charges for late or no submission addressed to a deceased person.

We ring them up and say, how do you expect to collect this money when they are dead, and the response is so Drone/sheepish, you would think they had lost the ability of logic.

Accountants arnt going to do the work for free, the person who died, isnt going to supply the information, nor pay any tax due, so what are they expecting? all i can assume is, its one of these computer says no senario's where it cant work out if someones dead they cant do anything.

[LooLoo]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

O SH these people are just rubbish! if it is a "publishing" company it sounds like one of those scam companies that call here all the time! they do try it on.

I would do as Nid says have a field day with them

last time they called here the guy called me a bitch! nice!

[mgfboy]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

From a legal point of view , if the person dies and has left an estate should that pay out. I bet if my wife died today HMRC would come after me for her tax bill???????

[SXGuy]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

yes, her estate would need to pay out to HMRC, but the point is, they would be chasing the executor of the estate, not your wife.

[SA Gold]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

Awful. As already said, a threat for £36. Tossers.

[The Tech Clerk]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

Awful. As already said, a threat for £36. Tossers.

Pathetic!!!

[mgfboy]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

yes, her estate would need to pay out to HMRC, but the point is, they would be chasing the executor of the estate, not your wife.

Point taken, you are correct, but as we all know these letters are produced from computers that just mail merge from a database. Lets face it they arn't going to waste money and take people feelings into account

[The Tech Clerk]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

You could of course reply and attach a Bill to them for say £18.00 for your research into the matter.

Also £18.00 for time taken to respond and replying by Recorded Delivery.

Then another £18.00 for distrees.

Total:- £48.00.


No doubt a Phishing letter as 5 years S.B. in Scotland and 6 years in England. maybe///????

[ScabHunter]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

The interesting thing is that if this had been a standard letter with a return address on the back, I would have just marked the envelope “Not At This Address – Deceased”, and put it back in the post box. I'd never even have known what was in it. This lot really do seem like rank amateurs, as I've never seen a DCA letter with no return address before.

The letter is full of misleading content. It is made out to look like an official court form, it refers to the threat monkeys you are told to call as “Debt Counsellors”, implying that they are on the same level as CCCS, PayPlan, National Debtline etc., and it also states that one of the measures which can be taken if judgment is granted is “Your house and personal possessions being seized by a bailiff”.

So, bailiffs can now seize houses as well as the contents? What do they do, dig up the foundations and carry the building away on a truck? I'd like to see them try to seize my flat – it would leave a hole which would probably cause a large part of the rest of the building to collapse. So, creditors no longer need to apply for a charging order and then another order for the sale of the property before a house can be seized to pay unsecured debt, the bailiffs can just dig it up and take it away. Does anyone else think they are being misleading here?

I think I'll scan the letter when I go to the library on Friday and then post it up for everyone to see. It is OK with the mods if I name and shame this execrable shower?

If my father had genuinely ordered books or CDs from a publishing company, and then died before he could pay for them, I would have settled the bill out of my own pocket even though I had no legal obligation to do so. I can remember that no items of that type came through the letter box in the weeks following his death. He could have received them before he died, of course, but if he did I have no knowledge of it. So, the odds are that it is probably a phishing scam. If it was a genuine transaction, then obviously the fact that it will be SB or thereabouts could have triggered the threat.

Here's a question for the site team – if you look at the OFT page here -

Debt collection practices - The Office of Fair Trading

you will see that there is an official complaint form which can be downloaded and sent by email to the OFT. However, the text specifically states that you need to be “an adviser or third party organisation” before you can do this. Presumably, they don't want everyone sending in their own silly threat letters every time a point of the guidance is breached.

So, does anyone running the site have access to “an adviser or third party organisation” which could submit an OFT complaint against these chancers, as it is surely justified in this case?

As for the estate, that is not a factor as there wasn't even enough money to dispose of my father's remains. The Council had to do it. If there was a genuine claim on the “estate”, there would be many others in the queue before these clowns.

SH

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

So, does anyone running the site have access to “an adviser or third party organisation” which could submit an OFT complaint against these chancers, as it is surely justified in this case?

We are a third party organisation (to you), and an unregistered charitable organisation per se. We also have a direct contact at OFT who we do communicate with on a regular basis.

There is a member (i.e. one of you guys) who is also from OFT, who is a user here, and they can read the legal section posts as well as normal posts - their identity stays secret though for obvious reasons.

We are pretty well covered and yes, you can email them directly although they may not tell you what they are doing, they will still act if they get a lot of a the same complaint no matter the source of the complaint....

Hope this helps explain it

[ScabHunter]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

Thanks Boss ,
I'll scan the letter in on Friday so everyone can see it.

I'm tempted to send them this -

"Darling Mr. R. Sole (manager),

I am almost in receipt of your letter dated 12/10/2012, the contents of which are noted. I say almost in receipt, because physical letters are not quite able to reach my dimension of residence. I'm sorry, but I have to tell you that that I have committed the most wanton act of debt avoidance possible. I had the temerity to pass into the next dimension, a decision which I reached in conjunction with my spirit guides purely to evade my overbearing burden of this alleged debt of 36 Earth pounds. The letter therefore had to be transmuted to etheric particles by my overseeing Angels, and delivered by moon dust.

I note your threat of court, and note also that for a court claim to be competent it needs to be issued in the jurisdiction of the defendant's residence. You will therefore be required to submit a claim to the Advanced Celestial Court of the Etheric Dimension, at a cost of 200 etheric particles. I believe this translates to around £46 billion of your lowly Earth currency. I will then submit my defence, in conjunction with the Archangels Michael, Raphael and Gotoel (that's pronounced Go-To-'ell), fully disputing your right to submit a claim in the Heavenly realms. This is because St. Peter has decreed that your moral standards obviously mean you are headed in an entirely different direction.

Note also that when I submit my Angelic Supplication under CPR 31.14, I shall be expecting you to provide evidence of the alleged debt. This will need to be in celestial form, and dear old Archangel Robuwell is offering a paper-to-particles transmutation service at a rate of only £50,000 of Earth currency a word. Please contact Head Office by kneeling on the floor, putting your hands together, and speaking, if you wish to take advantage of this wonderfully generous offer.

I also note your demand that I telephone one of your lowly Earth debt counsellors. As the telephone system has yet to be installed in this dimension, the best I can do is to send an ectoplasm message care of one of your Earth-bound mediums. These are usually fat ladies called Doris, and will be happy to relieve you of some of your Earth currency in exchange for trying to make contact. I look forward to hearing from you, or at least sitting on my cloud playing my harp while I watch you go bankrupt trying to reach me.

In summary, old chap, I would tell you to get penetrated, but that is more than I can do as I no longer have a physical body. You, on the other hand, do have physical bodies, so I suggest you avail yourselves of this service.

Yours ever-so sincerely,

Mister Name, deceased."

SH

[The Tech Clerk]

Re: Threat to sue a dead man for £36

Dare You!!!! you would not send that, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

go on??????????????? not forgetting to charge the going rate per item.