What is it with United Utilities? For a number of years, before her death, my sister was getting demands from them claiming she owed them sums ranging from £400 to £800. She spent a fortune on phone bills telling them she did not owe them a thing and had the receipts to prove it. Every time, they said it was sorted and she didn't have to worry. Then a few months later they'd be on to her again.

Today my daughter phoned a company (bailiffs) which claimed they had documents for her. They'd pushed a card throught the letterbox next door where she used to live but which is now owned by my son. It turned out the documents were in relation to a £1000 debt that they claim she owes UU. The address they quoted was the house where my daughter lived for nine months in 2001 when the water rates were approximately £250pa. She and her housemate paid their water rates every month. So why are they now claiming up to four years arrears? And why did they wait so long to contact her? After all it's not like she wasn't in their system - she was paying water rates on the property she moved into subsequently.

Having now done a bit of research on the internet I found many people who have suffered the same treatment from UU. Many of them have paid up to bailiffs in order to end the harassment. This is a scam, if not carried out by UU then by the bailiffs to whom they sell the 'debt'.

And on an ironic note: UU were allowed to raise their prices because:

Can you believe that? Maybe if they employed staff with brains they wouldn't be chasing fictitious debts and causing people lots of worry. And if they weren't chasing those fictious debts I wonder how much money they'd save in 'debt recovery' costs and how much lower their prices would be?

I don't think they can send bailiffs round, or ones with power to take anything anyway, until they have been to court. I'm sure they're also supposed to do it within 6 years as well. If no summons has been received, if not a statuary declaration can be done, which will take it back to court level. Although i've jost noticed that your sister is now deceased, so i don't know how that would work.

Unfortunately, my daughter phoned the debt recovery company and hoping to find out more, gave them our address so they could send details. This means that the clock on the six year rule has been restarted. If she'd realised she should just have refused to tell them where she was and that she was not going to pay a debt that wasn't hers.

Hopefully she will be able to get her council tax records that will show she left the address quoted, in September 2001. But I expect she will be harassed for years now just like my sister was.

There's a big difference between a Debt Collection Agency and a Bailiff. The former has no powers at all, and trys to get their money bi asking, and asking, and asking. They cannot remove goods or anything.

You are right, Peo

Daughter got a letter today and I've spent most of the day researching. Oh, I love the internet there's so much juicy stuff on it about scumbag debt recovery firms. Mwahhahaha. They're nothing short of criminals themselves.

I got some advice from http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/ This is the same forum that helped me recover a wrongly issued parking charge last year. It's great if you have any consumer type problems.