I’ve applied for my credit reports again, just in case Scottish Power or Buchanan Clark & Wells have added anything to it recently.

Got a letter today from Buchanan Clark & Wells, giving me until tomorrow to contact them, or they’d start to get nasty. Dated the 18th, same as the letter from Scottish Power.

So I’ve just phoned them and… the “debt”’s still in their database. Apparantly there’s some sort of note next to it. The guy on the phone promised he’d sort it out and that I won’t hear from them again.

I hope he’s right.

Just got a letter from Scottish Power:

I have contacted our credit management team regarding the letter you received from Buchanan Clark and Wells. I have advised them that you are not responsible for the period of time they are claiming the bill for. They have now contacted Buchanan Clark and Wells to advise them of this. You should not receive any further correspondence from them regarding this matter.

But no apology. Not even an acknowledgement that they’ve wasted my time.

I wrote a letter to Scottish Power on Tuesday, with two lists of demands.

1. Roll over and play dead.
2. Try to explain away these facts.

Posted it off yesterday, and posted a copy to their debt collectors too.

Today I got a letter from their debt collectors. It’s a repeat of the first letter they sent me two and a half months ago. Demands I contact them, or they’ll take me to court (basically).

But it’s dated Monday. So I think the letter I’ve already sent them counts as a reply.

I have, as expected, received a letter from Scottish Power. It is not, as I was led to believe, a copy of the alleged bill.

It is polite, concilitory, and contains the following paragraph:

I can confirm Buchanan Clark and Wells have not been in contact with us regarding any bill. However, to allow us to investigate this matter further we would require some further information. We would require details of which bill you are referring to and what dates this covers, as you do not confirm this in your letter. As you have advised that you moved out of the property please confirm the date you moved in and out of this address and any reading you may have. Once we have received this information we can investigate the matter further.

I did include the client reference number from BC+W in my letter, and they’ve recognised it as one of their account numbers, so why they can’t look it up in their files, I don’t know.

I feel I am making progress, but it may be an illusion.

Someone phoned me on my mobile to crash his computer at me. He said he’d phone back.

Then someone phoned on the landline, from Buchanan Clark & Wells. She said they had some mail for me, and could I confirm my address? (Er, I moved out of that address in 2000…)

But I will finally get a copy of the original bill.

I gave them the reference code on the letter they sent me, which only confused them. I had to give them their client reference (from another letter, it didn’t appear on the one I got today) before they knew who I was.

Apparantly Scottish Power have checked, and the final bill I have is an estimated bill. That’s why it doesn’t say it’s estimated, obviously…

A letter from Buchanan Clark & Wells:

Private & Confidential

URGENT TELEMESSAGE

Mr D Hinton please call 0871 700 1550. To discuss an important personal matter.

If it’s so urgent, why didn’t they phone me? Instead of sending me a letter? Second class? (It’s dated 27th September.)

Scottish Power, incidently, are so high and mighty, they have the whole of Spean Street to themselves. Either that, or they trust the postman to know which letterbox is theirs.

I returned from Scotland on Tuesday to find a letter from Buchanan Clark & Wells, offering “without prejudice” to let me pay off the “debt” in monthly installments.

I’m having nothing of it. Today I got enough spoons together to write them a polite letter.

Now I look up their number on Yell. 0141 221 3535. Oh well, I’ll know for next time.

I receive a letter from Buchanan Clark + Wells, dated 15th August. The final paragraph is in bold:

We will hold your account until 08 August 2005 to allow you to contact an advisor, after this date it will pass to our debt collection division.

Innovative use of the future tense, there.

Earlier, it claims

We offered you a number of repayment options to assist you in settling this matter, however we have had no response.

which is obviously a lie. And there is no mention of the query they have raised with Scottish Power.

So I phone BC+W. The guy I speak to

• apologises for the letter, admits it shouldn’t have been sent;
• claims the letter is a standard letter, and that the wording is dictated by Scottish Power;
• states that my case has not been passed to their debt collection division; and
• confirms that they are waiting for Scottish Power to respond to their query.

Their phone number starts 0871; that’s a nice little earner they’re on to.

Luce and Clare (friends in Glasgow) have received bollocks bills from Scottish Power too. It’s like their billing system is having a wet dream.

Scottish Power's debt collectors just phoned, claiming that the copy of the bill I'd sent them wasn't a final bill. To be fair to them, it doesn't say "final bill" on the cover page. But to be fairer, it does say "final bill" on both the page for the electric bill and the page for the gas bill.

I also had to point out that Scottish Power had a forwarding address for me — it was the address they sent the final bill to.

Debt collectors say they will raise a query on the bill with Scottish Power, and then get back to me once they reply. This could take up to 28 days but will probably be quicker.

Buchanan Clark & Wells, a debt recovery company, claims I owe them £264.43 in respect of an unpaid Scottish Power bill from spring 2001.

Fortunately I have packrat tendencies. So I have:

• final bill from Scottish Power, dated 17 January 2001
• bank statement from NatWest, showing the cheque I paid the final bill with cleared on 26 January 2001
• tenancy agreement with Jee Estates (as they then were) for the next place I lived in, which commenced 3 October 2000

Finally some payback for lugging all this paper round with me every time I move!