# Well here's a good one for you.



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

My brother in law lives in France, has done for 5 years and lived in Turkey before that.

He uses our address at home for UK mail and did live at our address for a while some years ago.

A couple of letters for him arrived at our address during the last week. They were from Severn Trent Water demanding payment of a bill of over £2,300 arising from water supply at an address in Birmingham over the last few years.

He's never lived in Birmingham and neither have we. 

We rang Severn Trent and explained. They immediately backed off and agreed to write apologising and saying that they were satisfied that he was not the person they were looking for.

When asked how they'd decided to send the letters to our address they explained that they do a name trace and send these letters to every one they find. Amazing, and why bother if you're going to back off at the first challenge anyway.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

What a waste of time! So many people will just bin the letter that it will not serve any purpose at all!


The houses being built next to our house are not finished yet, let alone occupied. They get regular threatening letters (put in our letter box by the postman) from the TV Licencing authority!


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I guess the ones they'd follow up would be the binned ones Pat. We'd had two letters in close succession.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Well it’s someone
And it could have been your brother 
Wonder what linked the address ? :wink2:

Sandra


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I explained that they search for the name, presumably using an online resource. Put any reasonably common name in and you'll get dozens if not hundreds of matches. I guess that all these people will have to contact Severn Trent to be ruled out otherwise I presume Severn Trent will persist in order to narrow the list of possibilities down.


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## Matchlock (Jun 26, 2010)

These things happen, a name is researched and chased up.
My name is Barry Jones, not uncommon in the west of the UK but only had trouble once.
That was in the early 80's when I was living in Harringay London.
I applied for a shotgun and black powder license at the local police station, this was a first for them.
Two weeks later I had a knock on the door from a couple of rough looking guys in suits, they questioned me for a while then one said to the other, no it is not him, he has a Yorkshire accent and the guy they was looking for was welsh.
Apparently the welsh guy shared my name and birth date and there was a warrant out for his arrest, and I only thought that I shared my birth date and age with Sting.
Needless to say I got my licenses a few weeks later.


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

Matchlock said:


> These things happen, a name is researched and chased up.
> My name is Barry Jones, not uncommon in the west of the UK but only had trouble once.
> That was in the early 80's when I was living in Harringay London.
> I applied for a shotgun and black powder license at the local police station, this was a first for them.
> ...


That course of action can be successful amazingly often! Used it many times myself!!

Andy

P.s. I never looked "rough" I take pride in my appearance :kiss:


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Trent Waters actions could be likened to a Nigerian scammers. Send enough 'lines' out and you will eventually get a fish.

Ray.


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

Plenty of sharp practice out there as before some companies write off debt they use debt chase companies to pursue it. 

Some will even use stationary that looks as if it came from the original company, and some won't take no for an answer and are particularly hard to shake off.

Hopefully your case isn't one of them Alan, good advice is not to ring the number on the letter but call a listed phone number.

Terry


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

That's what we did Terry, though checking before calling did indicate that it was genuinely from Severn Trent.

I was surprised that they discussed it with us, expecting them only to discuss it with the person the letter was addressed to. 

They are obviously well used to receiving calls saying they've got the wrong person since they backed off very quickly. 

I think sharp practice is the best term for their behaviour and I wonder how legal it is. They write not to ask if you are the right person but to state that you are and that you must pay immediately. My BiL's reaction was that we should chuck the letters in the bin. I was not willing to do that because it might have been identity theft and so I felt we needed to get to the bottom of it. In our case it turned out OK but if we'd binned the letters I believe that would have led them to think they'd got the right person. In that eventuality we could have expected follow up perhaps including visits from debt collectors or the commencement of legal proceedings. I didn't want any of that associated with my home address which is why we acted as we did.

It's not just named individuals who are damaged by this type of thing, it can also effect the credit ratings of others at the same address. The assumption is made that if one person at an address can be a naughty boy others at the same address are also more likely to be dishonest.


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