Motorboater

Has anyone ever been chased in Australia for an unpaid bill in England?
What are the chances of being brought to a court?
The sum in question is 250 Pounds. Legal action is being threatened, but I think thats just bluff and a standard letter anyway.
Please dont include moral issues, because I think I'm in the right anyway.
My guess is that they cant get you in Australia.

kporte

they won't chase you for such a small sum but be prepared for some stick here

jayr

They MIGHT chase you for such a small amount. They might also sell your debt on to a colelction company who be more aggressive. They may also pursue you in your absenc through the courtsa dn you could end with a CCJ against you. Are you SURE you will never return to the UK?

If you think they are wrong then pursue them. If not, for such a small sm I would pay and avoid possible future problems.

Red_V_Roger

Do they know your address in Oz?

Not really an unpaid one, but one I did not even owe.

I was chased by British Gas for money I did not owe. After many phone calls to idiots in Indian call centres that would agree to look in to it, I would get a standard letter a week or so later that was nothing to do with what I had discussed.

I had letters about how to ask for a gas meter to be removed and even one about my responsibilities as a landlord (though I've never let a house out)!

I was only getting the letters because of my Royal Mail forwarding, they did not know my address in Oz.

Anyway, I eventually mangaged to speak to somebody at British Gas who was in Britain. It was all agreed that they were wrong and they put it in writing on an e-mail to me.

Then about 8 weeks ago, I got a nasty letter from a UK debt recovery company that had been handed information from British Gas. Once again, only through the mail forwarding.

Lets just say I wrote a nasty e-mail back and copied them the e-mail from British Gas...A few days later got a reply saying that they had dropped the case. Well thanks,

sr71

Bottom line is no, certainly not for that amount.

Under no circumstances can they just assign the debt to an Australian debt collector, it would have no legal basis at all. Do not ever believe any threats that they may say. Some debt collectors have Australian and British offices but their demands are completely toothless. They are also a lot stricter in terms of privacy and harassment in Australia too.

To establish the debt in Australia and pursue it (if that is possible at all) would cost them an inordinate amount of money. (as in tens of thousands of pounds at least) Which is pretty much why they only pursue multi-millionaires wanted on criminal charges as well.

CSA payments are an exception though

Notts_bloke

If you don't owe them the money why not just tell them so?

pumpkin blossom

We also had a problem with vodafone not cancelling my account and I had not realised for months until I got fed up of the e-mails telling me my statements were ready and asked them to remove me from their mailing list.

It turned out they had records of me cancelling, but just had not done it. It took weeks and MANY e-mails to finally get them to cut the bill, then cut it a bit more before finally dropping the whole thing 'just this once'.

I had told them I did not owe the money, they agreed I had cancelled, but it did not stop them trying to get me to pay it.

It is not always simple dealing with the stupid companies.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Send them a letter telling them you are emigrating to Australia and that they can whistle for their payment... no realistic chance at all of them trying to chase you for Oz for 250 quid.

DrWho

Not true...

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1994/Uksi_19941901_en_2.htm

However, no one gives a sausage about 250 quid...

Dorothy

We had the same thing with Telstra. When we moved from Adelaide to Perth we had to cancel our number in Klemzig, but because we didn't have an address to set up a new number they kept the account open. I kept getting bills through mail forwarding and every time I phoned them they would say that yes, they knew we had cancelled but since we hadn't given them a new address to set up another account they hadn't cancelled our phone line yet. 4 months and numerous calls/emails later it took a threat of contacting the Ombudsman to get them to close our account and cancel the debt.

sr71

Yes but.....

Each individual creditor will have to follow a process something like this :

1. Trace your current whereabouts, you could be in any country.
2. Begin proceedings in the UK
3. Obtain the permission of the UK court to serve abroad.
4. If permission is granted, service will be by one of a range of methods, but tend to go via 'diplomatic bags' to foreign embassies. Extremely expensive and time consuming.
5. You can now defend the claim, else the creditor will obtain a judgment.
6. The creditor will then wish to enforce the judgment. If you have no assets in the UK, the creditor will have to transfer the judgment out to Australia.
7. The enforcement procedure will then be in accordance with the law of Australia.

Bexie

WITH REGARD TO CSA (SORRY!) we thought they would persue us...but they found us ????? diunno how and said as we now resided in Aus...we were no longer liable for payments....no morals please!!! We still pay, but it is our choice to do so!!! There is no reciprocal agreement...unless we choose to pay.!! amazing how these agencies can chase...even the other side of the world!!!

kporte

there is no way, in any shape or form, that they will chase you to oz for 250 sheets.

Shari68

They will have a job finding you without an address!

We had our mail re-directed for 3 months when we arrived in Australia, wish I hadn't now it caused nothing but, stress we had NTL, TV license and British Gas sending us bills....all which had been paid before leaving the country. NTL have threatened us with court action after contacting them on numerous occasions by email and telephone (at our cost I may add!) I think they may have got the message now...or I hope they have! luckily we have receipts for all bills paid.

Shari

chilliman

Trust me you can be found anywhere!

An ex girlfriend worked for a credit collection firm, they have access to a database - as soon as you register for a utlities bill, bank account, credit card, finance, anything you pop up on their radar!