Anyone else had a letter from these, claiming they have been instructed by X company ( in my case, bskyb )for money you owe money to them??

I wouldn't mind, but I don't have Sky at my current address, and cancelled it at my previous address well over 12 months ago, with no issues after phoning Sky direct.

Ignore 'em

Speak to Sky if you must but unless this cowboy outfit can provide evidence that they have been assigned the debt, then don't even bother contacting them

Defo not gonna contact them, but didn't know if it was worth speaking to Sky first, as it doesn't show any account details or when the payment is owed from, on the letter.

Report the company to Consumer Direct.

They're on a fishing trip. While they are a genuine debt collection company, a quick Googling shows they've got form for firing out speculative letters to people about debts they may or may not owe.

If you have confirmed with Sky that you don't owe anything, write back to them to that extent and advise them that any future correspondence or contact will be considered harrassment and reported to the appropriate authorities.

The OFT have guidelines for Debt Collectors. If you tell them you don't owe the debt and they continue to pursue you they will breach those guidelines and may lose their consumer credit licence.

One letter or email (retain a copy) telling them you don't owe the debt and don't expect to hear again would be a better idea than ignoring it.

next time they write, just get somebody who doesn't know you to write "I DO NOT KNOW THIS PERSON" on the envelope and stick it back in the post.

And they'll take absolutely no notice.

I kept getting letters and phone calls from one bunch of idiots chasing a previous tenant. It was only when I informed the last idiot to call that the debt would now be over seven years and as such statute barred and they might as well save their time and mine, that they finally seemed to give up.

These vultures buy debts from CC companies for as low as 1% of value and really couldn't give a flying one about harassment

Harassment is the only tool they really have in most cases, so they rely on badgering people and making them think that the debt collectors have more power than they actually do. A lot of people will just cave in.

It's actually very hard for a debt collection agency to enforce payment even when people genuinely owe the money, if they just stonewall them. Say somebody owes £300 to a utility company, and a DCA buys the debt off them and starts pursuing the debtor, if the debtor just denies who they are, then the DCA is not allowed to discuss the debt with them, if they admit who they are but deny all knowledge of the debt then the DCA can only enforce payment if it uses the courts. To use the courts it has to have all the paperwork including the original contract with the utility company (which it often won't) and also there needs to be the correct wording in the contract that allows the utility company to transfer the debt on to a third party. They may have the correct paperwork in order, but often they won't.

If they hire a firm of bailiffs to go round and collect the debt, then all the debtor needs do is just refuse to let them in and make sure all windows and doors are closed, and the bailiff can't do anything, they won't force entry if they haven't been admitted in the first place (if they do you can sue the bailiffs). Their only other option is to get the courts to issue an attachment to earning order which again takes time and they have to have all the paperwork in order.

But also even if the courts have issued CCJs on a defaulting debtor, and got an attachment to earnings order, it is still difficult to enforce payment if the debtor just flat out refuses to co-operate. The legal system only really comes down hard if its council tax or money owed to HMRC. In Leeds where I was a student there are a couple of dodgy landlords and letting agencies that have been withholding tenants' deposits unjustly, got slapped with CCJs and various court orders and they have still never paid, and the courts have not got round to enforcing it.

Collecting debt is a difficult process and the easiest way is if a debtor just caves in and pays, which is why the technique to use is to harass and intimidate (particularly the vulnerable) till they just pay to get the collector off their backs. If people genuinely owe money its up to their own conscience if they pay up or not, but if you play the tactic of stonewalling a DCA, refusing to acknowledge the debt, not entering into any discussion with them, then the odds are they will just lose patience after time and target someone else.

I had a DCA on my back at one point, they tried the thing of ringing me 10 times a day to hassle me, I just said to them every time "as we've discussed before, I don't know what you're talking about", and then just put the phone on the table still off the hook and left them talking to an empty receiver, then when they rang again I did the same thing, after about a month they disappeared. Then about a year later I got calls from another DCA, obviously they had sold the debt on to someone else, I did the same thing....they disappeared. When the letters came I just threw them in the recycle bin unopened.