Threatening letters from Leeds Consultancy Services, known as LCS, (debt collection)

[mediacity]

In October 2015 I paid my corporation tax. A few months later HMRC wrote to me to say I owed them another £193. Fair enough, so far. My accountant queried it with them, they promised to get back to her, and I had no further involvement, or so I thought.

A few months ago I started receiving aggressively worded letters from a company called LCS, a debt collection agency, threatening me unless the debt was paid. I ignored them. Then they started calling me. I told them that my accountant had queried it with HMRC. What struck me was that they simply didn’t care. All they want is the money, and they’re not interested in “excuses”. I’ve spoken to more than one person at LCS now, and the people who I’ve spoken to are clearly call centre operatives who have a strict set of instructions to follow when looking for money, and follow it they do. They keep harping on about “paying the debt and sorting it out with HMRC later”. The person on the phone also said something to the effect that my goods could be repossessed, the bailiffs could be sent round etc. None of this makes sense as my LC has no goods worth claiming, and secondly, it would cost them more than £193 to send someone round to my business address, anyway.

I wrote to them, authorising my accountant to deal with them, but they keep ringing me anyway, because their system has my number on autodial.

Has anyone had dealings with this company before?

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

LCS

These guys have a really bad reputation, Link here for just one example.

Their offices are not too far away from us, they are known for harassing folk constantly.

Best thing to do is to sort out the situation with HMRC asap, get the evidence and tell them to sling their hook

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

First, if it's CT they can't cease your assets. Just the companies. Maybe. If the company has any.

Second, it happens very very infrequently

Third, keep a log and either directly or via your accountant complain bitterly. Write to your outgoing mp. Write to your new mp after June.

I hope you get it sorted soon, as it's a stress.

[oliverson]

In October 2015 I paid my corporation tax. A few months later HMRC wrote to me to say I owed them another £193. Fair enough, so far. My accountant queried it with them, they promised to get back to her, and I had no further involvement, or so I thought.

A few months ago I started receiving aggressively worded letters from a company called LCS, a debt collection agency, threatening me unless the debt was paid. I ignored them. Then they started calling me. I told them that my accountant had queried it with HMRC. What struck me was that they simply didn’t care. All they want is the money, and they’re not interested in “excuses”. I’ve spoken to more than one person at LCS now, and the people who I’ve spoken to are clearly call centre operatives who have a strict set of instructions to follow when looking for money, and follow it they do. They keep harping on about “paying the debt and sorting it out with HMRC later”. The person on the phone also said something to the effect that my goods could be repossessed, the bailiffs could be sent round etc. None of this makes sense as my LC has no goods worth claiming, and secondly, it would cost them more than £193 to send someone round to my business address, anyway.

I wrote to them, authorising my accountant to deal with them, but they keep ringing me anyway, because their system has my number on autodial.

Has anyone had dealings with this company before?

Tell them to go **** off.

I had a problem years ago with a company like this over VAT and I agreed to settle it over a couple of payments or something. However, they kept hold of the money for a while before submitting it to HMRC so it made the small matter even worse. Some time further on it happened again and I basically told them to **** off as I'm dealing with HMRC direct. Problem went away.

[northernladuk]

Don't try and negotiate with the debt collection agency. They have been engaged to do a single job, collect the money. Nothing else matters to them. The reasoning behind it is nothing to do with them and they won't care. You've got to deal with HMRC and get them to call the dogs off.

Ignoring them isn't the best thing to do IMO.

[Kugel]

None of this makes sense as my LC has no goods worth claiming, and secondly, it would cost them more than £193 to send someone round to my business address, anyway.

AFAIK they charge separately for these visits. Do not ignore them or you will end up in court eventually.

[Yonmons]

AFAIK they charge separately for these visits. Do not ignore them or you will end up in court eventually.

Correct ! ever seen Cant pay well will take it away on TV ? They charge you for the visit the days of ignoring these people are gone as others have said get onto HMRC sort the debt and get them to call the dogs of war off.

[SuperZ]

LCS suck badly. After receiving two letters through the post demanding money, and unsure why I was receiving them, I emailed them as they suggested, explaining the situation and never once heard back - they just sent more demands through the post. I later realised it was for a time I lived at another property and filed a complaint with the company I supposedly owned the money to. They had not even bothered to contact me, basically when they realised there was a debt outstanding it immediately got offloading to LCS to handle which frankly I found shocking. In this time of great scams, when you receive a demand for money from a company you've never heard of it sets the alarm bells ringing.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the debt was wiped clear. It was a valid debt but was something I had tried to sort out a few years earlier and was told I had done the best I could to settle the outstanding bill (basically, a meter for electric not on the grid - no supplier). Luckily I kept the dates of conversations and when it was all explained the bill was dropped.
Anyway, you need to speak to who the debt is owed to if you need to argue the case, . LCS are useless

[VectraMan]

LCS suck badly. After receiving two letters through the post demanding money, and unsure why I was receiving them, I emailed them as they suggested, explaining the situation and never once heard back - they just sent more demands through the post. I later realised it was for a time I lived at another property and filed a complaint with the company I supposedly owned the money to. They had not even bothered to contact me, basically when they realised there was a debt outstanding it immediately got offloading to LCS to handle which frankly I found shocking. In this time of great scams, when you receive a demand for money from a company you've never heard of it sets the alarm bells ringing.

Pipex did that to me. The card I'd used to pay them monthly had expired and rather than tell me about it they did nothing for 6 months and then handed it over to a debt collector. Of course as I had no idea who they were I ignored them. Once they started to call I got them to tell me why they thought I owed them money, and then settled with Pipex directly. It'd be nice to think the collectors don't get their fee if you do it that way, but that probably isn't true.