Riddle of debt collector . . . with a history of debts!

Probes a world of scams and scandals

J.W.B. writes: I am having a difficult time obtaining payment owed by debt collector Guardian Recovery Limited. My plant hire business was owed £1,857 by a customer. Guardian Recovery charged me £300 and told me a year ago it had been an easy collection and it had the £1,857, but we would have to wait 90 days before it could be handed over. In May, payment had still not arrived and the debt collectors then said they had to make ‘security checks’. Since then letters have been unanswered and calls have not been returned. GUARDIAN Recovery is based in Preston and run by Robert Logan. The company has been operating under ‘interim permission’ from the Financial Conduct Authority. Previously, it worked under rules set by the Office of Fair Trading, until the watchdog was closed down in 2014.

I asked Guardian what had gone wrong and the company told me: ‘We began working for Mr B in January 2017 and the debt we were asked to pursue was recovered in full along with the additional costs Mr B had to pay for recovery in February 2017. This payment was forwarded, in line with our terms and conditions, on May 12, 2017.’

The debt collectors told me there was no record of any contact from you since then. This is odd as you kept detailed notes. You told me you called Guardian on May 30 and you named the member of staff who said he would raise the matter with his finance department. You called again later that day and spoke to a different person who promised to call back within 24 hours, but did not.

On June 1, you spoke to yet another staff member who said he would ‘do an urgent email to Felicity who deals with finance’ and she would telephone you. She did not.

On June 6, you spoke to one of the people you contacted earlier. This time he said the delay was due to ‘security checks’ involving a credit agency, though he would give no details ‘due to confidentiality’. You have given me a copy of a letter you sent to Guardian on July 6, setting out all of this.

I mentioned your letter to Guardian and was told: ‘We have not got a record of this on file.’ At my request, Guardian checked its bank account and found the cheque it says it issued last May was not cashed. It has sent you a new cheque for £1,962 and a few days ago you confirmed you had received it.

I was still a bit puzzled over Guardian’s interim status with the regulator. Was the watchdog having trouble making up its mind about issuing a full licence?

Robert Logan is already known to me. He ran an earlier Prestonbased company called Clear Debt Solutions Limited. This went into liquidation in 2013 and the liquidator is still working on it.

Final figures are not yet available, but in 2014 the liquidator suggested the company may have debts of more than half a million pounds. After the liquidation, Logan transferred all the company’s contracts and customers to his new company, Guardian Recovery.

Logan himself also ran into trouble over Clear Debt Solutions. He was prosecuted for bombarding homes and businesses with unwanted faxes, even after being warned by the Information Commissioner’s Office. He pleaded guilty to 13 offences and was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £6,274.

Is this perhaps why the regulator hesitated to give Logan’s firm a full licence for so long? Well, two days ago this became academic. Guardian Recovery’s interim permission lapsed. It is no longer able to carry out any activity that needs regulatory approval. I am glad you got your £1,962 first.