Capital One Harrasment

dchurch24

Hi,

My mum got in a some trouble with a few credit cards and to cut a long story short, got in touch with the CCCS, who have been very, very good.

Sadly though, even though the CCCS have been in touch with Capital one (amoung others who have been fine) and have set up a payment plan with them -ie. sending money to the CCCS each month and they pay capital one, they continue to phone her at least 3 times a day demanding more payment.

Of late, my mother and father have been putting the phone down on them (as per the CCCS instruction not to talk to them) but still they persist.

Is this harrasment and a matter for the police or CPS?

Is there any way to stop this? It has got so bad that my mum is worried about answering the phone. She has informed the CCCS of this and they advise to just stop taking their calls.

I believe that this is a case for the police.

Thanks in advance of any advice.

Regards,


dchurch24.

southernscouser

I'm sure if you have instructed them by letter to only make correspondence by letter they are breaking the law or at least some consumer agreement thing!

I would advise contacting the CCCS about it. They will know the rules.

Harassed_2

Firstly, get in touch with your local Trading Standards office (part of the council). Secondly, send them a copy of this letter, it may help.

Dear Sir,

Ref. XXXXX

Despite my letters regarding ANY communication from your company, which stated that I require ALL communications in writing, your telephone calls continue. This behaviour constitutes harassment; the letters stated quite clearly to you that I require ALL communications in writing for future Court use. Do not telephone me again - remove any telephone numbers you hold for me from your systems.

Your telephone calls are in breach of the Office of Fair Trading guidelines. If you continue with them after the receipt of this letter an official complaint, together with a log recording the times and frequency of the calls will be passed both to that office and to your local Trading Standards office. For your information note that ALL telephone calls are taped.

Take further note that continued telephone calls after the receipt of a request not to call constitutes a criminal offence under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

COMMUNICATE IN WRITING – THIS MEANS NO TELEPHONE CALLS, THEY WILL NOT BE ANSWERED, YOUR ‘OPERATIVES’ WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO.

HOWEVER, CALLS WILL TRIGGER COMPLAINTS TO THE REGULATORY BODIES.

I trust that I have made myself understood on this matter,
Yours faithfully,

Harassed_2

Secondly, send them a copy of this letter

.

Sorry, didn't make that clear - by them I do mean Capital.

mrbadexample

Sorry to hijack this thread, but:

Take further note that continued telephone calls after the receipt of a request not to call constitutes a criminal offence under Section 127 of the
Communications Act 2003.

Harassed, does this apply to all companies under all circumstances? I have asked Telewest not to phone me under any circumstances, but still they persist. If I write to them and quote this, should they stop?

Cheers,
MBE

Harassed_2

Creditors do have the right to call you, but if you instruct that they contact you in writing, they should respect your wishes. That paragraph is more of a 'frightener'; it might be difficult to gain a prosecution.

However, it does work.

Harassed_2

However, one law they are contravening, is the Administration of Justice Act 1970, in that it is intended to cause alarm and distress to the recipient.

dchurch24

Thanks very much for the letter and advise.

I will sending a copy of that letter to in due course - thanks for the legalise as well :-)

file_wizzard

Harassed wrote:

However, one law they are contravening, is the Administration of Justice Act 1970, in that it is intended to cause alarm and distress to the recipient.

Mainly relates to judicial orders only, not applicable to pre action cases;

However see;

Protection from Harassment Act 1997 S. 1 (1)

1. - (1) A person must not pursue a course of conduct-

(a) which amounts to harassment of another, and
(b) which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the person whose course of conduct is in question ought to know that it amounts to harassment of another if a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think the course of conduct amounted to harassment of the other.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a course of conduct if the person who pursued it shows-

(a) that it was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime,
(b) that it was pursued under any enactment or rule of law or to comply with any condition or requirement imposed by any person under any enactment, or
(c) that in the particular circumstances the pursuit of the course of conduct was reasonable.


One section of the administration of justice act which could be used in the defence of undue contact is;

S 1

(1) A person commits an offence if, with the object of coercing another person to pay money claimed from the other as a debt due under a contract,

(a) harasses the other with demands for payment which, in respect of their frequency or the manner or occasion of making any such demand, or of any threat of publicity by which any demand is accompanied, are calculated to subject him or members of his family or household to alarm, distress or humiliation;

Xbigman

mrbadexample wrote:

Sorry to hijack this thread, but:



Harassed, does this apply to all companies under all circumstances? I have asked Telewest not to phone me under any circumstances, but still they persist. If I write to them and quote this, should they stop?

Cheers,
MBE

Write and ask them to remove you from their database and inform them you wish no further contact from them or any associated company. There is a law which covers this but I don't recall which (certainly not the admin of justice act 1970 in this case). If they don't comply complain to trading standards.

Also, join the telephone preference service and the mail preference service, both of which stop telewest.
Regards




X

mrbadexample

Xbigman wrote:

Write and ask them to remove you from their database and inform them you wish no further contact from them or any associated company. There is a law which covers this but I don't recall which (certainly not the admin of justice act 1970 in this case). If they don't comply complain to trading standards.

Also, join the telephone preference service and the mail preference service, both of which stop telewest.
Regards




X

Ahh.....perhaps I wasn't quite clear. Telewest are my service providers for phone, TV and broadband. I just don't want them phoning me.