meritforce !!

katie1

Has anyone heard of Meritforce doorstep colletion agents???
I have had a letter from them saying they have been given info about me due to non payment to Mackenzie Hall, they say that they will be coming to pay me a visit in the next 10 days if i don't ring to arrange settlement .

what rights do they have can they make me pay up on my door step or can i tell them to get stuffed ???

Frugaldom

I just 'Googled' it and there's loads about them here and elsewhere. Hope this helps.

AGB863

They have no rights at all - they can't do anything

They can ask to talk to you, but if you tell them to go away they have to. If they don't - call the police.

RAS

They have no rights what so ever. IF they turn up (most unlikely) and refuse to leave, call the police.

if it is anything to do with mackenzie hall, the last thing on earth that you should do it to ring them, even to tell them to get stuffed.

This is a standard MH frightener. It is quite possible that this debt does not even relate to you, even more liekly that it is a very old debt that is statute barred or otherwise unenforceable in law.

They are praying that you ring and they can frighten you into paying before you check the legal situation.

katie1

i had a letter around feb this year from Mackenzie Hall saying urgent ring this number ,so i was worried and called it, found out they was tracing me for a debt with another company.
My solicitor wrote to the creditor over a 2 years ago to find out a balance they didn't write back so we assumed i owed nothing.


so if these people come to my door i CAN turn them away without discussing payment or anything with them ????
when i rang this feb the man on the other end was very rude was saying i want the money and NOW i told him to go away (well not as polite as that lol) he wasn't getting a penny never heard any more untill today ........

RAS

katie1 wrote: »

My solicitor wrote to the creditor over a 2 years ago to find out a balance they didn't write back so we assumed i owed nothing.

How old is this debt and what sort is it?

katie1 wrote: »

so if these people come to my door i CAN turn them away without discussing payment or anything with them ????

Absolutely, they have to go through a massive series of court actiosn for it to get to the point when they can send bailiffs, and even then at the moment, unless you let them in, they can do nothing.

katie1

RAS wrote: »

How old is this debt and what sort is it?

about 4 or 5 years maybe more ??? its was with Ace catologue. about £135 i think doesn't say hopw much they think i owe

katie1

bump !!!!!

coolcait

katie1 wrote: »

Has anyone heard of Meritforce doorstep colletion agents???
I have had a letter from them saying they have been given info about me due to non payment to Mackenzie Hall, they say that they will be coming to pay me a visit in the next 10 days if i don't ring to arrange settlement .

what rights do they have can they make me pay up on my door step or can i tell them to get stuffed ???

Hiya

You've had a lot of good advice so far, and I would recommend that you listen to it.

However, I'm in a 'fed up with DCAs' and mischievous mood tonight (a dangerous combination) and if I was in your situation, with that ammunition, and those targets, this is what I would do (which may not be the best thing for you or anyone else, so consider carefully before opting for this route).

I would write to Meritforce, stating that I was unaware of any debt which had been passed to them; that in the absence of any official and verified communication from a creditor, advising me that Meritforce was acting on their behalf, I was treating their communication as a scam/phishing exercise; and that I was copying it to the relevant authorities (bung down a CC list which includes Trading Standards, OFT, local police, anyone else you can think of - it may be that you are too upset by Meritforce's letter to make or post copies in the end ).

I would also write to Mackenzie Hall and state that they should be aware that an organisation calling itself "Meritforce" was demanding payment of a debt on Mackenzie Hall's behalf; that you had received no communication from Mackenzie Hall saying that the debt had been passed on (which you would have expected from a reputable debt collection organisation); and that you were therefore treating "Meritforce's" communications as a scam/phishing exercise. State further that, if it happened to be true that Mackenzie Hall had passed your personal details to another organisation, without your permission, and without informing you of the fact, you are EXTREMELY CONCERNED ABOUT ANY POTENTIAL BREACHES OF THE DATA PROTECTION ACT AND/OR THE OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING'S GUIDANCE ON DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES. In fact, you are so concerned that you are copying this letter to the relevant authorities (listed) so that they can investigate. :rotfl:

I have no idea if they have actually breached anything. However I've read enough copies of DCA letters on here and elsewhere to have gained a fine understanding of how innocent words like 'potential' and 'may' and 'could' can be used and abused.

I'm sorry to say that I'm willing to turn those words on the DCAs (My concern is for the abuse of the words...)

(As I said, this is tonight's evil anti-DCA fantasy. I hope it makes you smile, but weigh it up before you use it - if tempted).