Chased By Mckenzie Hall Through Employers.... Opinions and Advice Please

MetalA

This week I recieved an email from a company that I work for a casual labour asking me to ring Blah at Mckenzie Hall and give an M ref number.

I didnt have a clue what this was so I called gave the ref number then the female asked for my address,I said hang on you are trying to contact me I am not giving you my address until I know what its all about. She then said then why call if you are not going to give us the information and hung up on me in a rude manner.

So I called again a wee bit mad spoke to a chap who settled for my DOB, the matter was in reference to an alledged debt to a bank to which a last payment was made in the the year 2000 I stated that I didnt owe the money etc and that due to the time scale it would be statuted barred. At this the male advisor went right on one being very rude he said it defaulted in 2006 (6 years after the alledged last payment?) so would not be statuted barred until 2012 I again stated I did not owe the money, he simply then stated you have a moral obligation to pay your creditors instead of running to which again I stated I do not owe money to the alledged. He then said I have recorded this call (whoopi do I thought and so what.....) and that I had tied myself up in knots by stating its statuted barred, he then rattled of the company that I work for their address and location that I work and ended by saying we will start legal action and hung up.

What really insensed me is firstly this debt I know nothing about it at all and its nearly 9 years old, secondly they went through a company I work for !!!!!! and finally the attitude of these mugs which I assure you would be very different if face to face!

I am not paying money just because a mickey mouse company demands a sum I mean who would, the amount is around 3k to a bank that as far as I am aware I dont not owe any funds to and do not acknowledge the debt.

What action would be advisable next? Thanks in advance.

ALIBOBSY

MH are well know for being the bottom of the heap scummy debt collectors. They know full well that this debt is statute barred. They buy debts that are barred for pennies (2p in the pound sometimes) in hopes they can bully someone, anyone in to paying some of the debts back.

Firstly never call any of these type of companies on the phone, they will lie and threaten with every word.
E.G they lied to you when you mentioned the fact it is statute barred. The 6 years runs from the date it was last acknowledged or a payment was made. They will have stuck a default on probably when they bought it, this does NOT reset the clock however you may wish to check your credit record. They also can't take legal action without your home address.

Do you think this debt was yours? These shower are well known for trying to contact anyone in an area with a simular name trying to get hold of the alledged "debtor".

You could try complaining to trading standards, they shouldn't call your employers. They haven't even established if you are the person concerned, and the debt is out of time.

These companies will also make up a payment (they pay it themselves) to attempt to reset the 6 yr clock, but you can easily disprove this by asking for proof the payment came from you (which of course they won't have).

They are also unlikely to have the original credit agreement or any of the docs relating to this debt anyway.

ali x

RAS

And the acknowledgement has to be made by you in writing or by payment. The phone call means nothing legally.

I would try to find out what phone number they called and write to them and advise them that must remove the contact details for that company and the phone number and if they ever contact you there again, you will report them to the Information Commisioner. If they have recorded a ddefault, defiantely go straight to the IO as they are recordsing false information on public records.

Unfortunately, they may now use the number from which you called them and so you need to add that to yor list.

Calling you at work is in direct contravention of the OFT Guidelines for Debt Collection which state that they should only call workplaces if they have been requested to do so by the debtor. So you can complain formally to teh OFT and the Trading Standrads already.

Legaly they are entitled to ask yuo pay the debt, but once you refuse, they are not supposed to make any further attempt to colect it, as set down by the courts and the OFT. Therefore you need to send a statute barred letter.

MetalA

Thank you both for the info, I have come across lots of stuff concerning the antics of MH. I am suprised a company like this is still licenced to trade!