RMA Debt Collection Agency

spurious_2

Sorry to bump this thread up but I'm hoping for some advise here...

RMA are trying to get in touch with my brother, who now lives in America. They are phoning my parents address because it's the last known contact for him. My parents are telling them again and again that my brother is no longer living in thie country. It is causing them considerable stress. RMA have told my mother that since this is the only number they have for my brother, they are going to keep calling until they get to speak to him. They have been told he is not there, and have been asked to stop calling, and they are not. My father has now passed the number to me and asked for help.

How far can I take things against these vermin? I'm way past phoning them and giving them a piece of my mind - I want to press legal charges if I can and at the very least get them reported to any regulatory office....

...so where do I go from here?

rog2

Firstly, neither you, nor your parents, have any obligation to give any information to RMA - after all, they will not tell you what they want to get in touch with your brother for.
Secondly, RMA have NO right to 'harrass' either your parents, or you. You can report them to the Trading Standards Office, although this does not always bring a swift result, but if this persists, and you have asked (preferably in writing) for RMA to stop contacting you, then it could be possible to report them to the police.

spurious_2

Just phoned them threatening to write to Trading Standards if they didn't stop calling. I made it clear I wasn't the person they needed to speak to yet they still openly discussed that a 'payment was due' etc. - although they didn't get into specifics, even saying this is a breach of data protection as far as I understand it.

Anyway, she said she'd ask the relevant department to take his number off... time will tell. I have them my mobile number to phone if there were any issues about doing that. Time will tell.

deliciosa

A personal tip for dealing with these - i played this with HSBC over my loan repayment when I missed payments, proved to be extremely funny:

Caller: "hello am I speaking to miss ***?"
Me: "May I ask who is calling?"
Caller: "is that miss ***?"
Me: "May (pause) I (pause) ask ... who (pause) is (pause) calling?
Caller: "I am calling from HSBC I want to speak to miss ***"
Me: (giving up) "Speaking"
Caller: "Before we go any further I need to ask you a few security questions can I take your date of birth please?"
Me: "No."
Caller: (lond pause, then) "Excuse me?"
Me: "Yes please?"
Caller: "May I take your date of birth?"
Me: "No you may not"
Caller: "Excuse me?"
Me (almost laugig already) "You asked me if you may take my date of birth. I answered that no you may not. Sorry, what is it exactly that you do not understand?"
Caller: "Miss *** I need to take your date of brith in order to continue with this call"
Me: "I do not wish to give my date of birth over the phone"
Caller: "then we can not continue with thsi call then because I cant discuss your account with you without you confirming your date of birth"
ME: "Right, so thank you very much for calling then"
Caller: "He---hello? excuse me (clearly confused now) Miss ***?"
Me: "Yes?"
Caller: "I need to take your date of birth...."
Me: "So, ok, may I ask who I am speaking to?"
Caller: "this is HSBC"
Me: "You have a unique name"
(takes at least 2 minutes until he gets the joke.. then:)
Caller: "I am calling from HSBC bank, I need to take your date of birth..."
(getting annoyed now)
Me: "May I ask your name?"
Caller "ayamrahud (or something liek that, clearly with the intention so that I dont understand but I was prepared)
ME "Right, Rahud, you calling from Hsbc right"?
Caller: "yes miss ***"
Me: "And you need to take my date of birth so to proceed with this call"
Caller (Happily): "yes yes miss ****"
Me: "Ok, have you got a pen and paper"
Caller: "yes"
Me: "ok then write: I - will - not - give - you - my - date - of - birth"
Caller: (pause, then) "but miss **** I need to blalahblahblah date of birthhhhyaddiyadda
Me: "thanks for calling!"

He hung up.


Sorry it was long - i love reliving it... and have much more than that.

deliciosa

also if they ask you for your date of birth and you give them something different than what they have on record, their reaction is priceless... i encourage everyone to try it....

looby75

deliciosa wrote:

also if they ask you for your date of birth and you give them something different than what they have on record, their reaction is priceless... i encourage everyone to try it....

lol I've often wondered what would happen if people did that!!

deliciosa

They say that they are sooo sorrrry but they can't discuss the account with you... well, how sad, really. :rotfl:

looby75 wrote:

lol I've often wondered what would happen if people did that!!

spurious_2

Ok I need some serious help now. I called RMA and asked for the number to be taken off their database as the person wasn't there. I faxed them and warned them I'd be taking it to the OFT. This morning, they called at 8.03am, waking up everyone in the house and really upsetting my parents.

How can I go about dealing with this? It seems asking them politely doesn't work.

spurious_2

edit: double post

deliciosa

spurious - refer to the data Protection Act 1998 in your letter. Make clear you are happy to correspond with them in writing. If you do these two, and they still keep harrassing, you have every legal ground to take them to court and claim compensation for harrassment. if no money to go to court, you can report it as a crime at the police, they will take it seriously. but anyway if you send them a letter like that, they will stop. they know they cant win...