Silent phone calls from Cabot Financial

[Deleted User]

Cabot Financial bought my Barclaycard debt some years ago. I set up a £15/month D.D to pay off the debt, and from then on had very little contact with the firm (they ocassionally 'phoned to ask me to increase the repayment amount ... I always declined).

However, last month I cancelled the D.D as I was becoming concerned about not having enough funds in my bank account on the dates when the cash was due to be paid out (ie: I wanted to make sure that I didn't incur bank chgarges!)

I wrote to Cabot, enclosed a cheque, and explained that I would be paying the monthly amount by cheque in future. I know they've received the letter because the cheque has been cashed

... but then two weeks ago the silent phone calls began!

I've been receiving 6 or so phone calls a day ... starting at around 8.30am and continuing throughout the day until 8.30pm. The phone rings ~ I answer ~ there's no response from the caller ~ then the line goes 'dead'. I didn't realise the calls were from Cabot until tonight.

I was in the bath when the phone rang ... another ANNOYING silent call. This time I called them back ... which is when I discovered where the calls were coming from. I asked to speak to the line manager in order to make a formal complaint of harassment.

He, of course, denied that any of the calls were 'silent' ... but then, bizarrely, claimed that the firm was "allowed" to pester customers by calling them up to six times a day! And to top it all ... he had the gall to complain about me being so annoyed that I referred to him as 'a numptie'! :rotfl:

I've reported these nuisance calls to Ofcom ... but I'm seriously thinking about taking the matter further.

Grrrrrrrr :mad:

ZED.

cally6008

[FONT=&quot]Dear Sir/Madam[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Harassment By Telephone[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Account number[/FONT][FONT=&quot]: xxxxx[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls and voice texts that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Yours faithfully,[/FONT]



TYPE YOUR NAME
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]

superstylin

We've been getting similar calls. When you pick up the phone all you get is a few beeps. These are going from around 8am upto 8pm and it's about 8 times a day. My OH rang BT to see what they were and the advisor said it was actually BT doing it and that they'd put a stop on it - but it takes 28 days! We're also getting debt management calls. I find this all shocking when you consider that our line is brand new since the previous owner didn't have one. It's terrible that they can get away with this stuff.

upsetonerightnow

We keep getting calls like this people ring up then hang up when you answer we're a business and have no debt so we don't have a clue where it's coming from, its driving us mad though it's always a private number too

I hope you get it sorted soon

hollydays

could register for tps silent calls,though it won't stop calls from abroad.

brightonman123

silent, repeated call at regular intervals? sounds like a powerdialler system (I helped test this while at Amex, many moons ago..

Was used to sweep through low balance a/cs that didnt get fully checked/chased normally -

the 'system' would have selected accountdetails loaded in, and then dial 5 or 6 at a time,-only expecting 1 to be answered (on average) at a time, which should then get relayed to a waiting rep, with a/c details poping up on screen.

this part didnt happen very well, so some poor sods experienced what OP got.

Any non-answered a/cs got a set letter printed out, asking to pay / call etc.

dacouch

Report them, the companies that do this get really big fines

missile

hollydays wrote: »

could register for tps silent calls,though it won't stop calls from abroad.

It doesn't stop nuisance calls from BT either:rotfl:

If you know the number calling you, try call barring. BT give a months free trial.

[Deleted User]

Thanks All for your advice/comments ... much appreciated.

My phone line is already registered with TPS ... but I guess the calls from Cabot were allowed because I'm a customer of theirs.

I googled Cabot's phone number 08003280708 out of curiosity, to see whether anyone else had experienced problems with the firm ... the number is one of many which popped up on various sites as being listed as a 'nuisance'!

Another thing that I wanted to ask (although this is probably not the correct forum) ... the Cabot chap threatened to add 'interest' to the debt they had bought, at the same rate that Barclaycard would have been charging. Can Cabot do this? (Barclaycard stopped adding interest to the debt when my account was closed and I began the repayments).

hollydays

You may be registered with tps,but you have to register seperately for silent calls.

MothballsWallet

ZED - have you looked at whocallsme.com as well?

Also try the number in ukphoneinfo.com - this will tell you who rents out/provides the number: you can try this route and contact the number provider (did this with an annoying number that was used by a client of Telstra Europe, and they kindly helped stop it by telling their client to check their TPS database was up to date - companies are supposed to do this every 28 days).