SRJ Debt Recoveries grrr! Help please

Miley

Hi

I'm hoping someone can help me please. Up until October last year I was paying Moorcroft £10 a month for a debt I ran up with Littlewoods catalogue. Out of the blue I received a letter from SRJ Debt Recoveries demanding money for the same debt. I rang them (mistake now I realise cos they got my phone number & have constantly harrassed me since) and was told they knew nothing about Moorcroft and I was to pay SRJ. Anyway, this went back and forth for about a month, me telling them I was already paying the debt and them threatening me with all sorts. I sent SRJ a copy of my Moorcroft payment card as proof. I received a letter back from them to say they had received it and the account was on hold, they would inform me when they looked into why Littlewoods had sent the debt to them. All was quiet until Monday this week. I received another letter from SRJ informing me they were going to take me to court/arrange baliffs if I did not immediately pay them. I rang them (it gets my back up just thinking about those jumped up rude little twerps on the phone) and they said a supervisor would look into it and get back to me. No-one rang me back. Today they phoned me, demanding payment. After I said a supervisor was supposed to be phoning me back he said theres a note on the account saying I was supposed to be emailing them some information and because I didn't, they want the whole amount?!! I never knew anything about an email? They refused to speak to Moorcroft, saying it wasnt their responsibility. I phoned Moorcroft, they said the account is closed with them and to pay SRJ. So I ring the pratts at SRJ back to sort out a payment plan. My offer of £10 a month (which I was paying Moorcroft) was laughed at. They want £20 a month at least. I can't commit to that. I have other debts that I am paying off. It's taken me a little while to get sorted but I am faithfully paying everyone I owe, every month without fail. I have no problem paying £10 a month, they would definately get that, as did Moorcroft every month. The bully boys at SRJ won't listen. It's £20 a month or the full amount. It's only £239 but its money I don't have right now. I asked who is setting the amount at £20 and he said SRJ. Littlewoods were happy with £10. The guy was really threatening, I was almost in tears trying to reason with them. He said I have to send them proof of my incomings and outgoings. I really don't want to send them anything, they are the most unprofessional rude company I have had the displeasure to deal with. Could anyone please advise me where I go from here?

Thanks

tealady

Hi.
Write to them asking that all further correspondence be in writing and also state that any further telephone calls will be looked on as harassment and that you will report the company. Also ask your phone coy to see if you can call bar them
HTH

leanne82duke

i would send them the "dont contact me by phone letter"
(one of Never in doubts threads, uneforcability template letters i think)
and i would also stand by you guns, you have been paying this debt for a while without problems, until they got involved,
you are making a resonable offer of payment that you can afford x
dont let them get to you and dont back down. they are just bullies x

i would not ring them again, and just write, send everything by recoreded post.
maybe you could ring bt etc to get their number blocked and to stop them from calling you

andyfuk

Just for the record, they have no right whatsoever to demand your incomings/ outgoings, so don't send it.

mrs:optimist_2

And don't worry about bailiffs, they have no power at all over bailiffs, only a court can order them, and that only happens if you default on a CCJ or something like that...they are using scare tactics and if you calmly tell them that you know what they are doing and you class it as harrassment (back it up with the letter already mentioned) then the phone calls should stop.

Don't send them anything, if they do take you to court then the judge will look at your finances and make sure you pay only what you can afford.

Miley

Thanks very much everyone for your help. I've sent the 'don't contact me by phone letter' so we'll see what they come back with.

DVardysShadow

Hope you have learned not to phone these people. As you can see, it just makes things worse. This is especially the case for small debts, because the truth is it is a waste of effort to take you to court for £239, so they have to just give you a miserable time to make up for the probability that if they go to court they will only get £10/month.

scouselad1974

Hi

I'm sorry to hear of your trouble with this company and hope that you manage to come to an arrangement with them, otherwise just continue to pay what you can afford.

Sorry to hijack your thread but I was just wondering what a DCA class as a small debt, would it be up to £500 or anything under £1000.

I know that some companies sell very small debts on ie a friends debt of £50 was passed to a DCA, now how much would they have bought that debt for, and is the original company that short of cash that they would rather sell your £50 debt on, for say £5.00, rather than write it off, if the person is in genuine financial trouble, or is it just their way of getting revenge, as they know that the DCA will give you a hard time and get away with it, far more easilier than a bigger company could.

expectingstandards

It sounds like here that the practices being used by SRJ are against the OFT guidelines on debt collection practices.

I strongly encourage anyone who is treated in such a manner to contact Consumer Direct. It is important that complaints of this nature are logged by as many people to allow wider actions to be imposed. If we don't speak up, they really don't know.

I have been informed that Surrey Trading Standards are researching the activities of debt collection companies in their area - the area in which SRJ Debt Recoveries operate.

With this in mind, I strongly advise anyone who is having issues with SRJ Debt Recoveries to contact Surrey Trading Standards on 01372 371 700