Hammer the bully boy/Debt collectors

di3004

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/opinion/article.html?in_article_id=506857&in_page_id=19&in_author_id=6

Companies which harass innocent people will always make me see red.


When sick, elderly people are being threatened by a debt firm which can't even be bothered to answer their letters, then that anger is all the greater.
In the case we cover this week, two pensioners were pursued by Philips Collection Services and threatened that their home was at risk — even though they did not owe a penny to anyone.

As Margaret Stone points out, Philips brags on its internet site that it 'combines a firm but very fair enforcement approach to debtors'. What rubbish!

The person it really wanted had never lived at the address. Our readers confirmed this through the simple means of contacting their town hall, but Philips lacked the wherewithal and professionalism to do this itself.

Its high-handed arrogance is epitomised by the employee who hung up on Margaret Stone when she dared to challenge its appalling behaviour.
Money Mail receives far too many letters from readers who are being wrongly pursued by bully-boy debt collection companies. It is clear that this area needs far tougher regulation, with strong enforcement, substantial compensation for people who are wrongly harassed and hefty fines for companies that ignore correspondence from innocent individuals.

di3004

More in the media here.....

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-loans/dealing-with-debt/ask-an-expert/article.html?in_article_id=506844&in_page_id=188

They are looking for a Mr P.D. We have lived in our home since May 1980 and have never heard of this person.

We checked at the town hall and there is no record of a Mr P.D. having lived here.
We have written three times to the company explaining its mistake, but have not had a reply.
The phone calls have continued and now they say the debt has been handed over for collection against our house.
We are pensioners and my husband had a stroke a year ago. We are so worried. Mrs L.C., Newcastle upon Tyne.
Margaret Stone, the Daily Mail's Money Doctor, replies: Philips's website says it 'combines a firm, but very fair, enforcement approach to debtors'.
What, I am bound to ask, is remotely fair about harassing an elderly couple and threatening that their house is at stake without even bothering to check whether they had found the right person?
You were not the person Philips was meant to be chasing.
But even if you had been, the behaviour of its staff fell far short of the decent approach of which the company boasts.
Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised.
A member of staff slammed down the phone on me when i was making inquiries on your behalf.
Why weren't your letters answered? Why didn't the company take the elementary step of checking with the list of voters (as you did) to discover that a Mr P.D. had never lived at your address?
Finally, the company's head of legal services did listen and the picture changed.



The error was tracked down to a possible transposition of numbers on a file. The record has been corrected and you will not be approached by Philips again. The company has apologised — as it should — and sweetened the apology with vouchers for £100 and a bouquet of flowers for you.