Brighthouse family harassment

hollydays

spookykid wrote: »

Just to clarify ( because I think people may have misinterpreted my thread ). The point I'm trying to make is that brighthouse don't contact you first about your missed payment/s.
Rather they contact the named person on the contract first and that they take this coarse of action after just one missed payment. I could understand their actions if we had missed several payments in a row which would give them cause for concern but, that is not the case. They should only contact named people once all other avenues of contact have been exhausted where the OP has failed to respond to their attempts of contact.

Have you asked them if it is their policy not to contact the person on the contract first? If it is,I do think its one helluva a way to get people to remember to pay next time,or contact Brighthouse themselves if a payment cant be made for whatever reason.

I suspect this may well be in the contract.If the contract says inform us if you are going to miss a payment,and you don't,you have broken the contract,so why should they waste too much time chasing you.

As already said,history has probably shown people who evade payment wont answer their phone,and will claim not to have received letters.Thats not to say all people are like this and there but by the grace of God etc..

MamaMoo_2

hollydays wrote: »

Have you asked them if it is their policy not to contact the person on the contract first? If it is,I do think its one helluva a way to get people to remember to pay next time,or contact Brighthouse themselves if a payment cant be made for whatever reason.

I suspect this may well be in the contract.If the contract says inform us if you are going to miss a payment,and you don't,you have broken the contract,so why should they waste too much time chasing you.

As already said,history has probably shown people who evade payment wont answer their phone,and will claim not to have received letters.Thats not to say all people are like this and there but by the grace of God etc..

Most definitely not their policy. They usually call me around 4-5pm on a Saturday if I've forgotten to call them, and they ask if I can make a payment via card, which I do.
It's obviously going to be easier if they can get hold of the debtor first and get a payment straight away.
As I said, I was about 4 days late befor due to being rushed into hospital, and they popped out to the house first. Apparently they try all direct avenues first before contacting the references, which I thought was great, as it meant my husband could tell them what was wrong.
He offered to pay cash then and there, but as he was not me, they wouldn't tell him what was owed, and just said not to worry, they'd put a note on my account to say what the issue was so that no further action would be taken.
If the OP contacted them first, they wouldn't need to phone anyone, do they?

abi-em-mum83

The moral is that if you are facing difficulty paying your weekly installment,dont dodge them, call them and explain, rather than give them an excuse to call the people you named! And as someone else said, if your that against them return the item and cancel the contract!

Flyboy152

geordieracer wrote: »

Tell you what then flybooy - you think you know your stuff, yeah?

So if what Brighthouse do is so wrong and so against all consumer credit laws - why are they given a license to conduct business and give credit like they do?


Just answer that please.. Because you seem to know it all

So, every money lender is working within the law, are they? :wall:

Flyboy152

Pollycat wrote: »

Flyboy, I'd rather hear the answer from the OP than an assumption from you.
How would Brighthouse know from their database that say, !!!!!! Smith from xxx village was related to John Doe from yyy village?

If you are correct however (and BH have used data they have stored on other customers and their agreements), does anyone else think that Brighthouse has misused personal data they are holding?

Of course they would have misused it. How could you imagine that it would have been used correctly in these circumstances?

Flyboy152

bowdengr37 wrote: »

Oliver14 - Scenario 1 (as happened when I was contacted by BH)

BH - Hello MR BowdenGR37. This is BrightHouse calling. We have been trying to contact Mr XXXX via the contact details he gave us but have been unsuccessful. He gave us your name and number as an alternative point of contact should this happen. Would you happen to have a current phone or mobile number for Mr XXXX so that we can try to contact him again.

Me - No, I'm sorry, I didn't know he'd changed his number.

BH - Could we ask you, if you do get in contact him in the near future, to ask him to call us on 0800000000?

Me - Yes, I will do, if I see him.

BH - Thank you. Goodbye.


No harassment, no breach of DPA. Indeed, by putting my name down on his application, Mr XXXX had given implied consent for BH to contact me in case of any difficulty getting hold of him.


Scenario 2

BH - Is Mr XXXX there? This is BH calling about the fact that he hasn't paid £42.71 towards Account number 123456 for his blow-up doll and lube set.

Me - No, this isn't his number.

BH - Come off it, you lying git. Go and fetch him before we send the boys round to break your legs as well. We got your number out of the phonebook because you've got the same surname, so you must be related.

Me - "Hang up"

Harassment, breach of the DPA.

I can't tell you which situation the OP was put in, but I'd guess it was probably more likely to be Scenario 1, otherwise his relatives would be phoning the police.

There are instances where a waiver to the DPA can be signed (such as medical). My guess would be that BH have such a waiver written into their contract somewhere. Otherwise, why doesn't the OP sue them for breach of the DPA?

Maybe because the minute he said that he didn't bother to pay his bill because MSEforums said there was nothing BH could do about it, he would get laughed out of court.

You really don't understand the principles of the DPA or contract law do you?

ETA: Sorry just re-read you post and I am now certain, you don't understand it.

My guess would be that BH have such a waiver written into their contract somewhere. Otherwise, why doesn't the OP sue them for breach of the DPA?

As far as I am aware, there are no waivers to the DPA for finance companies to use, even if there were, the people named on the list would not have been able to have signed it.

Flyboy152

MamaMoo wrote: »

Most definitely not their policy. They usually call me around 4-5pm on a Saturday if I've forgotten to call them, and they ask if I can make a payment via card, which I do.
It's obviously going to be easier if they can get hold of the debtor first and get a payment straight away.
As I said, I was about 4 days late befor due to being rushed into hospital, and they popped out to the house first. Apparently they try all direct avenues first before contacting the references, which I thought was great, as it meant my husband could tell them what was wrong.
He offered to pay cash then and there, but as he was not me, they wouldn't tell him what was owed, and just said not to worry, they'd put a note on my account to say what the issue was so that no further action would be taken.
If the OP contacted them first, they wouldn't need to phone anyone, do they?

These people are not references; they are contacts. If they have told that they are referees, they are lying to you and are acting unlawfully.

Flyboy152

abi-em-mum83 wrote: »

The moral is that if you are facing difficulty paying your weekly installment,dont dodge them, call them and explain, rather than give them an excuse to call the people you named! And as someone else said, if your that against them return the item and cancel the contract!

I have said this before and no one has ever been able to answer: do people really look at the title of this website and ever consider the purpose behind this forum?

A little reminder for you:

Remember the prime aim is to help provide info and resources

SnowTiger

Flyboy152 wrote: »

These people are not references; they are contacts. If they have told that they are referees, they are lying to you and are acting unlawfully.

BrightHouse's website refers to them as "Personal References," see http://apply.brighthouse.co.uk/.

I was asked to be a referee for someone a few years ago. BrightHouse asked me questions such as how long I'd known the applicant, their relationship to me and what I thought of their general character.

Flyboy152

SnowTiger wrote: »

BrightHouse's website refers to them as "Personal References," see http://apply.brighthouse.co.uk/.

I was asked to be a referee for someone a few years ago. BrightHouse asked me questions such as how long I'd known the applicant, their relationship to me and what I thought of their general character.

They were applying for credit, not a flipping job.

However, that doesn't not give Brighthouse carte blanche to call you to find out where their customer is. That is, despite what has been offered on this thread, harassment.