Brighthouse family harassment

wealdroam

Flyboy152 wrote: »

These are not guarantors, they have not agreed to guarantee anything.

How do you know that?

Have you seen the agreement the OP signed?

dark_lady

I used to work for Boxclever (which is the name Granada and Radio Rentals traded under after they merged) But they were already Boxclever when i started working for them in 2003. NEVER BEFORE have i heard of these kinds of practices. if we coudnt get hold of someone on the phone they got a letter.
2 things used to bug me though. It clearly stated in the contract that if you wanted to cancel you had to give a months notice. I lost count of the times that customers rang up to cancel and expected the TV or video picked up the same day or the next day. I even had one customer threaten to leave an item in his back garden out in the rain if it wasnt picked up ASAP. I had to politely inform him he would be liable for any damage.
the other thing that used to bug me was when people came in to order Sky tv to be fitted and they came in on 22nd/23rd December and expected it put in by Christmas Day. There was a massive banner on the shop window saying to sign up and order by 10th December in time for Christmas.
However if a relative of a customer phoned up because the customer was deceased i used to phone the delivery/collection centre Endeva and arrange for it to be picked up within a few days. The last thing a relative needs when someone has died is holdups especially if the deceased lived in a council flat which has to be cleared out straight away due to the waiting lists for them.

Forwandert

wealdroam wrote: »

How do you know that?

Have you seen the agreement the OP signed?

The people on the list aren't guaranteeing anything, they are just extra people to contact to get hold of the person that is behind with payments, it wouldn't be possible for them to guarantee anything without signing and entering into an agreement to do that, the details are given to brighthouse by the person purchasing and its upto the purchaser to ensure the people on the list are happy to be on the list, wether they do or not is another story! if your on the list though wether you've agreed or not you will be contacted if payments aren't made and they can't get hold of the purchaser, if you point out you haven't given permission to the purchaser to pass your details to brighthouse they will just tell you when the purchaser comes in to clear the missed payments they can take your details off the system then..

shaun_from_Africa

Why don't you have read the various pieces of legislation referred to earlier, Maye you'll find something there. The principle is, that no can demand a term of business, which forces the consumer to give up their statutory rights. Just because it is in the terms and conditions, does not make it legal or enforceable

Let me put this another way.
Why don't you provide a link to some UK or EU legislation that states that it is illegal for a business to ask someone else if they know how to contact another person or to ask them to pass on a message. (at no point did I state that they could demand anything. I simply stated that they could ask).

You keep claiming that this is illegal, so I think it's only reasonable for you to provide proof of this claim.

But they don't even have the right to do that. Their powers of "investigating" are extremely limited. All they can do is leave a message, they are no allowed to ask anyone of their location or contact details. That is harassment.

Then they should write to them. That is what reputable companies do

I'm assuming that you have proof that this didn't happen.

Pollycat

spookykid wrote: »

:mad: Anyone else annoyed at brighthouse for their tactics on chasing money from their customers. With my wife and I they don't bother contacting us first if we have missed a payment. Instead they contact a member of family that you have named on the contract first and, in some cases, have contacted a member of family that you have not named. On top of which they charge you £3 extra for a missed payment which adds to their ridiculous interest charges.

I'm confused how Brighthouse have managed to contact a member of your family who wasn't named on your contract.

Did you ask all the family members you named on your contract if they agreed to being named and their contact details being given to a company that they themselves weren't doing business with?

If you didn't get their permission, I'd have been bloody furious with you for putting me in the position of a company chasing me because you had missed a payment.

mynameisdave

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Passing on private or confidential information is not an illegal breach of the DPA if the person the data relates to has given permission for it to be disclosed.

And what about holding onto data of people that have not given you permission to store it?

George_Michael

But they don't even have the right to do that. Their powers of "investigating" are extremely limited. All they can do is leave a message, they are no allowed to ask anyone of their location or contact details. That is harassment.

BarclayLloydnat bank
"Good afternoon. I'm trying to get hold of Mr Michael and there is no reply when we call his mobile phone. He gave this number on his bank account application form, and I was wondering if you would have any other numbers where we could possibly contact him regarding an urgent matter"

The above conversation is basically what happened a few months ago when following a trip I made to Italy.
My debit card was cloned and suspicious activity was flagged up by the banking system.
I would hardly class what they said to my wife as harassment, especially as the phone number for my house was freely given by me when I opened the bank account.

I always advise them when I am travelling overseas so they know that the only contact number for me is my mobile, therefore they were well aware that by calling my landline they wouldn't be able to speak to me directly.
Was I upset or did my wife feel threatened or harassed?
Far from it.

shaun_from_Africa

And what about holding onto data of people that have not given you permission to store it?

Yes, that is illegal, but we don't know that is the case here.
Even if the people who were referred to in the data didn't give their permission, that in itself is not illegal.
The OP may have completed a form stating that permission was given by the people concerned, and until Brighthouse were informed that this was not in fact true, how would they know this.

If the people named did not give permission, then Brighthouse would have a legal obligation to amend their records accordingly.


Anyway, as a few people has already mentioned, all of this is pure speculation (on my part, and also on the part of others).
We have no way of knowing who was named on the paperwork, if they knew they were named, what they agreed to, etc, etc.

paddyrg

Looking at this from the vendors viewpoint for a moment, they are providing goods to a demographic no prime lender would touch, as they have a huge default rate. I assume the extra contact details are because their customers have a habit of moving house at short notice, and having 5 extra contacts reduces the risk of everyone moving all at once!

Should people who can't afford new stuff buy new stuff? Clearly not the best plan, but they see all the same TV ads and aspirational dramas full of beautiful people with new stuff, and get all aspirational themselves, and houseproud. Companies like Brighthouse have always existed in some form to engage the lower end of the market. I have a clock which is powered by florin coins, so the householder would always have the 4s every week for the doorstop collector for their insurance, same market, different angle and age.

And then only charging three quid for a missed payment, this is hardly a back alley mugging! The admin, interest, delays and extra costs associated with a letter will only mean higher fees for the defaulted borrower. They take a big risk, but seem to get grief for having given credit where little is due. Clearly they are no angels, but hardly devils either.

mynameisdave

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Yes, that is illegal, but we don't know that is the case here.
Even if the people who were referred to in the data didn't give there permission, that in itself is not illegal.
The OP may have completed a form stating that permission was given by the people concerned, and until Brighthouse were informed that this was not in fact true, how would they know this.

If the people named did not give permission, then Brighthouse would have a legal obligation to amend their records accordingly.


Anyway, as a few people has already mentioned, all of this is pure speculation (on my part, and also on the part of others).
We have no way of knowing who was named on the paperwork, if they knew they were named, what they agreed to, etc, etc.

Sorry, I made myself as clear as I should have. I was drawing back to this post that suggests they do not remove it when asked.

Forwandert wrote: »

They also refuse to remove your details even if you haven't given permission to be on this list of extra contacts, it was real fun when i split up with her and she stopped paying for items she had purchased when she moved away, i ended up getting my phone numbers changed to stop them ringing, brighthouse truely are bottom feeders.