Brighthouse family harassment

MamaMoo_2

Flyboy152 wrote: »

These people were not referees, they were names of people that the OP was asked to provide, in order to get the financing. He was presumably told that of he didn't provide these names (without the permission of those people), he could not have the loan.

Funny, because when I joined BH a few months back, I was asked for references (these people were all called and asked to confirm details of where I live etc)
I was asked to ensure that these people were happy to receive a call to confirm my identity.
I was also asked if it would be ok to contact these people in the event of me missing payments and/or becoming uncontactable (ie by changing my phone number)
I said yes, after first confirming with the people that it was ok with them (like BH had asked me to)
Having had experience of the way BH operate, I'd be curious as to what the OP isn't telling us. BH don't just go phoning the references for no reason. They always contact the debtor first, to try and obtain payment. If the OP wasn't happy with the way the company operated, they wouldn't have given all these details.

shaun_from_Africa

And your reluctance to search it out shows that you really know that your are writing rubbish. Go figure.

Why should I spend time searching for something which I believe doesn't exist? and if it doesn't exist, I could spend 10 years looking and not find it. You however should be able to prove that it does exist in a matter of minutes.
You are the one who stated it is illegal for BH to simply ask someone for contact details for the OP, yet you are unwilling or unable to back this claim up. why is that?

I've said it once and I will say it again.
If you are so convinced that you are correct, one link to a website showing this to be the case is all that it will take.
By refusing to provide this, all you are doing is digging yourself deeper and deeper into the hole that you have put yourself.

Anyone can make a mistake, something we have all done at some time in our lives.
Not having the guts to admit that mistake is something else entirely, and I think that the vast majority of people posting on this thread can see exactly who is the one that is making claims that something is illegal yet can't or won't provide any proof of this.

wealdroam

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Why should I spend time searching for something which I believe doesn't exist? and if it doesn't exist, I could spend 10 years looking and not find it. You however should be able to prove that it does exist in a matter of minutes.
You are the one who stated it is illegal for BH to simply ask someone for contact details for the OP, yet you are unwilling or unable to back this claim up. why is that?

I've said it once and I will say it again.
If you are so convinced that you are correct, one link to a website showing this to be the case is all that it will take.
By refusing to provide this, all you are doing is digging yourself deeper and deeper into the hole that you have put yourself.

Anyone can make a mistake, something we have all done at some time in our lives.
Not having the guts to admit that mistake is something else entirely, and I think that the vast majority of people posting on this thread can see exactly who is the one that is making claims that something is illegal yet can't or won't provide any proof of this.

Totally agree.

geordieracer

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

Optimist

From the OPs initial post it is a rather large leap to assume that this is harassment. There is nothing in the post that implies a breach of the Protection From Harassment Act 1997.

One phone call is not harassment. Now if they make two or three calls and cause distress there might be a case but nothing in the OPs post implied such a thing.

Pollycat

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.

spookykid
When you knew you were going to miss the one payment, did you contact Brighthouse to let them know?
If you didn't, it might have helped the situation if you had.

You've clarified one point but quite a few people have been asking for clarification on this:

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.

Who did they contact and how did they obtain the names and contact details of your relatives?
How did they know these people who were not named on the contract were related to you?

bowdengr37

What a load of rhetoric!!!!

FACTS
1. If someone gives out my phone number to a company, it is the person who gave out the number who is to blame, not the company. How is the company to know that the person had no right to give out my number, unless they call me? So how can calling me be classed as harassment? With regard to removing the information that BH hold on these people, this is a somewhat difficult issue. If all 5 contacts demanded that information was removed and the customer refused to respond to any method to contact them, BH would have to issue court proceedings against everyone who missed a single payment, just in case they 'did a runner'. This would take up ridiculous amounts of court time and cause unnecessary costs, increasing the already huge interest rates that BH charge.

2. The OP stated that BH didn't bother to contact them. He does not state that they didn't try to contact him. A friend of mine never answers the phone in case it is her creditors. They also ignore letters and pretend to be out if strangers call at the house. Without issuing a court summons every time someone misses a payment, how would BH ever get their money. And issuing a summon every time would cost an awful lot more than £3.

3. Nowhere does it state that BH have ever given out personal info. They actually ask for info or request a message be passed to the account holder. The person whom they contact can always refuse.

4. Any term in a contract is deemed to be lawful until it is challenged in court. If there were to be a specific ruling in a suitable court of law that any term in the BH contract was illegal then BH would have amended or removed the offending clause. If they didn't, all their contracts would be deemed illegal and they would never again be able to collect money owed on any contract. It would simply not make sense to leave an illegal term in place.
If anyone has information as to any ruling made by a court regarding BH contract terms being illegal, would they please post a DIRECT reference to it instead of making snide allusions. I'm sure that BH customers would be eternally grateful at being shown the legal way to avoid paying the exorbitant charges for their goods.

I have never used BH, nor have I ever been employed by them. I have, however been contacted by them when a family member missed a payment. They did not give out personal details of the family member. They were polite and courteous at all times and merely asked whether I had any method of contacting my family member and would I pass them a message as soon as possible. And the message was to contact them.

I did not find this harassing at any stage.

I have also been contact, about 1000 times in the last year, by people looking for someone who has NEVER lived at my address but keeps giving out my phone number to credit agencies. After the first few times, I started giving the street name where I lived and both I and the credit agencies realised they had been dealing with a scam artist. Almost all of the callers removed my details immediately. Those that didn't soon realised that they were getting no joy from me and stopped calling. Unfortunately, the scammer continued giving out my number and, short of having it changed, there was little I could do about it.

I blame the scammer, as these companies weren't to know they were being lied to. I do not blame the companies who called chasing their money and certainly did not consider suing for harassment as they were as much a victim of this person as I have been/still am.

Pollycat

Pollycat wrote: »

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

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Presumably because they had family members on their database, because they had been customers of this finance company.

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?

Oliver14

bowdengr37 wrote: »

What a load of rhetoric!!!!

FACTS
1. If someone gives out my phone number to a company, it is the person who gave out the number who is to blame, not the company. How is the company to know that the person had no right to give out my number, unless they call me? So how can calling me be classed as harassment? With regard to removing the information that BH hold on these people, this is a somewhat difficult issue. If all 5 contacts demanded that information was removed and the customer refused to respond to any method to contact them, BH would have to issue court proceedings against everyone who missed a single payment, just in case they 'did a runner'. This would take up ridiculous amounts of court time and cause unnecessary costs, increasing the already huge interest rates that BH charge.

2. The OP stated that BH didn't bother to contact them. He does not state that they didn't try to contact him. A friend of mine never answers the phone in case it is her creditors. They also ignore letters and pretend to be out if strangers call at the house. Without issuing a court summons every time someone misses a payment, how would BH ever get their money. And issuing a summon every time would cost an awful lot more than £3.

That's not a fact about this case it a fact about your friend

bowdengr37 wrote: »

. Nowhere does it state that BH have ever given out personal info. They actually ask for info or request a message be passed to the account holder. The person whom they contact can always refuse.

No but contacting someone about someone elses account (using information they have collected) is against the Data protection act so they therefore can be prosecuted.

bowdengr37 wrote: »

have never used BH, nor have I ever been employed by them. I have, however been contacted by them when a family member missed a payment. They did not give out personal details of the family member. They were polite and courteous at all times and merely asked whether I had any method of contacting my family member and would I pass them a message as soon as possible. And the message was to contact them.

As above also just by confirming your family member has an account at Brighthouse breaks the Data protection act.

bowdengr37

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.