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Phone Hassle

I am having problems with Halifax Credit card company. I have informed them that i have a CCCS ref. no and they are sorting everything out for me. They insist on phoning me every 7 days to ask for full payment which they know i cant give them but i have also asked them repeatedly not to phone me and to contact me by letter. They turned round to me and said they only deal by the phone and not letter and if i didnt want them to contact me by phone i should not of given them my phone number in the first place. I even blocked them through BT choose to refuse but they changed number and still managed to get through. They are well aware of the fact that i am registered disabled and that the stress is making me ill, i have memory probs at the best of times but i'm having to right down the simpliest of thing so i dont forget at the mo as my memory has packed its bags and left home. The guy that phonned this morning was very rude and even hung up on me whilst i was in mid sentence explaining everything yet again. Any advice on how to stop this would be much appreciated as it is really getting me down :(
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Comments

  • stellagypsy
    stellagypsy Posts: 416 Forumite
    Hi Turning into scrooge - the Halifax are a right shower, I have posted elsewhere what I think about them.

    Do what I did, ring BT and tell them you are getting funny/threatening calls and you want your number changing plus also go ex-directory. They will do it for free for you (well - they did for me). I work in the public sector and said that my home phone number had been given out to a customer by mistake - BT never checked, it was just done a couple of days later. Then be careful who you give it out to.

    Simple but effective......
  • bokkie7975
    bokkie7975 Posts: 163 Forumite
    Use the word "harrasment" as in, e.g. " please stop harrassing me by phone"- worked for me.

    Guy on the other end ( not Halifax) said that as soon as I agreed to pay the harrassment would stop !!
    I said, "So, You admit this is harrassment then, let me add that to the note I'm busy writing of this conversation" , never heard so much back pedalling on the phone :rotfl:
    Had no more phone calls.

    If that doesn't work, demand to be put through to the supervisor & repeat "....harrassment..."
  • mrcow
    mrcow Posts: 15,170 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Do what I did, ring BT and tell them you are getting funny/threatening calls and you want your number changing plus also go ex-directory. Then be careful who you give it out to.

    I can absolutely second this. BT managed to do this in 24 hours for us. If you explain to them that you are being harrassed by phone, they'll do this no problems for you for free.
    "One day I realised that when you are lying in your grave, it's no good saying, "I was too shy, too frightened."
    Because by then you've blown your chances. That's it."
  • Luis
    Luis Posts: 637 Forumite
    What I did had the most amazing effect.

    We were dealing with an insurance/finance company that held some erroneous details on my OH which were adversely affecting his credit scoring.

    So we rang the company to try and get it sorted, and got a really unhelpful, rude individual - we asked to speak to his supervisor (repeatedly) - he kept saying no, pretended to go off and ask, then said there was no supervisor on duty ( :confused: ), then hung up on us!

    Then, he rang us back said we had been abusive, and were going to be put on their abusive caller list!!!!! Trust me, we did not swear, raise our voice ar at any time be anything other than polite - unlike him.

    The real icing on the cake, is that when he hung up the second time, he did not put his phone down, so we were unable to make any outgoing calls. I was incandescent.

    So - I rang the police! I reported him and the company for harrassment and intimidation, and nuisance calls - and got a case number. I then rang the company back, told the first person who answered what I had done, and my phone number, and would you believe it - within about 30 minutes, the company manager had rung back, apologised, sorted out the original (previously apparently unsolvable problem :p ), and advised us the member of staff has been suspended pending disciplinary action. RESULT. :j

    The important part of this story is that the Police were EXCELLENT, totally came on board with it being a crime - unknown to me had also rang the company (probably the reason they rang back and sorted it so quickly), rang me back to check I was OK etc. I remain impressed and grateful to this day.

    Good Luck Scrooge, and fight back!

    Luis.
    "It was not my intention to do this in front of you. For that, I'm sorry. But you can take my word for it, your mother had it comin'."

    Overlord for the Axis of Evil (part time) :D
  • Luis wrote:
    What I did had the most amazing effect.

    We were dealing with an insurance/finance company that held some erroneous details on my OH which were adversely affecting his credit scoring.

    So we rang the company to try and get it sorted, and got a really unhelpful, rude individual - we asked to speak to his supervisor (repeatedly) - he kept saying no, pretended to go off and ask, then said there was no supervisor on duty ( :confused: ), then hung up on us!

    Then, he rang us back said we had been abusive, and were going to be put on their abusive caller list!!!!! Trust me, we did not swear, raise our voice ar at any time be anything other than polite - unlike him.

    The real icing on the cake, is that when he hung up the second time, he did not put his phone down, so we were unable to make any outgoing calls. I was incandescent.

    So - I rang the police! I reported him and the company for harrassment and intimidation, and nuisance calls - and got a case number. I then rang the company back, told the first person who answered what I had done, and my phone number, and would you believe it - within about 30 minutes, the company manager had rung back, apologised, sorted out the original (previously apparently unsolvable problem :p ), and advised us the member of staff has been suspended pending disciplinary action. RESULT. :j

    The important part of this story is that the Police were EXCELLENT, totally came on board with it being a crime - unknown to me had also rang the company (probably the reason they rang back and sorted it so quickly), rang me back to check I was OK etc. I remain impressed and grateful to this day.

    Good Luck Scrooge, and fight back!

    Luis.

    I never thought of the police, how stupid of me, my best friend is a police officer and a good one at that too lol when i can pin him down i shall ask his advice. Many thanks for that and to all the others who posted too. I shall be phoning BT on Monday to change the phone number, its going to cause me a load of hassle but that i can live with to stop this harrassment ;)
  • Bossyboots
    Bossyboots Posts: 6,754 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    You could try just leaving them dangling on the 'phone. It works with cold callers but may not be so effective here. I just put the 'phone on the side and go about my normal business, returning to replace the handset when I am ready.
  • Paul_Varjak
    Paul_Varjak Posts: 4,627 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    I would have a look at this site and follow their advice on how to get creditors to stop harassing you. It is a criminal offence to be harassed by creditors, particularly if it causes you alarm and distress.

    http://clear-your-debt.co.uk/Harassment.htm
  • Paul_Varjak
    Paul_Varjak Posts: 4,627 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    They are well aware of the fact that i am registered disabled and that the stress is making me ill, i have memory probs at the best of times but i'm having to right down the simpliest of thing so i dont forget at the mo as my memory has packed its bags and left home.

    If that is the case, I would get a letter from your doctor to this effect and forward it to the company, along with an accompanying letter asking them to contact you in writing only and to remove your phone number from their records.
  • Hi

    I emailed the OFT who said they couldn't help with my problem but they have forwarded it on to their Credit Licensing Enforcement Section who are going to contact me for more information. I have financial probs with quite allot of company's but Halifax are the only ones who repeatedly phone every other day requesting full payment. I think i forgot to mention on the last post that they actually have phonned me before 9am too and i have saved the proof on my caller display unit. I also have the names of the little Hitlers too - no offence intended to anyone -they are also the only company that has not told me exactly what will happen unlike all the othes. I have been threatened with arrears going to ccjs which i expect but after having spoken to a nice lady who i complained to on the phone she said i have 6 months to get the account back in order with charges stopped and a further 7 months with charges added on and they will not take you to court or file a default notice untill 12 months has past. Please correct me if shes wrong. Anyway i shall sit back deal with CCCS and wait for CLE section to contact me and take it from there. Thanks to all who posted :j
  • If that is the case, I would get a letter from your doctor to this effect and forward it to the company, along with an accompanying letter asking them to contact you in writing only and to remove your phone number from their records.

    Paul, thanks for the reply. I have written to them and asked them to remove my phone number and deal with me only by post but they still insist they have the right to do this reguardless of my request. Their answer was - you should not of given us your phone number in the first place if you dont want phone calls and we only deal by phone not by letter - which i know as well as you do that is utter tripe. :confused:
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