Harassing phone calls

Carrock

In April 2011 I sent a standard 'Harassment by telephone' letter to Nationwide and various debt collection agencies they'd employed to try to get me to pay a disputed debt.

These lines were included:

If they continue to harass me by telephone, they will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report them to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that they will be liable to a substantial fine.
Please instruct those companies and all others acting for you to cease telephoning me, or forward copies of this letter to them.

The debt collectors informed me they had deleted my telephone number and I heard no more until last week.

A new agency, Aktiv Kapital, have so far made one harassing phone call and sent one letter asking for money. ( They claim to have sent a previous letter which got lost in the post. )

The only way I can get more than a temporary respite is to make a complaint to OFCOM etc.

I'd appreciate any advice eg form letters, who best to complain to, the sort of information to include etc.

pauletruth

1 phone call is not harassing. you say its in dispute. in what way. do you owe the money.

Carrock

pauletruth wrote: »

1 phone call is not harassing. you say its in dispute. in what way. do you owe the money.

Is the not harrassing phone call one of the hundreds made before my complaint or the first afterwards?



Nationwide has never made any attempt other than threats to obtain the money it claims I owe it.
Its complaints department has always refused to provide the information necessary for me to calculate how much Nationwide owes me ( and I suspect, many other people ).


( See showthread.php?t=3187792 on this site )

michael1983l

Carrock wrote: »

Is the not harrassing phone call one of the hundreds made before my complaint or the first afterwards?



Nationwide has never made any attempt other than threats to obtain the money it claims I owe it.
Its complaints department has always refused to provide the information necessary for me to calculate how much Nationwide owes me ( and I suspect, many other people ).


( See showthread.php?t=3187792 on this site )

Then report them to the FOS if they have not responded within 8 weeks.

The 1 phone call on the other hand is not harassment, you admitted yourself that this is a new company. You will need to write a new letter to this company explaining that you wish all communication to be in writing only and providing you respond to their letters in a timely manner, if they call again then you can complain to the FOS and OFT but even then it would still not be classed as harassment by the police.

datlex

Carrock wrote: »

In April 2011 I sent a standard 'Harassment by telephone' letter to Nationwide and various debt collection agencies they'd employed to try to get me to pay a disputed debt.

These lines were included:
The debt collectors informed me they had deleted my telephone number and I heard no more until last week.

A new agency, Aktiv Kapital, have so far made one harassing phone call and sent one letter asking for money. ( They claim to have sent a previous letter which got lost in the post. )

The only way I can get more than a temporary respite is to make a complaint to OFCOM etc.

I'd appreciate any advice eg form letters, who best to complain to, the sort of information to include etc.

Probably not the best advise but why not get a whistle and keep by the phone when they call blow it into the phone.

Carrock

michael1983l wrote: »

The 1 phone call on the other hand is not harassment, you admitted yourself that this is a new company.

Apparently Nationwide can simply reset the harassing phonecall count to 0 every time I complain by employing new debt collectors.
Perhaps OFCOM will disagree.......

datlex wrote: »

Probably not the best advise but why not get a whistle and keep by the phone when they call blow it into the phone.

Tnx datlex
The whistle is certainly the best idea from this forum.

matttye

michael1983l wrote: »

Then report them to the FOS if they have not responded within 8 weeks.

The 1 phone call on the other hand is not harassment, you admitted yourself that this is a new company. You will need to write a new letter to this company explaining that you wish all communication to be in writing only and providing you respond to their letters in a timely manner, if they call again then you can complain to the FOS and OFT but even then it would still not be classed as harassment by the police.

You sure about that? Is it not the original creditor's or DCA's responsibility to fully brief the new company?

pauletruth

you still have not said did you borrow the money.

Carrock

pauletruth wrote: »

you still have not said did you borrow the money.

As I said before, showthread.php?t=3187792 on this site covers that point. ( Or find it by listing my previous posts )

pauletruth

so you stopped payment on a credit card. in retaliation over a ppi disputed. sorry sound like they are right. you owe them the money and charges. your dispute on the ppi matter is a different issue.

brendon

Having given the section you quoted a quick skim, it seems they are not, in fact, in breach of Section 127 of the Comms Act. The only way they would be in breach is if they are deliberately lying to you.

127Improper use of public electronic communications network

(1)A person is guilty of an offence if he—
(a)sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or
(b)causes any such message or matter to be so sent.
(2)A person is guilty of an offence if, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, he—
(a)sends by means of a public electronic communications network, a message that he knows to be false,
(b)causes such a message to be sent; or
(c)persistently makes use of a public electronic communications network.
(3)A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.
(4)Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to anything done in the course of providing a programme service (within the meaning of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42)).