Austrian company trying to pursue bogus “debt”

swarden13510

Hello!
Hopefully someone can help me with this one. Long story but please bear with me. This January I took a skiing trip to Austria and unfortunately on one of the days, I injured my knee. It wasn’t serious enough for an airlift, just enough so I couldn’t ski back down so we explained to the chairlift operator and jumped on the chairlift that was already going down. The distance from the chairlift to the gondola I had to take to reach the bottom was about 50 meters (if that) so we were going to walk across to catch the gondola. The ski lift operator stopped us and insisted someone come pick us up on a ski-doo. I said no but they insisted and I thought it was maybe an insurance thing so I relented (there was a language barrier too). At the gondola they gave me some forms to sign, which I assumed was just to absolve them of liability and my knee was hurting so I quickly signed them and down we went. Since then, a few letters have arrived in German, which I obviously couldn’t read but I managed to make out the number €240. Today, a collection letter arrived from an Austrian company called KSV1870 (written in English) and I realised that the previous letters, which I thought were spam, were claims demanding I pay €240 for the services of mountain rescue. 

Now I’m not unreasonable- if I had actually been rescued from the mountain I would happily pay the cost of that but €240 seems very steep for a 1-minute trip on a ski-doo - which I was essentially forced to take in the first place. Now the collection agency is trying to add €130 in fees too. I wasn’t overly concerned about it but on the letter they say “information may be exchanged with our international partners of the rating agency branch, which leads to certain effects to your credit rating in your country”. My question is - do they actually have power to impact my credit rating? And how do I dispute the validity of the charge? Are they just trying to strongarm me into paying? Has anyone experienced anything similar?

Any info would be very much appreciated!

MorningcoffeeIV

The duration of the ride won't particularly impact the cost. A twenty minute trip would likely have been the same - it's the availability of staff and equipment.  Not much point in disputing the validity as it seems you agreed to the cost in signing.

It's unlikely they'll pursue the debt internationally, but they may. Have a search to see if others have been pursued and take a view.   

Brie

Pass it along to your insurance and see what they say.

sourcrates

Getting debt collection companies to send you carefully worded letters containing thinly veiled threats is a cheap and effective way of getting paid, all debt collectors do this.

Remember the collector is powerless, they do not own the debt, they have just been paid a fee to write a threatening letter to you in the hope you will be so mortified and contrite, you will pay up on the spot, the fact they couldn't even be bothered to translate it into English shows what a bunch of cowboys they are.

Debts stop at borders, so the owner of the debt (not the collection agency who have written to you) would have to bring legal action against you in this country in order to force you to pay, and that will never happen with a foreign debt of this nature.

Your UK credit file will not be affected in any way by this.

Brie`s suggestion above seems like a logical step, or to be honest, just ignore it, I doubt you will hear from them again..

swarden13510

sourcrates said:

Debts stop at borders, so the owner of the debt (not the collection agency who have written to you) would have to bring legal action against you in this country in order to force you to pay, and that will never happen with a foreign debt of this nature.

Your UK credit file will not be affected in any way by this.

Definitely reassuring to hear this! As you guys suggested I’ll probably check in with the insurance company just as a precaution.