Collections staff suffer abuse - 11/02/2009

[esmerobbo]

I must admit that when I first entered the debt collection circus and learned from here and other sites how to deal with these companies, I used to deal with the callers in the same manner as they dealt with me.

 

The problem is I believe they start work with the company on the monday and start ringing on the tuesday having no training, knowing nothing about regulations covering debt collection. You can hear by their speech that they are mostly talking from a script or monitor screen.

They are talking to people who mostly have ended in a position were they cant afford these debts. Who are under extreme pressure sometimes just to live and these untrained people have one aim to get you to commit to a payment plan.

 

They spout totally untrue statements at you, miss all the relevant regulations and threaten you with things they can not do. I am sure we have all been there.

However I have actually spoken to one or two reasonable people and have come to some agreement with them to suit my circumstances.

I do have to agree with most comments that they do really deserve most of the abuse they get.

 

They have a legitamate if unsavoury business collecting debts owed, If they went about it with fairness and respect instead of acting like a bunch of vultures maybe the abuse would stop.

Simple business really employ ten idiots spouting rubbish they get no agreements.

Employ one reasonable trained person who negotiates and acts fairly they get paid!! Of course dependant if they have they relevant paper work and authority to enforce the debt.

 

If they wish the abuse to stop then treat us like people not accounts. Act fairly, stop the threats and the harrassment, and work within the regulations and law.

If possible try and show compassion and act like a human being rather then an extension of a computer screen. We ain't reference numbers or amounts we are people who mostly have ended up here out of desperation we ain't here by choice.

If these people are lucky they may never get in a position were they have to deal with their like. However most of us didn't think we would.

[dannyboy660]

The problem is the culture that exists within DCA call centres. They treat everybody as 'Won't pays' rather than 'Can't pays' and confrontation is inevitable.

 

Being able bully someone anonymously by telephone is an orgasmic experience for these very young, badly trained and ill informed drones and the 'pack' mentality will prevail. I'm sure some, perhaps many, go into these places with the "I'm going to be the good guy" idea - but it will soon get knocked out of them in one of these places.

 

I was treated with utter contempt, rudeness and arrogance by one of these specimens of fecula who had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, and so they got the same abuse and rudeness in return.

 

They deserve everything they get - and then a bit more.

[lickthewallfatboy]

that should now be the standard telephone response to a DCA call,just before hanging up

 

"I'm afraid that you need to take a £250 course to be able to attempt to continue this conversation!!"

[ODC]

DCA threat monkeys will NEVER change. THeir blood money is made by commission on how much they can get a victim to pay. The more they get a victim to pay the greater their commission. Obviously their mentality is that everyone must pay regardless of whether they can afford to or not regardless as to whether the pond life can prove a debt exists. They are fixated by making money for themselves and dont give two tosses as to how they get get it or what methods they need to use to get it.

 

Whilst their salary is made up of Commission then they will always do whatever it takes to make their targets and their fat-cat bosses will encourage them.

[cerberusalert]

The irony, just the irony.

 

The irony I could put up with, but the infamy.....they all had it infamy.

[ODC]

You're lucky Cerub I cant get it infamy

[spamheed]

I think they miss the point entirely

 

The most ironic thing of all is that they cannot really complain to anyone at all as it isn't the actions of the debtor that initiates the abuse, it is the direct actions of the creditor who initiates it, so complaining about the reactions brought about by your own actions would seem to be a little foolish.

 

If the dogs tries to bite you every time you pet it - then don't pet the freakin' dog. Simple stuff really

 

If you don't like the abuse you receive every time you call people in debt - Don't call the people in debt, send them a letter, email them, whatever. equally simple stuff.

 

Over the years, in my previous carnations and my current one, I have had the "pleasure" of attending many such "courses" on conflict management and handling abusive and non-co-operative individuals (albeit on a face to face basis rather than over the phone) and they all have a common theme - if and it is a major "if" if the relationship is to continue and the conflict is avoidable - then avoid it, if you doing something is going to inflame the situation in a non-constructive manner, then don't do it!

 

There - all done, that'll be £250 quid each please

[Agent Mulder]

As always, the CSA seeks to blame others for its own inadequacies - classic bully behaviour, of course.

 

The notion that employing young, not very clever people, paying them in a way that encourages bad behaviour, training them to contact people in a confrontational way, and then wondering why people fight back shows either breathtaking naivety or a stunning level of arrogance.

 

It's absolutely right that any employer should protect their staff from genuine risk, but I doubt that the CSA would accept that compliant behaviour on their part is the key to reducing levels of 'abuse' from those they deal with.

 

Note to Gillian Forrest-Elliot - if you genuinely think that DCA call centre staff do an 'extremely important job', have a look at Help for Heroes. It may help you to put things into perspective, and to understand why people don't take your organisation seriously.

 

If the DCI is trying to engender sympathy, they're on a hiding to nothing. We hear much about "standards" from these people but the public face of the DCI, as bad as it is, does not, I suspect, reflect what goes on behind closed doors at these places. It would be interesting to find out how managers/supervisors instruct the cannon fodder to deal with "cases". I'd really like to hear from a DCI whistleblower on this.

[ODC]

If the DCI is trying to engender sympathy, they're on a hiding to nothing. We hear much about "standards" from these people but the public face of the DCI, as bad as it is, does not, I suspect, reflect what goes on behind closed doors at these places. It would be interesting to find out how managers/supervisors instruct the cannon fodder to deal with "cases". I'd really like to hear from a DCI whistleblower on this.

 

Its only a matter of time before some of them end up here. DCAs are scraping the bottom of the barrel now with some of the ancient debts they are now sending out the threatomatics for. The next thing will be job losses in the DCA industry as more and more people discover how IMPOTENT they really are and refuse to be cowed by the telephone threat monkeys. If the threat monkeys are not bringing in blood money for their greedy masters then their services will no longer be required. Then the poor threat monkeys will find themselves on the receiving end of their former colleagues threat calls as they struggle to keep up payments on their Peugeot 306s and Nova SRs.

[Agent Mulder]

Its only a matter of time before some of them end up here. DCAs are scraping the bottom of the barrel now with some of the ancient debts they are now sending out the threatomatics for. The next thing will be job losses in the DCA industry as more and more people discover how IMPOTENT they really are and refuse to be cowed by the telephone threat monkeys. If the threat monkeys are not bringing in blood money for their greedy masters then their services will no longer be required. Then the poor threat monkeys will find themselves on the receiving end of their former colleagues threat calls as they struggle to keep up payments on their Peugeot 306s and Nova SRs.

 

I've amassed enough evidence in the past month against JBDR to cause them a great deal of trouble. They've mis-stated the law to me; made threats, including one to send on the bailiffs; advised me that there's a CCJ against me, but refused to give me the particulars and informed me that if didn't pay, I might receive a prison sentence. I have all of this on tape, as I informed the monkey after he'd threatened me with jail. The fact is, the debt isn't mine. I wasn't even in the country when it was incurred and have evidence to support this, not that I intend to produce it. They've had enough rope by now, I think, and the trapdoor is waiting to be sprung. Just as soon as I've found my copy of Pierrepoint's autobiography to get me in the mood, I'll hang 'em.

[lickthewallfatboy]

I have all of this on tape, as I informed the monkey after he'd threatened me with jail.

 

 

I bet new underwear was required when he heard that!! LOL

 

did you get a name?

[ODC]

Looking forward to hearing it on Youtube

[ScarletPimpernel]

Given that DCAs have demonstrated that their level of intellectual ability is such that they are unable to determine that a white crystalline substance in close proximity to a doughnut is more likely to be sugar than ricin or anthrax spores, one can only marvel if attendees on the course can actually locate the correct building in the first place.

 

If you know what you're doing DCA monkeys are easy meat, psychologically, and no amount of training will compensate for lack of intelligence and immaturity. You can tell when you have successfully engaged the target, because the tone of their voice indicates that they're shaking like a sh1tting dog with anger.

[worried parent]

These idiot DCA's just sound like the Muppets.

[sosumi]

If any DCA 'operatives' are reading this thread, click on this link to understand how much you really matter to your bosses :

Staffing Cuts Hit ARM Industry According to Survey

 

Not very protective and nurturing towards you after all, are they?

[Agent Mulder]

I bet new underwear was required when he heard that!! LOL

 

did you get a name?

 

Yes, but I have no way of knowing whether it's his real one. I'm not sure how it is in the UK but when I lived in the states, DCA staff routinely used false names. People have guns over there.

[Agent Mulder]

Looking forward to hearing it on Youtube

 

You might get to read a transcript of it in the press in the not-too-distant future.

[fuzzybobble]

When it comes to abusing DCA staff, I have a nice surprise for Iqor in a 2 weeks time.

 

So far they have phoned 37 times,(until a harassment by telephone letter stopped them dead.)

 

Then I get around 7 threat-o-grams containing the usual DCA bowlarks.

 

Then I have them responding to 2 formal complaints involving 3 letters each for them to reply to.

 

Then they have to go begging to Halifax for a copy of the credit agreement which takes them over a month. They send the agreement and a pile of statements.

 

The agreement has no T&C's dispite 2 sections of them being referred to in the agreement. Also the agreement hasn't been signed by Halifax.

 

Sending me the statements has saved me a £10 SAR, as I need that to prove one of 3 things wrong with the default notice.

 

1, They only gave me 13 days to pay the arrears. It should be 14

 

2, The formatting of the critical points isn't done to the correct layout of the pescribed terms of a default notice.

 

3, The arrears on the account consist of mostly unlawful penalty charges.

 

All 3 of which make it improperly served.

 

Since the default notice, they terminated the agreement. So now all they can chase me for is about £200 arrears. But they owe me over £350 in charges and 12% interest on them.

 

So instead of Iqor thinking I'll be sending me some money, it looks like Halifax will be sending me some instead.

 

I'll start a new thread on this soon, as there's a few legal quotes and things I need some advice on.

 

Mainly being it states on the agreement "NO PAYMENT COVER INSURANCE" but on the statements they charge me PPI each month. Does this make the agreement unenforceable on it's own?

[jaxads]

Speaking of made up names ....

 

RED have Glenis Glover

LOWELLS have Samantha Swallow

 

.... they must be made up surely!!!

 

Fuzzybobble, great to see you're still keeping busy :D keep up the good work!!

[ScarletPimpernel]

Panorama viewers will remember Greenhalgh's Solicitors, the firm whose website (which features, appropriately, an image of a reptile on its home page) contained wording considered by OFT to be in breach of its guidance. The offending wording is gone - though they still say that they "won't listen to 'sob stories'".

 

Elsewhere on their rather poor site (who forgot to use the spellchecker?), they say that they don't employ "scripted puppets recruited from the fast food industry". So, confirmation from within the industry, if we needed it, of the type of people who work for DCAs.

[cerberusalert]

Speaking of made up names ....

 

 

LOWELLS have Samantha Swallow

 

.... they must be made up surely!!!

 

Fuzzybobble, great to see you're still keeping busy :D keep up the good work!!

 

Are you sure you didn't hear uncle Bob saying that in the background?

[Fred Bassett]

When it comes to abusing DCA staff, I have a nice surprise for Iqor in a 2 weeks time.

 

So far they have phoned 37 times,(until a harassment by telephone letter stopped them dead.)

 

Then I get around 7 threat-o-grams containing the usual DCA bowlarks.

 

Then I have them responding to 2 formal complaints involving 3 letters each for them to reply to.

 

Then they have to go begging to Halifax for a copy of the credit agreement which takes them over a month. They send the agreement and a pile of statements.

 

The agreement has no T&C's dispite 2 sections of them being referred to in the agreement. Also the agreement hasn't been signed by Halifax.

 

Sending me the statements has saved me a £10 SAR, as I need that to prove one of 3 things wrong with the default notice.

 

1, They only gave me 13 days to pay the arrears. It should be 14

 

2, The formatting of the critical points isn't done to the correct layout of the pescribed terms of a default notice.

 

3, The arrears on the account consist of mostly unlawful penalty charges.

 

All 3 of which make it improperly served.

 

Since the default notice, they terminated the agreement. So now all they can chase me for is about £200 arrears. But they owe me over £350 in charges and 12% interest on them.

 

So instead of Iqor thinking I'll be sending me some money, it looks like Halifax will be sending me some instead.

 

I'll start a new thread on this soon, as there's a few legal quotes and things I need some advice on.

 

Mainly being it states on the agreement "NO PAYMENT COVER INSURANCE" but on the statements they charge me PPI each month. Does this make the agreement unenforceable on it's own?

 

Sounds like they've got a watertight case to me Fuzzy.

 

Fred

[PGH7447]

Are you sure you didn't hear uncle Bob saying that in the background?

 

 

Took a few seconds!! but :D:D:D:D brilliant

[lickthewallfatboy]

I'm clearly missing something.....

[cerberusalert]

I'm clearly missing something.....

 

You must have had a sheltered life;-)