Accompanied Doorstep Collections.

[longroad]

Got to say I agree with this. Not all agents are fiddlers but you never know which are and which arent so be very careful. No matter how nice and friendly and honest your agent seems to be always make sure they sign your payment book and check they have entered the correct date which will be the Saturdays date and the correct amount. Never part with your book without a signed recipts stating the remaining balances and preferably keep copies.

 

A few years ago my wife had a Provi loan which she paid off. A few months down the line she received a letter from their head office demanding the balance due. There was no balance due & she had the payment book to prove it, yet they insisted that £xxx amount was due & unless payment was received etc., etc.

 

Anyway, after several letters, emails & 'phone calls from yours truly they 'told' me to send the payment book to them to be audited......as if. 'No chance' was my reply, although not as succinctly as that & embelished with a few well chosen Anglo-Saxon expletives. If they wanted to audit the payment book they could get their sorry asses here & then they could do it. Literally within the hour a manager turned up at my door & after examining it decided that it would need to go to head office. As it happened I had already scanned the book onto a 'floppy' and that's what the sorry soul left with.

 

A few days later I received an apologetic letter saying that there had been an 'administrative error' and my wife had in fact overpaid by £xx amount & please find enclosed cheque. The irony was that the agent involved was never seen again (she used to collect from my daughter too & suddenly stopped).

 

The moral of the story....check those repayment books with a fine toothcomb & no matter how nice they may seem trust collection agents as far as you can throw them.

[lillymay34]

hi all

 

i have just had my regular collector from provident calling, asking if i had had a letter re littlewoods debt from 6 years ago, i just flipped on her and i have known her for years i am so annoyed and to top it off she said would you like to have a loan to pay it off no interest and £80 off the debt, i am so annoyed, she looked worried also as i have said i have known her for years, i am writing to the OFT this is terrible

[longroad]

Its called Fresh Start and its perfectly legal. Perhaps her choice of words are wrong as it isnt a loan as such. Basically Provident have bought old debt and are trying to get people to sign up to paying them and they are offering it interest free and with a reduction. If you are planning to pay the debt off then I would say go for it as you are getting it reduced but be careful not to fall into the trap they are planning on people doing and becoming a regular customer in future.

 

Agents always get the backlash being the one face to face with the customers but they are only doing what their managers have told them to do and they are not getting paid for converting you. This all comes from head office and agents and managers are not exactly pleased to be asking people to do this and even less so when they get people flipping on them.

[sillygirl1]

Sorry Longroad but it ISNT legal to collect on a 6 yerar old debt just by asking at the door. If the debt is statute barred Provident should NOT be collecting on it without a court order.

 

You really need to read some of the other Provident threads where this has been discussed. The days of the doorstep debt collector are now becoming numbered....

 

Provident are nothing more than loan sharks and need to be avioded at all costs, they do not operate 'ethically', perfect example is the above scheme - if they come round here the collector will be reported to the police and all relevant authorites including the taxman.

[longroad]

Sorry I hadnt realised it was a 6yr old debt.

 

I have read all the Provident threads on here and dont see how the days of the doorstep collector are numbered. Provident is as busy as ever and whilst there are still people choosing to pay their rates they will still be here providing their service. I thought loan sharks were unregulated.

 

Not sure why you would report a collected to the poilce or the taxman, perhaps you could explain that futher.

[cerberusalert]

Debt collection guidance - Final guidance on unfair business practices - oft664

Page 9

Physical/psychological harassment

 

Section 2.6 b.

 

pressurising debtors to sell property, to raise funds by further

borrowing or to extend their borrowing

[sillygirl1]

Demanding money at the doorstep (with or withouth menaces) for one on a debt that is unenforceable... that is one reason to report them.

 

I challenge alleged debts now and have had five debts passed from pillar to post when the original creditor failed to pass on that I had paid in full some time ago - five so far this year - hence the reason I am climbing out of the debt mountain.

 

We are entitled to our own opinions and I really feel that it is time the doorstep collectors ARE regulated, ie the no of hours they work, the fact that many actually DON'T get paid for the work they do and the fact that some collectors have been turning up with accompanied children. Is this the sign of an ethical business?

 

If you want to get into discussion on this I think you should start another thread where we can discuss our 'findings' with you.

[longroad]

I already said I hadnt realised the debt was 6yrs old. I thought you meant they should be reported just for collecting.

 

I agree everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I havnt said otherwise. Provident agents are regulated and work under the Providents licenses. Im not sure what the number of hours have got to do with anything and I dont know which ones dont get paid but provident agents do get paid a commission based on what they collect and not what they sell. Agents are self employed and there is nothing in the company manual to say they cant collect with children. An agent knows her customers well enough to make the choice of if she taker her kids with her or not. Some customers have been on many many years and love to see the agents kids.

 

I am happy to discuss this on this thread or indeed another if you so wish. I am not out to cause bad feeling, I merely gave my opinion based on the knowledge I have.

[minmac]

I had someone bring her kids to try to collect from me. I believe it was to try to guilt me into paying as I hadnt paid anything and didnt intend to pay. I half expected one of the kids to say "please pay so we dont have to live on bread and water", from the doe eyed looks I was getting. But I stuck to my guns and told her to get lost. I did feel guilty and can see that someone with a softer heart might have coughed up.

Edited September 18, 2009 by minmac

[sillygirl1]

Thanks for the reply Longroad, forgive me if I seem a bit 'ratty', I've got flu at the moment and am on Tamiflu, don't think I have swine flu but the GP said to ring the helpline and they've deemed it prudent to put me on the stuff... nowhere near as bad as I was in November last year.... a new thread might be a good idea...

[mr.ton]

I had someone bring her kids to try to collect from me. I believe it was to try to guilt me into paying as I hadnt paid anything and didnt intend to pay. I have expected one of the kids to say "please pay so we dont have to live on bread and water", from the doe eyed looks I was getting. But I stuck to my guns and told her to get lost. I did feel guilty and can see that someone with a softer heart might have coughed up.

 

What the.......

[marie6666red]

just to cheer you up sillygirl, i have had a letter this morning from a dca, trying to collect on a debt from 1988!!!! DONT YOU JUST LUV EM.

[sillygirl1]

I've asked for all the posts from 7th Septe on this thread to be moved to a new thread "Accompanied Doorstep Collectors"

 

It clearly is a practice that should be condoned - psychological harrassment comes to mind here - if I don't get paid my kids don't get fed type thing.

 

As for hours, don't get me on the Working Time Directive which is there for a reason - again if collectors are out late at night with kids the kids aren't getting the best 'care' they need are they?

[lillymay34]

Hi all

 

i'm glad sillygirl1 said that as it does not seem legal to me, she was shocked to say the least, but i explained to her what i have said on here and she just said ok then i'll tell the office, also i am sure i am supposed to know if a debt of mine is sold? but as stated if it's over 6 years old then they can go whistle

[longroad]

Sillygirl I dont know what the working time directive says but I am assuming you think agents are working lots of hours per week. Is that correct?

 

I dont agree that collectors should have their kids out late at night collecting either. Sometimes it cant be avoided with a lack of childcare or whatever and believe me an agent has no choice with very little or no support whatsoever from a manager.

[sillygirl1]

The working time directive says nobody should work more than 45 hours per week. It's a European directive and BRitain has an opt out clause very sadly in my opinion.

 

The whole issue of people having two or three 'commission only' jobs to get round the 'rules' comes into play here and again if ALL doorstep collectors were subject to the same sort of draconian licencing that parents taking kids on schooltrips go through the better this practice will become.

 

We've heard tales on here of people collecting for mulitple companies at the same time... surely that is a clash of interest and is again intimidatory.

 

Who wants to open their door and be faced with a person with a necklace of about 6 or more ID cards... makes a mockery of the cards themselves.

[minmac]

Well they could at least leave the kids in the car!!!

 

My sister has a lady from shop a check collect from her and she is as nice as anything, even when my sister was between jobs and didnt pay for weeks on end all the agent would say is ' thats ok, just txt me so I know not to come etc.

 

Now when I stopped paying my provi I got hounded to death with txts and calls from her. She was all nicey nicey when she was getting paid so nice she nearly made my xmas card list a few times, but hell hath no fury like an unpaid provi agent. Even the odd time I used to say I cant pay this week she would act like I just reduced her income to £0.

 

I had enough of her and her jeckell and hyde routime.

[longroad]

I cant say I know any agents who work that kind of hours. You are lucky if they work 20hours per week

 

As for collecting for more than one company then please report them as they are not allowed do to this unless of course they have a credit licence themselves and I would doubt that many have as it costs a fair whack to get one.

 

Provident own Greenwoods and an agent from one company should never collect a payment for the other company even as a favour for another agent. It happens because niave agents are not aware they shouldnt do this and the managers just let them do it as to them its another collection sorted. I know agents get a really bad press but they arent all bad and they are just trying to make money to pay their bills like the rest of us.

[lillymay34]

I am so annoyed not only that but the cheeky S*d made sure my neighbours knew all about it? and she never normally behaves like that so i think she sis know what she was doing, and i am going to report it defo and she soes have kids but thank god she never brings them, but i have heard that she just collects her hubby does all the figures and everything else