EOS Solutions harassment for Freemans Grattan (Otto). Late payment

[hollysmum]

Hello!

 

My partner inadvertently missed a payment (of only £30) for a watch he bought via mail order last year.

 

He realised right away, and phoned the mail order company right away to make the payment, and did so.

 

However, they'd been frighteningly quick to pass it on to EOS.

Since then, we've been telephoned regularly by some jumped up little twit (he doesn't appear to have a surname).

And has been told that the matter has been dealt with,

and to speak to the mail order company,

but he obviously doesn't understand plain English.

 

How long does a debt have to be outstanding before these companies hand them over to DCAs?

It seems like one or two days,

which is the maximum that my partner's payment was late!

 

I had the misfortune to get Joe on the phone last night,

and he told me how important it was that my partner called them,

and read out the phone number,

which I had no intention of writing down.

 

Then he said I had to repeat it to him!!!!

Even though I knew why he was calling,

I asked him several times to tell me why he wanted to speak to my partner,

and was told it was "a personal matter",

and that for reasons of data protection (!!) he couldn't tell me.

 

I suspect he is about 16!

I don't even know how they got my telephone number.

[Undercover-Elsa]

Hi Hollysmum

What's the position with the account at the moment? Is it paid up / still being paid / up to date with payments?

Elsa x

[hollysmum]

Hello, Elsa - it's up to date - my partner realised very quickly why the payment had been missed (his wages were paid in two days later than usual, which caused the upset), and phoned the mail order company right away, so his account is now as it should be.

[Undercover-Elsa]

Excellent. If it was me, I would now write by recorded delivery to the original company, heading it Formal Complaint. Explain what EOS are doing and demand that they contact them to put the record straight and stop them harrassing you. State that if you do not receive any satisfaction you will report the matter to Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading. Finish by asking for a copy of their complaints procedure and ask for a response within 7 working days.

 

 

Ignore EOS, don't speak to them on the phone, keep everything in writing from now on.

You could if you wish also CC the letter to them, just for good measure, whilst pointing out to them that their continued telephone calls for a non existant debt are deemed as harrassment and that all contact must be made in writing only for legal reasons.

 

Elsa x

[hollysmum]

Thanks for that, Elsa - we're happy that we know that there is nothing owing, so just find Joe an annoyance, but undoubtedly he will persist, so I shall be drafting a letter this afternoon. I just find it infuriating that no one seems willing to give you a few days' grace to sort out something like this - it's not like he'd ever missed a payment before, and it wasn't even his fault that this one was missed. We had no letter or phone call from the mail order people, either - that strikes me as a bit off. And all for just £30.....

[Bookworm]

When he phones, just refuse to go through security questions. That ends the conversation ever so quickly.

[Undercover-Elsa]

It's ludicrous. Probably down to computer error but getting an actual human to see sense and sort it out shouldn't be as stressful and problematical as it is. Makes me wonder if the slightly late payment triggered a penalty charge which is festering away unnoticed making the account appear behind with payments, even though your hubby is paying now.

See what they send in reply and keep us informed

[hollysmum]

I don't think there are any penalty charges,but I'll mention it to him this evening. Thank you all for your advice - I'll keep you posted.

[mtw1980]

Eos are part of the same group as Freemans Grattan (Otto). Is that who you ordered it with? If so, that would explain why it's been passed over so quickly.

 

If you've paid, then you've got nothing to worry about. If I were you, I'd contact the original creditor to let them know your case has incorrectly been passed on to a DCA - they'll soon put a stop to it!

[hollysmum]

Dear MTW - makes sense - it was one of those magazine type offers, and they're normally done by the big mail order boys. Funnily enough, we've heard no more from the obnoxious Joe! I think my man has only got a couple more payments anyway, so we'll soon be totally shot of it all. It still gets me how quick they are to hand these things over to a DCA before you've even had a reasonable chance to resolve it, especially when it was through no fault of your own, like in our case. The payment wasn't even a week overdue!