NCO Europe KEEP calling!

[bed32]

Surprise,

 

Could you expand on that "when their time is up" - I am new to this DCA lark (and I don't owe any money) and I am keen to make these people's lives as unpleasant as possible.

 

All hints gratefully received:)

[bed32]

The next action will be to report them to Trading Standards.

Err - and just what good will that do?

 

What is frustratingly apparent reading through this site is that people like Trading Standards (or the police) are as much use as a chocolate teapot when it comes to helping an individual.

 

NCO regularly flout all the guidelines and half the laws on the statue book but no one in authority seems to be able to do anything about it

 

If they get a couple of hundred complaints they may start an investigation, 3 or 4 years later they may take action.

[bed32]

i can assure u its not me telling porkies

but after reading OCD reply sound to me that the police just cant be bothered to investigate it properly and just really want to wash there hands of the case as no psyical abuse actually happened only threats

I think we need to be realistic about the resources available to the police, and their priorities.

 

I suspect that unless you can hand them most of the evidence on a plate then they are unlikely to do much in the way of investigation - it is not a serious crime (at least as a one off)

 

You might be better starting out with the "nuisance calls" team of the people who provide your telephone service to see whether they can find evidence of the call - and if so which number it came from.

[bed32]

I have just had a chat with OFCOM about these people. They particularly took note of the "silent calls" from the 0870 number. (I don't think there is ever anyone on the 0870 number)

 

I'd suggest that anyone else who is getting these calls also makes a complaint - that way we may get enough complaints for OFCOM to have a look at this.

[bed32]

bed- what contact details did you use for Offcom?

They have a complaints contact number listed on their website - 020 7981 3040. The chap I spoke to tried to be very helpful and give good advice (although I had heard it already).

 

He logged the details I gave him on the system but I am not so naive as to think they will take much action based on a single complaint,

[bed32]

I wonder what part of DO NOT CALL they dont understand

 

Have they an exemption under the Harrasment and Telegraphy Acts. The sooner somene prosecutes these twits the better

I'm determined to find some way at getting these guys into court - I've started a thread in the DCA section to see if anyone has any advice.

[bed32]

It's going to take someone with money to bring a private prosecution I think. I hope whoever does it also calls in the Press and tells them about the toothless tiger that is the OFT and Trading Standards.

I don't see that happening. You cannot even bring a private prosecution under the Communications Act 2003 and I think it would be very difficult to win a criminal case under say the Admin of Justice act without the investigatory powers (e.g. RIP) of the police:x

 

BUT if we can find a civil formula to get damages out of these people that would force them to change.

[bed32]

You can bring a private prosecution as far as I know in respect of ANY offence. If the CPS won't bring one you are within your rights to do so; however it's going to cost a lot of money. Like you say though; without investigatory powers you're going to find it difficult to get the evidence together without a PI (which can only add a fortune to the cost).

No - it is written into the Communications Act 2003 that prosecutions can only be brought by OFCOM or with the permission of the DPP.

 

Great shame because that has by far the best wording as it refers to annoyance rather than harassment. I am now searching around for arguments as to why the frequent phone calls constitute harassment within the meaning of the Act

[bed32]

I'm not sure you need the Communications Act to prove that; the Protection from Harrassment Act is sufficient. S1.

The problem is a lack of legal definition of what constitutes harassment - NCO could admit the behaviour but claim that it is not harassment (in fact that is the only defence they have - they can hardly deny the calls)

[bed32]

In addition to ODC's comment there is now a fairly substantial body of precedent around harrassment for Judges to draw upon when deciding the merits of a case; and the CPS/DPP seem to be quite sensible about the interpretation of the Law when they decide whether or not to prosecute.

Is any of that available to us as laymen?

 

It would be useful to know what the courts have previously ruled does and does not represent harassment before deciding to take that approach either as a civil action or to get the police interested in a prosecution

[bed32]

Just keep details of all their calls. As I said before if you feel harrased that is sufficient. Its the same as an assault. A person does not have to phsically touch you to commit asssault, the mere fear of them doing it is enough. The DCAs will argu that tehey can phone you 3 or 4 times a day. If you feel Harrased send them the letter and then they are in NO doubt as to how you feel, Everyone is different. ONE call from these bullies could be enough for some people to push them over the edge.

We'll see - I am going to try to use the Protection from Harassment Act to claim damages from these people (although I will also hedge my bets with the DPA) and I am also considering a similar claim against Orange who erroneously passed the information on to NCO in the first place.

 

The problem is that action under the act needs to follow the 'Part 8 Procedure' which is not the conventional N1 / Small Claims route. AIUI that will require me to do more homework before filing the Claim

[bed32]

What part of the Act allows you to claim damages in the absence of a conviction for Harrassment? (Sorry - I'm a layman too - as regards precedent I'm quoting almost word for word what the MOD Policeman who dealt with my case mentioned earlier said to me). All I've needed to know so far is s.1 of the Act...

Section 3 of the act allows for civil action for breach of section 1. That allows a civil court to issue an injunction and award damages. As far as I can tell it is the only civil remedy.

 

If a claim under s3 is successful that will give an excellent way of stopping these guys. NCO can't deny the calls, and I don't think they can try "reasonable behaviour" so the only way they could defend the claim would be to say that their actions didn't amount to harassment.

 

So in order to complete the case I need whatever justification I can find that continuing to call once they've been asked to stop amounts to harassment.

[bed32]

I have recieved two post cards from NCO Europe saying they are coming round to my house, and today I had a knock at the door ( didnt answer it though), by the time I opened my front door the person had gone. What are the chances it was the rep from NCO ?????.

I thought NCO always said they would call on Tuesday?

 

I have never heard of the NCO rep turning up

[bed32]

We went round like this for 10 minutes or so, at which point I was reading up about NCO Europe on this very forum. It turns out that they have no field staff, meaning the calling cards that they post through the door demanding full payments to a burley bailiff the next day, are fakes, no one will ever come to your door. This causes a great deal of worry but is apparently legal.

On the contrary - I think that that is almost certainly not legal - and will amount to harassment. As they have no field staff the only purpose of those cards is to cause anxiety - and that is harassment - contrary to the Administration of Justice act and the Protection from Harassment Act.

 

I recently had an issue with NCO (in my case over money I did not owe - it was an error by Orange). I firstly complained to Orange and then when it continued took court action against Orange - that worked, they agreed to "write off" the debt and paid costs and compensation.

[bed32]

In my view the companies who employ the DCAs are every bit as guilty for the harassment as NCO are themselves (if not more so). If we want to put these sharks out of business then we need to stop the Creditors dealing with them. Sending money direct to Cap One once NCO have contacted them will encourage them to think that the harassment works

[bed32]

The only way to do this is to makes the relationship untenable. The Banks and Credit card companies are responsible to shareholders and cannot do with the adverse publicity generated by the activities of the DCAs

I would say there is not much better way of making the relationship untenable than for the OC to be faced with a string of court cases resulting from the behaviour of the DCAs.

 

Faced with issues with NCO I took action against the OC (Orange) which they agreed to settle. If a few more people did the same then the OCs would think twice about using the less reputable DCAs