Capquest and an OD 'debt' - I must comply with their phone calls!

[paulh1818]

Hi, capquest called a couple of days ago regarding an overdraft debt that has been passed to them and I politely declined to confirm my details. Here are some highlights from a letter I received today...

 

'On a very recent telephone attempt to contact you, it has been reported that you refused to assist our agent by supplying or answering details to confirm that they were indeed speaking to you and as a consequence the call had to be terminated.

Your account will be passed back to the appropriate department to recommence the collection cycle, where telephone activity will commence. Any failure to comply in the future with the verification process will see your account fast tracked to the end point of the collection process which may mean legal action is taken against you.'

 

I will start making payments to this debt but I am tempted to wait for them to call so I can refuse again. I'm curious about this 'fast tracking' they speak of. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks.

 

Paul

[alfwithhair]

All hot air.

Usual DCA cobblers to get you to make a payment.

If I rang you and said " its alf from alf's collection service, give me all your personal details." You would tell me to bugger off.

 

Do the same to Crapyquest. You don't have to tell them anything. personally I wouldn't pay them anything either, but thats up to you.

[cerberusalert]

I'm surprised they didn't threaten to send you to the naughty step.

 

You are under no obligation to speak to them, nor have they any legal right to come to your property in the guise of a 'doorstep collector'.

[paulh1818]

Thanks guys. I'm not really worried about this, I just thought I'd share this with cag because it seemed like a fairly unique threat for a dca. They are basically saying ''stop mucking about or we'll 'ave ya''

[ScarletPimpernel]

Poor old Capquest, ever more desperate!

 

I suggest that you write to them, making your position clear:

 

Dear Curs

 

I refer to your letter dated xxxxx, the content of which is noted.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not discuss financial matters on the telephone, and I do not provide personal details in response to unsolicited calls. I also do not respond to threats or bullying such you demonstrate in your letter.

 

I require all communication from you to be in writing only. Any further contact by telephone from you will be construed as harassment, and reported accordingly.

 

I do hope the situation is now perfectly clear, but if there is any part you do not understand, you should contact me for clarification, or seek professional advice.

 

Yours etc.

[paulh1818]

That letter is perfect and will be on its way shortly. Thank you.

[Crocdoc]

This is obviously impacting on them as I understand that voluntary agencies are also advising client's not to enter into telephone conversation with collection agents or provide personal details over the telephone.

I note with interest that the word MAY is still icluded in the legal threat. Furthermore, I wonder how a court would react to a collection agent who refuses to conduct all contact in writing.

[ScarletPimpernel]

Several companies, including MBNA and a number of DCAs have routinely used the 'we're a telephone-based company' in the past. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now.

 

Ask a DCA drone for their full name - they won't give it. Ask why, and they say 'it's company policy'. What they never understand is that whilst it's perfectly acceptable for a company to have that policy, it's also perfectly acceptable for an individual to have a policy of not disclosing personal data too.

[NailPost]

Is this a debt which you recognose and have all the relevant paperwork? If not why not demand it from Crapquest. pointing out thast until theri paperwork is in order they won't be seeing any folding stuff from you.

[BazzaS]

Poor old Capquest, ever more desperate!

 

I suggest that you write to them, making your position clear

 

Originally Posted by :

Dear Curs

 

I refer to your letter dated xxxxx, the content of which is noted.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not discuss financial matters on the telephone, and I do not provide personal details in response to unsolicited calls. I also do not respond to threats or bullying such you demonstrate in your letter.

 

I require all communication from you to be in writing only. Any further contact by telephone from you will be construed as harassment, and reported accordingly.

 

I do hope the situation is now perfectly clear, but if there is any part you do not understand, you should contact me for clarification, or seek professional advice.

 

Yours etc

:

That seems good advice.

 

I'm not seriously advocating it, but: If you are in a mischievous mood:

 

You could add "if you choose to contact me for clarification, I reserve the right to charge you for advice at my professional rate, please confirm that you accept this, in writing.

If you call rather than write for such advice, any frequent calls or calls outside of normal working hours may still be classed as harrassment, for other calls you will still be liable for my fee, the call may be monitored or recorded for training or security purposes, and you may be asked to go through account verification \ security questions. Calling me will imply acceptance of these conditions"

 

Useful (somewhat random) security questions might include:

What was the name of your first boy/girlfriend's mother's 3rd pet dog?

Which is the 25th / 31st (or whatever) prime number?

Name the administrative districts (with the major city of each) of Burkino Fasso ....... And so on.

 

If they don't answer correctly and quickly ... "I'm afraid you've failed account security" .... "Goodbye!"

Edited March 28, 2012 by BazzaS

[Michelangelo48]

Excellent stuff boys! Love the dry humour! Is a consultancy fee of €40/hr to much too ask! Hehe! BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT-Yanks!!

[rockwell304]

Excellent stuff boys! Love the dry humour! Is a consultancy fee of €40/hr to much too ask! Hehe! BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT-Yanks!!

 

Not at all, I charge £35 per letter/phone call to DCA's who have the temerity to bother me!

[Fred Bassett]

I think this show the success that sites like this are having in fighting DCAs. We all know that companies like Capquest have only one weapon and that is bullying. They can't bully if they can't talk to you on the 'phone, so now they resort to trying to bully you by letter in order that they can then get to bully you by 'phone. I think we're winning. I also think we should spend as much time as possible in winding these idiots up and wasting their time. It's already starting to have an effect.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Fred Bassett

[BazzaS]

Not at all, I charge £35 per letter/phone call to DCA's who have the temerity to bother me!

 

Well, I could have added "these terms apply even if not read by you", (as one DCA has claimed in the past), but I think that'd be stretching the envelope too far

[Michelangelo48]

Not really! Its just tit4tat in any game of psych warfare!

[intend]

I feel cheated now I only threatened to charge them £20 per letter recieved or duplicate sent to them. Last letter was from Mike Daniels MD offerring a 30% credit to account on every payment made with the note this is not a gimmick.

 

How tempted to write offering them 33% discount on the £20 I want off them. !st class muppetts!!

 

Intend

[sillygirl1]

I do a nice letterhead stating 'XXX Secretarial Service" or similar and let them have the following

 

 

Please note my fees are

 

£10 per letter received - this is for scanning, file retrevial and archiving

£19.25 - this is the Litigant in Person rate for research, approximately 1 hour per letter

£10 per letter sent - this is for printer ink, paper, printer maintenance/insurance etc

Telephone calls are not accepted and security questions will not be answered

[intend]

Nice one sillygirl -yours plus the "Valid even if not read by you" should amuse all.

 

Have they ever paid up??

[ScarletPimpernel]

I cannot recommend actually trying to charge a DCA for dealing with their letters, though it is highly amusing. The reason is that if the matter ever goes to court, it makes it look as if you are not being reasonable and/or taking it seriously. keeping it straight makes you look like the paragon of virtue and reasonableness that you want the judge to see.

 

However, I have had some success in charging companies who send unsolicited letters for processing (i.e. putting in the bin), anything they send after I've told them to remove me from their database.

[jdes26]

I ignored everyone all 50plus of them in four weeks

They got the message

[huggy41]

what i tend to do is take mine into the local branch and ask them to forward it to head office useing internal mail with a little extra added. see below.

 

Edited March 29, 2012 by huggy41

[Fred Bassett]

I do a nice letterhead stating 'XXX Secretarial Service" or similar and let them have the following

 

 

Please note my fees are

 

£10 per letter received - this is for scanning, file retrevial and archiving

£19.25 - this is the Litigant in Person rate for research, approximately 1 hour per letter

£10 per letter sent - this is for printer ink, paper, printer maintenance/insurance etc

Telephone calls are not accepted and security questions will not be answered

 

I like that sillygirl and might start to use something similar.

 

Regards.

 

Fred

[sillygirl1]

Nope, not had any payments yet but generally it makes them push the 'stop' button. By listing what the charges are for I am justifying the cost - can they do the same. The £19.25 LIP charge is quite legitimate as it is 'statute' law!!! Play them at their own 'cost-effectiveness' game when necessary.

 

I am wondering what will happen with the stamp price increase, will it now spark an email revolution instead - in which case there are a few useful programs about which can 'automatically' email people every hour.

[paulh1818]

They are still calling me and I am still refusing to answer their questions. Keeps me entertained at least...

[unclebulgaria67]

They are still calling me and I am still refusing to answer their questions. Keeps me entertained at least...

 

Can you put on the voice of a small child. If you sound really young, they won't bother to even try asking any questions.

 

Give it a try and see if they ask you whether mummy or daddy are at home.