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ESB to take on a British thug firm to chase after 130.000 unpaid bills.

2

Comments

  • #52
    Gumbo
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,782 Mod ✭✭✭✭Gumbo


    Biggins wrote: »
    What is the story with them?
    I was told that currently you cannot request one to be installed but that only the ESB will stick one in if they consider you a risk of not paying up?
    (A friend asked for one and was refused. He then had to try 'crying' to them about his future inability to pay so they eventually put one in for him.)

    Very easy to get installed. Just ring up and tell them you have lost your job and want a card meter installed.

    My 2 mates got them. They give you a card that you simply top up in spar/centra etc etc

    you can look at the meter at any time and it tells you your balance remaining.

    I think a point to note is that ESB are not chasing somebody who owes €10 and passing the balance onto every next bill, it is people that oew a couple of hundred, but more importantly, have made no effert to reduce the bill, ie. weekly payment etc and have simply ignored payment scheme requests by ESB.


    I have no problem with this, if you didnt pay your UPC bill, your dissconnected after one month, end of!
    Run_to_da_hills wrote: »
    Would you see any British semi state body hiring republican thugs?, not a chance.

    So now your saying, BCW are Loyalist Thugs ?


  • #53
    prinz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Run_to_da_hills wrote: »
    Would you see any British semi state body hiring republican thugs?, not a chance.

    I don't see an Irish semi-state hiring loyalist thugs either. What's your point? This is no different to people shopping in Tesco or signing up to Sky TV. You don't want to deal with a British based debt collection agency? Pay you bills when they are due.


  • #54
    token101
    Registered Users Posts: 3,050 ✭✭✭token101


    Run_to_da_hills wrote: »
    We spent 800 years trying to get away from them and now Semi State bodies are letting them walk all over us again.

    Would you see any British semi state body hiring republican thugs?, not a chance.

    Letting who walk all over you? The British? BCW are a UK company, but they offices in Dublin aswell. So the guy calling you will be probably be based in Dublin, most likely in the same situation as the people he's calling, hating every minute of his **** job. They have bought the debt from ESB. It's got literally nothing whatsoever to do with colonialism. You're talking nonsense.


  • #55
    Biggins
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 34,567 ✭✭✭✭Biggins


    kceire wrote: »
    Very easy to get installed. Just ring up and tell them you have lost your job and want a card meter installed.

    My 2 mates got them. They give you a card that you simply top up in spar/centra etc etc

    you can look at the meter at any time and it tells you your balance remaining.

    Cheers for that good post.
    Do they charge for the installing of that meter?


  • #56
    Where To
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,455 ✭✭✭Where To


    What's the problem?
    Pay your bill and you have have nothing to worry about:)


  • #57
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    Run_to_da_hills wrote: »
    We spent 800 years trying to get away from them and now Semi State bodies are letting them walk all over us again.

    Would you see any British semi state body hiring republican thugs?, not a chance.

    As I said, Bord Gais use Emerald Isle Collections based in Dundalk. Aren't they all republican foot soldiers up there?

    (Nice trolling by the way)


  • #58
    donegal_road
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,281 ✭✭✭donegal_road


    I see that ESB have now introduced a new 'low user' extra charge for those of us that don't use enough electricity (probably to raise enough revenue to pay the Black and Tans)

    link to story

    you really couldn't make this stuff up if you tried


  • #59
    Paparazzo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,397 ✭✭✭Paparazzo


    Run_to_da_hills wrote: »
    We spent 800 years trying to get away from them and now Semi State bodies are letting them walk all over us again.

    Would you see any British semi state body hiring republican thugs?, not a chance.

    By "letting them walk all over us", you mean letting them ask for money that you owe them? Jesus wept! Does it matter if they're semi state? There's competition in the market, they have to compete with private companies and to be honest, you really have to make no efford to in paying your bill to get cut off. Now Airtricity on the other hand.....


  • #60
    Born to Die
    Closed Accounts Posts: 830 ✭✭✭Born to Die


    Will the UK debt collection company hire Irish residents?


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  • #61
    prinz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Born to Die wrote: »
    Will the UK debt collection company hire Irish residents?

    Collaborators Joe. Pitch-capping would be too good for them.


  • #62
    hogflem
    Registered Users Posts: 378 ✭✭hogflem


    Just don't open the door to them,they wont be as intimidating talking thru the letter box,even better if you have a rather large dog laying on the door step.


  • #63
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    Born to Die wrote: »
    Will the UK debt collection company hire Irish residents?

    Ask then http://www.bcwgroup.com/ireland_1.asp


  • #64
    Freddie59
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,679 ✭✭✭Freddie59


    maximoose wrote: »
    Illegal and doesn't happen.

    May I ask how you know this?


  • #65
    Crann na Beatha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,763 ✭✭✭✭Crann na Beatha


    This post has been deleted.


  • #66
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    Aquila wrote: »
    So if they come banging at your door looking for money and you tell them to **** off?what exactly can they do?

    Issue a summons, get a court order against you and come back with the Bailiffs?


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  • #67
    booboo88
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,107 ✭✭✭booboo88


    Run_to_da_hills wrote: »
    In another anti ESB rant, the ESB are to take on heavy handed British debt collectors (IE, Thugs, Bouncers want to be cops etc ) to tackle the problem of unpaid bills, Most of these so called debt collectors are the same breed of people you find at the door at any city centre nightclub. Certainly not the type of heavy handed people you want banging at your hall door at 6AM looking for cash.

    THE ESB promised last night that its customers would not be treated in a heavy-handed manner after it appointed a British debt-collection firm to chase down unpaid bills.

    More than 310,000 cash-strapped families have agreed to payment plans where they pay their electricity bills weekly because they are unable to meet the normal bills every two months.

    Of these, some 130,000 are in arrears on their ESB bills.

    Now Electric Ireland, as the ESB has been renamed, has brought in UK debt-recovery specialists BCW to take over its payment-collection operations for its 1.3 million customers.

    http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/esb-uses-uk-debt-collectors-as-130000-in-arrears-on-bills-3029085.html
    They have been using BCW for donkies?


  • #68
    Crann na Beatha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,763 ✭✭✭✭Crann na Beatha


    This post has been deleted.


  • #69
    Logical Fallacy
    Registered Users Posts: 5,933 ✭✭✭Logical Fallacy


    Run_to_da_hills wrote: »
    In another anti ESB rant, the ESB are to take on heavy handed British debt collectors (IE, Thugs, Bouncers want to be cops etc ) to tackle the problem of unpaid bills, Most of these so called debt collectors are the same breed of people you find at the door at any city centre nightclub. Certainly not the type of heavy handed people you want banging at your hall door at 6AM looking for cash.

    THE ESB promised last night that its customers would not be treated in a heavy-handed manner after it appointed a British debt-collection firm to chase down unpaid bills.

    More than 310,000 cash-strapped families have agreed to payment plans where they pay their electricity bills weekly because they are unable to meet the normal bills every two months.

    Of these, some 130,000 are in arrears on their ESB bills.

    Now Electric Ireland, as the ESB has been renamed, has brought in UK debt-recovery specialists BCW to take over its payment-collection operations for its 1.3 million customers.

    http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/esb-uses-uk-debt-collectors-as-130000-in-arrears-on-bills-3029085.html

    You need to watch less TV mate.


  • #70
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    Aquila wrote: »
    Really?

    If you owe a company money for unpaid bills, what other action can they take?


  • #71
    Kess73
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    Fratton Fred wrote: »
    Issue a summons, get a court order against you and come back with the Bailiffs?



    On what grounds? If the debt collecting agency does not own the debt, then how could that agency take legal action?

    Surely it would be up to who you have the contract with (ESB or whomever) to take legal action through the courts against you, not an agency that you have no debt with.

    My understanding was that is they don't own the debt, then all they are just collectors with no other powers or rights other than to ask you for payment in a manner that is legal.

    Am open to correction on that though.


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  • #72
    smash
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,809 ✭✭✭✭smash


    This article really pisses me off. At a time when people are crippled in the country they up their rates and then outsource a debt collection agency to a fkn UK based firm to start putting people under even more pressure.


  • #73
    maximoose
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,207 ✭✭✭maximoose


    Freddie59 wrote: »
    May I ask how you know this?


    Consumer Protection Code

    Page 17, point 35. Companies are well aware of this and none would be so stupid as to go hounding people at 6am FFS and invite their customers to sue them for harassment, what OP is saying is just typical scaremongering rubbish.


  • #74
    Shelflife
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,075 ✭✭✭Shelflife


    There are a couple of issues here, the esb have become very heavy handed lately, i personally know of two instances where the bill was 10 days late and they rang the elderly lady (who usually paid on time) and threatened her with disconnection and being sued, a simple could you please pay the bill would have sufficed but no they had to act the bully and scared the shi te out of the lady who even after paying was in fear of a summons.

    another instance where a friend of mine got into financial difficulties, i helped to sort her out and rang all her creditors to say that she would pay all her bills but just needed a bit of space and time, all bar one the esb were happy with this, they insisted that it be paid in full and straight away and then tried to force a payment plan that wasnt feasible down her throat.

    bullying tactics will work and scare the vulnerable, ive no problem with service being denied as long as all options have been used, there are those who cry poverty when they simply have their priorities wrong, i went into a tenant one day to tell him to pay the esb or they would cut him off and he said he could afford it, yet he had a huge plasma screen, sky dish, computer and internet in the corner, a can of bud and a fag in the hand and he couldnt afford the esb.

    this type seem to ruin it for those who are in genuine need of a break and a proper realistic plan.


  • #75
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    Kess73 wrote: »
    On what grounds? If the debt collecting agency does not own the debt, then how could that agency take legal action?

    Surely it would be up to who you have the contract with (ESB or whomever) to take legal action through the courts against you, not an agency that you have no debt with.

    My understanding was that is they don't own the debt, then all they are just collectors with no other powers or rights other than to ask you for payment in a manner that is legal.

    Am open to correction on that though.

    And if they do "Own" the debt?


  • #76
    Dubit10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 609 ✭✭✭Dubit10


    Fratton Fred wrote: »
    I agree. People should pay their electricity bills.

    They most likely could if they did'nt have to pay some bondholder from Paris or Frankfurt back with their hard earned wages but hey you already know this.


  • #77
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    Dubit10 wrote: »
    They most likely could if they did'nt have to pay some bondholder from Paris or Frankfurt back with their hard earned wages but hey you already know this.

    UK debt collection agency, called in because bond holders in Paris and Frankfurt want their money.

    Nothing like a bit of good old taking responsibility for your own problems.


  • #78
    gremha
    Closed Accounts Posts: 98 ✭✭gremha


    Fratton Fred wrote: »
    And if they do "Own" the debt?

    I don't think it's possible in Ireland to sell a debt (open to correction) & even it was, you don't have a contract with the new "owners" (not freeman bullcrap).

    You entered into a contract with the ESB to supply electricity & you would pay them for it. You still need to pay them for it. The other crowd are not supplying you with electricity, therefore you don't have a contract with them.


  • #79
    flash1080
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,017 ✭✭✭flash1080


    I've skimmed through the thread, and I must say I'm outraged that the ESB are hiring Unionist thugs to attack people who are in arrears.


  • #80
    the_syco
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,304 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    smash wrote: »
    then outsource a debt collection agency to a fkn UK based firm to start putting people under even more pressure.
    How many (legal) Irish debt collectors are left? I'd say most of them have gone out of business, as unless they buy the debt, they can't do anything to get the debt back if the debtor tells them to f**k off.


  • #81
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Shelflife wrote: »
    ...the esb have become very heavy handed lately...

    I've had direct experience of this also. Misplaced a bill, hadn't noticed, and got a very aggressive call from ESB about it, almost to the point where I'd feel I need to make a complaint about it.


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  • #82
    the_syco
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,304 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    flash1080 wrote: »
    I've skimmed through the thread, and I must say I'm outraged that the ESB are hiring Unionist thugs to attack people who are in arrears.
    Think that's bad? Many people now shop in Unionist thug shops rather than shop local! I tell ya Joe, those Tescos and Sky and and and... are just England invading us again :pac:

    Unionist thugs my arse. Try actually reading the thread will ya?


  • #83
    smash
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,809 ✭✭✭✭smash


    the_syco wrote: »
    they can't do anything to get the debt back if the debtor tells them to f**k off.

    And a UK company will change this how?


  • #84
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    gremha wrote: »
    I don't think it's possible in Ireland to sell a debt (open to correction) & even it was, you don't have a contract with the new "owners" (not freeman bullcrap).

    You entered into a contract with the ESB to supply electricity & you would pay them for it. You still need to pay them for it. The other crowd are not supplying you with electricity, therefore you don't have a contract with them.

    I guess they can still act as an agent though, just like a firm of solicitors would.


  • #85
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,972 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    The thread title is right up there with the apocryphal headline British Bus Runs Over Irish Woman.


  • #86
    steddyeddy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27,564 ✭✭✭✭steddyeddy


    Fratton Fred wrote: »
    Dubit10 wrote: »
    They most likely could if they did'nt have to pay some bondholder from Paris or Frankfurt back with their hard earned wages but hey you already know this.

    UK debt collection agency, called in because bond holders in Paris and Frankfurt want their money.

    Nothing like a bit of good old taking responsibility for your own problems.

    Ever hear of poverty Fred?


  • #87
    patwicklow
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,937 ✭✭✭patwicklow


    Micheal Collins will be turning in his grave....


  • #88
    Kess73
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    Fratton Fred wrote: »
    And if they do "Own" the debt?


    Well if the debt was directly owed then that would be a different story, but as the ESB is a semi state company and is the body that would have a contract with the people who owed the money I am not sure that the ESB could pick and choose to sell the debt of some customers and not the debt of all.

    Afterall if they could sell the debt of one customer and that one customer found out that there was another customer who was in the same amount of debt and who offered to repay the ESB back in reduced payments but who did not have the debt sold on, then the ESB would be leaving themselves open to all sorts of appeals.

    From what I can gather the selling of debt etc is quite different here to the UK, so if BMC try some of the tactics they have done in the UK then they will not have a legal leg to stand on.

    Does not really matter what Debt agency the ESB hire, the laws of the land have to be obeyed by all sides regardless.


  • #89
    smash
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,809 ✭✭✭✭smash


    Nodin wrote: »
    Is there no such thing as an Irish debt collection agency...?
    I believe the viper set one up a while back...


  • #90
    prinz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    patwicklow wrote: »
    Micheal Collins will be turning in his grave....

    Indeed he would be, I am sure he'd have thought we'd have grown up a bit by now and wouldn't have to listen to the shíte that's being spouted about black and tans and thugs etc, because a legal British parent company is involved. I'm off to Tesco later to do some shopping, I'll be sure to let the cashier know what she is when she asks me to pay.


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  • #91
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    From reading this thread, it seems to me that debt collectors (not all, but working on behalf of some companies) have no power what so ever when it comes to forcing you to pay?

    So, if you owe ESB money, and they hire debt collectors and the debt collectors come to your door, as said above, just to them to get of your land, or they will be charged?


  • #92
    Run_to_da_hills
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,009 ✭✭✭✭Run_to_da_hills


    patwicklow wrote: »
    Micheal Collins will be turning in his grave....
    He has been rotating in his grave ever since Ireland Joined the EEC in 1973. :)


  • #93
    maximoose
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,207 ✭✭✭maximoose


    Deleted User wrote: »
    From reading this thread, it seems to me that debt collectors (not all, but working on behalf of some companies) have no power what so ever when it comes to forcing you to pay?

    Vast majority of the time you are correct, yes. They can't force you to pay at all. What they are there for is to make face to face contact with people who are avoiding calls from the company, and to put more pressure/intimidate them to pay.

    When the Debt Collectors don't work, the company will then probably go legal against the non paying customer, in a court that can force them to pay.


  • #94
    previous user
    Registered Users Posts: 1,024 ✭✭✭previous user


    patwicklow wrote: »
    Micheal Collins will be turning in his grave....
    maybe we could harness that energy


  • #95
    SEPT 23 1989
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,028 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    The Wolfe Tones didn't die for this:(


  • #96
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    steddyeddy wrote: »
    Ever hear of poverty Fred?

    Oh please.

    If people are struggling then they should talk to the debt collection agencies and come to a deal, or better still talk to MABS, not just ignore their bills and tell everyone who wants their money repaid to **** off.

    Its called taking responsibility for your own actions.

    Blaming the Germans/French/British/Greeks/Fianns Fail or whoever is putting your head in the sand.


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  • #97
    twinytwo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,338 ✭✭✭twinytwo


    gremha wrote: »
    People need to know that unless a debt collection agency own the debt, they have no power at all in Ireland (apart from intimidation), they are simply hired collectors.

    Ireland is not like the UK where debt collectors can seize goods. The companies operating in Ireland rely on peoples ignorance of Irish law to frighten people into paying up - too many Irish people think that they have UK style powers. They have so little power that a debtor can simply verbally bar them from entering his/her property and call the Gardai to remove them for committing criminal trespass if they they do call.

    even if they do own the debt, unless they have a guard with them you can tell them to Fcuk off


  • #98
    Dubit10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 609 ✭✭✭Dubit10


    steddyeddy wrote: »
    Ever hear of poverty Fred?

    Everyone is loaded in Fredland.


  • #99
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    Dubit10 wrote: »
    Everyone is loaded in Fredland.

    Insert roll eyes smiley here.


  • #100
    Doc Ruby
    Registered Users Posts: 3,956 ✭✭✭Doc Ruby


    twinytwo wrote: »
    even if they do own the debt, unless they have a guard with them you can tell them to Fcuk off
    Even if they have a guard with them they need a bailiff and a court order as well.


  • #101
    prinz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Dubit10 wrote: »
    Everyone is loaded in Fredland.

    You don't have to be loaded to pay your basic energy bills for crying out loud.


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