Agressive Calling for Bill Payment

Heroditas

braenard wrote: »

I have warned them that if it continues I will be changing service and contacting the relevant people and reporting them for harassment...

You'll still owe the money though.
And if you think Electric Ireland are aggressive, just wait until you switch to someone else.

Madam_X

Pre-pay even 3 euro a week for two months, then 25 euro will be paid when the bill is issued. I really do not see the logic in waiting to see what the total is when you could reduce it before the bill arrives.

Yeh I think you have to have any balance cleared before you can switch providers.

oconnormj

I have asked Electric Ireland on six occasions to correspond with me only in writing. They have ignored all of my requests despite my rights under the data protection act.

What I find extremely worrying about their practice is that they are calling people unsolicited, asking for the first line of the address and then without taking a breath asking for credit card or laser card details. I refuse to give out such details during an unsolicited phone call. Isn't that what we are told to do again and again by banks etc. In fact, a gentleman from electric ireland called me last month to offer me a 10% discount for being a long standing customer, then asked for credit card details. I again refused to engage and asked him to send me a letter. It never arrived.

This behaviour is setting an extremely worrying precedent. I am certain that it won't be long before scammers pick up on this and start targeting the elderly etc for credit card details by pretending to call from electric ireland.

The practice of asking for credit card details during an unsolicited call is immoral. Full stop! Can anyone inform me which is the correct agency to complain to?

Also, for anyone who has been contacted by electric ireland more than once in any three day period, they are breaching their code of practice.
"Each attempt to contact the customer will take place no less than 3 working days apart." from the Code of Practice for billing and payments
https://www.electricireland.ie/ei/home/EI-COP-BillingPayments.pdf

You should complain. If they do not resolve your complaint adequately within ten days you are entitled to €40 according to their customer charter.
https://www.electricireland.ie/ei/home/EI-CustomerCharter.pdf

Electric Ireland: David

Hi oconnormj,

We ask the customer to confirm the first line of their address to ensure we are speaking to the correct individual. If you are ever in doubt as to the authenticity of a call, it is recommended you terminate the call and contact us on 1850 372 372 and speak to an agent. A record of the call will exist on our system if that call was genuinely from Electric Ireland.

oconnormj wrote:

The practice of asking for credit card details during an unsolicited call is immoral. Full stop! Can anyone inform me which is the correct agency to complain to?

If you like I can submit a complaint on your behalf. I would need you to send me your account details via PM. You also have the option of contacting CER, but they recommend you seek resolution with the supplier first.

Thanks,

David.

snow1

Anyone that calls me with number withheld and asks for the first line of my address or confirm my number or any other personal information gets dealt with abruptly if they can't clearly identify who they are. If a supplier of mine calls me, they know my details and it is they that should be proving they are legit not the other way around. The easiest way to deal with the ESB is to pay what you owe and move to a nicer company to deal with... aertricity...?

Barry0

BostonB wrote: »

They were very aggressive and I'm using to dealing with difficult people on the phone. I said simply forgotten about it, and would pay it later online, they insisted I pay it there and then by CC. Which I refused and ended the phone call.

That's because it's not Electric Ireland calling you, it's someone from the BCW Debt Collection Agency who's pretending to be from Electric Ireland.

If you pay it later online, the money goes straight to Electric Ireland and BCW don't get their percentage.

If you pay it right there on the phone by CC, BCW have "collected the debt on behalf of Electric Ireland" and can claim their percentage and administration fee.

BostonB

Ah penny drops, that certainly explains it.

eyeball kid

Barry0 wrote: »

That's because it's not Electric Ireland calling you, it's someone from the BCW Debt Collection Agency who's pretending to be from Electric Ireland.

If you pay it later online, the money goes straight to Electric Ireland and BCW don't get their percentage.

If you pay it right there on the phone by CC, BCW have "collected the debt on behalf of Electric Ireland" and can claim their percentage and administration fee.

Can anyone from Electric Ireland confirm if this is true?

EI: Una

eyeball kid wrote: »

Can anyone from Electric Ireland confirm if this is true?

Hi Eyeball kid,

Yes, in 2011 Electric Ireland appointed The BCW Group as agents for debt recovery activity. This followed a European wide competitive tender (as required by EU law) to provide companies with the opportunity to compete to manage this and credit management. All companies that tendered were thoroughly vetted and BCW were successful in their bid, and support Electric Ireland's business through improved processes delivered through BCW's state-of-the-art systems and technology. This includes the facility to collect debt on Electric Ireland's behalf and any payments taken by BCW are credited to the customer's Electric Ireland account overnight.

We can also confirm that all outgoing BCW debt-related calls are now displaying their contact telephone number.

We have worked with BCW since 2003 and they are familiar with our sympathetic approach to customers experiencing difficulty paying their bills and the range of options we use to resolve these problems.

If you are experiencing difficulty paying, do contact us (here on Boards.ie by private message if you wish) in order to let us know/come to an arrangement, e.g. a payment plan.

Regards,
Una

eyeball kid

Thanks for the clarification Una.

That does explain the phone call I got today. I'm abroad at the moment so didn't even know a bill came in.
Some fella rings me saying he's from Electric Ireland and asking me to confirm my DOB. Eh, sorry but I'm not confirming anything to an unsolicited phone caller, thank you very much. Poor lad seemed very concerned about this as he informed me that under the Data Protection Act, we wouldn't be able to continue the conversation.
Ah well, he could have been my new best friend but we'll never know now

By the way, if I had known it was a debt collection agency, he definitely wouldn't have got payment there and there. I'll pay it online, thanks.

EI: Una

eyeball kid wrote: »

Thanks for the clarification Una.

That does explain the phone call I got today. I'm abroad at the moment so didn't even know a bill came in.
Some fella rings me saying he's from Electric Ireland and asking me to confirm my DOB. Eh, sorry but I'm not confirming anything to an unsolicited phone caller, thank you very much. Poor lad seemed very concerned about this as he informed me that under the Data Protection Act, we wouldn't be able to continue the conversation.
Ah well, he could have been my new best friend but we'll never know now

By the way, if I had known it was a debt collection agency, he definitely wouldn't have got payment there and there. I'll pay it online, thanks.

If you like, forward us your details by private message: Electric Ireland account number and your name/address/contact telephone number as they appear on your account.

Regards,
Una

Yve1

The majority of the time I am in credit with Electric Ireland. On the odd occasion - we are talking perhaps once or twice a year, I could have an amount outstanding with Electric Ireland for a week or two at most. Today I received a call from a very aggressive man calling from 018035145 purporting to be calling from Electric Ireland and DEMANDING payment be made then and there by Visa, Mastercard, etc. OVER THE PHONE for a bill issued 15th February 2014 in the sum of E144. A proportion of that bill was already paid online on Wednesday, but the man did not have a record of that, with an intention to pay the balance this afternoon over the internet. As previously mentioned the account is generally always in credit i.e. Electric Ireland owe me money.

This is extraordinary. Never from any supplier of goods or services have I seen such aggressive tactics used, so soon after the bill has issued and towards a faithful customer. And imagine with all the internet fraud around now a days, they think it is proper practice to DEMAND payment then and there over the phone. 

I dread to think of elderly people and how scared they must feel when treated in such a way by Electric Ireland. 

As the majority of the time I am in credit with Electric Ireland I wish to remove all contact numbers and to not be contacted by Electric Ireland in this way again. Can you please advise. To be treated this way by Electric Ireland is extremely upsetting.

EI: Una

Hi Yve1,

We are very sorry to read that you are unhappy with how the matter was approached.

The payment you made on Wednesday will reach your Electric Ireland account shortly.

If you could private message us your Electric Ireland account number and your name/address/telephone number, we will investigate for you. We can only discuss account details with the account-holder, so do please include a note in your message that you are the account-holder.

Kind regards,
Una

TruthEnforcer

OK then .. so now that we understand these 'unsolicited calls are coming from a third party (pivate Company) .. what are the legal requirements of such companies in contacting you ? 


I would presume they are entitled to have your private details and were given them by Electric Ireland ?


I would also presume that they should by law state who they are to you and NOT claim to be from Electic Ireland ?


Why didn't Ms EI state this from the beginning of the topic instead of witing until another pointed it out .... 

Electric Ireland: Brige N

Hi there,
 
Thanks for getting in touch.
 
In the instances where a balance is outstanding on an Electric Ireland account for a period of time, a member of the Electric Ireland Credit Control team may call the customer regarding their payment options. The Credit Control team is part of a third party partner working on behalf of Electric Ireland, and as such allows Electric Ireland to share customer data with them so that they may complete this task.
 
When making these calls, they are contractually obligated to advise the customer that they are calling on behalf of Electric Ireland.
 
It would not be policy to identify the third party partner employed by Electric Ireland, unless requested by a customer, which our colleague did in her message from September 2012.
 
We hope this helps. If you have any other questions regarding Electric Ireland, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
 

Thanks,
Brige