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Child Item

Debt collection repeatedly calling

IrishGirl18

I moved out of my house about a year ago and got relatives to move in to keep the house going.
I was with Vodafone broadband and when I moved my relatives were taking over the bills.
They stopped paying Vodafone and naturally the bill started to rise (its at nearly 600euro now).
I didn't change the name on the contact as I'm planning to move back once my current job is finished in the next two years and of course I realize this was a mistake.
I know have a debt collection company ringing me CONSTANTLY, at least 6 times a day and they rang at 20 to 8 in the evening last night.
I googled to see if there was any rules against debt collection companies ringing you constantly and there is:

Under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, it is illegal for debt collectors to do the following:

Contact your employer or neighbors about your debt (they may only contact them to locate you, but may not mention the debt)
Call you late at night or at unreasonable hours
Call you at work
Call you repeatedly
Engage in deceptive conduct
Calling you without disclosing the collector's identity
Use obscene, derogatory, or insulting remarks
Threaten arrest or loss of child custody or welfare benefits
Publish your name
Use any communication, language or symbols on envelopes or postcards that indicate that the sender is in the debt collection business
Threaten self-help repossession without legal right or present intent to do so.

They collection company has been doing the first three things on that list, calling next late at night and at unreasonable hours,
Calling me at work and calling me repeatedly.

I know I'm in a bit of a situation and I'm just looking for advice on how to handle this.

Thanks in advance!

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L1011

That is US law so not applicable here. There are different restrictions however

lbc2019

Talk with your relative and pay Vodafone whats owed

splinter65

It’s your name on the account so it’s your bill to pay. Simply pay the bill and then sort out with your relations.
Vodafone or the debt collector have no interest in a family row your involved in.

Rigor Mortis

Deleted, as pointed out by others that the post was incorrect.

Auguste Comte

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

This is hurting your credit rating.

How can they do this? They are not members of the Irish Credit Bureau as far as I am aware.

antix80

I'd say you should pay your bill. If the service continued to be used by your relatives, sue them if you're at a loss. If it wasn't used, explain so to the debt collection company and ask would they be happy to take a lower payment in full settlement given the circumstances.

antix80

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

Have you attempted to come to an agreement with Vodafone. This is hurting your credit rating.

Vodafone's unlikely to deal with the bill now that it's been passed on to the agency.
It's probably not hurting credit rating yet, although they can choose to pursue the debt through the courts.

canonball5

It won't be hurting your credit rating OP and people need to stop giving advice if they haven't a clue what they are talking about. You don't have any obligation to deal with scum like this. You had a contract with Vodafone and not with these cowboys. You can block their number from ringing you.

OP, you need to speak with Vodafone and agree to pay this back as best you can. It's not a big deal and avoiding it isn't going to make it go away.

EdgeCase

This is why if someone's taking over a bill, you should get the bill name changed.
Otherwise, it remains in your name and there's a whole load of legal and interpersonal headaches to deal with if they subsequently leave you stuck with an unpaid bill.

IrishGirl18

Surely there has to be some sort of law stating the can't ring after a certain time.
Their ringing me first thing in the morning and last night they rang at 20 to 8 which is well after business hours.
Fair enough I owe them money and I'm planning on paying them back but I feel like they are harassing me at this stage.
6+ phone calls a day is totally unacceptable especially since I use my phone for work purposes and I don't know how many times they have rang during meetings

NSAman

Block the number

[Deleted User]

IrishGirl18 wrote: »

Surely there has to be some sort of law stating the can't ring after a certain time.
Their ringing me first thing in the morning and last night they rang at 20 to 8 which is well after business hours.
Fair enough I owe them money and I'm planning on paying them back but I feel like they are harassing me at this stage.
6+ phone calls a day is totally unacceptable especially since I use my phone for work purposes and I don't know how many times they have rang during meetings

How many times have you answered it? If you don’t answer, they keep phoning.

The title of this thread should be “I forgot to cancel a service contract I entered into, my dead beat relatives won’t pay”

Scotty #

IrishGirl18 wrote: »

Surely there has to be some sort of law stating the can't ring after a certain time.

There is and it 9PM-9AM. They were quite entitled to phone you at the time they did.

IrishGirl18 wrote: »

Fair enough I owe them money and I'm planning on paying them back

Have you told them this? Have you answered any of the calls and engaged with them? maybe if you do, they'll call less.

mickmackmcgoo

IrishGirl18 wrote:

Surely there has to be some sort of law stating the can't ring after a certain time. Their ringing me first thing in the morning and last night they rang at 20 to 8 which is well after business hours. Fair enough I owe them money and I'm planning on paying them back but I feel like they are harassing me at this stage. 6+ phone calls a day is totally unacceptable especially since I use my phone for work purposes and I don't know how many times they have rang during meetings

Its harassment under the non fatal offences against the person act. Look it up .

Scotty #

canonball5 wrote: »

You don't have any obligation to deal with scum like this. You had a contract with Vodafone and not with these cowboys.

Scum? How so?

Under the Consumer Credit Act, 1995, Vodafone have every right to use a third party to collect the debt. It's perfectly legal.

Your advice about not listening to people who don't know what they are talking about is sound though!

RFOLEY1990

no telecommunications company in Ireland are registered with the ICB

the only "credit rating" it will impact is with Vodafone themselves and potentially other providers due to credit insights agreement

Credit Checker Moose

Just block their number. Simples.

IJS84

You can be contacted between 9am and 9pm, Monday-Saturday, outside of these hours has to be pre aggreed. This is under CPC regulations, as a debt management firm will fall into

Scotty #

Credit Checker Moose wrote: »

Just block their number. Simples.

This is awful advise and will only get them calling to your door (which may incur more charges).

Engage. Offer them €50 a month or €30 or whatever you can afford. They know they can't get blood out of a stone and don't expect to be paid in one go. If you continue to ignore the problem it may lead to legal proceeding which could cost you many multiples of what you already owe.

Credit Checker Moose

They are not going to such effort i.e. door stepping for a small amount. Without a court judgement they would be verging on harassment.

I work in the industry and there is nothing wrong with my postings.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Credit Checker Moose wrote: »

Just block their number. Simples.

Sort your debts out; simpler.

TheBoyConor

No company is going to go to court over € 600. It's a waste of resources and not worth the cost it would incur. Even if they got a judgement against the OP and were awarded costs, there is no guarantee that they would get a penny of it.

Lets say the secure a judgement against OP for 600 and, say, 2000 costs. If the OP is not willing or capable of paying 600 then what hope have they of getting 2600 back off them? Slim to none. They know this. They will try scare you into paying something of the 600 but such a small amount is likely on their list of bad, unrecoverable debts.

yoursaviour1989

IrishGirl18 wrote: »

Surely there has to be some sort of law stating the can't ring after a certain time.
Their ringing me first thing in the morning and last night they rang at 20 to 8 which is well after business hours.
Fair enough I owe them money and I'm planning on paying them back but I feel like they are harassing me at this stage.
6+ phone calls a day is totally unacceptable especially since I use my phone for work purposes and I don't know how many times they have rang during meetings

So you don't want them to call during work hours but also don't want them calling you at 20 to 8 in the evening? What time should they be allowed to call you?

Credit Checker Moose

Kinley Great Iceberg wrote: »

Sort your debts out; simpler.

I don't have any debts thanks for your concern!

daheff

OP

I'd suggest you call Vodafone and explain the situation. Tell them you will pay, but look for a reasonable payment plan. Apologize profusely and tell them this slipped your mind when you were moving.

But i'd advise against engaging with the debt collection agency as they are not going to be easy to deal with. Search boards for other peoples experiences and you wont find too many saying it was easy.

Once you start engaging with Vodafone then the debt collection agency will stop harassing you with so many calls.

Credit Checker Moose

TheBoyConor wrote: »

No company is going to go to court over € 600. It's a waste of resources and not worth the cost it would incur. Even if they got a judgement against the OP and were awarded costs, there is no guarantee that they would get a penny of it.

Lets say the secure a judgement against OP for 600 and, say, 2000 costs. If the OP is not willing or capable of paying 600 then what hope have they of getting 2600 back off them? Slim to none. They know this. They will try scare you into paying something of the 600 but such a small amount is likely on their list of bad, unrecoverable debts.

They cannot get costs in the order of magnitude that you have suggested.

Have a read about scaled costs. That is all they can claim and for a simple low value claim the scaled costs would be less than €100. Now this is no where near what the drafting and actual solictor costs are. All that can be recovered is governed by the scale costs order.

As a rule of thumb going after sub 1000 debts is pointless due to the fact that the company will actually lose money.

TheBoyConor

^^ Well there you go then. I take it the previous poster knows what they are talking about.

Why don't you just block them? Takes like 10 seconds on your phone.

If they turn up at your door, which is unlikely, just tell them "nah, IrishGirl18 don't live here. She used to but she moved out 6 months ago. They say she's gone to Canada for a year" or some such cock and bull story like that.

They won't, but If they happen to know what you look like through facebook stalking or whatever, then just tell them "yeah, I'm her sister, we look very alike. But sure, I'll call her and tell her to ring ye. Now I have to go somewhere. See ya lads. " .

What are they going to do like? At the end of the day you just need to have a neck like a jockey's bollox to deal with these fellas.

Grab All Association

There should be an automatic ban for people who post non helpful ****e like “pay your bills”, sponger”, scammer” cheat” etc etc. There can be many reasons why a person would fall behind on their bills. A lot of it is usually due to non cancellation and selling off of debts to these debt collectors who inflate these charges.

Vodafone is a member of credit insights run by Experian on behalf of 3/eir/Vodafone. This only applies to those on contracts taken out after 09/2016. €600 debt was sold off to them for cents. They are unlikely to pursue you for this small amount in the courts. Besides they were supposed to write to you and give you 90 days to sort out arrears if they have recorded this against you on Credit Insights.

canonball5

Scotty # wrote: »

Scum? How so?

Under the Consumer Credit Act, 1995, Vodafone have every right to use a third party to collect the debt. It's perfectly legal.

Your advice about not listening to people who don't know what they are talking about is sound though!

I'm aware it's perfectly legal but as the OP said, their ways of going about this are scummy and border on harassment, purely my own opinion.

TheBoyConor

Why is it scummy? They are doing their job within the law.

OP doesn't have to engage. She is putting herself in this situation by not blocking the phone number(s) they ring off of. Block them, problem solved.