Has anyone here ever had to use a debt collector?

sh1tstirrer · 04-02-2015 05:08PM

There's a couple of gobsh1tes that owe me money 2 and 3 years :mad: One of them have his entrance gates padlocked a persistent offender I'd imagine. Anyone know how to deal with him?

smash · 04-02-2015 05:12PM

Dep! wrote: »

So a major phone company sent heavies to your door over a 100 euro bill? That doesnt really add up to me.

I never said they sent them to my door. The bombarded me with calls and letters and threats of legal action until they realised they were getting nowhere and finally just stopped.

SEPT 23 1989 · 04-02-2015 05:17PM

the only debt collectors in this country with any powers are the Sheriffs anyone else can be told to fcuk off

Bullocks · 04-02-2015 05:26PM

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

There's a couple of gobsh1tes that owe me money 2 and 3 years :mad: One of them have his entrance gates padlocked a persistent offender I'd imagine. Anyone know how to deal with him?

Pull the tractor across the locked gates and don't let him out until ye have a chat . Tell him what you are doing and that you haven't a notion of shifting until you get a few pound . I'm sure he won't like a fuss made about it

TheDoc · 04-02-2015 05:29PM

Be very careful and make sure you do your homework on who you are employing or dealing with.

A good company will normally just have a good legal team working with them for them, it's worth remembering debt collectors have no legal grounds or authority in this country what so ever.

In my last apartment debt collectors came to me on behalf of an irish company. They were looking for the previous tennants who appeared to be very troublesome and by the amount of legal letters and knocks on the door constantly dodged bills. The collectors that arrived in this instance clearly didn't believe me (I'm sure they get every day how they have made a mistake on identity)

Long story short they tried to rush me at the door, ended up in a row and the Guards got involved on assault charges. The company that hired them was also liable for damages and it ended up being way more trouble then it was worth. Again to stress they have no legal or authoritive powers what so ever, so it ended up being a civil action which I won and was awarded damages over.

At best a debt collector will send some strongly worded letters or employ their own solicitors to get involved.

There are proper avenues you can go through here. If the company your dealing with is in liquidation or in financial difficulty, you will be added to a list of creditors. Based on amount and prioirty, as the company in trouble get's stripped/liquidated they move down the creditor list sorting people out. If the company is in serious trouble for serious amounts, you might be high and dry. However if not then you might get a portion back.

However if the company is going through a liquidation/bankruptcy and there are big creditors owed ( investment individuals, hedge funds, banks etc.) then you can expect to get some stern correspondence if you start sending around debt collectors.

TheDoc · 04-02-2015 05:30PM

Dep! wrote: »

So a major phone company sent heavies to your door over a 100 euro bill? That doesnt really add up to me.

The incident I was involved in, the debt collectors were operating on behalf of a utilities company.

sh1tstirrer · 04-02-2015 05:35PM

Bullocks wrote: »

Pull the tractor across the locked gates and don't let him out until ye have a chat . Tell him what you are doing and that you haven't a notion of shifting until you get a few pound . I'm sure he won't like a fuss made about it

I know a man that was owed money by a farmer he paid him a visit in the small hours of the morning and took off with a tractor and welder while the farmer was asleep. A few days later he contacted him and told him that he would get his tractor and welder back when he paid his bill, the bill was settled very quickly

yuloni · 04-02-2015 05:38PM

This post has been deleted.

Bullocks · 04-02-2015 05:43PM

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

I know a man that was owed money by a farmer he paid him a visit in the small hours of the morning and took off with a tractor and welder while the farmer was asleep. A few days later he contacted him and told him that he would get his tractor and welder back when he paid his bill, the bill was settled very quickly

Ya a mate of mine took a fertiliser spreader and sprayer off a lad aswell for the same reason . Took a few weeks but he got his money in the end

Micky 32 · 04-02-2015 05:50PM

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

I know a man that was owed money by a farmer he paid him a visit in the small hours of the morning and took off with a tractor and welder while the farmer was asleep. A few days later he contacted him and told him that he would get his tractor and welder back when he paid his bill, the bill was settled very quickly

He was lucky he didn't call the cops because that was a robbery, possible jail time and a record...:P

sh1tstirrer · 04-02-2015 06:34PM

Micky 32 wrote: »

He was lucky he didn't call the cops because that was a robbery, possible jail time and a record...:P

The man that took them couldn't give a fiddlers fcuk about the law or Gardai and the man that owed him money knew better not to get them involved,

Micky 32 · 04-02-2015 07:22PM

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

The man that took them couldn't give a fiddlers fcuk about the law or Gardai and the man that owed him money knew better not to get them involved,

Sounds to me this guy must be a bit of a un- desirable character if he goes around threathening people, makes me think maybe there's a reason he was reluctantly paid....could be wrong though :rolleyes:

In my line of work, thankfully only a very small percentage i get people taking the p**** and without fail they will always have the cheek to phone me for further work , i just don't bother answering the phone...

Dep! · 04-02-2015 07:52PM

TheDoc wrote: »

At best a debt collector will send some strongly worded letters or employ their own solicitors to get involved.

Wouldnt it be easier then to bypass them and go straight to solicitors who specialise in this field?

smash · 04-02-2015 08:16PM

Dep! wrote: »

Wouldnt it be easier then to bypass them and go straight to solicitors who specialise in this field?

All a solicitor can do is the same. Send letters and possibly take them to the small claims court. If the limited company has been dissolved you don't stand a chance. If the company is in liquidation or relcievership you stand a very small chance, but depending on the amount owed you could be thrown to the every end of the queue and get nothing anyway and end up having to pay legal fees.

FalconGirl · 04-02-2015 08:24PM

Debt collectors are no use. If you are anyway law saavy you will know they haven't a leg to stand on. They chance their arm at frightening people and a few do pay up to be fair.

FalconGirl · 04-02-2015 08:45PM

Debt collectors are no use. If you are anyway law saavy you will know they haven't a leg to stand on. They chance their arm at frightening people and a few do pay up to be fair.

Dep! · 04-02-2015 08:47PM

FalconGirl wrote: »

Debt collectors are no use. If you are anyway law saavy you will know they haven't a leg to stand on. They chance their arm at frightening people and a few do pay up to be fair.

Martin Foley's company had a reputation for the latter. Ironically it looks like it has gone bust itself.

Grab All Association · 04-02-2015 08:53PM

Dep! wrote: »

Its in the thousands.

Im not sure.

Worth a try maybe.

I was invoicing them and they sent cheques. All was grand until the cheques stopped coming.

What they do in Dubai is make you write out a couple of years worth of cheques. Say you borrowed XXXXEUR and had to pay XXXEUR per month until the loan was repaid. You'd fill out a load of cheques for the repayments and hand them over to the lender. If the money is not there to cover the cheque and it bounces they would be arrested for giving you a bad cheque.

MarkAnthony · 04-02-2015 08:59PM

Debt collectors usually buy debts at cents on the euro. They're unlikely to buy one off debts or debts between private parties.

Removal of property is problematic but not wholly illegal IIRC.

Engaging a solicitor - only worth it if any judgement can be enforced otherwise a waste of time. SmCC procedure doesn't cover debt between private parties, has a very limited jurisdiction anyway.

Harassment - illegal and also could result in a nice civil suit landing on the door mat.

Don't loan people money.

Collie D · 04-02-2015 09:01PM

Interesting thread. I'm currently getting hassled in work by a collection agency. The debt they refer to was paid months ago. However our supplier sold the debt on to a factor who in turn sold the debt to an agency.

We don't usually allow factoring agreements and I hate dealing with third parties for this reason. Suppliers in the past have exaggerated the due dates and we end up looking like bad payers. Now I've to deal with a fourth party when we've actually paid the bloody invoice.

Bear in mind we're a very large Irish company with sales of just under three billion last year and almost 300 locations across Europe. I hold my hand up that invoices aren't always paid on time due to human error rather than any intentional non payment but we're not going to **** about for five grand as is the case here.

/Rant

yermanhimself · 04-02-2015 09:20PM

You could try Stubbs Gazette - no foal no fee . The commission is about 25% of amount recovered.

Desolation Of Smug · 04-02-2015 10:24PM

Collie D wrote: »

Interesting thread. I'm currently getting hassled in work by a collection agency. The debt they refer to was paid months ago. However our supplier sold the debt on to a factor who in turn sold the debt to an agency.

We don't usually allow factoring agreements and I hate dealing with third parties for this reason. Suppliers in the past have exaggerated the due dates and we end up looking like bad payers. Now I've to deal with a fourth party when we've actually paid the bloody invoice.

Bear in mind we're a very large Irish company with sales of just under three billion last year and almost 300 locations across Europe. I hold my hand up that invoices aren't always paid on time due to human error rather than any intentional non payment but we're not going to **** about for five grand as is the case here.

/Rant

Hmm, but generally, large firms employ the greatest dullards going to deal with payments to suppliers, as a deliberate policy, to ensure slow payment and obfustication. By corollary, they employ the sharpest chisels in the box to chase payments owed to them. This is far too widespread to be a coincidence.

Dep! · 04-02-2015 10:40PM

Does anyone know what the Irish law is for a statue of limitations on a debt owed to someone? 12 months? 5 years? 10 years?

No limitations?

MarkAnthony · 05-02-2015 12:24AM

Dep! wrote: »

Does anyone know what the Irish law is for a statue of limitations on a debt owed to someone? 12 months? 5 years? 10 years?

No limitations?

Generally 6 years unless acknowledged.

Dep! · 05-02-2015 10:42AM

yermanhimself wrote: »

You could try Stubbs Gazette - no foal no fee . The commission is about 25% of amount recovered.

Is that the "Stubbs List" Ive heard about where the company then publish a list of all the bold boys and girls?

MarkAnthony · 05-02-2015 12:15PM

Dep! wrote: »

Is that the "Stubbs List" Ive heard about where the company then publish a list of all the bold boys and girls?

That's the one, it's used by lending institutions when considering loans.

Grab All Association · 05-02-2015 12:20PM

Dep! wrote: »

Is that the "Stubbs List" Ive heard about where the company then publish a list of all the bold boys and girls?

http://cf.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/90267202.jpg

meathstevie · 05-02-2015 01:19PM

Micky 32 wrote: »

He was lucky he didn't call the cops because that was a robbery, possible jail time and a record...:P

No it wasn't; theft or burglary at the most.

Dep! · 05-02-2015 02:21PM

Chris___ wrote: »

http://cf.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/90267202.jpg

Thanks. Isnt that slightly libellous though?

Fair enough, they were found guilty of not paying a debt but can they really then go and publish a "Bold Boys & Girls" list? I would imagine it operates right on the fringes of libel in that what they are saying is true but it's damaging to the reputations of those listed as they will have problems with future clients.

MarkAnthony · 05-02-2015 02:26PM

Dep! wrote: »

Thanks. Isnt that slightly libellous though?

Fair enough, they were found guilty of not paying a debt but can they really then go and publish a "Bold Boys & Girls" list? I would imagine it operates right on the fringes of libel in that what they are saying is true but it's damaging to the reputations of those listed as they will have problems with future clients.

Truth is a complete defense to defamation (the modern tort that replaced libel and slander).

Not only that its in the public interest to maintain such publications.

Has anyone here ever had to use a debt collector?

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