Britannia
Posted: Tue 12 April, 2005 Filed under: Customer Services, Thoughts 10 Comments »Ah, joy. About eighteen months ago I had to deal with a debt collection agency who were operating on behalf of Britannia.
Today, I got a snotty letter (to my old address, but we’ll gloss over that) from a different company. This time it’s some shower with the imaginative company name “Debt Managers Ltd.” Having checked with Companies House at least this time they’re a valid company, which makes a change.
Anyway, this letter said that I still owe Shitannia money from nearly three years ago. Yes, the self-same account I disputed a year ago with the Robinson Way agency, who then referred it back to Britannia. And it’s taken them a year of doing fuck all before referring it to another debt agency. No contact at all in the meantime. Tossers.
So, a call to Debt Managers ensues.
I’d like to find out why I’ve got this letter from yourselves regarding a debt from Britannia.
We can’t help, we just collect the debt.
Well, can you request that Britannia send me a statement explaining what I owe, in accordance with the Credit Act’s provisions.
No, we can’t. We don’t sort out disputes, we just collect the money.
Can you give me a number for Britannia so I can do it?
No.
Well, I’d just like to say that’s the worst bit of customer service I’ve seen in a long time.
We’re not trained to do customer service. You’re not a customer, you’re a debtor.
Finally I ended up speaking to a supervisor, and after another ten minutes she’s agreed to send it back to Britannia “as the account is obviously in dispute” and of course they don’t deal with disputes, merely debts. They can’t confirm this in writing to me “as it’s not a standard letter”. And apparently typing is beyond them too.
So – back to Britannia, and a shitty letter will be written to them in the meantime.
As for Debt Managers Ltd.? (company number SC219618) Well, all I can say is that they’re one of the rudest, most unhelpful companies it’s ever been my misfortune to deal with. With luck I’ll never have to hear from the useless tossers again.
They probably just said that to get you off the phone. You’ll probably get another letter from them in about two weeks.
Sounds like a bad do, u have my sympathy.
I’ve just received a very rude letter from the same firm demanding payment with 48 hours on a debt that I know nothing about. The ensuing telephone call indicates that they have traced the person whose name I share to my address and so they immediately threatened court action.
Apparently they are going to write to confirm that this is an error but from the casual bored sound of the voice on the other end of the phone I doubt whether anything will materialize.
I am therefore writing to them in the hope that someone will be bothered to respond as I have no intention of having my credit affected by a company that can;t be bothered to check its facts before threatening court action.
I had a similar letter in July 2005 addressed to Ma (as in the slang for mother) whereas my initials are M.A. I rang them and they agreed it was a mistake as I had never lived in Plymouth where the person they were interested in had lived.
August 2005 another letter exatly the same despite all their promises. After a couple of phone calls to them I contacted the Debt Recovery section of Abbey (on whose behalf they were acting) and complained to them. At their suggestion I made a FORMAL COMPLAINT to Debt Managers in Edinburgh (send to Rob Walker, Head of Collections) and I suggested compensation for the stress etc. (I suggested £50 i.e. £25 per letter) and they have agreed to this and have paid up – if they write again it will go up to £50 per letter.
I suggest any one else who receives a letter makes a formal complaint (but don’t be greedy) and also ring the Debt Recovery Section at the Head Office of the Bank/Building Society concerned making sure you mention Debt Managers.
Finally if they say it was a ‘computer error’ tell them that excuse went out last century! They should have procedure in place to prevent it
have just received one of your letters from this Debt managers Ltd for a debt i am supposed to owe from 12 years ago!!! YES 12 yrs ago!!! the were extremely rude and evasive when i asked who should i contact at my bank, i am not allowed to deal with my bank – bollocks to that! i contacted my bank and they told me to forget it – they don’t deal with them…interesting
I also received a letter from Debt Managers Ltd, saying I owed Clydesdale Bank several thousand beer tokens!!!!! I have never bought anything on credit, or had any loan (apart from a student loan which is almost serviced) so i found this letter pretty funny! Anyway, I contacted Clydesdale bank, as I knew I wouldn’t get any sense out of Debt Managers, and it appears that they can “mis-match” you to a bad debtor very easily. The guyu had the same date of birth as me, but lived over 300 miles away, so they weren’t even in the right Geographical ballpark for a start. I have also never had an account with Clydesdale in my life, and surely you have to have one to be able to obtain a personal loan from them??!!
The upshot was, after Clydesdale had said they were “very sorry and not sure how they came up with my details”, I am in the course of writing Debt Managers a very shitty letter, asking them for compensation for my time spent on the matter, and all of the stress it has caused to my family from the constant phone calls etc……………
I have to pay my debt through debt managers ltd, and i have to say i’ve never known a company like them. I have to pay using one of their paying in slips which costs an extra £2.20 on top of my monthly payment because they can’t set up a direct debit or standing order and they can’t accept cheques. This is appalling and i think they need to look at their payment system.
“With our strong reputation for integrity, Debt Managers is an attractive addition to any business strategy.”
oh yeh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk
Ive just had dealings with these useless inept set of idiots over an overdue electric bill which was paid in full to npower. I was phoned out of bed at 8.15 am after preparing myself for the night shift and bombarded with whats your name and reference number, age, where do you live postcode and the rest of it. I was livid to say the least, and their attitude absolutely stinks. I told the daft bitch who phoned me to check with npower and that they had recieved the payment in full and she said it wasnt in her job to go chasing npower! It was cleared up in the end with no apology and Debt Managers LTD have the coldest attitude and rudest people known to work for any company I have ever come accross. Totally arrogant, rude and clever sat behind a phone being faceless.