I find this hard to believe, well actually I don't and that's the sad thing, we are so used to the idiocy of large corporations and their inefficiencies that we now accept almost any degree of stupidity as no great surprise!
When I lived in Scotland my ISP was Orange, yes that's ORANGE if you are in any doubt who I am talking about here! They were 'Wanadoo' at that time but it's all the same.
When I left Scotland I closed the account, cleared it and that was that. That was almost three years ago. Simple? You would have thought so...or maybe you know better!
In all that time I have heard nothing, I repeat nothing, from them, the account was closed, I couldn't access the email address etc. all seemed well, history.....that was until yesterday.
Yesterday I received a little missive via snail mail from their debt collecting factors telling me I owe them money, £31 to be precise. Not much I grant you and maybe I should have just paid it, but I dispute that I owe it in the first place and I was so incensed by the whole issue I decided this time I would dig my heels in. To that end I called the debt collectors, explained the situation and that I had subsequently been declared bankrupt in any case, so they could no longer make a claim against me.
As these companies do (I know from bitter experience during my bankruptcy proceedings that even the big boys, those high street names we are supposed to trust, are more than capable of lying to Jane Doe in their efforts to secure payment) they assumed I didn't know the laws surrounding bankruptcy (like one would go through all that and not know!) and lied to me about the powers they had. As a result they threatened to carry on chasing me until my dying day, yada, yada, yada. and said only Orange could call them off.
So, when I could eventually found a number for them, I called Orange..... and at expensive rates was left hanging on for almost an hour while they 'couldn't find any trace of me'. You don't say!. I tolerated two individuals with a joint I.Q. of a small peanut as long as my patience would allow but eventually I lost it and asked to speak to a supervisor....she turned out to be only marginally brighter but with the customer service skills of a rhinoceros.
To cut what became a very protracted story slightly shorter, I got nowhere, absolutely nowhere and so incensed further I really dug my heels in, probably immaturely but hell, I'm sick of it all, it's my turn to play stupid I figure!
She just didn't seem to grasp the principle of personal bankruptcy and that no matter what she did or threatened me with it would only cost her company money, and it would be her company contravening the law, not me. Neither could she understand why I might be ever so slightly miffed that the first and only thing I had heard in almost three years was from a debt collecting company, or that I maintain that I don't owe them the money in the first place!
So, I explained that I wouldn't be paying on principle and nor would I be jumping through their administrative hoops proving my case when I don't believe I have a case to prove in the first place and nor would I be intimidated by their threats, let's face it, I have dealt with my fair share of that these last few years and they can hardly destroy my financial status any more than it already has been. I won't ever realistically be in a position to obtain a mortgage or credit again whatever I do, so if they wish to keep spending their shareholders money chasing thirty quid, they can be my guest!!!
I know, I know, I probably should just play the game and had any one of them been remotely reasonable or behaved with common courtesy or common sense I would have, but I'm fed up to the back teeth with this kind of stupidity and this time they can go to hell, I can be stupid too!
Did I mention this is ORANGE?
So sue me, I repeat, I am bankrupt, I have nothing!
*And as a general footnote for anyone who considers bankruptcy the 'easy way out', something we bankrupts are accused of from time to time, I promise you, it is not!
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
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3 Comments:
The best advice I can give is to writer a letter, not an e-mail, directly to the company president. If they are like American companies in any way, the last thing that the head of a company wants is to hear about how poorly their staff performs, aside form all the other issues you have outlined.
They especially don't like to hear about things that will cost them money, and since you are legally off the hook from them because of the bankruptcy, it will probably piss off the president even more to know that his staff are wasting their time on you.
Apart from that, if you can obtain some free legal advice over there, get it, and have a lawyer's letter sent to the company warning them of more legal action if their harassment continues.
Best of luck!
Gemmak - do nothing. Ignore them. There is *nothing* they can do. Make a note of whenever they call and make sure that you have a copy of your bankruptcy details to hand and quote it. If they visit, show them the paperwork and ask them to leave. If they do not immediately leave IN FRONT OF THEM call the police and say "Hello police, a man is here claiming to be a debit collector and he is threatening me and trying to force me to pay money to him and that you are scared he is going to hurt you". If the Police turn up get a crime number. Tell them (and the police) that you will not be paying, you will continue to dispute their claim and will attend court if necessary where you will counter-claim for a "vexatious action" (where they are trying to claim against you out of spite - courts are not there to make you pay when you can't or shouldn't) . Remind them that they are prevented __by law__ from pursuing a bankrupt and that if they continue to do so all further correspondence will be ignored and that your reserve the right to claim damages for harassment and distress. Make up some kind of lie about going for advice with your solicitor after they spoke to you last time and that it cost you 120 quid which the solicitor said you could claim back from them.
They are so screwed in so many ways in any case and I really don't think you should bother your time phoning them as they are clearly incompetent. Im short, they are winging it.
They have no rights at all in this so f*ck 'em.
I agree with Mr N - write them a snail-mail letter. Also keep any records, letters, paperwork you may have - but don't be tempted not to comunicate. My son did this with Orange (yes, the very same company) when they couldn't seem to grasp that no, he didn't want to renew his contract. They did it anyway, he ignored them knowing he'd refused it, but in the end it cost him far more than he could afford and a huge amount of hassle, because he threw letters away instead ofanswering them.
Get Oftel involved? And good luck!
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