Halifax taken to court

[MAY2006]

Hi All

I've not posted for a while as my monitor blew up and i've saved up for another (life without plastic!!)

Have any of you read the article in papers today regarding a woman who took HBOS to court over harrasing phone calls day and night.

She used the Protection from Harrasment Act 1997 which has been mentioned on this forum before. She did'nt actually owe them any money, it was all robbing bank charges which they had agreed to refund.

HBOS settled out of court, it did'nt say how much. Maybe these companys that haunt people in financial difficulites will now think twice about constantly ringing.

[tracy.h]

Hi well how good is that,maybe now these companys will think twice before harrassing people.
If this is the way forward then i cant wait for my phone to start ringing.

Tracy

[Hels]

This has cheered me up! Good on her! [:)]

These people are a nightmare. I have a loan with Sainbury's Bank who are part of the same group. My creditors meeting is in 2 weeks and for the past few days they have phoned me about 4/5 times a day. Sometimes you answer and it just cuts off! As a understand it, the system will automatically ring you at certain intervals, when you pick up it will try to connect you to a consultant but if no one is available then it just gets cut off. The automatic calls will only stop for the day if you answer and then get put through to someone. I spoke to them 4 times yesterday, saying the same thing everytime. I assume they have to put something on your records to say that they have spoken to you that day to stop the calls until the next day. Obviously if they don't like your answer the records don't get updated and they will continue to call you during the day.

Yesterday lunchtime I offered a token payment of £5, which the guy just turned his nose up at. He wanted £20 min which I refused. Someone else called in the evening and said that would be OK to just offer the £5 as a token payment and it would at least stop the calls until my meeting on the 6th. I don't know if this is true or not, but even if it gives me a few days peace I will be happy!

Although my days of using credit are up, we all need other financial products in the future; bank accounts, savings, mortgages, insurances....Sainsbury's Bank or any other part of HBOS will not be on my list of people to use!

Sorry about the rant, but they have really got to me this week!

[ivoriva]

All I can say is thats great news, Im sure that these companies know what they do amounts to harrassment in a lot of cases - but in the knowledge that it works (just like you experienced Hels - as they got a fiver they probably wouldnt of otherwise!). They also rely on the fact people dont know the law or guidelines. Out of the 1000's of people that get hounded day after day, the people taking them to court probably numbers 1 in a blue moon. So I doubt they really care if they cross the line or not, plus I dont think the OFT is very active in supporting cases of harrassment.