NCO Europe

Hunter S

Hey guys has anyone had any dealings with these guys?

Aparrently they are a Debt Collection agency. I've just had a customer on the line saying he cancelled his account with 3G in February (1 year contract which was up) in writing and they continued to try and take money from his account but he cancelled the DD. He has been getting calls at 2am every week to try and get the money so he wrote another letter in March and April reminding them he had cancelled the account. He just got a letter yesterday saying that NCO Europe would be calling to his home to collect the full debt between 8am and 8pm today.

It all sounds very dubious to me so I was just wondering if anyone anyone had come accross them before

Musha

Funny you should mention them, got a letter saying we own 3 money for a canx account as well and when I phoned 3 to inquire they said that they had never sent me the invoice but i should have known that i owed it even tho the last invoice I received from them said I was in credit and they owed me money... got the post card, phoned the number answer machine only left a message to tell them not to bother or else they can talk to my 3 year old German Shepherd if they cross the yard
btw we are only talking pennies not hundreds of euro but it is the princible

calex71

Off topic a bit : Purely out of interest here, say these nice chaps call to your house and ask nicely for money and you say no im sorry i don't have any. What then? And im not talking about the court route. Dont know of any instance where someone has been physically assaulted by a debt collection crowd.

I've had friends who where threatened by them and actually one laughed at them when they did so but other than that not heard of people being beaten up or anything.

Anyway Op surely calling at 2am is in a way a form of harassment?

They seem to be a UK based company , in Solihull near Coventry. I wounder what the odd's on them not having bodies in this country are :rolleyes:

Google also turned up spme interesting reading

jor el

Hunter S wrote: »

He has been getting calls at 2am every week to try and get the money so he wrote another letter in March and April reminding them he had cancelled the account. He just got a letter yesterday saying that NCO Europe would be calling to his home to collect the full debt between 8am and 8pm today.

He should report this to the Gardai as harassment. He should also report Three, as they are responsible for it. Then he should sue them both.

Cabaal

Hunter S wrote: »

Hey guys has anyone had any dealings with these guys?

Aparrently they are a Debt Collection agency. I've just had a customer on the line saying he cancelled his account with 3G in February (1 year contract which was up) in writing and they continued to try and take money from his account but he cancelled the DD. He has been getting calls at 2am every week to try and get the money so he wrote another letter in March and April reminding them he had cancelled the account. He just got a letter yesterday saying that NCO Europe would be calling to his home to collect the full debt between 8am and 8pm today.

It all sounds very dubious to me so I was just wondering if anyone anyone had come accross them before

Cold calling after 9pm or before 9am is out of order, I'd be reporting them to the gardai and any relevant regulatory body

After 9pm is against the law, not suire about before 9am

Sponge Bob

2AM calls are 'threatening'

Report 3 to the guards because 3 arranged these threatening calls . The man in charge is Robert Finnegan

http://www.businessandfinance.ie/whoswho09/robert_finnegan.html

NCO are well known for persistent calling

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-consumer-issues/34337-nco-europe-keep-calling.html

Gillo

calex71 wrote: »

Off topic a bit : Purely out of interest here, say these nice chaps call to your house and ask nicely for money and you say no im sorry i don't have any. What then? And im not talking about the court route. Dont know of any instance where someone has been physically assaulted by a debt collection crowd.

No reputable collections agency will physically assualt you, but they're not going to be the nicest when they call to the door. I'd doubt they'd threaten you (physically) either at that stage you'd have recourse to get the gardai involved which they are not going to want.

Hunter S

jor el wrote: »

He should report this to the Gardai as harassment. He should also report Three, as they are responsible for it. Then he should sue them both.

Thats what I told him to do. And to send any letters he he sending to them as registered post from now on. Its literally a few bob he is supposed to owe them as well it all seems so unnesssesary. I always thought that a judgement ahd to be enforced against you before nasty types could have recourse to calling to your house.

whiterebel

Have a tape recorder on stand-by for calls or visits.

elainee40

I got this "postcard" on Monday, that they were calling the next day Tuesday....... I owe nothing to 3.

These are just bullies

cbond

I got 3 mobile broadband but cancelled during the trial period and gave everything back,that was three months ago but I still get bills from 3 and letters from NCO.I have rang 3 at least four times and have emailed them about the bills and NCO sending me letters but I still get them.Today after another letter from NCO I rang them only to get some smart prick he hung up on me.I have made a compliant with comreg.

fdearle

Its interesting that this thread is reactivated after almost 5 years. 3 and NCO must be getting active again after all this time. Mind you I'm not sure if 3 were even in the country back in 2004.

I have a similar story with 3. I won't go into the details but the cut off my broadband without just cause. I paid up my account pro rata to the day they cut off my service and sent them a letter to the effect that they had violated my contract. Their response was to reply and tell me the account was back on and giving a refund to the account.... but only up to the day they say it was on again. two weeks had passed since and I clearly had not used my broadband since I believed I was disconnected so I refused to pay or recommence using the service unless I was fully refunded.

Subsequently the refunded the amount for the two weeks but it took another four weeks for them to do that so once again I was without service for that period. That has happened twice now and each time the period I'm off extends.

Anyway the latest is they have sent out letters from NCO and I got one of those appointment cards from "P BROWNE". He/she never showed. I think the appointment card is a ploy the frighten people into paying up. At this stage I have numerous letters from 3 which clearly show they are at fault so I am not going to pay a cent for what is now over three months of my service being cut off. I'll go to court if thats what they want. In the mean time I'm handing the whole thing over to ComReg.

In fairness to 3 ... I don't believe there is any malice here.... its just their customer support and billing is so f**ked up due to it being outsourced to India. I don't believe they have a single persone working here in Ireland to deal with these issues.

Some final points I'd like to ask they rest of you about is 1) Was the same name "P BROWNE" on your cards. 2) Did anyone get an actual visit from these clowns?

Regards

Fergal

cbond

fdearle wrote: »

Its interesting that this thread is reactivated after almost 5 years. 3 and NCO must be getting active again after all this time. Mind you I'm not sure if 3 were even in the country back in 2004.

I have a similar story with 3. I won't go into the details but the cut off my broadband without just cause. I paid up my account pro rata to the day they cut off my service and sent them a letter to the effect that they had violated my contract. Their response was to reply and tell me the account was back on and giving a refund to the account.... but only up to the day they say it was on again. two weeks had passed since and I clearly had not used my broadband since I believed I was disconnected so I refused to pay or recommence using the service unless I was fully refunded.

Subsequently the refunded the amount for the two weeks but it took another four weeks for them to do that so once again I was without service for that period. That has happened twice now and each time the period I'm off extends.

Anyway the latest is they have sent out letters from NCO and I got one of those appointment cards from "P BROWNE". He/she never showed. I think the appointment card is a ploy the frighten people into paying up. At this stage I have numerous letters from 3 which clearly show they are at fault so I am not going to pay a cent for what is now over three months of my service being cut off. I'll go to court if thats what they want. In the mean time I'm handing the whole thing over to ComReg.

In fairness to 3 ... I don't believe there is any malice here.... its just their customer support and billing is so f**ked up due to it being outsourced to India. I don't believe they have a single persone working here in Ireland to deal with these issues.

Some final points I'd like to ask they rest of you about is 1) Was the same name "P BROWNE" on your cards. 2) Did anyone get an actual visit from these clowns?

Regards

Fergal

Yeah I got the same card with P Browne on it but as far as I know no one called.If I find the card I will scan it and post it on here.

Cabaal

fdearle wrote: »

Its interesting that this thread is reactivated after almost 5 years.

Fergal

This thread was created in May 2009, its not 5 years old

fdearle

P Browne gets around so! Or not.

My Bad about the date. I saw the First registered date of Hunter S and misinterpreted it. Must remember to wear my reading glasses when I'm online!

Musha

Mind was from P BROWNE as well, Never got a visit, phone call reply to my messages or the original invoice they say I owe from 3.. Agree that their billing system is messed up as they are unable to understand that I would like to be furnished with an invoice before the heavies are called in to collect it:p At least it gives me the chance to ignore it

fdearle

This is a snippet from the ConsumerActionGroup forum in the uk about NCO Europe! P. BROWNE does not exist!!!

....................
So tell me, pays the bills, my little Preston Princess- how are the elusive P.Brown and his mythical friend "Mr Leatham Locke" today?

The more people use this site, the less people there are who will take your dodgepot company seriously.

P.Brown must be a busy bee. Little cards promising visits to Sussex, Dundee and Londonderry- all on the same Tuesday!

And he never calls. Cos as we all know, he doesnt exist!
...................

BBrowne

YEh just got post card from P Browne too....certainly not paying them a cent as i owe them nothing.this is an absolute disgrace. hopefully he wont show up but if he does and try bullying me im gonna take it to court if i have to. prob better if a group of ppl take them to court so keep us posted if anyone else has the same problem.

lisaleesah

I cancelled my contract with 3 mobile broadband I was with them for 2 years and when I moved house the signal wasn't as good and it was half broken.. so I moved to 02.
I have never missed a payment to 3 in the whole 2 years, and when I rang to cancel they tried to put me through to this person and that person eventually I got it through to them that I wanted to cancel and they were getting they're notice, plus I hadnt used the thing in about 3 months.
Then a few weeks later they called on about I owe them money I said no i don't you got your notice, then they started saying "you can pay using a friends credit card" I said excuse me I have no intention of using anyones credit or laser card and your not getting the money they continued to ring the phone every day sometimes twice a day for about 3 weeks, I eventually started answering the phone and literally f**cking them out of it.
I know the girl that lives in my old house and she dropped post into my workplace it started with 3 threatening me and now today I have received NCO letters, the latest threatening further action AND they have added 17 euro onto what they initially claimed I owed them, I am absoloutely raging. I think I'm going to contact NCO & 3 and threaten them back.

foggy_lad

just ignore them! if you want to contact anyone then get in touch with ComReg as they can contact three on your behalf. first though write a letter to three explaining how you owe them nothing.

lisaleesah

oh im tired of explaining i just want physically hurt them now. haha, sick of it.

-Corkie-

I got one of these postcards from p browne:rolleyes:. I dont owe them anything. Im just wondering did anyone call after from the nco office.

Btw when i googled nco a reference to this thread!!!! Boards is a fantastic website in all fairness.

Our man in Havana

NCO are just a crowd of hired goons that 3 set on people. The postcard is all part of act. No one will call to your house. Even if they did they can do nothing. Debt collectors have no legal powers to enter your house etc.

foggy_lad

the postcards are just part of the collection service but there will be no visit as most people would not be home anyway! if they were going to visit you they would not announce it in case you arranged to be out to avoud them:)

Our man in Havana

Even if they did visit they can't do anything. You don't have to answer the door and you can tell them to leave.

riddle_diddle

Hi folks,

My dad connected to the 3G broadband and he stuck to his contract for the year and went over it to nearly and year and a half without missing one payment. He changed banks where his DD was not carried on and the payment to 3 was missed. They subsequently cut us off and sent a letter. We replied telling them what had happened and they sent out more paper work to set up another DD. However, they never re-connected us (as i checked on a daily basis) and after a fortnight (still without connection) my dad wrote to them and gave them notice that he was disconnecting. He told the bank to cancel the DD, However 3 took a payment before the DD was cancelled. Even with this payment, we were still without any service.

After the DD was cancelled, my dad received phone calls from 3 for weeks and weeks and on a daily basis one week. He constantly told 3 that he had wrote to them to cancel the service but he kept being told that he could use his credit card etc etc, they would not listen (or could not understand) what my dad was trying to say. 3 would call my dads mobile and our landline. Eventually we stopped answering their phone calls, yet letters still kept being sent.
Last week we received a card from NCO that P. Browne was due to call this Tuesday from 8-8 and to call a number to confirm!!!! I'm now worried that some heavies will call to our house demanding money that 3 say we owe them!! I have read the threads here and am comforted by the fact that no one has experienced P. Browne!!! Yet, I still want to know is there many out there with problems like this from 3 that are on-going??? or what can be done about it?? we wont be giving one penny to 3 as we simply dont owe them anything-in fact they owe us a months payment as they took money and never re-connected us!!! - can i report them to some one for this??

MunsterCycling

Your bank owes you for the DD payment if the instruction to cancel it was made before the DD was called for by 3, if it wasn't then you can tell the bank the payment is under dispute and by the rules of the DD system they must return the money to your account. They will try to tell you they can't but the rules are clear.

MC

riddle_diddle

oh really? well what happened exactly was the bank took the direction to cancel in our branch, but they said that the headquarters in dublin didnt receive the order to cancel the DD until after the payment was made, and they said that theres nothing they could do about it, that it Dublin that cancel DD's etc???

Sponge Bob

riddle_diddle wrote: »

they said that theres nothing they could do about it, that it Dublin that cancel DD's etc???

Your branch cancels DDs, fully, on a written instruction from you. 3 reintroduces them as new DDs which is a systems failure within the bank itself.

All banks are bound by the RULES which are formulated by IPSO

http://www.ipso.ie/x/File/Direct%20Debit/DD_Rules_V._4.17_Rulebook_Sept_30_09_Final.pdf

Direct Debit Scheme (including Direct Debit Plus) Scheme Rules

3 likely use DD Plus, they just bulk load from India.

Page 22

Cancelling a Direct Debit Instruction (DDI)
The Payer may cancel the DDI by informing his/her Bank. In these circumstances, the following
procedures must be followed:
Step Description
1.Advise Originator Payer’s Bank must inform the Originator using an “Advice of Instruction Amendment/Cancellation Form” substantially in the form as set out in Appendix 8
2.Originator’s Action An Originator must not present a Direct Debit on a DDI that has been cancelled.
NB It is not possible to reactivate a direct debit after cancellation. If a payer wants to reactivate a direct debit a new DDI must be set up. The first 6 characters of the alpha-numeric reference number
on the new debit must be different from those on the cancelled DDI

So the DD is UNAUTHORISED after you cancel it, page 23 (below) . Tell your bank that they must refund in full and refund any charges they applied to your account in full as well.

IF they do not do so immediately, confirm same in writing, and block 3 as UNAUTHORISED then you may threaten teh Financial Regulator on them for messing with your money.

You may ALSO complain to IPSO themselves.

Payer Claims
1. Unauthorised Direct Debits
Where an unauthorised Direct Debit has been applied to the account of a Payer by a Paying Bank, the
Payer shall be entitled to obtain rectification of that Direct Debit from the Paying Bank.
The Payer shall be entitled to obtain rectification from the Paying Bank only if he notifies the Paying
Bank without undue delay on becoming aware of an unauthorised Direct Debit giving rise to a claim,
and no later than 13 months after the date on which the Direct Debit was applied to the Payer’s bank
account (and provided that, for the purposes of such time period, to the extent applicable and
required, the Paying Bank has not failed to provide or make available the requisite information on that
Direct Debit to the Payer pursuant to Part 3 of the Payment Services Regulations).
Where a Payer denies having authorised a Direct Debit, it shall be for the Paying Bank to prove that
the Direct Debit was authorised in accordance with the terms of the Direct Debit Rules. The Paying
Bank shall (assuming that the Payer is not prevented in accordance with applicable law from disputing
or seeking reimbursement in respect of such Direct Debit) promptly investigate the circumstances
specific to that Direct Debit and its application with a view to determining, as soon as practicable,
whether or not an unauthorised Direct Debit was applied to that account. Where relevant, the Payer
may request appropriate documentary evidence of authorisation from the Originator and/or
Sponsoring Bank.
However, where the Payer is not a Consumer, the Payer and the Paying Bank may agree that the
burden of proof shall lie on the Payer to establish that a Direct Debit was unauthorised.
If the Paying Bank determines that the Payer has a valid claim, the Paying Bank shall immediately
upon such determination rectify the unauthorised Direct Debit by refunding to the Payer the amount
of the Direct Debit concerned and, where applicable restoring the debited account to the state in
which it would have been had the Direct Debit concerned not been so applied. Such rectification shall
be made without reference to whether or not the Paying Bank has at such time made any indemnity
claim against, and/or received reimbursement from, an Originator relating to the subject matter of the
Payer’s claim.
However, the Paying Bank shall be under no obligation to provide rectification of an unauthorised
Direct Debit applied where the Payer has acted fraudulently, and the Payer shall bear all losses in
relation to such Direct Debits.
A Direct Debit shall be considered to be unauthorised in the following circumstances only:
No. Description
1 Payer has cancelled DDI with Originator
2 DDI cancelled by Paying Bank
3 Payer instructed the Paying Bank to refuse the Direct Debit payment.
4 No valid DDI held
5 Amount/Date of Direct Debit differs from DDI
6 Amount/Date of Direct Debit differs from Advance Notice
7 No Advance Notice received by Payer
8 No confirmation letter received by Payer

horsebox84

i signed up too 3 broadband on the trial basis,but soon realised that it would not work in my area. the rep that had sold it too me told me it was a 30 day free trial,so i left it a while,and cancelled it within the time only to find out that it was a 2 week trial period. i told 3 i did not want the broadband and they hung up the phone on me,then i received a bill for 46.00,how can they charge me when i never even used it??? i cancelled the direct,within a week NCO Europe wrote to me demanding the money,i ignored them too,just today i got a postcard stating Mr p brown will be calling to me Tuesday between 8-8. should i be worried? i don't mind if this goes too court because i actually didn't sign my name to the 3 contract,they rep had forgot to get my signature,so he signed on my behalf. anyone know how this would stand up in the eyes of the law???

slimjimmc

horsebox84 wrote: »

i signed up too 3 broadband on the trial basis,but soon realised that it would not work in my area. the rep that had sold it too me told me it was a 30 day free trial,so i left it a while,and cancelled it within the time only to find out that it was a 2 week trial period. i told 3 i did not want the broadband and they hung up the phone on me,then i received a bill for 46.00,how can they charge me when i never even used it??? i cancelled the direct,within a week NCO Europe wrote to me demanding the money,i ignored them too,just today i got a postcard stating Mr p brown will be calling to me Tuesday between 8-8. should i be worried? i don't mind if this goes too court because i actually didn't sign my name to the 3 contract,they rep had forgot to get my signature,so he signed on my behalf. anyone know how this would stand up in the eyes of the law???

While you may have been mis-sold a service, it's next to impossible to prove what the sales person said unless you have documentary evidence or witnesses. I presume you signed a contract; does it mention any trial or change-of-mind period or does it refer you to their T&Cs available elsewhere. Usually a contract states that you agree to abide by the T&Cs so it's your responsibility to ask for a copy and read them before signing.

Now you've found yourself outside their 14-day get-out period and bound to the contract. The fact is Three are providing the service which you agreed to pay for. It doesn't matter whether or not you actually used the service, that's up to you but the facility is/was provided.

Another thing against you is that you appear not to have formally terminated the contract using the procedure outlined in their T&Cs therefore as far as they're concerned the contract stands. Cancelling the DD doesn't get you out of the contract or the debt, you must follow the formal procedure and pay what's owed to Three. You don't mention if you've formally cancelled since then so I suggest you do that asap and pay the termination fee and arrears.
Forget NCO Europe, your contract and debt is with Three, but don't let it escalate.