Debt Collectors Being Used More In Ireland?

C A I R E N N

Hello to anyone and everyone who reads this, and I really do hope I'm in the correct thread.

I'm a journalism student in Griffith College, Dublin, I'm currently trying to research a topic for an up and coming assignment. As I'm sure you've guessed from the name it's about debt collectors (or sheriffs) being used by businesses to collect money on an outstanding account.

Recently, my mother was being threatened by a company, they were sent letters that were rude and forceful. She rang them up and was basically belittled as the woman on the shift at the time for the companies Customer Care service seemed to disapprove of her getting into debt, may I just add, my mother has never been in debt, never. At first the amount was small €20 to be precise, then as the account went into arrears, €10 was added for each day or week it had stayed outstanding. This I can understand, as businesses need their money just like we need ours. (I should also mention that the account was in my mother's name but was used by my sister).

However, there was one day where a debt collector was sent to our home, my brother was home alone and he answered the door. A man who apparently had a form of ID for some company, asked for €10 from him. My brother told him to go away and he did so. Now this bill is at €100, this company would not accept my sisters Laser card as a method of payment, which was about a month ago.

My reason for this thread is that I would like to hear from anyone who has had run in's with debt collectors. However, the responses I would like would have to be legitimate, where it was through some fault of the companies, where you could not make payments at that time and had notified the company.

Important: I do not want any of the names of these companies to be mentioned in this thread, if there is any case in which someone feels it should be said please e-mail me at: <snip>