Creditor Phone Calls

Squishypig · July 2003

I work in a corporate office whose phone calls all go through a receptionist (we do not have direct lines). We have been getting a lot of phone calls for an employee who works in a department who is not allowed to receive phone calls (unless it is an emergency). The receptionist has been directing all of the calls to me and I inform the creditor that the department is not allowed personal phone calls, if they need to reach the employee, to call him at home. Now I know that if the EMPLOYEE tells flat creditors to flat out not call him at work, the creditors cannot call him here anymore. But since I am not the employee (and most of the time the employee works a night shift so he is not even here when they call) the creditors keep calling, like 2-3 times a day and they are nasty when I explain the situation. I have been cursed at, hung up on and basically my time has been wasted dealing with these people. How do you guys deal with these calls?

Johnette
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Rockie · July 2003

Why on earth would they call YOU if they can't get in touch with the employee? I would advise them not to call me again, under any circumstances. If they do, ask to speak to their immediate supervisor. I would advise that you consider these harassing and annoying phone calls and if they do not stop, that you will take legal action against them.

scottorr · July 2003

Agreed! When I worked in Health Care we had a similar phone system so all of these calls came to HR. We used to tell them that this is a place of business, asked for their name, let them know we had a phone trace so their number was not important and that any additional calls would be considered harassment. They would always curse me out but rarely called back.

Squishypig · July 2003

You know Rockie, I did that about 5 months ago. I asked for the supervisor and asked him (nicely) to stop calling because it was disrupting our work. The supervisor said that it didn't matter since it didn't concern me. When I told him that it did concern me since it was interupting MY work and I was going to seek legal advise if they kept calling. But the fact is that I can't keep doing this with ALL of the creditors with our employees. All the time. The only thing that I can come up with is to have an extension set up (like a voice mail but they would not be able to leave a message) saying that employees do not recieve personal phone calls and to reach the employees at another number.

I understand completely where these people are coming from, I used to work for a collection agency (as the HR assistant) and the collectors have a goal to meet but jeez a pete, I don't have time for this!

Johnette
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NicoleLee · July 2003

I have been through the same situation with my employees. Unfortunatly, even if they ask the creditor not to call their work, the request expires after a certain time period, and the creditor may begin calling again. I honestly just finally got so tired of fighting and getting belittled bvy these people, that I would say, one momet please, put them on hold, and wait for them to hang up. Or just simply hang up.

Also, you can talk with the employee regarding the calls. Often, this helps the employee realize the seriousness of the situation and how it is effecting others. Many times they will begin communicating with the creditor and the calls disappear.

cebudragonlady · July 2003

Remind the callers that it is illegal for debt collectors to call at a place of employment if the debt collector has reason to know that an employer prohibits receipt of such communications. This is per the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, Section 805(a)(3). The employee can go to court and collect damages of up to $1000.

Chari

Creditor Phone Calls

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