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Recorded message from "MMF Doorstep Collections"
Hugh Jboobs
Posts: 15,316 Forum Member
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Hi all.
Came into work this morning to find a message on my answer machine from someone saying he was from "MMF doorstep collections". It sounded very much like a pre-recorded message rather than someone calling in person.
The message was along the lines of the following:
Hello this is Mike from MMF doorstep collections. I tried to contact you recently but no-one has returned my call. I will therefore be visiting your property soon in person. If you wish to pre-arrange an appointment or discuss your account, please contact our office on (here he left the number) and quote reference (here there was a robotic voice generated reference number)
I've never heard of MMF before and upon Googling them I discovered they are called Motor Mile Finance and are a debt recovery agency.
My Googling also led me to a couple of forums/sites where people have recounted a similar story to mine and said they have been threatened by these people repeatedly, whether they owe any money or not! A lot of people seemed to say to ignore the call.
I run a small business. To be totally clear - I have not taken out any loans (apart from with the bank, who I have a standing order with to repay the loan every month). Any money I owe to various companies is always paid promptly. I have not had any letters or anything demanding any money previous to this call.
On the one hand I think I should call them and try to sort it out. Is it some form of mistake? But on the other, I worry that if I do get in contact and "engage them" they will start pestering me and not leave me alone.
How should I handle this?
Came into work this morning to find a message on my answer machine from someone saying he was from "MMF doorstep collections". It sounded very much like a pre-recorded message rather than someone calling in person.
The message was along the lines of the following:
Hello this is Mike from MMF doorstep collections. I tried to contact you recently but no-one has returned my call. I will therefore be visiting your property soon in person. If you wish to pre-arrange an appointment or discuss your account, please contact our office on (here he left the number) and quote reference (here there was a robotic voice generated reference number)
I've never heard of MMF before and upon Googling them I discovered they are called Motor Mile Finance and are a debt recovery agency.
My Googling also led me to a couple of forums/sites where people have recounted a similar story to mine and said they have been threatened by these people repeatedly, whether they owe any money or not! A lot of people seemed to say to ignore the call.
I run a small business. To be totally clear - I have not taken out any loans (apart from with the bank, who I have a standing order with to repay the loan every month). Any money I owe to various companies is always paid promptly. I have not had any letters or anything demanding any money previous to this call.
On the one hand I think I should call them and try to sort it out. Is it some form of mistake? But on the other, I worry that if I do get in contact and "engage them" they will start pestering me and not leave me alone.
How should I handle this?
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if your sure the debt is not yours and a mistake, ring and tell them..
if it is, try and sort it out, it wont go away
If the persist, then ask for a freedom of information request and ask them for all information they have on you.
It is up to them to prove the debt is yours. If after telling them it is nothing to do with you, they still pester you, just ignore them, but note down every time they contact you, in case you can prove that they are harrasing you.
I've been in a similar situation and they soon backed down. The company i had issues with was Robinson Way.
So I decided to give them a call.
I spoke to a woman and explained the situation. She didn't even ask for a reference number or anything, but told me the name of the person the debt related to (I assume she did this by recognising the number I was calling from?
I didn't recognise the name of the person named. They have never worked for me and the unit I am in is a newly built one, so there are no previous tennants who it could be.
She said to ignore any further communication I have from them.
So sorted for now, but I've kinda got a feeling I haven't heard the last of it!
They are not bailiffs and have about as much right as the milkman to enter your property.
Given their response to the OP's call this sounds like the correct explanation. However unpleasant some of these people may be, they are trying to recover money from someone who is trying not to pay it so they will have to use these tactics. I once answered the phone to someone who asked me to put a note through a neighbour's door asking them to phone them back. Of course they wanted it to look like an innocent message from a neighbour, but I googled the number and it was a debt recovery firm. I didn't do it.
The matter seems to habe been resolved, but is a request under the FOI Act not only appropriate where one wants a public body to make public information held by that body on a particular subject?
Perhaps you meant that the OP should make a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act. But the DPA applies only to information about living individuals and not commercial organisations.
Correct, and they wouldn't reveal anything to the OP if the personal information relates to someone else anyway.
Sorry, yes, meant a subject access request. D'oh!
Indeed, the "subject" is entitled only to information held about the "subject".
Bit in Bold:
So you can expect further communication from them then, and when they send about four or five letters, and you ring them up and say "but I rung you up" they will say "we have no record of that call".
You must always only deal with these people in writing (A lot of these companies now have email addresses so you can use that way to correspond too).
Yeah fair point. I was in a bit of a rush when I called them and it didn't sink in what she'd said until after I hung up! If I get another call I'll email or write a letter.
For over three years I've been getting calls for a man that has never lived in my house who is in debt, all calls from people under different 'companies' and lately it's been this MMF Finance rubbish.
Don't think just because they have said they have taken you off their list that they have...they will probably call under a different name in the future if you are unlucky like me. They seem to go through phases, call for a while then nothing for months, then they are back under a new name asking for the same guy.
It's a shame it's always a computer recorded voice because I'd be able to get someone who lives in the house to threaten them with legal terms.
Basically, if you know you are not in debt and it's all a load of crap and they are not even using your own name, nothing is going to happen, no one is going to turn up and so on. Just put the phone down once you realise who is calling.