Collect Services extremely rude customer service

[magstar71]

I am currently paying collect services £20 per week for council tax arrears. The usual payment was due last Friday but due to other circumstances I did not meet the payment date and due to the circumstances didn’t let them know.
Do I called today apologising and if it would be possible if I could pay £40 this Friday. I was waiting for funds from a job and they were delayed in paying me and have not paid yet.
i explained this yet the man called Kane on the end of the line was extremely rude and said he would put a note but this would not stop any baliff action.

I have called before, in mind with a similar situation as myself and my husband are self employed and a lady I spoke to was lovely and said no problem.

Kane on the other had was awful. He said he would not help me as the payment is already deferred for 5 days and that I should have paid it on time and they I should be responsible for making this happen .

I explained that I just wanted 2 more days to catch up
and he point blank refused to help me in
any way. I was quite upset at this point , luckily for him I didn’t have mental problems.

i asked him for his full name, he refused to give me his surname and said he was the only guy named Kane in the Darlington office , as if I had to try and pursue for his surname and told me he did not have to give me it due to data protection.!

When I said I was disgusted with his attitude which was
unhelpful and made me very stressed he didn’t care.
i asked to to speak to the manager and he told me he would not give me the opportunity to talk to
them and again refused to give me his surname.

I want to ask is this an appropriate lawful way to speak to
someone who really does not want to be in this position
of simply asking to reschedule a payment due ?
it has left me gobsmacked to be honest, just need advice of how to tackle this and was his approach unlawful ?

Any legal advice would be helpful

Thank You

Maggie

[magstar71]

*Sorry .. So I called today not Do..

[R0b]

It isn't unlawful to have a stinky attitude.

Make a complaint but you don't have any legal rights.

[magstar71]

Thank you so much for your reply.
I suppose to rephrase legal is what I meant is I know there must be some criteria they must follow when it comes to dealing with how they should present themselves in a situation where I am not refusing just simply asking for more time to pay.

For instance if I wanted to complain which I absolutely should do regarding a company’s service, then surely it would me my right to ask the full name of this person and not be refused?

There must be some guidelines of conduct of how the vulnerability of certain situations could arise ???
I would not wish anyone to experience what I had to today today, just looking for some constructive advice really.
This is the first time I’ve felt like I was not treated well and my first ever complaint as I’m usually pretty easy going ..

[R0b]

Strictly speaking, you have every right to ask for their full name but the advisor isn't legally obliged to give it. I could reel off a number of reasons why advisors should be cautious about giving their full name but to give one example from personal experience, I know of a person who found out where that advisor lived and arranged for someone to beat that advisor up simply because the advisor refused to give in to the customer's demands.

Most businesses and local authorities have calls recorded and there is usually a record of who accessed the account so there's little or no reason for you to actually need their full name to make a complaint about their attitude.

Sure the local authority will have business policies in place about how they deal with the public but unless they are regulated, those policies arent legally binding nor do you have a legal right to enforce them.

Probably not the answers you are looking for but as I said in my initial post, having a stinky attitude isnt unlawful and I'm sure you have sufficient information already to raise a complaint e.g. first name, time of call etc.