How do International Debt Collections work?
December 10, 2006 5:32 PM Subscribe
How do International Debt Collections work? Can I avoid it?
I was in Europe for a few weeks and got a pre-paid cell phone to use while I was out there. The people I hired from basically lied to me, quoting me .40 Pounds per minute(after I told them what countires I would be in), but neglected to mention that there are atrocious roaming charges all through Europe. I had set the phone to automatically bill my card because at .40/min i didn't expect to spend too much.
About 3 days before leaving I saw on the news that some EU organization was meeting to try and force cell phone companies to lower roaming charges by 70%!!!!!!! That's when I realized I must be screwed....if they are making enough to lower prices 70% and it's bad enough for the EU to get involved, I must be screwed.
So I get the bill when I'm back in the states....and it's close to $2000
Now of course, that's crazy, and I feel cheated. I opened a dispute with my American Express to question them about it because after repeated attempts to get into contact with the vendor, I wasn't able to talk to anyone to explain it to me.
They sent Amex a huge packet of receipts and billing charges - basically the same 6 pages photocopied like 6 times...with a letter to me explaining that they will pursue this with International Debt Collectors should I chose to refuse payment.
Does anyone have any advice on what I can do here? Am I just SOL? Should I just accept this as a lesson learned? I'm sure if I call Amex I can tell them to not pay, but that feels like thievery to me - even though all my charges weren't disclosed originally. If it matters I live in the US, the vendor is from the UK and I hold both US and UK citizenships.
Considering I only take home about $2100/month this payment will kill me.....
thanks guys.
I was in Europe for a few weeks and got a pre-paid cell phone to use while I was out there. The people I hired from basically lied to me, quoting me .40 Pounds per minute(after I told them what countires I would be in), but neglected to mention that there are atrocious roaming charges all through Europe. I had set the phone to automatically bill my card because at .40/min i didn't expect to spend too much.
About 3 days before leaving I saw on the news that some EU organization was meeting to try and force cell phone companies to lower roaming charges by 70%!!!!!!! That's when I realized I must be screwed....if they are making enough to lower prices 70% and it's bad enough for the EU to get involved, I must be screwed.
So I get the bill when I'm back in the states....and it's close to $2000
Now of course, that's crazy, and I feel cheated. I opened a dispute with my American Express to question them about it because after repeated attempts to get into contact with the vendor, I wasn't able to talk to anyone to explain it to me.
They sent Amex a huge packet of receipts and billing charges - basically the same 6 pages photocopied like 6 times...with a letter to me explaining that they will pursue this with International Debt Collectors should I chose to refuse payment.
Does anyone have any advice on what I can do here? Am I just SOL? Should I just accept this as a lesson learned? I'm sure if I call Amex I can tell them to not pay, but that feels like thievery to me - even though all my charges weren't disclosed originally. If it matters I live in the US, the vendor is from the UK and I hold both US and UK citizenships.
Considering I only take home about $2100/month this payment will kill me.....
thanks guys.
The people I hired from basically lied to me, quoting me .40 Pounds per minute(after I told them what countires I would be in), but neglected to mention that there are atrocious roaming charges all through Europe.
If they accurately quoted the rate then it wasn't a lie. Do you still have the packaging? Were the roaming charges mentioned anywhere in there? Are there any countries that they serve that don't have roaming charges? Have you thought of talking to the company and explaining to them that you simply cannot afford $2000 but would like ot come to an agreement as far as paying it back, perhaps $500? Or $1200 over 12 months?
posted by furtive at 8:21 PM on December 10, 2006
If they accurately quoted the rate then it wasn't a lie. Do you still have the packaging? Were the roaming charges mentioned anywhere in there? Are there any countries that they serve that don't have roaming charges? Have you thought of talking to the company and explaining to them that you simply cannot afford $2000 but would like ot come to an agreement as far as paying it back, perhaps $500? Or $1200 over 12 months?
posted by furtive at 8:21 PM on December 10, 2006
This pivots on the meaning of "basically lied to me." If they were clear in their written contract (as clear as such things ever are) but didn't feel the need to tell you verbally then you're likely out of luck. Paper beats not just rock, but also the spoken word. You may just be getting an expensive lesson in "read things that you sign" and you need to put aside this emotional reaction to what you feel is too much money for what you got and dispassionately ponder your culpability here.
That said, you can certainly call Amex and initiate a chargeback. What do you really have to lose? Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, maybe it works long enough to give you a better negotiating position with the company to get them to slash their rates.
I don't know how accurately you're portraying the situation and being anonymous you can't tell me but from the way you've described it thus far I smell blood from a negotiating standpoint. When I've had customers initiate chargebacks I knew I was completely in the right on I've simply photocopied the pertinent documentation, scrawled my 2 line explanation of the transaction and sent it off to my charge clearinghouse. I certainly didn't send redundant copies or bother to threaten the customer directly trying to get them to drop it.
Keep the processing going with Amex and make a counter-offer. And read things before you sign them in the future.
posted by phearlez at 8:43 AM on December 11, 2006
That said, you can certainly call Amex and initiate a chargeback. What do you really have to lose? Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, maybe it works long enough to give you a better negotiating position with the company to get them to slash their rates.
I don't know how accurately you're portraying the situation and being anonymous you can't tell me but from the way you've described it thus far I smell blood from a negotiating standpoint. When I've had customers initiate chargebacks I knew I was completely in the right on I've simply photocopied the pertinent documentation, scrawled my 2 line explanation of the transaction and sent it off to my charge clearinghouse. I certainly didn't send redundant copies or bother to threaten the customer directly trying to get them to drop it.
Keep the processing going with Amex and make a counter-offer. And read things before you sign them in the future.
posted by phearlez at 8:43 AM on December 11, 2006
Companies can sell debt and unpaid loans. Eventually, it'll go to people like this, who'll chase you with legally actionable debt in the country where the debotr resides - i.e. here, in the USA. I had this happen for less than $5k.
. Get your amex people on side now and find that flaw in the contract or negotiate a settlement. It's not like the past: these problems don't go away, and they can affect your credit rating here!
posted by lalochezia at 10:09 PM on December 11, 2006
. Get your amex people on side now and find that flaw in the contract or negotiate a settlement. It's not like the past: these problems don't go away, and they can affect your credit rating here!
posted by lalochezia at 10:09 PM on December 11, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
I think you should call them right now and ask them about that, because I think you are going to find that you are mistaken on that point.
If you are not, then yeah, ditch it. Wish it were so easy though.
posted by Listener at 5:46 PM on December 10, 2006