Debt Collectors – An open letter to Video Ezy
At the risk of writing TWO negative customer service posts in a row I’m going to share with you the overly heavy approach Video Ezy has at pursuing overdue return fees.
It turns out that in May 2006 Mandy, my housemate at the time, returned some DVD’s late. This fact went unnoticed because not long after that we started using the Video Ezy outlet in Ballajura instead as it was closer. Mandy moved out at the end of that year and it was not until I received a letter in the mail from debt collectors Legal & Commercial that I became aware of the problem.
I don’t have issues with the debt collector and, after contacting Mandy, I made the payment immediately. What irks me is the way this was handled by Video Ezy who seem to have taken a very lazy attitude to this matter which does absolutely nothing to promote good customer service.
Quoting from the debt collectors letter :
“We are working in conjunction with our client Video Ezy Noranda, to remind you that the above $22.50 remains outstanding on your membership. As you would be aware, contacting every member by phone is a rather large task and is not always possible”
Wrong – Contacting your client by phone should be the very first point of call. There are many reasons why people miss payments and, whether legitimate or not, a phonecall will encourage most people to make payment immediately. In fact, an alternative debt collector Marshall Freeman state on their website that Proactive collection by telephone is “By far the most important step in collecting debt”
Quoting from the debt collectors letter :
Please note:
1. A video store is not required to notify you of an outstanding debt.
2. A claimand is entitled to pursue outstanding debts for a period of 6 years.
Explain to me why a video store is not required to notify you of an outstanding debt?
If my clients are late with payment and I don’t chase them up then I have no one but myself to blame when my cash-flow dries up!
I’d also like to know if you think this is a satisfactory approach to customer service, especially in an industry that is feeling the pressures from pay TV. downward pricing of DVD media in major department stores and on demand video via the Internet and why it takes 3 and a half years to follow this up?
I’m an angry parent of two children who signed up with a local Video Ezy store before its name changed to Network. They went into contract with the store and hired DVDs . They were constantly late returning these movies. They incurred late fees. I have no problem with the late fees. They couldn’t hire out the DVDs for the nights late, however I do have a problem when my son was allowed to hire out so many, return them late, pay part fines and re-hire, only to be then sent threatening letters from a debt collection agency working in conjunction with a legal firm in Melbourne. (Read other threads on various websites for their particular details) My concern is when I found out about said debt and immediately went to the store to ask for a copy of the original contract that this young 18 yr old had signed, you can imagine my alarm when they said they couldn’t find it, however we can show you what we used back then.
1: the person signs the agreement at the front of the book with all the terms and conditions at the back.
2: The store manager told me that in those contracts they didn’t actually state that the person was liable for any costs incurred for recovery of any debts.
Now I am no legal expert but aren’t all terms and conditions supposed to be added BEFORE a contract is signed and not on the back of the slip?
Further more if the contract didn’t state that the person hiring was responsible for all late fees AND COSTs then those costs are not the responsibility of the person who owed late fees, but the person hiring the agency?
Also aren’t stores under an obligation to attempt to minimize their debtors fines otherwise they might be construed as contributing to the higher costs involved?
Hmmmmm, getting back to my rant, I’m concerned that my son was allowed to continue borrowing, even though he was racking up late fees continuously by returning movies late. I’m concerned that at no stage did he receive a warning that his late fees would be called upon. Why was he not stopped from borrowing until ALL fees were paid and then warned to return movies on time or else?
The store was fully aware he was only paying part of the fine to borrow again. Why wasn’t he banned from borrowing? To add more money to their coffers perhaps?
I’m also concerned that no one explained to him about contract law and that he was in fact signing a legal document enforceable in court. THEREFORE please read the terms and conditions at the back of this form before you sign. His main aim at just turning 18 was to borrow movies and games. he didn’t think to read the small print at the back of the docket.
I’m also concerned because the debt collection agency used uses particularly aggressive tactics with a law firm. I found a few things odd about the letters we received. A law firm is mentioned at the bottom to send money to, but no letter head is on the letter that threatened to take him to court and in fact gave him a date when it would be lodged. I looked up the law firm mentioned and it had a different number to that at the bottom of the page. However, the debt collection agency has the same number to that at the bottom of the letter except the last two digits, hmmmm, I’m thinking this letter has come from the agency and the number on the letter is an extension number.
I’m happy to pay my son’s fine, and did so a few months back, however why not stop the borrowing before it gets so bad? Aren’t you contributing to your loss if you allow them to keep racking up fine after fine?
At no stage am I suggesting they shirk their fine, but I am asking for fairness.
Like yourself, I did not have an issue with paying the overdue fee, what really irked me was the heavy handed approach they took in dealing with it when a simple phone call would have sufficed!
To be fair to Video Ezy, I did receive a good follow up response from one of their franchise consultants (the people who liaise and advice the franchisee on successful and appropriate business practice) who apologised and said I would get a reply from the franchisee within the next week. I never did receive a call from the franchisee but, as I has already stated in my post we’d moved to a different outlet, this didn’t surprise me.
When I wrote this post, and subsequently forwarded it to Video Ezy head office all I really wanted from them was an apology that never came.
I hate debt collection companies and i’ve had a similar experience with Video Ezy. There is a massive company called bay corp . I did a post on their lame attempt at positive public relations. http://www.pleaseinterruptme.com/2010/03/baycorp-%E2%80%93-a-debt-collection-company/