Courts threatened to send debt collector to my home at night
STOMPer Joanne Tan is worried for her two young children when a Courts staff threatened to send a debt collector to ‘visit’ her home at night. The STOMPer said this was the first time that she was late with her instalment payment.
In an email to STOMP yesterday (Sept 30), the STOMPer said:
“I am utterly upset and disappointed with Courts. I have purchased some products from Courts through their instalment program before and have never defaulted any of the instalments.
“I bought more products when I moved to my new house on Jan 08 under their instalment program again. I was told by a Courts customer service officer that my payment cycle date would be on the 20th of every month. Due date is 27th so I would have to make payment before 27th to avoid the late charges.
“Again I emphasise that I have never defaulted any payments before and have even requested Courts to change my due date due to my salary payout but was rejected with a valid reason which I had accepted.
“I believe I am a prompt paymaster hence I was giving 8 vouchers from Courts to waive off 50% each of my monthly instalment of $202 on the condition that I have no arrears on my payment. On certain months when I was unable to get my pay check cleared before the due date, I couldn’t use the voucher and had to pay $202 which I did promptly also without default.
“This month is the only time I defaulted on my instalment payment. Today a lady collector from Courts called me. She said my due date is today. I asked her what she meant by 'due today' since my due date is supposed to be the 27th of each month.
“She then said in a very unfriendly tone, ‘Today is month end and it is your due date.'
“I assumed she did not understand what I meant so I rephrased my sentence and asked her, ‘What will happened if I do not make the payment today?’
“To my huge surprise, she actually replied me by saying that she will arrange a debt collector to call and visit my house in that case and she said, 'So are you making the payment today or should I get a debt collector to visit you tonight?"
“She made me feel very threatened and please let me say this again, her tone was really very harsh.
“Do all debt collectors from Courts do things the same way? I really want to know. Furthermore, I did not even tell her that I am not making the payment. As a matter of fact, I had already make plans to make the payment at their outlet tomorrow.
“I believe and respect Courts as an organisation which is committed to provide excellent customer service to its customers but after this frightening experience, my opinion of Courts had changed totally. My due date is on the 27th of each month and I admit that it's my fault for not making the payment on time. But why do I get this kind of treatment for being late for only 3 days after being a faithful customer for the past five years. I just feel that it's so unprofessional of the lady debt collector to talk to me in this manner.
“I think Singapore have a very serious problem with our service standards. Courts claimed that their calls might be recorded and I seriously urge whoever is in charge to listen to the conversation which I had with the lady debt collector.
“Is it reasonable to threaten a 'debtor' (if Courts consider me as one) with debt collectors coming to my house over a 3-day overdue instalment? I really felt so threatened as I have two young kids at home with my maid most of the time.
“I really hope that something can be done by the authorities to stop this kind of high-handedness way of dealing with credit collection."
STOMPer Joanne Tan is worried for her two young children when a Courts staff threatened to send a debt collector to ‘visit’ her home at night. The STOMPer said this was the first time that she was late with her instalment payment.
In an email to STOMP yesterday (Sept 30), the STOMPer said:
“I am utterly upset and disappointed with Courts. I have purchased some products from Courts through their instalment program before and have never defaulted any of the instalments.
“I bought more products when I moved to my new house on Jan 08 under their instalment program again. I was told by a Courts customer service officer that my payment cycle date would be on the 20th of every month. Due date is 27th so I would have to make payment before 27th to avoid the late charges.
“Again I emphasise that I have never defaulted any payments before and have even requested Courts to change my due date due to my salary payout but was rejected with a valid reason which I had accepted.
“I believe I am a prompt paymaster hence I was giving 8 vouchers from Courts to waive off 50% each of my monthly instalment of $202 on the condition that I have no arrears on my payment. On certain months when I was unable to get my pay check cleared before the due date, I couldn’t use the voucher and had to pay $202 which I did promptly also without default.
“This month is the only time I defaulted on my instalment payment. Today a lady collector from Courts called me. She said my due date is today. I asked her what she meant by 'due today' since my due date is supposed to be the 27th of each month.
“She then said in a very unfriendly tone, ‘Today is month end and it is your due date.'
“I assumed she did not understand what I meant so I rephrased my sentence and asked her, ‘What will happened if I do not make the payment today?’
“To my huge surprise, she actually replied me by saying that she will arrange a debt collector to call and visit my house in that case and she said, 'So are you making the payment today or should I get a debt collector to visit you tonight?"
“She made me feel very threatened and please let me say this again, her tone was really very harsh.
“Do all debt collectors from Courts do things the same way? I really want to know. Furthermore, I did not even tell her that I am not making the payment. As a matter of fact, I had already make plans to make the payment at their outlet tomorrow.
“I believe and respect Courts as an organisation which is committed to provide excellent customer service to its customers but after this frightening experience, my opinion of Courts had changed totally. My due date is on the 27th of each month and I admit that it's my fault for not making the payment on time. But why do I get this kind of treatment for being late for only 3 days after being a faithful customer for the past five years. I just feel that it's so unprofessional of the lady debt collector to talk to me in this manner.
“I think Singapore have a very serious problem with our service standards. Courts claimed that their calls might be recorded and I seriously urge whoever is in charge to listen to the conversation which I had with the lady debt collector.
“Is it reasonable to threaten a 'debtor' (if Courts consider me as one) with debt collectors coming to my house over a 3-day overdue instalment? I really felt so threatened as I have two young kids at home with my maid most of the time.
“I really hope that something can be done by the authorities to stop this kind of high-handedness way of dealing with credit collection."
