A few of my debts have either been with Moorcroft at some point or are still with them. Currently off the top of my head my Virgin Mobile Debt is with Moorcroft. Moorcroft have an office in Stockport and seem to be the debt collector of choice for a few of the companies I owe money to. This is a post about my thoughts on dealing with them.
Contact with Moorcroft
Sometimes my contact with Moorcroft has not been pleasant. Being judged over the phone isn’t what I expect. Being asked questions like why I can’t pay more is just plain stupid. If they actually took the time to look at my income and expenditure they might be grateful that haven’t just made myself bankrupt. It’s not like my job would be affected and I don’t have any assets. So maybe my credit rating would be broken but credit is how I ended up in this situation in the first place. Don’t worry though every penny will be paid back.
To sum it up it depends on who you speak to. Sometimes I find someone helpful, other times they can’t wait to get you off the phone. Add a little bit of judgement in there and the verdict – disappointing. Nothing like Lowell Portfolio who at least on the face of it, appreciate you paying something.
Moorcroft Complaints
Recently Moorcroft got a CCJ against my partner for a debt with Natwest. At the time they said that they had not heard anything from us so that’s why they did it. However StepChange (who provide free debt management plans by the way) had sent an offer of repayment. Moorcroft claim to have not received this but somehow by magic received the information for a Virgin Mobile Debt of mine. Hmm. Anyway that complaint is still ongoing so they may redeem themselves. Natwest were not interested when we spoke to them.
E-mail Contact
You can send e-mail to Moorcroft but they don’t reply back by e-mail. Instead they will write to you which just slows everything down in my opinion but I suppose they are more stringent at following the Data Protection Guidelines and you can’t be mad at them for that. At least they respond and typically you receive a written reply in around 7 days. Not too shabby then but not as quick as a reply by e-mail.
Moorcroft DoorStep Collections
Yes they have even sent one of these to me for a debt with Aqua Card. I actually did not believe they would follow through but they did. I told the doorstep collector to go away and they did after a little convincing. Aqua Card eventually sold the Debt to Lowell Portfolio so no more Moorcroft for that debt.
Overall
I have dealt with much worse debt collection agencies I can tell you that. Whenever I have made a written offer of payment it has been accepted so that’s something. I do sometimes phone them because it is quicker but then the experience you receive depends on the person at the other end of the phone. Some of them are ok and some not so. However the grief level on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest would be a 3.
