I work at a call center for a debt collection agency. Most of our clients have payment plans set up with us where a small amount is debited from them every month. We send monthly statements to keep track of these. I get a call from one of our clients. Please note that we’re not allowed to hang up.
Caller: “I’ve called to cancel my debt.”
Me: “Okay, that’s great. Are you making a payment by card, or—”
Caller: “Payment? No! I’m not paying you anything. I’m calling to cancel it.”
Me: “Uh, ma’am, the only way you can remove your debt is to pay it. You’d need—”
Caller: “No! Being in debt to you is bad for my mental health. I’ve been signed off from work for stress. I’ve been told by my doctor to remove all stress from my life, for my health! Your debt reminder letters cause me stress, so you need to cancel my debt.”
Me: “I’m afraid that isn’t a reason to clear away an unpaid debt. I can’t do that.”
Caller: “I don’t think you understand. You are damaging my mental health.”
Me: “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Caller: “You need to stop.”
Me: “If you’d like to discuss how and when we contact you about your debt, we can—”
Caller: “Why do you want to damage my mental health?”
Me: “I don’t.”
Caller: “But you won’t cancel my debt?”
Me: “Ma’am, millions of people find debt stressful. If all you needed to do to cancel debt was claim it caused you stress, there’d be a lot of unpaid debts out there.”
Caller: “I am feeling very attacked right now!”
Me: “I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am.”
Caller: “…”
Me: “…”
Caller: “I’m going to sue you for damaging my mental health!”
The magic words!
Me: “Let me put you through to our legal advisor, ma’am.”
I transferred her and blissfully moved on to the next call. Any longer would have been damaging to my mental health!
