What do you do when your helper gets into debt?

H

HKFooey

Banned
I am not new to this situation as I have had problems with more than one helper getting into debt but this time it is threatening to play havoc with my life.

The last time we had problems it was via the telephone. We had continued threatening phone calls at all hours and as a result we changed our telephone number.

This time my helper has just told me that two people have come to the house and she has denied being who she is and they have said they will come back. My husband is off to the UK tonight for a week and I am a tad intimidated at the thought of people coming to the house.

As this issue has nothing to do with me what are my rights? I realise that most people will say get rid of the helper but I do not want to got to that extent.

Can I get help from the police if people harrase me in my home?

Any advice would be greatfully received
 
Please contact your local police station with this situation. They can help you to a certain extent, but they will not be able to protect you to a large extent from stupidity.

Also, what sort of security do you have in your building? Are you sure your helper is not trying to hustle you / scare you? Are you willing to just pay her debt off? (Not sure what the interest rates are.. but the longer this goes on the more debt she gets into).

While there is no law against debt collectors (there are some reforms in the work) and the tactics that they use, there is definately a law against intimidation.

Also, lets be pragmatic about this situation... your helper has been incredibly stupid about this whole thing and has put your family and your sanity at risk. The types of people who come to door steps are not people who you'd want around, following her and god forbid your children who might be with her.
 
Thanks Shri for your help

It is a little more complicated than I first thought. I thought it was a new situation but in fact it is an old situation that my husband thought he had resolved. It is not our helpers debt. It is in fact her sisters and when my husband sort legal advice when we had problems with phone calls he was told that our helper has no obligation to pay. The debt collectors are just trying it on. You are absolutely right about the level of the debt, it has now reached about $60k.

wrt to the safetly of my son that is of course paramount to me but fortunately my helper has no involvement with my son. We have a seperate baby sitter who comes in while i am at work so at least that is not something I have to worry about.

The security at my flat is good but a tad silly in one respect. The entrance phone automatically opens the downstairs door when you put it back on the hook. That means that even if you do not want to let someone in you automatically do if you answer the entrance phone. My husband told my helper and baby sitter before he left last night not to answer the entrance phone under any circumstances.

I do feel in this case that my helper is not to blame but I also realsie it would definitely go away if I let her go but I can not bring it into my heart to do that.

I will take a look at the link you posted.

Thanks for your help

I would also like to hear from anybody who has had the same problem

Thanks
 
Debt collectors

Hi HKFooey,

I'm afraid I have no advice but I just wanted to say I really feel for all of you, including your maid. How unfair that none of you are the cause of your predicament!

We've got a couple of very gentle but loud dogs if you'd like to borrow one for a couple of weeks! Our medium sized one wouldn't hurt a fly but our mini schnauzer has been known to nip repairmen (needless to say she went to obedience school after that so now she only knibbles on command, her jaw isn't big enough to really bite!).

Slee :-)
 
hi,

I don't know the situation, but this sounds outrageous. if I were you I'd be finding out who these 'debt collectors' are and getting a little pressure put on them so they know they can't come around - talk to a lawyer or the police for sure, see if you can get your building to change the door system, get security cameras installed, and if necessary go to court and get an injunction to keep them away. you shouldn't have to put up with this, especially if you're home alone.

good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top