Trade harassment to recover costumers who cancel their subscription

Ever been on the receiving end of a threatening, somewhat “spammy” debt collection call? Now, if this is happening repeatedly, it’s a case of consumer harassment. And, luckily, there are strict laws against that type of behavior, even if the claim is legitimate. Consumers always have rights and must be protected from poaching business practices. Learn how to spot and cease harassment.

What is Trade Harassment?

Trade harassment is the repeated and unlawful use of force or coercion to engage someone regarding the supply or payment for goods and services. Many forms of invasive and new-age advertising (as well as old-school methods like telemarketing and cold calling) come under this. The key word in classifying this behavior is the excessive or unwanted contact after the consumer party has explicitly stated that they don’t wish to be contacted or to purchase. In essence, trade harassment stops a person’s freedom to make a choice by violating their chosen response to the selling tactic. There’s a difference between subtle persuasion or sales pressure and excessive or forceful tactics that mislead the consumer or make them think that there is a bigger threat looming if they don’t pay.

The Role of Unions and Consumer Groups

In the workplace, it is trade unions that protect the interests of workers when it comes to cases of sexual harassment. Unions fight on behalf of workers and introduce policy around the process of filing a claim. In the same way, consumer groups lobby and work on behalf of consumer interests, protecting individuals from aggressive selling and soliciting practices. Trade harassment is high on this list as, every day, an increasing number of inventive ways are being used to harass and coerce past and potential “customers” into coughing up even more money. With false advertising, scams and phone solicitation, consumer groups have their work cut out for them in battling trade harassment. Many of these groups rely on federal or national policy that has already been laid out. They then push for more reform or tighter policy targeting for these new invasive practices that are actually grounds for harassment.

Financial institutions that sell their debt to a debt collection agency are prime sources of this type of harassment. While it’s technically out of the institution’s hands (or jurisdiction), the debt collector in question may be a business with very aggressive or shady tactics. These include misrepresenting the facts, inflating the consequences or using personal information against the individual. In all these cases, consumers have rights and they can take legal action if it is continued.