Who Do These Cunts Think They Are?!

Well, I'm sure you can imagine my total DISGUST at receiving this today.  Honestly, this sort of correspondence gets you nowhere. Fast. 

Graham White Solicitors. Solicitors my arse. I faxed them a nice response. See below. Thought I'd share.

 

Mr James O’Hanlon

15 Xxxxxxxx Xxxxx

Xxxxxxx

Xxxxx

WD19 6XX

Graham White Solicitors

Manor House

Lavender Park Road

West Byfleet

KT14 6ND

Your Ref:

Dear Sir

I write to you regarding the above account and in response to your letter dated January 19^th 2011. I have attached your letter for your reference.

I would have liked the opportunity to speak to one of your call centre minions but sadly despite having tried 5 times this morning and experiencing a wait of over 10 minutes on each call, I have given in and decided to use the fax machine in the all too likely vain hope that a human being might actually have the decency to pick it up and do the right thing with it.  If I'm honest, listening to your hold music droning on and on was begininning to have a profound effect on my will to live.

Now, to the matter at hand.  You allege that I owe £222.79 to the Talk Talk Group.  You are completely and utterly incorrect in your allegation given that the full amount was paid on January 10^th 2011.  This payment was made directly to AOL Broadband who, should you wish to contact them, will confirm the payment for you. I’m sure if you dig a little bit deeper with AOL they will also tell you the reasons why payment was made directly to them, and not to your company.  When you have contacted AOL and received the necessary information, I require that you update your records immediately.

I rather enjoyed reading your letter which advised me to ‘take notice’ of your ‘intended litigation’ and that if I am in any doubt as to the seriousness of ‘this situation’ I should seek independent legal advice.  Obviously the ploy of trying to frighten people witless will work with the ill informed, but I ask you to ‘take notice’ that I haven’t been working in the debt recovery industry for 11 years without learning a thing or two.  I’m not sure that your regulatory authority will be altogether pleased with the threatening tone of your letter, so I have taken the opportunity to fax a copy to them. Perhaps they will advise you of any changes they believe you need to make regarding the glaring clarity issues that exist in your correspondence, the most surprising being that you have threatened the seizure of my personal assets by Bailiffs on what is an unsecured alleged debt and before you’ve obtained any court judgment.

With the above in mind I give you notice that should I receive any further correspondence from you regarding this issue, I shall regard it as harassment and will report you to the necessary authorities in order that you cease.

Your Ref:

Furthermore, I’ve taken the opportunity to do some research about your company and found that you have a rap sheet trailing back over a number of years.  People comment that calls and letters go unanswered, Subject Access Requests go ignored and that you are perpetually in breach of the Data Protection Act.  None of these issues put you on a very strong footing should I decide to use the correct channels for the reporting of such things.

There is a question mark as to why your company is called ‘Graham White Solicitors’. Could it be that you wish to share in the decent reputation of the Graham White Solicitors in Bushey, Hertfordshire, who, by coincidence, happen to be my Solicitors? (The same Solicitors who, by the morning of Tuesday 25^th January 2011, will be in possession of all of your correspondence to me to date)  Is Michael Sobell of ‘Graham White Solicitors’ the same Michael Sobell who works for Hackney Council?  If so, do Hackney Council know that he seems to have his fingers in an awful lot of sticky pies.

In summary I wish to reiterate three points: 

The amount you allege I owe has been paid in full.

Should I receive any more threatening correspondence from you it will be passed to my Solicitor who will make a harassment complaint against you in the Court, and you will be reported to your own Regulatory Authority

Any collections agent you send to my door will be guilty of trespass, has no legal right of entry, and will be reported to the Police.

I require that you provide me with written evidence that this matter is now settled, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours

James O’Hanlon

Stick that up your arse and smoke it. 

Why I dislike committees.

Funny things, committees.

I am a member of a social group of people who share an interest. We work as a team. Now, as far as I'm aware, working as a team requires teamwork. Teamwork is not a by-word for how much members of the team like or dislike each other. A team doesn't require its members to even speak to each other in order to function effectively. 

Now committees are, generally, a pain in the arse. This is because they tend to be manned by people who like to embark on little power trips, those with inflated egos, and those who are slightly out of touch with both modernity and reality.  They tend to forget that they are an elected body. They are given that gift by the same people they continually let down. They also tend to forget that they can be removed as quickly as they were elected.

Now if I were to make an ambiguous remark on my personal Twitter feed, for example, and another member of my social group happened to take offence to that remark, should the committee become involved?  Now, bear in mind that this remark has not made directly in reference to another member, but that this person has chosen to interpret it in a certain way.

I am well aware that sometimes the things I say may not be to everyone's taste. I know that sometimes the things I say are offensive, and I know that I say them to elicit a certain response or to start an open discussion.  I will not apologise for being this way, or for saying the things I say.  Nor will I pander to the feelings of other people who happen to disagree with my sentiments.  Of course, that isn't to say that I don't listen or take on board what other people think, feel, or say - on the contrary, in order to have a rounded opinion on any matter, one has to listen to many well rounded arguments and points of view.  I proudly defend all of our right to free speech, and will not apologise for the things I say.  I'm not sorry if I offend.  No one is asking you to agree with the things I say. Nor is anyone making you read it.

Amazingly enough, the incident that sparked this writing does not directly involve me, or anything I have put in the public domain.  This stems from the execrable behaviour of a group of outdated, boorish, puffed-up, self absorbed people who think they are the moral authority on all things great and good, when in fact they serve on a panel alongside like-minded trolls whom, it would appear, believe it their divine right to police the personal websites of those who elected them.

So an ambiguous remark on a personal Twitter feed is then turned into an allegation of bullying. 

Then the person fuelling the flames of these allegations is guilty of the very thing s/he is alleging.

Furthermore, it transpires that s/he is a member of the same committee passing judgment on the person accused of bullying in the first instance.  Am I the only person having a bit of problem with this whole shebang?

When you give monkeys power, they're still monkeys. And monkey is as monkey does.

I'm certain that the people I'm talking about won't have the faintest idea that I'm talking about them, because they're too absorbed in their pathetic little power trips to take note of anything that us mere minions are doing.  They would do well to take note, though.

What I put on my personal Twitter feed is my business.  If you don't like my business, don't read about it.  If you do read about it, and you feel the need to manipulate it into something that offends you, don't expect me to justify it.  Don't be so silly as to think the attention and support of a group of vacillators will somehow prevent you being offended in future, or that their supercilious finger-wagging is miraculously going to stop me from posting the things I want to post - yes, even if you find it offensive.

Real people deal with their issues with other people face to face, by behaving like adults.  I'm 33. I don't need a mediator telling me what they think the other person needs to hear because I don't say the things I say to make anyone feel better. 

I am able to decide for myself what I wish for people to read or hear.  I leave it at your discretion whether or not you wish to read or hear it.

Ultimately, that is exactly what I'm talking about.