Unethical practices by Hutch collection agents

A collection agent from Hutch calls up a friend of mine asking him to inform me that I need to pay the bill immediately.

I'm angry. Why does Hutch have to call up my friends?

So, I call the offending collection agent to the Hutch outlet at Koramangala this morning. To get the message across as loudly and clearly as possible, I throw a tantrum in front of a bunch of Hutch customers (some of them in the queue to pay their bills). After about half an hour of the show, they put me on the line with a manager of their collection department—someone who can make a difference. This guy asks me to send him an email and assures me of prompt action.

Relevant portions of the email:

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Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 15:31:13 0530
From: Manish Jethani <manish.jethani@gmail.com>
To: [Manager at Hutch collection department]
Subject: Unethical practices by Hutch collection agents

[snip]

Last month, one of your collection agents, [agent's name and phone number], called up a friend and prospective client of mine, [my friend's name and phone number], seeking information on my whereabouts and requesting payment of the bill.

The aforementioned unwarranted and unethical act of [agent's name], on behalf of your department, has caused damage to my reputation with my client, potentially costing me business of several thousand rupees. It is absolutely unacceptable for a collection agent to get in touch with a customer's relatives, friends, clients, and any other contacts, regarding the customer's bill payments. Since I am told that this is standard practice at Hutch India, I am out to fight against it.

Here is what I am looking for:

1. Written apology from Hutch India.
2. Assurance from Hutch India that any such unethical practices currently employed by the collection agents will be discontinued with immediate effect.
3. Compensation for damages.

[snip]

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I want to ensure that this does not happen to anyone else. If you have any advice in this regard, please leave a comment.

Finally, if you're using Hutch, better pay your bills on time, or be prepared for collection agents calling up anyone from your "recently called" list.