The debtor has appointed someone else to handle your payment calls
The next call has a different recipient
A hypothetical supplier pursuing a personal customer account receives a request to speak through the customer's representative. The accounts officer is unsure whether to keep calling the customer while checking the request. Refer the communication position promptly for appropriate advice. Establish the representative and their authority before continuing an automatic call routine. This is separate from deciding whether the account is correct.
Identify the request and its scope
Save the customer's instruction and the representative's contact details through an appropriately verified channel. Clarify which account and period the authority covers. Avoid collecting unnecessary personal information simply because an old form contains extra fields. A person helping with correspondence may not have authority to agree to a settlement, release rights or promise payment from their own funds.
Use the applicable collection guidance
Section 9 of the ACCC and ASIC debt collection guideline addresses represented debtors, including directing contact through an authorised representative and specified exceptions. It also discusses acceptable forms and scope of authority. Ask an adviser to apply that guidance and relevant law to the account. Do not demand one particular form without checking, or treat every request as an absolute ban on all communication.
Confirm the working communication route
In the hypothetical example, ask whether the representative accepts the role and where account correspondence should go. Record the verified arrangement so another staff member does not restart direct calls from an older task list. Preserve the customer's original instruction. If authority is limited to one discussion, identify what remains unresolved rather than silently extending it to every future decision.
Escalate a stalled handover properly
If the representative does not respond or says they have no instructions, record the facts and obtain advice about the next communication. Do not invent a waiting period or bypass the representative merely because direct contact seems faster. Have any formal response or service requirements checked separately; an informal account-handling arrangement does not itself answer those procedural questions.
Keep the debt and the contact record connected
Attach the authority record and correspondence to the account, with an owner responsible for updating changes. CRP can help organise the commercial history. The useful result is a verified route for productive discussion, while preserving a clear distinction between speaking for the customer and agreeing the legal outcome of the debt.