A few years ago (10+), my family bought a personal computer from a national chain of electronics stores. The price was exhorbitant, but it was our 1st computer and we were foolish. In any case, because we were livivg on a combined income from student loans and a check from the Provincial gov't., the price of the monthly payments of $25/month became too much for a pair of people with disabilities who had just had a baby.
As the bill went to collections, we began to receive telephone calls from hard-sounding people who wouldn't give you a contact name except for "Mister (Insert Last Name Here)", and who didn't seem to understand that we hadn't defaulted on payments by choice. After a few months of calls like this, we eventually spoke with a pseudo-sympathetic person who said that the interest rate on the outstanding amount would be suspended, so that any payment we could make would be directly applied to the principle. That offer was made to us at the $6000 dollar range.
Well, suffice it to say that the fellow we had made this deal with LIED LIKE A RUG, and that the outstanding amount of the debt, as of this past week, was in the $11,000 dollar range. Despite the $10/month we have been applying to this account since this verbal contract was arranged!
To top it all off, the agency says that there is NOTHING WRITTEN DOWN in the file to back up our claim; not by anyone.

So, my question is: Do we have ANY LEGAL GROUNDS for telling these people that they aren't getting another dime until they agree in writing to the original verbal contract made by these people over the phone?

We don't even have an idea as to where to find the Saskatchewan Standards of Conduct for Collections Agencies, so if anyone knows of a weblink for this last, please post it to this site.
Thanks,
Saint :)