My Wierd Debt Collector Incident

[Joshua Howard]

I was enjoying a nap in my office chair at about 3:00 PM one recent afternoon, when my second line rang. (I only use it for faxes, but since I never actually recieve faxes in reality, whenever it rings it is just some random caller.) I picked it up, and the call went something like this:

Caller: "Are you Joshua Howard?"
Me: "Yes, what can I do for you?"
C: "I'm Blah Blah collections, calling about your nine-ninety-three Qwest bill. What's your credit or debit card #?"
M: "What?" (Still partly asleep, and unaware that I owed Qwest anything.)
C: "Your Nine-Ninety-Three Qwest bill is overdue. Now can I get your card...?"
M: (Remembering that I cancelled my Qwest services about 8 months ago, thinking it was $9.93, which was accidentally left over) "Why didn't I get a bill all this time...? ...How much?"
C: "Nine hundred Ninety Three Dollars."
M: (Still not fully awake, still totally confused, but now alarmed, I spontaniously began to wonder what happened to the family 56K dialup service that stopped getting used and was forgotten about 8 years ago when DSL came along. Believing at this point that somehow a forgotten service from many years ago had been compounding for years and was now worth nearly 1K, I blathered on for a few moments about that; then it occurred to me that it might actually be a debt which my mother, and not I, owed, and I said...) "What name did you say again?"
C: "Joshua Howard" (Oh crap, I thought, pausing.)
C: "We can set up an installment plan..."
M: I'm not going to pay that.
C: "Ok."
M: "Wait - What account number is that for?"
C: "Blah Blah" (I wrote down the information and ended the call.)

I called Qwest, went through some computer prompts, entered the number the collection agent gave me into the computer, and finally got ahold of a customer service representative who accidentally cut me off. Before I was disconnected however, I was able to hear her entering customer info, (accidentally, because the phone rep didn't know what she was doing) part of which included my "address", which was, coincidentally, not my address.

A quick online search at whitepages.com revealed what had been going on the whole time. There was somebody else living nearby with my name and that address; and it was my double who owed Qwest.

The next day, I got another call from the collection agency. I asked for the direct number to a supervisor, took down the name of the agent, and left a message of complaint. So far, I haven't heard back.

The disturbing and unfathomable part of the whole situation is that - when there are about 1,000 people in the U.S. with my exact name - a collection agency just picks one off the list, calls up, and says "Give me your credit card number." without even double-checking the data.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I might have hung up on them. That would be my first reaction, anyway. It smells like a scam - why else would they ask for your credit card number right away like that?

 

[Joshua Howard]

Well, I thought it sounded wierd too, but Qwest verified that the account number I stated did indeed owe them that much money. The agent was confused though, when I stated a different address than the one she was looking at. Thusly, I verified that it all was legit... just not what I'd consider professional.

I think that debt collecters must have a basic doctrine of not giving the debter any time to argue before being hit with the "pay up" mandate; the old law of projecting psychological dominance.

 

[Tomato]

Yeah sounds like a scam be careful with that shit. But keep us updated on what happens.

But just be careful those scum bags could kill your credit ratings.

 

[T'Baio]

In Canada anyway, debt collectors require a licence. They call and just ask for a number like that, because it's perfectly legal to do so. I used to do it. You'd be suprised how many people just go, "Oh, okay, uhh, 5224..."

 

[JonathonWally]

Just be like "I expect dinner and flowers from someone before they try and fuck me"

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

In Canada anyway, debt collectors require a licence.

But there's no way for you to know if the person calling you really is a debt collector...

 

[JonathonWally]

In Canada anyway, debt collectors require a licence.

But there's no way for you to know if the person calling you really is a debt collector...

It's because of that, I always ask them to said me a bill in the mail and I refuse to give anyone my credit card info over the phone. Especially since I pay all my bills on time.

 

[Amaris]

In Canada anyway, debt collectors require a licence.

But there's no way for you to know if the person calling you really is a debt collector...

It's because of that, I always ask them to said me a bill in the mail and I refuse to give anyone my credit card info over the phone. Especially since I pay all my bills on time.

Great advice worth heeding.


J.

 

[T'Baio]

In Canada anyway, debt collectors require a licence.

But there's no way for you to know if the person calling you really is a debt collector...

I know, and the smart thing to do would be to tell them to go fuck themselves. I'm just saying, in an industry when time is money, you open with that, and if they give it to you, win. It's not illegal to ask, but it is stupid to give.

 

[SeerSGB]

Stick to your guns and don't budge.

JC Penney got cute a few months back and combined my wife's charge account and my mother's charage account into one (without permission) and listed my father as my wife's husband. We didn't even know about till our little $200 bill jumped to well over a $1000 and I called them up and to find out what the holy fuck was going on. 3 months of fighting with these assholes and "Oh, the payment was lost in the transaction cycle...oh we know we cashed the check...we know you have the cashed check...yeah, so what doesn't mean we have the money". Round and round we go, finally I said "fuck you, you're not getting a dime till the accounts are separated and my wife's is closed permanently." They called my father up and scared tactic him into paying a big sum of money (anyone with a little authority and Dad just rolls over), which promptly gets "lost". 4 months later, JC Penney calls up and start threatening legal action, I tell them they can try but the court would rule in my favor and I would counter sue in civil court, gave them the number to the family attorney and hung up. Next day: Phone call, accounts back to normal, account closed, interst suspended form 6 months, payment reduced to 1/4 of previous, and all late fee and penalities for the months we didn't pay removed from the account...and oh all those "missing payments" suddenly appeared on the account.

Edit to add: I would suggest folks get a PO Box for bills and statements. My mother has some stuff that got stolen out of her mailbox at the house. Some asshole used the info to list her as his landlord and his cosigner on some credit cards and for some court documents, and the bill collectors and the IRS damn near didn't back down. She had a hellish time proving that she had never met him and that he had never lived in the house.

 

[Crash]

Welcome to the wonderful world of collection agencies. It took a handful of lawsuits and a few years before I got agencies to stop harassing me over a credit card debt that wasn't mine. Really, there's nothing like having to check your credit report all the time to keep it clean of fraudulent entries, spending time in a lawyer's office going over recorded voice mails and recorded threats, and just plain, old fashion fear of the phone because you know they're gonna be pushy, you know they'll violate the FDCPA, and you know they're going to lie to you.

Like others said, stay off the phone with them regardless of if the debt is legitimate or not. Make them prove to you that you owe them, and make them do it via snail mail.

 

[SeerSGB]

If you do have to deal with them on the phone, record the conversation. My family attorney recommended using a micro cassette recorder and not digital recorder as to limit the claim that the recording might have been tampered with by you. Check your local laws to make sure you're doing it legally and what sort of notification you have to give them.

 

[the Dagman]

What was said earlier is so true: NEVER give your credit card number to someone who calls you on the phone. The same goes for your Social Security number and any other private information. They may sound legit, but you never know who exactly is calling you.

Recently I had some agencies calling me up to collect on a debt owed by some woman with the same last name as mine. Now, I have a pretty common last name. This would be like picking some random Smith or Jones from out of the phone book and hitting them up for some other person's bill. The first time or two I told them of their mistake pretty cordially, thinking someone had made a simple mistake, and told them to remove my phone number and name from their database because I don't owe them money nor even know the person who does.

But then they kept calling back at all hours of the day and night. It wound up making me pretty irate. I will be damned if I am going to get harassed for a debt that is not mine. I wound up telling these people that I am on the national Do-Not-Call list, and seeing as I do not do business with them, they have no legal right to be calling me. In fact, I threatened them with suing them and their company for harassment as provided for in the Do-Not-Call registry guidelines and demanded their name, their company's name, their address, the name of their supervisor so I can sue them too...

Around that time of the call they hung up on me. I had to do that routine two or three times before they got the message and stopped calling. I really had no intention of actually suing. Too much to bother with. I just wanted to get them to leave me alone, and it worked.

It just goes to show you, these collectors are like the schoolyard bully. They like to talk a big intimidating talk, and sometimes can get in a couple of punches (like what TheGallifreyanSith described). But if you stand up to them and out intimidate them, they are nothing but pussies on the other end of the phone. To work at such a job, IMO, they are the lowest of the low. And should be treated as such.

 

[T'Baio]

To work at such a job, IMO, they are the lowest of the low. And should be treated as such.

You know, I won't get too in depth in defending the industry, because by and large, yes, there are a lot of assholes who either don't know the laws that regulate them or don't care. They harass people and commit business entirely illegally.

However, to generalize that everyone who has ever worked the job is the lowest of the low and should be treated as such is unfair and offensive...the same it would be if you generalized negative qualities about any group. And yes, I'm saying this because I used to work as one.

A large portion of the people I worked with were assholes, yes. But some were equally as kind. Myself and others I knew would make certain unpaid bills for certain people disappear quite often. Most of the time when we were forced to work medical bills, for instance, we would often fake "uncollectable" reports or otherwise make the debt disappear.

And in the end, for everyone who has been harassed about bills that weren't theirs or have ended up on hard times, there are twice as many people who really do owe debt and refuse to pay. Personal responsibility, people, if you can't afford something, don't go into debt. And if you do owe something, pay it. For every person who has been harassed wrongfully, that collector has probably been told by twice as many people that yeah, they owe, and they don't give a fuck what you do to their credit because they don't care and they are intentionally fucking the system.

Yeah, there are a lot of asshole collectors out there, and I feel horrible about what they do and the pain they inflict on people. But there are also a lot of fucking douche bags out there who think they can take advantage of everyone and everything and never have to pay a dime. It was those people who made me proud to do what I did for a short time. But it's a very negative business, and I got out of it really quick. Lifers in that career are very, very sad people.

 

[SeerSGB]

Know your rights and legal obligations as a debtor. I preach this to everyone, and always am I surprised that people don't think about it. It's just a few minutes of research online, or a phone call to the appropriate state agency to get your rights and obligations, as well as the guidelines for collections and creditors. A little bit of info puts you in the power seat. Remember, these people are going into it hoping and thinking you don't know jackshit and they're trying to use your, assumed, ignorance to their advantage.

 

[John Picard]

I was enjoying a nap in my office chair at about 3:00 PM one recent afternoon, when my second line rang. (I only use it for faxes, but since I never actually recieve faxes in reality, whenever it rings it is just some random caller.) I picked it up, and the call went something like this:

Caller: "Are you Joshua Howard?"
Me: "Yes, what can I do for you?"
C: "I'm Blah Blah collections, calling about your nine-ninety-three Qwest bill. What's your credit or debit card #?"
M: "What?" (Still partly asleep, and unaware that I owed Qwest anything.)
C: "Your Nine-Ninety-Three Qwest bill is overdue. Now can I get your card...?"
M: (Remembering that I cancelled my Qwest services about 8 months ago, thinking it was $9.93, which was accidentally left over) "Why didn't I get a bill all this time...? ...How much?"
C: "Nine hundred Ninety Three Dollars."
M: (Still not fully awake, still totally confused, but now alarmed, I spontaniously began to wonder what happened to the family 56K dialup service that stopped getting used and was forgotten about 8 years ago when DSL came along. Believing at this point that somehow a forgotten service from many years ago had been compounding for years and was now worth nearly 1K, I blathered on for a few moments about that; then it occurred to me that it might actually be a debt which my mother, and not I, owed, and I said...) "What name did you say again?"
C: "Joshua Howard" (Oh crap, I thought, pausing.)
C: "We can set up an installment plan..."
M: I'm not going to pay that.
C: "Ok."
M: "Wait - What account number is that for?"
C: "Blah Blah" (I wrote down the information and ended the call.)

I called Qwest, went through some computer prompts, entered the number the collection agent gave me into the computer, and finally got ahold of a customer service representative who accidentally cut me off. Before I was disconnected however, I was able to hear her entering customer info, (accidentally, because the phone rep didn't know what she was doing) part of which included my "address", which was, coincidentally, not my address.

A quick online search at whitepages.com revealed what had been going on the whole time. There was somebody else living nearby with my name and that address; and it was my double who owed Qwest.

The next day, I got another call from the collection agency. I asked for the direct number to a supervisor, took down the name of the agent, and left a message of complaint. So far, I haven't heard back.

The disturbing and unfathomable part of the whole situation is that - when there are about 1,000 people in the U.S. with my exact name - a collection agency just picks one off the list, calls up, and says "Give me your credit card number." without even double-checking the data.

That's exactly how these slimebags work. Just pin something on you and hope you'll cave. Congrats on not falling for it. The fun is when you demand proof. If they give you the song and dance of how it will "negatively affect your credit" tell them to go pound sand.

 

[Lookingglassman]

5 years ago I had a collection agency on my back for a debt I already paid off. They kept calling and I kept telling them I didnt owe anything. They were persistant so one day I got a whistle and blew it real hard into the phone and they never called back.

 

[Holdfast]

When I first moved into my current place, I found out the previous occupant must have skipped town without paying several bills. Within weeks of moving in, I had bailiffs appointed by collection agencies representing two phone companies demanding money. I put them straight over the phone and thought that was that.

3 or 4 years later, another company rang up about the same debt. I guess it must have been repackaged, sold on, and now the new owners of the debt were trying to get their money. Again, telling them over the phone was enough.

I expect another demand in about 5 years time, after the debt is sold on again...

 

[SeerSGB]

I had a bill collector-- about 7 years ago-- tell me to sell drugs and put my wife (who had just gave birth) out on the street, in his words, to "sell her pussy and pay the fucking credit card". My family attorney had a load of fun with that audio tape