How to handle nuisance collection calls.

[JDPriestly]

For weeks now, we have been receiving nuisance calls from a collection agency.

When we first received them, we thought they were a fishing scam and ignored the calls. After a number of calls, we read the name of the caller on our caller ID. My husband (the hero of this story) googled it only to learn that the caller was a collection agency. We racked our brains to try to think of some debt that we might have owed and forgotten to pay at some point in our lives, but we just could not think of anything. You have no idea how much anxiety -- even sleeplessness -- these calls caused.

Today, after weeks of repeated calls to which we have not responded, my husband finally decided to find out what in the world these people wanted and called them.

Here is the important part: HE PUT A TAPE RECORDER BESIDE THE PHONE BEFORE HE CALLED AND THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT -- HE ADVISED THE PERSON ON THE OTHER END THAT HE WAS TAPING THE CALL. As we expected, the company had to admit that they were not looking for us at all.

So, if you receive nuisance calls of this type from debt collectors: TAPE THE CALLS AND BE SURE YOU ADVISE THE PERSON AT THE OTHER END THAT YOU ARE TAPING THE CALL. ADVISE THEM AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CALL BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING MORE. It is illegal in many states to record a telephone call without informing the person with whom you are speaking that you are recording the call.

These companies will call and hassle anyone with a name that even remotely resembles the name of someone who (they claim) owes money. This has happened to us a couple of times. If you have elderly relatives, discuss this matter with them. Older people can feel terrorized by this sort of scam and may be ashamed or afraid or too proud to discuss it with family members and friends.

[beyurslf]

1. I have one calling me now that says I owe an old ATT bill.

I laughed and told them they were calling me on my ATT phone while I surfed internet provided by ATT and the tv in the background was ATT cable.

[WI_DEM]

3. you may want to check your credit history and see if you do have a debt with att

just to be sure. Just because you have current services with them doesn't mean at one time there wasn't some kind of debt.

[ejpoeta]

8. or they may have put something on your credit history that shouldn't be there.

these third party vultures you have to watch for. they don't really care if you actually owe something or not... they want to get whatever they can from whoever they can.

[beyurslf]

25. There is nothing on it. I have checked. I just bought a house this summer

so I had to have everything in order.

They are scamming for SSN's. I asked them to tell me the address where I had service and they said I would have to give them the addresses I lived at. I declined. They started off by asking me a bunch of "verification" questions. I answered name and birthdate and then told they had to provie who they were to get anything else from me.

[ejpoeta]

26. maybe you should alert the state attorney general or something. not sure who one would

tell about this kind of thing.

[beyurslf]

27. The number never shows up. Just 0's. I don't worry about it.

[Ms. Toad]

41. Yes. State attorney general.

Most of these jerks are violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices and deserve to have complaints filed against them (I've filed two).

For good measure, if I have any hint they just found my number on the internet when they were looking for someone with a similar name or are just randomly calling, I also file a "Do Not Call" violation complaint with the FEC.

[vanlassie]

4. Hmmm...I just got a weird ATT collections bill too...

And I ignored it for the same reason. Interesting.

[JDPriestly]

35. As I responded to another post, our calls started shortly after we switched to AT&T.

We knew that we did not owe any money. That is why we did not answer the calls.

[ejpoeta]

6. don't laugh. tell them to VALIDATE. also check your credit report

and make sure they haven't put anything on there. if they have, then I would suggest disputing it.

[vanlassie]

9. Good thinking. I always tend towards the osterich approach......:-/

[JDPriestly]

7. I posted this because there are a lot of desperate people out there on both sides of

the debt collection racket. I used to work in an office next door to a debt collection agency. What a bunch of sleazebags they were. Too cheap to pay for air conditioning for their employees who sat at desks in offices without windows in the summer heat in Los Angeles. I felt sorry for the employees, but they were true bottom feeders, and I do not use that term lightly. I use it realizing what an insult it is.

In this economy, people become desperate and will do anything for a buck. ]

[JDPriestly]

34. Coincidentally, our calls started when we switched our phones to AT&T.

Hmmmm?

[ejpoeta]

2. when they call, it is a good idea to record the conversation. also to keep track of

dates and times of conversations. And also, don't avoid them. Tell them to VALIDATE THE ALLEGED DEBT!! Follow up the verbal request with a registered letter requesting validation of the debt. Chances are they will just send you another bill which is a violation. You have a right to request validation and they by law cannot continue collection activity until they produce a validation. You have a right to know that they have the right to collect any debt. And to make sure it is a valid debt. You also have the right to inform them that they do not have permission to contact you via phone and that any further communication should be made through the mail. Please look up information regarding the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.... if they harrass you or fail to comply, you could sue them if you wanted to. I am not saying you would want to, but if they know you know your rights, they most likely won't mess with you too much. They like easy targets.

[Ms. Toad]

42. Also, keep asking for a supervisor

until you reach someone respectful, or they run out of supervisors, and document each one you talk with. Then file a complaint with the state attorney general.

[PADemD]

5. I received a call like this one time when I was home sick.

They wanted me to go to my neighbor's house and ask them to call the collection agency. I refused.

[dysfunctional press]

32. that's a common practice.

i worked as a collector at a bank almost 30 year ago- before any kind of internet...we had "polk directories" which listed the phone numbers for every address. if a deadbeat refused to respond to repeated calls, we'd use the directory to contact their neighbors.

[Robb]

10. Tape-recording laws, at a glance:

You don't always have to tell the other party they're being recorded.

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/quick.html

[laughingliberal]

13. Yes, but telling them insures they will be on their best behavior and not venture outside the law

If it is a case of mistaken identity and they believe you have captured a recording in which you informed them of that it should be the last call.

[brendan120678]

11. We've had a collections agency calling us recently...

looking for someone with the same first initial and last name as me, only they are looking for a Brian, not Brendan.
We've told them a few times that there is nobody with that name who lives here, there has never been anyone by that name who lives here, and to my knowledge, I don't have any family, immediate or extended, with the name of Brian .

[csziggy]

29. My phone is listed as "A. 'Ziggy'"

I've gotten collection calls for Annette, Amos, Arnold, and Anna Ziggy. I've never known anyone with those first names, much less with those names and my last name. If I pick up the phone when the collection agencies call, I tell them that and ask them to never call my number again. I haven't gotten any more calls in a couple of months.

The annoying ones for me are the ones asking for my business name. My phone number was my business number for over 25 years - we had no personal number - but we converted it to a personal number five or six years ago. So if I get a call asking for that business, I know it is a scam. This one is from a "Farm Supply Company" wanting me to confirm the shipping address for an order. Of course, I never placed an order from that company. It seems they will even ship crap out to an address and then bill for the useless and unwanted products. Since it is done through UPS, not through the US Mail, it does not count as mail fraud and is much harder to fight.

They've called me twice. Once more and I will file charges for telephone harassment on them.

[laughingliberal]

12. Even if you are the person for whom they are calling the idea of telling them you are taping...

the call is helpful. Many collectors will engage in types of harassment which are illegal. They are seldom prosecuted for it, though, because there is no way to prove they said it. I learned years ago if I told them I was taping the call they got much more reasonable. One example: some years back I was wiped out in a flood in Texas. After I relocated and the dust settled I wound up with a phone bill that was very high due to having to use my calling card to communicate during the weeks following the flood. A collection agency called and I told them I could send $50 per month on the $300 bill. The agent told me this was not acceptable, they needed payment in full, and I lived in a state where my salary could be subject to garnishment. I then said I needed to inform him I would be taping the remainder of our call. He agreed. Then I said, "Let's recap, you are stating you can not accept monthly payments on my account?" He replied, "No, that's not what I said." "Oh," I remarked, "I'm sure I misunderstood. What, exactly, did you mean to say?" "I said," he replied, "It is up to the original creditor if they want to accept payments." I then informed him I would be sending $50 per month on the balance and, if at any point that became unacceptable, they could return the payment and file their suit in court. He replied, "Yes, maam." I never heard another peep from them.

[dugaresa]

14. This happened to my mom recently, a collection agency was calling about a $25K debt

it was a scam.

How did we know? It was supposedly incurred by my father who has been dead over 20 years.

I told my mother that if they called her again she is to tell them that she is calling the attorney general of our state and reporting them.

There seems to be a rash of these calls about old debts and they target the elderly.

[JDPriestly]

15. People will accept any job they can get.

And the robocall equipment makes it easy and cheap for the collection agencies to call a lot of people many times. It is disgusting. We racked our brains trying to think whether we had some long-forgotten debt. Of course, we did not.

[Berry Cool]

22. It's utterly vile that there are companies out there trying to collect the debts of dead people.

They call their surviving relatives and play on their sense of "duty and honor" to get THEM to repay the debt. Poor people who can't afford a dime are promising to repay old, old debts for people who died long ago because they think they "have" to. Awful.

[dugaresa]

23. what is more vile is my late father didn't have any debts

in fact he never handled the money in the family, my mother did.

the man died with not one dime owed, the house was even paid for.

i can't help but think they prey upon the elderly and other folks hoping that a few are perhaps a bit senile and will pay for something that isn't even owed

[ejpoeta]

33. those people make me sick. people don't seem to know that they don't have to pay

for anything unless they are on the account or a spouse. My dad died in april and the calls started coming soon afterward. not to me. but I knew I wasn't responsible to pay any debts my dad may have left either. And he didn't have an estate. if they really wanted the old throw away car my dad drove... they were welcome to it!! he left enough insurance to pay for his funeral and help out his girlfriend. If we would have had enough left, perhaps we would have tried to pay some of it off. but I can assure you that if we were going to pay anyone, the jerks would have been at the bottom of the list. anyone with respect and decency would have been at the top.

[Leftist Agitator]

16. There is a much easier way to deal with those calls.

Buy a rape whistle, and when they call, answer, and blow it as hard as you can into the mouthpiece of the phone.

After two or three times, they quit calling.

[Greyhound]

17. In the New and Improved Business Friendly Amerika 2.0, prosecution for illegal

collection practices is nearly non-existent, so the victim is left with a civil suit as their only recourse and that takes years and costs big bucks.

Once again my friend, you are on your own.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

18. Take It From A Guy Who Does Collections

As part of my practice, I actually do some collection work. So take it from me when I tell you this. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is your friend. Even if you DO owe the debt, all you have to do is advise the person on the other end of the line that you want them to stop calling, and if they continue to harass you, you will file a Fair Debt Collection Practices complaint. Those calls will stop. And that's even if you DO owe the debt. If you DON'T owe the debt, let them know you're not the person they want, and that you are not to be called again. If they call again after you advise them not to, you may be entitled to a very large amount of money for a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act violation.

Always cite the act by its full name when talking to these people. You'll scare the bejeezus out of them and will likely never get another call from them ever again.

[JoeyT]

19. If you don't have a lot to do that day....

It's kinda fun to keep them on the line as long as humanly possible. Most of them aren't going to hang up if you can make them think you might hand over some money. One called me about a Sprint bill for $3k when I'd never used Sprint as a carrier in my life, and wanted me to pay it by credit card, so I kept him on the phone for several hours by talking about fishing (I don't even fish.) without letting him get a word in.
Never heard from them again, plus it kept me amused when I was stuck waiting around for other people to turn up with the hardware I needed.

[kcass1954]

30. When my son was younger, I used to put him on the phone.

"Tell the nice lady about Pokemon!"

[Better Today]

20. If you don't have a recorder, use your computer microphone. That's what I use and I use it for more

than just harrassment calls. I use it to record conversations regarding any billing or financial issue, and I'm beginning to think I should be using it for lawyers and doctors (or their reps) and more.

In this state only one person needs to know that the call is being recorded (that being me), though I do tell them at the end of the call.

[LibertyLover]

21. Got a phone call like that just the other day

Some Indian guy calling himself Jack Paterson or some such name. He left a voice mail message demanding that I call him back on an urgent legal matter. I always google the number and found that it was a scam. The West Virginia Attorney General's office even has a warning about it on their home page. They called a friend of mine whom I had once listed as a reference for a car loan and tried to tell her that she was liable for my debt - what debt was never specified, either to her or to me when I finally got around to speaking to the scum bucket. She turned the call over to her husband who told them off. They finally did get a hold of me, and told me that they were downloading legal documents against me and that only God could help me now. Apparently this particular scam is well known for using that phrase. I did as the scam warning suggested and told the guy flat out that I knew he was a scammer and that I planned on reporting him. Then I hung up. I did get a call today from a similar number asking for a "Mary Gaines" - which I suspect was a very mutilated version of my first name. I simply said that there was nobody by that name at the number they had reached.

[JDPriestly]

36. Are you on AT&T phones?

[distantearlywarning]

24. This happened to us one time.

It wasn't even someone who had a name like ours. It was just someone that used to have our number or something.

We told them about 18000 times that the person didn't live there, but they kept calling back, sometimes as soon as 10 minutes later after being told that.

We finally called them back and demanded to speak to a supervisor. We told her that we were going to get a lawyer and sue them into the stone age if they didn't knock it the fuck off (yes, in exactly that language too).

The calls stopped after that. :evilgrin:

[dysfunctional press]

28. why not just ANSWER THE PHONE in the first place...?

i cannot understand why some people are so scared to pick up a phone call.
if it gets unpleasant- HANG UP.
sheesh.

"Today, after weeks of repeated calls to which we have not responded, my husband finally decided to find out what in the world these people wanted and called them.

Here is the important part: HE PUT A TAPE RECORDER BESIDE THE PHONE BEFORE HE CALLED AND THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT -- HE ADVISED THE PERSON ON THE OTHER END THAT HE WAS TAPING THE CALL. As we expected, the company had to admit that they were not looking for us at all.

:eyes:
are you for real?

don't you realize that if you had simply answered the phone in the first place- ALL of that would have been avoided, because it would have been determined that you weren't who they were looking for.

My husband (the hero of this story) ...:rofl: :rofl:

[JDPriestly]

37. We knew we did not owe money. We have been harassed before

by people trying to fool us into paying bogus bills that didn't exist. We are older. These smooth operators like to take advantage of older people.

[dysfunctional press]

40. that's why phones have the ability to hang up.

it never hurts to answer the phone. (unless maybe it's about a dead relative or pet)

i'll NEVER understand why people are so scared to answer.

you said that wondering about the calls gave you anxiety and kept you from sleeping...had you simply ANSWERED the phone the first time around- all of that would have been avoided.

another one that gets me is when people are freaked out by a wrong number. if i get someone mistakenly calling me, i simply ask them what number they were dialing, and then tell them where they made their mistake. i've had some people when i dial mistakenly just hang up, or refuse to tell me if i've dialed wrong, have the wrong number, etc...

a lot of people are way too paranoid for their own good.

[ecstatic]

31. That's one thing I won't miss about my landline.

Collection calls all hours of the day for someone else.

[Swamp Rat]

38. eakspei igpei atinlei

:D

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. We changed our phone # one time and got calls for the people who had the # before us

I would say 'Sorry but you have the wrong number' and the caller said 'Well I am just going to keep calling' or 'You can't fool me, Mrs Smith, I recognize your voice'.

It went on for months. I called the phone company and they helped me file a complaint and the calls finally stopped. But it took what seemed like forever.

[cliffordu]

43. I ask the nasty ones the most sexually explicit questions I can think of.

I mean the most disgusting things I can come up with.

Which is, I gotta admit, is really something to behold.