Harassing Collection Calls Question

[cybrkitn]

I knew I could count on the DISboards to help

Thanks everyone for the replies so far. You have all been a great help

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Robo calls for debt collection are also againts the law, so you could sue them without the C&D if you wanted to, but the C&D gives you more ammo.

I didn't know this. We keep getting them at our house and have just gotten to the point that we just don't answer the phone if we don't know the person or see it's a collection agency.

Thanks! With Vonage, we have an itimized (sp?) call list of incoming and outgoing calls available on their web site. So it's easy to just print that out.



Ooh, Thanks! We also have a Panasonic phone. I just checked, and yes, we have that feature. I just entered in the toll free number to block it. Hopefully that will do the trick!



That is something I didn't know. Thanks.

We have a friend who is an attorney if it comes down to it as a last resort.

With UVerse, we can also block numbers. Unfortunately, if each person within the agency has a separate number, they just call using a different phone. I know. I tried doing this. It only helped for about a day.

Send them a certified letter. Tell them to quit calling you and be sure to cite "per federal debt collection laws".

Here is a sample letter I found:


You can tweak it to include your phone number of course since they have that. I would leave off your address info.

Thanks.

We get one company who calls every single day and usually several times a day.

 

[Bren's Mom]

For anyone getting regular collection calls, whether for you or for someone else, go to creditboards.com!

They have copies of the letters, laws, and tactics needed to stop the illegal collections, will help you get through the process, and also help you to know how to sue the collection agency for violations...and win!!

 

[momrek06]

OMG ... this is happening to us all day long ... we just moved from the OC to San Diego ...so I have a new landline number with AT&T ... here is a sampling of the numbers (from my caller id) that have called the house ...

877 408 3391
877 850 7184
402 982 0406
888 576 8475
269 712 2051
231 323 2174
786 358 6765

This is about 4 days worth of nonsense calls .....................

YES, and all of them are not about collecting a debt they are about CONSOLIDATING YOUR DEBT ...

WHAT SHOULD I DO?????

 

[Bren's Mom]

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/collection-agencies/nationalaction-financial.html

and also this, worth a try...was posted in April:

If you are getting calls from NAFS and you are NOT the person they are looking for call 716-650-6229 and speak with Anthony B. Foster

 

[marlynnp]

It would be best if you could get a live person and then get the following questions answered.

Name of the person calling.
Name of the company they work for (not the company they are trying to collect for).
The mailing address and phone number of the company.

Then advise them that you are not the person they are trying to contact. And that they should immediately remove your number from their database.
Let them know that if you are contacted again you will be filing a complaint with the FTC.

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

I've never actually had to submit a complaint after notifying them of my intentions. It's amazing how quick they can zap your number when they really want to, lol! (I had three different companies calling for someone that must have had my number previously)

 

[pilotwife_02]

I'm so glad I saw this post!!

DH has been getting phone calls from some girl names Zola for 3 years since we changed our cell phone numbers from NJ to OH number and it's annoying since not only will they not stop calling him, but he uses minutes to tell them to stop.

I ask him why even answers if he doesn't recognize the number, but he's trying to get them stop calling him. Maybe I can get him to use some of this advice on the phone to get them stop calling and if not we can at get their address and send them a letter.

He's afraid to change to change his number because he thinks he'll just get another deadbeats number plus he uses the number for work and it's just a pain in the butt to have to resend his number to everyone.

 

[Clifton]

I've been getting 1-800 calls leaving VM's saying: This is an importance message for Erica Williams......

Every single day

 

[Nancy]

I've been getting 1-800 calls leaving VM's saying: This is an importance message for Erica Williams......

Every single day

I get calls on my machine that say..this call is for XYZ..if you are not XYZ please stop listening to this message....and then it leaves a message.

I even changed our machine to say our first names hoping that would stop it...nope...still leaving the message. And yes as soon as I hear the name I just hit the delete button and don't listen...hey that is what it tells me to do.

 

[momrek06]

So I decided to call AT&T who I have my landline with and the Rep gave the number to their "Annoyance Bureau" ... (didn't even know something like that existed) ... 1-800-348-8727.

Spoke to a Rep who listened to what my issues were and Rep said to either call 1-888-382-1222 OR to go on www.donotcall.gov and register my number.

I decided to go to the website ... I am now all registered and the site states that it will take 30 days and I will notice the calls all stopping ... whatever.

So time will tell ...

 

[Guy Incognito]

This!



Robo calls for debt collection are also againts the law, so you could sue them without the C&D if you wanted to, but the C&D gives you more ammo.

do you have a link to this?


'cause I'm pretty sure collection calls are exempt from that (you sign a contract and agree to make regular payments and then don't, then the company has the right to try and contact you to collect... and that includes using an auto-dialer/automated message).


as far as the original post.... used to get calls for some guy all the time at our home number.... finally ran a search online and found our phone number listed under that guys name.... clicked the link to have it removed, and haven't heard from 'em since then....

 

[aprilgail2]

This is an issue near and dear to my heart.
For the past 7!!!! years I have gotten collection calls for a Casey Morrow.
I have had my phone number for 19 years and I have never heard of a "Casey Morrow".
My poor kids have grown up not answering the phone if it is not a number they recognize since I am sure it is a collection company.
I have tried so many things. If I acknowledge I am not Casey Morrow they act like they do not believe me and I get attitude and no information. Once I pretended to be her (here is where someone wil tell me I acted illegally) just to get more info for these calls to stop. That did not work since I could not even provide basic info. One time I got a new guy who was suseptible to my pleading and told me her address. Since it was years old, it did not help me.
I asked him why these calls had continued for so long and didn't they drop off at some point. He said it was for a "Very large amount" so it just kept getting sold from one company to another.
I was mentionng this to my attorney neighbor and he gave me an exact script to say that would stop them but only until they got sold to the next company.
There are always about 6 months between collection company's calls so we have some peace.
I know it sounds bad but we are used to it and I am not changing my phone number I have had for this long.
If I evenr meet Casey Morrow, I am going to box her ears!

LOL---my 10 year old daughter got a cell phone a few months ago and the guy Theodore that owed the number before her was a dead beat- she gets calls all the time from collection agents, the cable company, macys etc...when they leave voice mail she actually calls them back explaining that she is 10 years old and just got this phone and doesn't even know Theodore. Those companies stop but new ones call. I was going to change her number but all her friends already have this one and she says she doesn't care about the collection agents calling.
We have actually had friends of this Theodore call and leave messages and I call them back and ask them to tell the deadbeat to pay his bills when they finally reach him!

 

[JerseyJanice]

I have no idea what to do, but it angers me to read this. It sounds like it's something that could happen to anyone.

I've had an issue, though not too recently, with the IRS and my home address. Someone who lived here about 10 years before we bought our house apparently owes the IRS some serious money. I've gotten dozens of IRS notices over the years. I never open them; I write in big letters on the front words such as, "Return to sender. Addressee does not live here." (I've tried writing other things to get the point across--no luck.)

A few years ago, we got a stack of letters one day all addressed to this man from the IRS, so I called them, but they said they couldn't help since I'm not the person who is supposed to be getting the notices. (Duh!) I tried to explain that they need to figure out where this guy lives because it's not here, and I don't have the guy's current address. I don't know him; I've never met him. I didn't buy my house from him.

When I got nowhere with the IRS office, I called the Post Office. They filed some kind of complaint that stated I kept getting unwanted deliveries for a name that does not exist at my address. Since then, I've gotten less of these notices, but they still come every once in a while. I'm sure I've gotten one in 2010.

I understand your frustration, OP, and I hope you're able to resolve it without having to change your phone number.

 

[2DisPrincesses]

I ended up having to change my cell phone number a few years back, due to collection calls for the wrong person.

They simply would not believe me that I was not **** nor that I had no idea who she was. They just kept telling me that this was the number she had given them.

 

[cybrkitn]

I understand your frustration, OP, and I hope you're able to resolve it without having to change your phone number.

I don't think we will have to go that far. I've blocked the number so we'll see if that helps. If not, then we'll take it a step further. I don't think a company that has been fined in the past for scams and has an F rating with the BBB wants to deal with another lawsuit.

 

[agnes!]

I ended up having to change my cell phone number a few years back, due to collection calls for the wrong person.

They simply would not believe me that I was not **** nor that I had no idea who she was. They just kept telling me that this was the number she had given them.

Did you kind of go "D'Oh!" when they told you that? She's a deadbeat, she's probably a scammer, a con-artist, plays The System for all its worth so the one time she tells the truth is with her BILLS?!? Sheesh, of COURSE that is the number that she gave them...she's not completely stupid! She didn't give them her REAL number, she gave them YOURS ! She now gets peace and quiet without all the duly-earned harassment.

agnes!

 

[mrodgers]

If the collection agency robo-caller is giving you a name, I would do some research and try to find The Deadbeats new contact info & give it to the Collection Agency phone-mail system.

Try to find the Collection Agency's contact info & call them on their non-1(800) number. Do one of the following:
*Give them the deadbeats info.
*Tell them you are not The Deadbeats and that you are logging their calls and that your attorney will be filing harassment charges if the calls do not stop.

Make SURE that your credit report doesn't have The Deadbeats information co-mingled with yours.

agnes!

Someone is on their way to the bank to pay their bill. Out of nowhere, a car flies around a corner hitting them head on. Now this person is sitting in the hospital half dead and 2 days later, the collection agency is calling their home about the debt they were on their way to pay.

My problem in this thread is you assuming the person is a deadbeat while they are half dead lying in the hospital.....

 

[agnes!]

If the collection agency robo-caller is giving you a name, I would do some research and try to find The Deadbeats new contact info & give it to the Collection Agency phone-mail system.

Try to find the Collection Agency's contact info & call them on their non-1(800) number. Do one of the following:
*Give them the deadbeats info.
*Tell them you are not The Deadbeats and that you are logging their calls and that your attorney will be filing harassment charges if the calls do not stop.

Make SURE that your credit report doesn't have The Deadbeats information co-mingled with yours.

agnes!

Someone is on their way to the bank to pay their bill. Out of nowhere, a car flies around a corner hitting them head on. Now this person is sitting in the hospital half dead and 2 days later, the collection agency is calling their home about the debt they were on their way to pay.

My problem in this thread is you assuming the person is a deadbeat while they are half dead lying in the hospital.....

Since the OP has been getting the harassing phone calls for quite a while (at least long enough to become an issue to the OP...it doesn't seem like it's only been a couple of days. Did the OP say it was 2 days? Maybe I missed that...*anyway*) and in your version of events Mr/Ms Deadbeat had been 'half dead lying' in a hospital, they or their family do still need to work something out or at least communicate with their creditors. The calls being received by the wrong party doesn't make the debt go away.

And the advice I gave isn't necessarily negated by Mr/Ms Deadbeat's supposed circumstances, especially the OP researching their own credit file to make sure that different people's bad credit hasn't gotten co-mingled with the OP's file.

agnes!

 

[cybrkitn]

Since the OP has been getting the harassing phone calls for quite a while (at least long enough to become an issue to the OP...it doesn't seem like it's only been a couple of days. Did the OP say it was 2 days? Maybe I missed that...*anyway*) and in your version of events Mr/Ms Deadbeat had been 'half dead lying' in a hospital, they or their family do still need to work something out or at least communicate with their creditors. The calls being received by the wrong party doesn't make the debt go away.

And the advice I gave isn't necessarily negated by Mr/Ms Deadbeat's supposed circumstances, especially the OP researching their own credit file to make sure that different people's bad credit hasn't gotten co-mingled with the OP's file.

agnes!

Thanks anges!

Everyone: Let's not let this thread get ugly, there is no need for it .

So far, since I have blocked the number yesterday, there hasn't been another call. We'll have to wait and see if this works, which I don't see why it wouldn't. If it doesn't we'll just have to take it one step further. Everyone has given me such great advice and avenues to pursue that I didn't even know of.