Turnip Truck
Joelle said in the early afternoon on February 6, 2008
For three days in a row I’ve received a phone call from an 800 number. I don’t answer calls from unknown numbers, but they never left a voicemail. Today, for kicks, I decided to answer it and find out what they wanted. After getting a pre-recorded message asking me to call back (??) I was connected with Mrs. Meyers representing Acme Agencies (not the real name). A quick Google and I discover they are some kind of a collection agency.
In the last five years, I’ve been very mindful of my credit and repeatedly check my credit report and am doing that “Oh, suddenly I’m a grown-up and should start paying attention to things like this” thing, so I signed up to receive notices about my credit report, etc. I’m totally abreast on what’s happening with my finances and credit rating as far as I know. And to the best of my knowledge, none of the three reporting agencies has this company listed on my report.
So, anyway, Mrs. Meyers and I are now engaging in small talk and she’s put me on hold at least twice to answer “her other line” before she can even tell me why she’s calling (something she frequently did throughout our conversation). Once she came back on the line, the conversation went a little like this, both of us using our best “bless your heart” tones. Anyone who has spent time in the South knows exactly what I’m talking about:
Mrs. Meyers: Ok, ma’am, I’m collecting a debt for ‘West Coast Phone Company’ in the amount of $660.80. Will you be paying that with cash, check or charge?
Me: I’m sorry, what? ‘West Coast Phone Company’? Seriously? I haven’t had an account with ‘West Coast Phone Company’ in…
Mrs. Meyers: This account is dated January 15, 1999.
Me: Ok, well. I find this surprising, but please send me the paperwork and I’ll review it and get back to you.
Mrs. Meyers: All I have here is a demand for payment letter.
Me: Ok, well, then please send that. But I’ll also require the account number at the time, copies of my closing statements saying I owe that amount, notes regarding attempts to contact me, copies of any notices that were supposedly sent out about this account… [she cuts me off]
Mrs. Meyers: Ma’am… uh, Ma’am! I’m not able to provide that information. Bu, I have a demand for payment letter!
Me: Is there an account number? Are there statements? All you’ve got is a letter… I’ll need more than that and I’ll need it in writing.
Mrs. Meyers: All I have is this letter. You’ll just have to accept, ma’am, that I can’t provide you any statements.
Me: Well, then I’m not able to provide you $660.80. Do you really think I’m going to just write a check to some random woman who happens to know I used to have a phone at my old apartment because really, Mrs. Meyers, that’s all you’ve got. So, if you wish to collect this debt, please just send me the appropriate paperwork.
[There’s a brief pause here]
Mrs. Meyers: Ok. [Then another longer pause. I was waiting for further instruction.] Well… ok.
Me: OK?! That’s it? I find it curious you haven’t asked me for my address so that you can send me these documents. I’ve not once received a notice regarding this in 9 years and you show up out of the blue like this and now don’t even ask me what my address is to send me the paperwork?
[Another pause, but she kept going, “hmm… hmmm… um...."]
Mrs. Meyers: What is your address?
Me: I’m not giving it to you now; I don’t know who you are! [I had her read off the address she had for me which was 2 addresses ago.] Go ahead and have ‘West Coast Phone Company’ send the statements and any other documents there and it will eventually get to me.
Mrs. Meyers: [Then, exasperated like I was a total loon] “‘West Coast Phone Company’ doesn’t keep nine year old statements.”
Me: Then, why in the hell, Mrs. Meyers, would they be collecting a nine year old debt? Don’t you think they’d be smart enough to know if they intend to collect the debt they should have some kind of proof other than one overly-xeroxed letter from nine years ago? This is exactly my point! Why are you even bothering to collect a nine year old debt with nothing more than a glorified memo? Do you really think I’m that gullible?
Mrs. Meyers: Well, we own the account now, hon.
[Now I was annoyed.]
Me: That’s fantastic, hon, but you’ll need more than just a demand for payment letter and my old address to get me to give you one red cent. I allegedly owed ‘West Coast Phone Company’ $251 (which is what she told me and if that is accurate, I will happily pay them their $251) in January 1999 when I didn’t even live here and which no one can prove because ‘West Coast Phone Company’ no longer has the records. And then you’ve taken the liberty of tacking on 9 years worth of fees and surcharges without ever notifying me and expect me to just write you a check? No, no thank you. Please send the demand letter and my attorney will respond in kind. Good day!
*click*
Suck on that, lady. First of all, I’m shocked that I owed the phone company $251, but if I do, then I do and I’ll be glad to take care of it, but if this woman thinks she’s just going to call me up with nothing but a piece of paper with no account number on it, no statements, no proof of any kind… she’s sorely mistaken. I realize she’s an independent debt collector for some other company, so it’s not her problem, but if they can’t send me something in writing and if, in nine years they couldn’t notify me of this outstanding debt, especially when I’m not that hard to find… come on.
Seriously. I wasn’t born yesterday.
Moxie Design Studios™
I had a very similar call about a month ago from “East Coast Phone Company” and I said pretty much the same thing. I’ve yet to receive anything in writing about it, so I’m thinking it’s just some big scam!
from Arkansas
Darlin, you owe me $472. I don’t have any proof other than my southern word
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@mel: really? excellent! I was thinking the same thing. I’ll believe i when I see something in the mail.
@Jennifer: well, bless your heart.
I have a Midwest Phone Company hounding me just like this as well… Supposedly I owe $450 bucks for a phone bill from more than 10 years ago - and suddenly they decide to harangue me out of the blue!?!?! I’ve asked, every time they call, for a statement showing the dates, times and phone numbers that were called which add up to this sum so I can confirm whether I made the calls, but they can’t seem to provide one. Just a generic form letter/invoice with the total.
I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for phone calls that I may not have ever made! Considering I’ve only ever made about 4 long distance calls a year for my entire adult life, I can’t imagine I racked up $450 worth of them without knowing it…
Can I borrow you, Joelle, for the next time they call me!?!?
Legally, you don’t even have to pay this debt:
California Statutes of Limitations: You only are legally obligated to pay your debt if the statute of limitations has not yet run out on it. This is the period of time specified from the date of your last payment during which you may be sued for payment. In California, the statute of limitations is four years on written agreements and two years on oral agreements.
My fiancé and I just bought a house, and I can say with much experience that “debts” from that long ago will come up at the most inconvenient time. I also have one from a phone company (seems to be a trend here??), that is from 1998. Just as in your situation, they can’t provide anything other than that demand letter. I kindly told the last “debt collector” that called that she could demand all she wanted, but until I had proof that I really owed that much, they weren’t getting a penny from me. Our statute of limitation here is six years, it’s been way past, and our loan officer helped me get it taken off my credit report. I’m secretly hoping that lady calls me back haha.
from Portland
Sounds like fraud to me, someone got ahold of an old record somewhere and decided to see if you would fall for their scheme. I would have had about the same conversation with someone if they tried to tell me that, but I would have been waaaay more bitchy
This sounds weird to me, too. I second Riika’s motion on fraud. Especially since two of your commentors have had the same request using different phone company locations. Amazing.
We discovered recently my husband’s identity has been stolen. We were getting harrassed by some automatic machine for months to have a “Jason Caldwell” call this 800 number. First of all, we know NO ONE by that name. Second of all, if you really want to get ahold of me, have a REAL LIVE person call, not a machine.
Much later (which actually happens to be just recently), we got a call from an Officer Locke who works as a fraud investigator for the state we live in asking us about the payments we weren’t making on our new Honda Oddessey. Hello? This person has my husband’s social security number, occupation, all past addresses and uses my name as his “spouse”. And bought a vehicle using it. And is now not making payments on it.
We put a fraud alert on our credit report, but that only lasts three months and this guy knows to lay low for a few years before trying it again. Frustrating. So far, nothing has affected our credit reports, so we’re lucky that way.
shady collection agencies do that all the time. they buy a bunch of accounts that the phone company or another company has written off. and then the agency tries to collect it. if they can you to make even one small payment, the statute clock starts over.
it’s good that you demanded it in writing. if you haven’t read it before, check out the fair debt collection practices act. it tells you exactly what these agencies are allowed and not allowed to do. like if you tell them not to contact you by phone again, but to send everything by mail, and they do call again you can take them to small claims court. and you’ll win.
if you don’t recognize the debt or company, never EVER give them any of your personal info (not that you would have, joelle, just saying that for anyone reading). make them send it in writing every time. i had one woman yelling at me because i wouldn’t tell her my social. i refused, because i knew they were looking for someone with my name (which is so common agencies routinely check to see if i’m the one they’re looking for - i’m NOT dammit!).
this is a big hot button for me, because when i was in my early twenties i didn’t know anything and got taken advantage of because of my (now ex) husband’s bad credit. so glad those days are over.
Cocktail: Amaretto Stone Sour
You made her deviate from her script when you made all those requests. And seriously? I didn’t think you HAD to pay if they can’t provide proof of the debt. I may be wrong about that though.
And from what I understood (at least here in Illinois) that if an agency buys a debt then the statute of limitations clock begins at day one again. I hope I’m wrong about that one though because otherwise people would be hounded the rest of their lives about past, unprovable debts.
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
Wow, this is all great information! I’m so happy I posted this!
@Manic Witch: I suspect it’s as becky says… once they convince you to make a payment, then it starts again or like you said, people would be hounded for the rest of their lives.
But I KNOW I don’t owe $660 and seriously doubt I owed $251 because she claimed my phone was “shut off for non-payment”. It wasn’t, I had it disconnected because I moved out of state, so something stinks here…
West Coast Phone Company? East Coast Phone Company? Hello, shady sounding. I mean, why not just call it “Bob’s Phone Company”?
The saddest thing? They probably get quite a few people to pay them. Seriously. I mean, how many people fall for the Nigerian money thing? It shouldn’t be anybody, but there seem to be quite a few, or at the very least, enough so that people continue to run this scam. Same probably goes for the XXX XXX Phone Company.
Maybe next time they call, you can get a callback number or something? See if you can report them to the BBB (or whatever authority)?
from Pasadena, CA
This sounds like such a scam. I hope you’re able to get to the bottom of it. Good for you for speaking up and not caving in to embarrassment or pressure.
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@mikey: ‘West Coast Phone Company’ was the name I made up so I wouldn’t say the name that rhymes with Specific Hell.
My last job was at a business to business collection agency, and we had clients that would send us really old debts, but we would do a soft approach just to see if we could get a payment on the first call. If they demanded proof, we closed the account. For consumer collection accounts though, sometimes getting it off your credit report is as simple as sending a dispute letter. Write a letter to the credit agencies with a copy of the demand for payment and explaining that the company can provide you no other proof, and they should take it off.
Ah. Duh.
Total scam. You caused enough grief, they’re off the list.
from sunny diego
wow this righteously stinks! I’m catching up here. My guy and I used to have strange calls like this too. We then found out his identity was stolen too. He’s made a police report and called agencies making sure he isn’t the one paying but this guy using his name. So far my guy is lucky it hasn’t ruined his credit score too much. So sneaky.
Sounds like you’re handling it the right way. Don’t send any money!
from Texas
Ah, yes, the “Acme Agency” apparently got hold of a bunch of “Specific Hell’s” old, old records because they had been hounding me, too. I told them in no uncertain terms was I not only paying something I already paid, and yes I have proof of it, but I am also not paying the fees and such they have tacked on, and when they can send me proof of exactly what it was that I owed, and when, and why there is no record of my payment that I will look it over and do something about it directly with “Specific Hell”. Funny that I have proof that I paid it, but they don’t...... Anyway, I finally got irate with them like you did and told them to never contact me again. EVER. That automated thing was calling 3 and 4 times a day. Now that I see this and all the other comments, I am more positive that the agency is a scam. Just reaffirms my beliefs about all these “collection agencies”.
Have you recently requested a public record? Get this, about a year ago, I had to request my daughter’s birth certificate to enroll her in college. About 2 months later I started getting mail and phone calls for Trixie Dumbshit [My Name During My First Marriage]. I haven’t used that name since 1998 but it was listed on the request for birth certificate (since, duh, that’s the name I had when I gave birth to my daughter). I think they got my new address and phone number by looking through the public records requests and comparing it to their list of really, really old debts.
Anyway, long story short, I got calls from an agency trying to collect an old Health Club Membership they said I owed $900 on. I actually have the receipt where I paid that membership off (in the amount of $150)! It was in 1991 - uh hello 16 years ago. I was pretty sure that there was a Statute of Limitations, anyway.
Like you, they could not provide me any proof of this being legit and I found their address, sent them a Debt Verification letter and never heard from them again.
If anyone gets a call like this - google the phone number, chances are very good that lots of other people have gotten the same call.