Self-Suck: Not my debt, don't call me about it.

[Mike Taylor]

This is why I don't answer phone numbers that I don't recognize.

[fma_fanatic]

Oh, I love it when I get the "you will be arrested if you don't do [insert ridiculous request for info that you don't have]". I've been known to offer directions if they want to send out the sheriff to my house or place of work. That seems to catch them off guard.

True story: many years ago, when I first started working for my company, I was the receptionist and had to deal with a lot of collections calls. One in particular was from a "sheriff" needing to contact HR. Well, HR didn't take those kinds of calls because it was verification of employment (verifications are done through 3rd party company; the guy didn't want to pay the fee). It got to a point where the guy started getting abusive, and said that he was going to have me arrested for impeding the law.

I offered to give him directions to the office. The funny part was while this guy kept calling, I was IMing a friend who is a lawyer and he found it funny. He'd already told me that I couldn't get into trouble because HR didn't want to deal with him.

[Sapphire Silk]

I've had one debt collector try to intimidate me by threatening to have me arrested if I didn't him the contact info for a roommate of mine on a bill he was trying to collect on (a $25 bounced check, as it turned out later). It was my first experience with a bill collector, and scared the crap out of me because he threw around words like "detective," and "investigator" that made me think he was really a cop.

I learned from that experience. Oh, I learned . . . .

Years later, a bill collector was trying to collect on a very old debt of mine (it was a vulture bill collection agency). They contacted my parents and were very abusive to my mother, threatening her with legal action if she didn't pay my bill for me. That's right; they wanted HER to pay my bill and literally screamed at her "to just pay the fucking bill!"

Oh no you don't. You do NOT abuse my mother this way.

Mom had refused to cave and told her if they really were a law firm they could serve her with papers, but it wouldn't do them any good since Mom's name was not on the bill. She refused to give them my contact info, but obtained theirs and then called me.

I called the agent and proceeded to rip her a new one, with plenty of warnings about the FTC Fair Debt and Collections regulations, then informed her she could send all details about the bill to my address (which I gave), and that all further communication was to be in writing, no phone calls to me OR my mother.

I never heard from them again. Which meant they couldn't prove the bill was mine. I never knew what the bill was for, only that it was around $300.

Back to the OP: I would not have wasted that much time with that collections agent. My only response would be (and I have done this), "this is a cell number, and you are prohibited from making collections calls to cell numbers. Do not ever call this number again or I will file a complaint with the FTC." *click!*

Although, I read recently that there is legislation pending to allow debt collectors to call cell phone numbers. Also complaints about collectors are skyrocketing with the bad economy

[dendawg]

It really is the slimy ones who deserve the most scorn. I once had a debt collector tell me that I'd better hire an attorney. One email to the Michigan (where I used to live) attorney general's office and one fax to collector's HQ and buh-bye collector and debt. Thank you, budhibbs.com.

[Mystic]

*Probably a sensitive topic for people who might work in the field of collections. I would suggest not reading and keeping the replies to a minimum due to fratching as this is a well known that it's a self-siting. I can be a real prick when you disrupt my happy time!*

So a friend of mine unknowingly used me as a reference on a bunch of stuff. I told him once upon a time he could do so for his schooling and I guess he took it upon himself to take that as me saying he could use my name on everything. Well, he fell on hard times, lost his job, and so he has some people he owes some money to (including some back rent to me from when he was renting a house from my family and I had to pay his rent for him for a few months because he had no income... he also left the place a mess but that's another rant for another day). I've gotten a few letters in the mail, a phone call or two on my house line, but today was the last straw.

I'm standing in the local tea shop where I get my weekly stock of yummy loose leaf goodness when my mobile starts playing some Celldweller (my ringtone of ub3r awesomeness starts at 1:18). I look at the number which isn't one I recognize which is irritating to me because I don't typically give my mobile number to just anyone for this very reason; if I don't know you, I don't want to talk to you when I'm out doing things.

So I answer the phone and our conversation goes-a-little-something-like-this (hit it!)

SCAL: Stupid Collection Agent Lady
Me:

Me: Hello?

SCAL: Hi! Is this *birth name*?

*Strike one. *birth name* is my real name, which I do not go by and haven't gone by in over 10 years*

Me: This is *birth name*, who is this?

SCAL: This is SCAL calling from *generically named collection agency to make you think it's an actual place of business if you're a moron*. We're trying to reach *friends name*, do you happen to have a current contact for him?

Me: I'm sorry, who are you?

SCAL: SCAL from *collections office with deceiving name to make it seem like we're not a collections office*

Me: So you're a collections office?

SCAL: We're a billing office, sir.

Me: Ok, so collections. Why are you calling my mobile?

SCAL: We've been having trouble contacting *friends name* and he listed you as a reference on his papers.

Me: Right, well, I'd appreciate you not calling my mobile again.

SCAL: Do you have a contact we can reach *friends name* at?

*strike two, don't ignore me when you're calling my phone*

Me: I find it pretty fucking ridiculous that you're calling friends and family of a person you're trying to collect money from. You shouldn't be doing business this way.

SCAL: Well we do, and we are.

*Strike 3, you're out. don't fucking sass me when you're calling MY phone looking to get information from ME so you can make money, bitch.*

Me: What was the name of your company again?

SCAL: *stupid generic name*

Me: Well you can bet your ass I'm going to be sending your company a strongly worded letter about this.

SCAL: Would you like the address?

Me: No, I will look it up online. I don't have time to deal with this right now. Don't fucking call me again.

SCAL: There are a couple places with our name (go figure), would you like the address?

Me: No, I will find it myself. Don't call me again.

SCAL: Yes, sir.

Me: *click*

If you're going to call people who don't owe you a cent, you better be prepared when some of them get pissed off and are willing to take the time to help bury your company for their dodgy practices. I've actually dealt with this company before in another circumstance I unwillingly got pushed into without knowing and they spend a good amount of time either skimming or blatantly breaking the law because they know that most people don't know what rights they have. They hire what seems to be the scum of the earth who don't really care about collections laws and I'm amazed they are still operating. If I remember correctly, this company is the same one who has been using similar tactics as that group that use to cold call sales all across the US that the government had a really hard time tracking down.

In this case, the person was certainly more careful about what she said than others, but she shouldn't have given me an attitude. I don't put up with that shit. None the less, a letter will be written and she should thank her lucky stars that I didn't have time or I would have held up her phone line for an hour and talked to every supervisor in the building going over the fair debt collection practices act. I certainly had an attitude from the get-go cause they were bothering my tea time. That's a huge no-no in Mystics book. He loves his tea too much to be disrupted!</third person>