Collection Agencies
Yesterday, I received a letter from a collection agency. Supposedly, I have a bad debt to pay Vicky's Secret. Right. I never had a Vicky's account. Didn't know there was such an animal.
So, I called the agency. The three women I spoke to said that the numbers on the letter -- account and client reference -- were invalid. Kept insisting I was reading the wrong letters.
Twenty-five years ago, just after my youngest was born, we needed a new car. I received a call from a dealership in the city where my then husband worked. I assumed he had gone there at lunch or on his way home. Made sense. After all, we were looking for a larger car. Thought the salesman asked to speak to me and that husband supplied the number. Logical assumption but incorrect. They wanted some other woman with the same name who had left her LandRover there to be serviced.
What? Who leaves an expensive car to be serviced without a phone number? What sort of dealership doesn't ask for numbers in advance?
That was the opening shot in a war with collection agencies that would last a decade. The calls and letters always involved hospitals where I was never treated, stores I never patronized (often had no idea where they were!). etc.
Finally, a woman who may have been with the FBI called with a long personal story of a missing child support check and getting piles of my mail. Really? She said that she had my embroidery magazine and my TV Guide. Never subscribed to either and told her so. She thanked me politely . . . I suspected she was acting throughout our entire conversation. My suspicion was confirmed when I never received another fraudulent collection notice again.
When I spoke with these women they asked for my SS # and I refused.
They then blamed me for refusing.
I told them to google my name and see the 53 other documented women with the same.
Wonder how long this will go on?
So, I called the agency. The three women I spoke to said that the numbers on the letter -- account and client reference -- were invalid. Kept insisting I was reading the wrong letters.
Twenty-five years ago, just after my youngest was born, we needed a new car. I received a call from a dealership in the city where my then husband worked. I assumed he had gone there at lunch or on his way home. Made sense. After all, we were looking for a larger car. Thought the salesman asked to speak to me and that husband supplied the number. Logical assumption but incorrect. They wanted some other woman with the same name who had left her LandRover there to be serviced.
What? Who leaves an expensive car to be serviced without a phone number? What sort of dealership doesn't ask for numbers in advance?
That was the opening shot in a war with collection agencies that would last a decade. The calls and letters always involved hospitals where I was never treated, stores I never patronized (often had no idea where they were!). etc.
Finally, a woman who may have been with the FBI called with a long personal story of a missing child support check and getting piles of my mail. Really? She said that she had my embroidery magazine and my TV Guide. Never subscribed to either and told her so. She thanked me politely . . . I suspected she was acting throughout our entire conversation. My suspicion was confirmed when I never received another fraudulent collection notice again.
When I spoke with these women they asked for my SS # and I refused.
They then blamed me for refusing.
I told them to google my name and see the 53 other documented women with the same.
Wonder how long this will go on?
posted
by Plainoldme
