Harassing Phone Calls
Complaint
tiedofcalls
Country: United States
I work for a california county child support office and I have been receiving phone calls from this collection agency and previous ones for approximately 4 years. This is over a phone bill that is for someone I do not know and gave my office number as their contact number. I have explained several times and I guess they think I am lying. I am not the person they are trying to reach and am very upset as I have perfect credit and do not deserve the harassing phone calls. I have requested that they stop yet they do not. The number they leave to call back is 1-866-221-3230.
Comments
is a recording, I can stay on the line for 10 minutes and same recording. The best part is I do not owe anyone any money. I once got on the Do Not Call list, this keep all these type of calls, all you need is to tell them that you are on the Do Not Call list and they usually hang up. Believe me I am going on the list again.
AT 1 877 260 8975
I EXPLAINED TO HER THAT I WAS DISABLED AND THAT DID NOT PHASE HER. I AM ON THIS FIXED INCOME AND HAVE REQUESTED THE DEBTOR SALLIE MAE TO TAKE OFF THE LATE FEES AND I WOULD CONTINUE TO PAY SALLIE MAE A MONTHLY PAYMENT. SALLIE MAE JUST KEPT ADDING INTEREST TO THE LOAN WHICH WENT FROM 5,000 TO 9,000 IN JUST A FEW MONTHS.
I MISSED 2 MONTHS OF PAYING AND EVEN SPOKE WITH A SALLIE MAE REP I THOUGHT ALLL WAS OK THEN ALLIED STARTSW TO CALL
NOW WHAT?????
rita-pennington@msn.com
My cell phone is not under my maiden name and in fact is under my husband's name/account. I've been married for 6 years, my father passed away 2 years ago and I haven't spoken to his third wife since. Plus, his third wife's son is HER son from HER previous marriage with that last name.
SO, when I asked how they even got my number, the representative said "we obtained it through a legal search". Since he couldn't reach them for some time, he decided to basically do a search and contact me. I told him that I had nothing to do with these people and to in essence "lose my information". He promised that my information would be deleted from the account.
The representative was cooperative and I have his full name and direct phone number, just in case someone ELSE from this company tries to contact me.
What scares me is how easy they were able to find and link my maiden name to my husband's cell phone account.
If you would like to give Allied Interstate a call the number that I was given was 877-642-1263 - maybe they deserve a dose of their own medicine.
At any rate, now the Texas Attorney General has my information, we'll see if that helps
THIS COMPANY SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS. WHY ARE THEY STILL ALLOWED TO HARASS PEOPLE LIKE THEY DO?
Here's the info:
Vikas & Jaishri Kapoor
135 Central Park W Apt 7S
Manhattan, NY 10023
1-212-769-1451
1-212-769-3760
They also own a house/farm/winery in Connecticut:
713 Milton Rd.
Litchfield, Ct 06759
1-860-567-8878
I'm sure as CEO he would want to hear about any of his employees that step out of line.
I am glad Allied was just find 1.75 million by the FTC.
pmf1@rocketmail.com
Note that the charges are consistent with many consumer complaints on this and other sites.
It appears they got caught in numerous violations of FDCPA, including harassing and abusive calling of both consumers and third parties, disclosure to third parties, deception and threats to take actions they had no intention of taking, and generally stonewalling and ignoring consumer disputes while continuing to collect on unowed debts.
Also note the terms of the settlement.
Allied has agreed that when the consumer disputes a debt, or "a reasonable person would consider the information on which Allied is relying to collect the debt to be implausible, facially unreliable, or missing essential information", they must cease collection until they have obtained verification from the original creditor.
In addition, if they fail to substantiate the alleged debt, they can only return it to the client that assigned it to them, and if they bought it they cannot resell it. Note that this applies without regard to whether the alleged debt is disputed within 30 days.
Now they get to comply with an appropriately tightened version of FDCPA.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/10/alliedinterstate.shtm
"For Release: 10/21/2010
Debt Collector Will Pay $1.75 Million to Settle FTC Charges
Ignored Consumers’ Disputes Without Checking Its Information for Accuracy
To resolve Federal Trade Commission charges, one of the nation’s largest debt collectors will pay $1.75 million for allegedly making repeated telephone calls to collect from the wrong person, to collect the wrong amount, or both. The settlement is the second largest civil penalty obtained by the FTC in a debt collection case.
“Debt collectors had better make sure their information is accurate, or they could end up paying a big penalty,” said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “There is no excuse for trying to collect debt from someone if you can’t confirm that they actually owe it.”
According to the FTC’s complaint, between 2006 and at least 2008, Allied Interstate, Inc. continued collection efforts even after consumers told the company they did not owe the debt, without verifying the accuracy of the disputed information. Allied is a Minnesota corporation that works out of offices in the United States, Canada, India, and the Philippines. The company also allegedly made improper harassing phone calls to consumers, using abusive language or calling many times a day for weeks or months, sometimes hanging up when the calls were answered. In addition, the complaint charges that Allied made repeat calls to third parties seeking to locate a consumer, revealed alleged debts to third parties without the consumers’ consent or court permission, and threatened legal action against consumers it did not intend to take. The complaint alleges that these practices violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
In addition to the monetary penalty, the proposed consent decree requires Allied to take specific steps whenever (1) a consumer disputes that he or she owes the debt or the amount of the debt, or (2) a reasonable person would consider the information on which Allied is relying to collect the debt to be implausible, facially unreliable, or missing essential information. In either circumstance, Allied must either close the account and end collection efforts or suspend collection until it has conducted a reasonable investigation and verified that its information about the debt is accurate and complete. If Allied cannot substantiate that the consumer owes the debt, the company cannot sell the debt or provide it to any business other than the client from which it obtained the debt.
The consent decree also bars Allied from:
Making false statements to collect a debt or obtain information about a consumer;
Making claims that a debt is owed or about the amount without a reasonable basis;
Asking a third party for a consumer’s location information more than once without that third party’s consent or a reasonable belief that the person’s earlier response was wrong or incomplete and that the person now has correct location information;
Communicating with third parties about a consumer’s debt without the consumer’s consent or court permission;
Using obscene or profane language or harassing consumers with repeated phone calls;
Making any other false or misleading statement in collecting a debt, including threatening action it does not intend to take; and
Violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
..."
If they threatened or deceived you into paying an unowed debt, you should also contact FTC.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/VDYr ... LCAAYAQjNRUK19Q