Advertising Collections

ComplaintsCollection AgenciesLocal US Pages & ACA Recovery

Complaint

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Jane Krutch
Country: United States
ACA Recovery is at it again, after receiving letters in 2010 saying we owed for yellow pages advertising, they are now saying we owe $775.00 for Local US Page advertising. Since we don't advertise like that at all, I know it's false.  It was nice to have a year off though!

Comments

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    Amy
    | 2 replies
    We received a fax last week from a Maria Sanchez saying we owe $731.52 because of interest charges since Feb. The collection letter is from them not ACA Recovery. When Maria called to collect, we asked her what exactly are we paying for she couldn't give a straight answer saying she won't to back to the point of us "agreeing" for their services in other words their so to speak sales pitch. And when asked if we would speak to the manager or her boss she said there was no one above her. After a long screaming match, and her saying no one has tried to dispute a bill, they said they were going to take us to court and then ended the call. Today we received the same fax with the header "2nd Collection Letter." Since we have only heard from Local US Pages and not ACA recovery, what is the best way to get them off our backs?
    • 0
      tj replies to Amy
      | 1 reply
      File fraud complaints, with FTC and your state Attorney General.
      If you get a fraudulent bill through the mail, file a mail fraud complaint with the US Postal Inspector.

      If they call, notify them that you have filed fraud complaints, and that you are recording the call.
      Ignore their threats.  Let them yell and scream, or make up more BS if they want, or just hang up.
      Eventually they will move on to new victims.  They can't do anything but threaten, and the whole world knows it.

      I just saw a post that pretended to be a small business employee who supposedly had been "sued", but it was really obvious it was a shill.  They must be hurting from all the publicity.
  • 0
    ssammiesamm
    Same thing! They have been in contact with me by phone back and forth. I heard the recording and the first thing I thought was that it didn't sound real. They called to "confirm information" and then cut and paste my answers to make it sound like I agreed. I told "Charles Wilson" that we are a no-profit school and ask how dare he steal from our kids to feed his. I told him I was going to call the police and and replied "what so they can come arrest me?" I called him a few names and hung up.
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    ballxroad
    | 2 replies
    same thing as above.   i have just called my credit card company to cancel the transaction.   i told them until i heard my voice saying i agreed to this advertising i would not pay.  they called back and played a conversation with me agreeing to this which left me dumbfounded.   i could not believe i agreed to a 649.95 advertising on the internet but after i heard my voice agreeing i thought i must have really been out of it during that conversation.  now after reading these comments i know it was a hoax!!  i am definetly going to file a complaint!!
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      Nikki replies to ballxroad
      | 1 reply
      I got the same thing!!!!  This Maria Sanchez says that we owe $649.95 that we so called agreed on.  I told her that we never would sign up for something that is so expensive since we are a small business and can't afford something like that.  I asked to talk to the manager and she said that there is no one higher than her in the office.  What a bunch of bull!!!!!! They are really trying to ruin a lot of peoples lives and this needs to stop!!!  I wish we all could get together and really hand them what they deserve!!  Stay STRONG!!
  • 0
    Sean
    We had the same ordeal. They said we owed yellow pages $605 back in 2010. We fought it then and we got another one in the mail a week ago saying we owed US pages $774.95. Just threaten them with lawyers, they seem to back down then.
  • 0
    Joshua Martin
    I had the exact thing happen to me.  They claim we owe $774.94 from 2010.  They called me a couple of years ago as well.  They have a recording of an employee and they get the employee to give their name, title etc, and I don't know if they change their side of the recording or what, but it is a total scam and do not pay.
  • 0
    Rosy
    I just had my second notice sent today by fax for the amount of $731.52,  the first one by phone I told them I had not order such thing but they know when & what to say even though its not true.  It's really  frustrating when we are a small business trying to make it in this economy and I get something like this.  They are just a waist of time like if we need extra things to deal with.
  • 0
    Mary Beth
    ACA is calling with annoying dialogue once again.  I keep telling the nice gentleman to lose my number and that he will never see a dime.  When I tell him that I know this is a scam, he continues to say he will play the recording for me.  Tried to file an online BBB complaint, but it won't go through because I can't come up with the address for Local US Pages...not registered....hmmmmm......Go Away ACA.
  • 0
    Reach
    Same happened today on 7/6/12. A lady called and playing the voice record she recorded long time ago to convice that we have some kinds of agreement with her to pay that amount of  $774.95. That lady kept harassing me for like an half hour when I tried to ask her for proof of signature. I realized it was a scam until I went on the website to check that local us pages and found many complaints from you guys. Thanks a lot for your helps.
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    Frustrated with Fraud
    | 1 reply
    Wendy Adams, if thats her real name, of Local US Pages has been harassing my wife and I for over a year now.
    They originally called claiming that my wife had requested their advertising services for her small business. They then after calling over a period of about three months my wife told them that if they did not stop calling her she would sue them for harassment. They then told her that they had proof of her signing up for thier services, however in order to provide her with this proof they would have to record their conversation and confirm that she was indeed the business owner. After putting some guy on the phone who talked extremely fast with an amazingly thick accent who asked her in about seven different ways if she was the owner of the business while all te time throwing in little things like "are you the person with the autority to make decisions for the business" and "is it you that we would invoice for the services" they hung up telling her that they would be sending her the requested proof. They then emaild invoices to my wife as if during that conversation she had actually called to order the services!!
    They finally called us in July while we were on vacation and began to demand payment once again. I then had the first opportunity to talk to them myself. they told me that they had a recording of my wife requesting their services. They played the conversation where they were "supposedly" verifying that my wife was the owner of her business. They are using that conversation to support a fraudulent claim that she ordered services?!?!?!? when the woman returned to the line she asked me if that was my wife. I responded "My wife was NOT ordering your services in that conversation" she then became very irate and began to yell at me over the phone. I hung up on her and called my lawyer.
    With all of the people this one company is trying to scam. I dont see why we cant all start a class action law suit. Anyone know how we can do that? im ready to not only stop them from trying to scam us.. I want to go after them so that they dont do this to anyone else ever again.
    • 0
      tj replies to Frustrated with Fraud
      Main problem is they are operating out of Montreal, Canada, and probably using call centers in Pakistan or India as well.  It's just not worth it to sue them, in another country, since even if you won, they would just change their name.

      You should, however, file complaints with FTC anyway, and you might also contact RCMP, in Canada.  FTC and RCMP periodically conduct a fraud sweep and clean up the many cross border frauds.

      You can also go after the fronts they use in the US.

      For example, they use a "collection agency" partner in New Jersey, to "chicken bill" you, while they claim they "don't know" the "account" is fraudulent even though they play the same doctored "recordings".  If contacted by them, file fraud complaints with all agencies: your state AG, NJ state AG, FTC, and US Postal Inspector.

      They also use mail drops in the US.  One in particular is in NYC, and is actually a "virtual office" site run by Regus.  You get a letter with that "address", file mail fraud complaints with the US Postal Inspector, against both the perp, and Regus, for their role in mail forwarding for this mail fraud scam.

      And if either call you, don't let them bug you.  Tell them to "F*** Off", and just hang up.
      Or tell them to keep talking as you record, so they can find their little scam pitch on youtube, to make their mom proud.

      If you want to hurt them where it costs, get a local reporter to do a story.  It could cut into their revenue from your area for the next 6 months.
  • 0
    Margaret
    I recommend that you do as I did and contact Pam Bondi, Attorney General of the State of Florida, phone # (813) 287-7950.  I had similar experiences as all of the above complaints and contacted the BBB's of Central Indiana and Western Florida, the Attorney General's Offices of Indiana and Florida, and the Federal Trade Commission.  I was advised to document all interactions, which I did. I did have somewhat of a resolution of the situation via the Florida BBB, in which this company said that I must have 'misunderstood', and that they would drop any fees that they said I 'owed'.  In May of this year I received correspondence from Pam Bondi's office, asking me to fill out an affidavit to assist them in their on-going investigation of this company.  If all of us who have been targeted would take the time to do this, perhaps it will give her the leverage to get these con artists.

    Sadly, due to this experience, we no longer answer out of area code or 1-800, 1-888, etc. numbers.  We figure that if it's a legitimate call, they will leave a message.
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