TRS recovery Services
Complaint
rg
Country: United States
According to my "connecting the dots", after the latest legalized Scam,this is what happened to me.
Owned and run by Data services. Same umbrella company that owns LIFELOCK, telecheck(automated check services used by companies that pay their employees poorly, therefore they don't need to have the managers also be responsible for daily receipts, tracking down bad checks etc. They actually give your check back immediately after scanning to make you feel secure.)
This company(ies) are only extracting information so they can perform a legal scam.
In my case, a check written to a Family Dollar store in a small town where everyone knows each other. My wife and I are Professional people and also a business owner who have zero debt and 800+ credit rating.
About two weeks after the check was paid to Family Dollar, TRS Recovery services sent us the form letter indicating we owed a service charge on a transaction they were trying to recover monies from.
Three obvius things (1) they changed the date to a previous month, From 11/27 to 10/27, (2) changed the store number to a store that does not exist, (3)in the pouch they used to make the form letters, you could see copies of other to be scammed people placed behind it. Some cheap labor must have decided its easier to photocopy a bunch at once rather than take each individual copy in and out of the pouch.(3) cut the check number off the photocopy so harder to trace.
Attempt to call- obviously they only use computers. Owned by data services. No Human beings work there except to sell a ("service????????}. I have not been able to speak to anyone at any of these services other than an salesperson at Lifelock. Please do not Trust LIFELOCK either.
Lifelock told me that they couldn't do anything. Obviously, they are not going to go after their legalized scam. These corporations are given freedom to no end with the current attitude that "there is too much government regulation".
They scam us into paying money to prevent identity theft, of which they are the biggest benefactor or violator of.
Owned and run by Data services. Same umbrella company that owns LIFELOCK, telecheck(automated check services used by companies that pay their employees poorly, therefore they don't need to have the managers also be responsible for daily receipts, tracking down bad checks etc. They actually give your check back immediately after scanning to make you feel secure.)
This company(ies) are only extracting information so they can perform a legal scam.
In my case, a check written to a Family Dollar store in a small town where everyone knows each other. My wife and I are Professional people and also a business owner who have zero debt and 800+ credit rating.
About two weeks after the check was paid to Family Dollar, TRS Recovery services sent us the form letter indicating we owed a service charge on a transaction they were trying to recover monies from.
Three obvius things (1) they changed the date to a previous month, From 11/27 to 10/27, (2) changed the store number to a store that does not exist, (3)in the pouch they used to make the form letters, you could see copies of other to be scammed people placed behind it. Some cheap labor must have decided its easier to photocopy a bunch at once rather than take each individual copy in and out of the pouch.(3) cut the check number off the photocopy so harder to trace.
Attempt to call- obviously they only use computers. Owned by data services. No Human beings work there except to sell a ("service????????}. I have not been able to speak to anyone at any of these services other than an salesperson at Lifelock. Please do not Trust LIFELOCK either.
Lifelock told me that they couldn't do anything. Obviously, they are not going to go after their legalized scam. These corporations are given freedom to no end with the current attitude that "there is too much government regulation".
They scam us into paying money to prevent identity theft, of which they are the biggest benefactor or violator of.
Comments
If it bounced at first, and TRS resubmitted it, they might be owed a fee, depending on state law, and whether the merchant posted the returned check fee policy.
Problem is, just because they may have handed your check back does not prevent them from running it through again. Either Family Dollar Store or TRS got all the information they needed to do so when they scanned it, and nothing prevents it from be submitted twice.
Another problem is that Telecheck/TRS Recovery are a bunch of screw-ups, with many complaints of errors, as well as non-stop harassment even of the wrong people, that they can't seem to stop without incentive.
If they are trying to get payment twice by changing details of the check to run it through a second time, dispute the second charge with your bank IN WRITING as duplicate or fraudulent, file a complaint with your local police for the attempted theft, and send notice to TRS Recovery that the second charge is duplicate and unauthorized.
Request a copy of your Telecheck file (it's free once a year, just like credit reports) and send a written dispute any erroneous information. Send all letters certified, return receipt requested, and keep copies for your files.
If they don't clean up their mess, you may find it easiest to pass it off to an attorney to do what they do for a living, since both FDCPA and FCRA allow courts to award both damages and attorney fees.
In general, do not use checks at retail establishments, as it opens you up to problems like this. Use a credit card (NOT debit card) instead.
Let the merchant pay his bank a fee for doing business with you, since apparently he would rather do so.
Apparently,they did not even try sending it my bank or back to the Family Dollar Store.
Lifelock<=>First Data<=> Telecheck<=>TRS recovery Services.
Almost appears they use LifeLock to screen for victims
2) If so, when presented to your bank, was there money in the account, and was your account debited the amount?
3) Does your bank show that some charge was rejected?
4) If the charge was never routed to your bank, have you talked to Family Dollar Store and asked them why not?
Put pressure on Family Dollar Store, since you are their customer. If they or TRS are erroneously treating payments by check as "bad checks" to add on fees to payments that would have cleared with no problems, that is an issue for your state Attorney General or local DA's Consumer Protection unit, as an unfair and deceptive business practice.
Again, don't use checks at retail stores. As you noted, they don't want the hassle, which is why they outsource it.
Have done all your suggestions. All of the people contacted are my friends, since we live in a small town. The bank cannot do anything if the check is not submitted. Family Dollar has tried to correct the problem, but is unable to. Family Dollar Manager, and District manager are just as frustrated with Telecheck and First data as I am. The local police Dept tried and received the same treatment as me. There was no attempt to send check to the bank. No attempt to contact Family Dollar. Just a form letter to me with a "doctored" photocopy of check. Sent certified letters back disputing the charge. No response, they must send these to a dead letter box.
I have e-mailed Telecheck through their anti-phishing website 3 times. No Response. Upon further exploration, First Data was fined $10 Million for deceptive advertising. Our present State Attorney General says "government should stay out of business". In the past we had Great AG's. I have filed with BBB, who claimed they will take care of it, but if they keep putting certified letters in the circular file, nothing can happen.
I write very few checks, always use a credit card except locally. At least if First Data<=> Telecheck <=>TRS recovery Services <=> Lifelock pull this scam, you might get to talk to a person at your Credit Card Company.
On the positive side of this, no one including me will be able to write checks to "low paying" big box corporate stores. (I hope Wal-mart refuses a check, because they will have to put 2 full grocery carts of leaky ice cream, honey etc. back on the shelves, cause I have will have no money besides checks)
I always prefer to shop locally, and when I use a credit card with a small businessman, I give them at least 3% extra in cash to cover their cost.
They do send their checks directly to the bank. The bank even calls to make sure I wrote the check if it appears fishy. Every person knows me in this small backwoods community. If we all supported our local people, instead of Corporate America(World), we would not have these problems. Deadbeat locals become known in a hurry.
Hey, thank you for your comments and suggestions. Looks like I am really blessed to live in a small town.
http://www.khou.com/news/investigative/defend ... y-94745514.html
They don't like bad press.
Or you might contact your state Attorney General for assistance. TRS is more likely to respond to an AG than the consumers they are used to kicking around.
In any case, make sure that you have sent them a letter, certified, disputing their fee as unauthorized. You want to make sure they have notice of dispute within 30 days of receiving their letter, and that you can prove they received it (via USPS website, checking the certified number).
Does Family Dollar claim they got paid?
Does your bank show the check was submitted and paid, regardless of whether TRS claims they had to "resubmit" it?
If both true, then the only remaining issue is over the "fee", and TRS's false claim they "resubmitted" it. Get a letter from your bank to document that they reviewed your account, what date the check was submitted and paid, and that it was never submitted and rejected or bounced.
It is likely that TRS will shortly try to cram through their "fee" as an ACH charge. They are used to "winning" just cause they say so. You can then file a fraud dispute against the unauthorized charge through your bank.
The endgame is court, unless they see the light, or back down through embarassment. FDCPA and FCRA are your tools to get it into court if you need to, or to set them up so they want to fix it before that. Your paper trail, through certified notice, letter from your bank, letter from Family Dollar, etc, is how you prepare to counter their BS.
In particular, what was the wording of any legal notices or boilerplate?
The next day that check was returned unpaid by my bank...found out later that my Husband had used the debit card and not subtracted it from the account.
All well and good, it's my fault the check bounced I know that, BUT on the 10th of Feb. the check was again presented to my bank and was paid.
Today I checked my bank account on line ( which I do every day, since having a family member who was a victum of identity theft ) and there's an ACH debit from RiteAid for $30....two weeks after the check was paid.
I'm not sure but I'm thinking this maybe telecheck taking a fee for the check that was returned.
Okay, so they charge a fee but they if they were going to charge a fee for the returned check why didn't they do it on the 2nd when the check was returned or on the 10th when the check was paid, why wait 2 weeks and out of the blue charge me $30?
Can they do that without at least letting you know they're going to do this?
My bank says I may be able to dispute the charge, but something tells me Telecheck will fight me all the way.
I guess I'm just asking what my options are here.
Thanks.