Harassment / SBC does not do business in my area
Complaint
Li Via
Country: United States
Northland Group Inc. has been harassing/calling on behalf of SBC. I have never had any business dealings with SBC. I do not and have never lived in an area where SBC had service. SBC does not offer service in the area I live in. SBC does not have any records of doing business with me. There is no debt, no accounts, no files, no business relationship and yet Northland Group Inc. continues to call. Northland Group Inc. does not have any documentation regarding any contracts with SBC.
I do know for a fact that I get many calls every year from collection agencies that call for people who share my last name. These are not people that I know because none of my extended family is in this state. I have never had anyone who shares my last name live out of the residence I am at.
I have had it happen where collection agents put my name on other peoples files because I am listed in the phone book and my phone number is a working number. It goes from being a debt belonging to a man name Jose to being changed to a debt using my name. I am disgusted with the way these companies can break the law and then claim they made a mistake.
They should have to pay for every second that they have tied up my phone line and for every call I have had to deal with for imaginary people and imaginary bills/debts/services that were never purchased/used/installed/ordered from my residence.
I do know for a fact that I get many calls every year from collection agencies that call for people who share my last name. These are not people that I know because none of my extended family is in this state. I have never had anyone who shares my last name live out of the residence I am at.
I have had it happen where collection agents put my name on other peoples files because I am listed in the phone book and my phone number is a working number. It goes from being a debt belonging to a man name Jose to being changed to a debt using my name. I am disgusted with the way these companies can break the law and then claim they made a mistake.
They should have to pay for every second that they have tied up my phone line and for every call I have had to deal with for imaginary people and imaginary bills/debts/services that were never purchased/used/installed/ordered from my residence.
Comments
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/36QPaYhZBgCVRAjKFkFBRg
America is plagued with a debt collection industry infested with bullying, lying, cheating, and stealing thugs.
Learn your FDCPA and FCRA rights, and do not tolerate their BS.
Dispute and request validation of all these alleged "debts" in writing, sent certified return receipt requested. Dispute all erroneous entries on your credit reports thru the credit reporting agencies, and in particular, make sure erroneous addresses and identifying information of others does not get on your reports, as can happen when someone else's debt is erroneously reported, since it will start "attracting" other similar debts. For credit purposes, you will start to appear to be a mix of all the similarly named deadbeats.
Do not tolerate any violations of law. Report all violations to your state AG, the MN AG, and FTC. If you have ongoing problems resolving these "errors" with a particular collection agency, seek out an attorney with experience in FDCPA and FCRA litigation. In the long run it will be cheaper to force the matter into court than to live with years of damaged credit paying higher rates on every loan, insurance, etc. Both FDCPA and FCRA allow the courts to award you attorneys fees on top of your damages if you win.
Also file complaints against all debt collectors who erroneously pursue you for someone else's debt on both BBB and various internet consumer sites, so the eggregious collection patterns of particular debt collectors becomes well known. Others similarly contacted "erroneously" will then be more likely to resist and report this extortion.
And change your phone number, getting a new unlisted one. Do NOT have your old phone number provide a forwarding number. If you have a common name, and are listed, you will attract every debt collector looking for those with a similar name, where they may have moved or have an unlisted number. At a minimum it is annoying, and as you have found, they may trash your credit with someone else's debt based only on a phone listing.
In this age, you don't want calls from strangers, since they are usually scamming in one way or another.