Demand for Payment for Unauthorized Yello Pages Listing

ComplaintsCollection AgenciesA. C. A. Revovery Inc

Complaint

0
Tony Cooper
Country: United States
Unuathorized listing in www.goyellowpages.com
No physical address listed on their web site
Reverse lookup of 866-967-8205 reveals a company www.gafachi.com

Demand for $574 for A. C. A. Recovery Inc., 38 E.Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood,  New Jersey 07540 Phone 800 356 3713 on behalf of www.goyellowpages.com submitted with no proof whatsoever of the contract details.

Comments

  • 0
    tj
    It appears that FTC sued Thompson Hill Publishing/Regional Yellow Pages and several of the principals, and obtained a permanent injunction against them in January 2010.  

    If you are having problems with this entity, under any of its names, including harassing or deceptive sales or collection calls, or attempts by a debt collector, ACA Recovery, to collect on their bogus accounts, contact FTC.

    You should also contact FTC regarding ACA Recovery's other "business directory" scam client, goyellowpages.

    "FTC v. 6253547 CANADA, INC., No. 1:09-CV-01211 (N.D. Ohio)
    Parties: 6253547 Canada, Inc., d/b/a Thompson Hill Publishing, The Official
    Yellow Pages, and The Oyp Group
    Opus Media, Inc.
    Karl Garon
    Claude E. Berthiaume
    "
  • 0
    tj
    They are avoiding FDCPA liability by claiming these are "business debts", for which FDCPA does not generally apply.

    However, if they damaged your personal credit with fraudulently posted debts, even business ones, that would be your ticket to sue under FCRA, which allows recovery of damages and attorney fees.  

    You would first need to dispute the false reporting through the credit reporting agencies, and have them "verify" the erroneous information to establish liability under FCRA.

    Since FCRA allows recovery of attorney fees, you may be able to find an attorney to take such a case on contingency.
  • 0
    Steve
    Thanks for all of your information! Boy am I feeling great after having a thrilling conversation with them today!

    If they tries to play the recording, make sure you ask them "So how do I know this digital recording is tempered with or not?"

    Works for me because they simply hang up.
  • 0
    tj
    Be sure to file a complaint with FTC, since one of their scam clients is covered by an injunction.
  • 0
    chris
    These stories repeat over and over what has been going on here at my company and it disheartens me.   Business is tough enough without these kind of entrapment phone calls. I am very sure that even their RECORDED phone calls are re-arranged and used to trap more suckers.  Now I am suspect at every turn at similar callers, my immediate response is "Please remove me from your call list"  even when they lead you into a free service.
  • 0
    Wally Haycock
    I too received a letter from A.C.A pertaining to RYPO.
    Thanks for the info.
    Wally Haycock
  • 0
    David
    I received a notice from A.C.A stating I owe $604.95 for regionalyellowpagesonline.com.they say my wife signed up for it. They played a recording of her voice going through a third party verification. My wife says she would not have signed up for this and I know she wouldn't. How could they get her voice and make it appear that she signed up for this ad.
  • 0
    tj
    They are reported to call "to verify your information", then doctor, edit, or misrepresent parts of the recording they make to claim it was an "authorization".  There are numerous reports of faked or doctored recordings connected to this outfit.

    Regionalyellowpagesonline (AKA Thompson Hill Publishing, and various other names), is a scam telemarketer operating out of Canada, and reported to be using some call center in Pakistan to conduct their scam.  They were sued by FTC, which got a permanent injunction against them early this year, yet ACA Recovery is apparently still assisting them in their fraudulent scheme.

    Contact FTC regarding whether their fraudulent collection activity represents a violation of the injunction.
  • 0
    tj
    Regionalyellowpagesonline (AKA RYPO, Thompson Hill Publishing, and various other names), is a scam telemarketer operating out of Canada, and reported to be using some call center in Pakistan to conduct their scam.  They were sued by FTC, which got a permanent injunction against them early this year, yet ACA Recovery is apparently still assisting them in their fraudulent scheme.

    Contact FTC regarding whether their fraudulent collection activity represents a violation of the court injunction.
  • 0
    Harassed
    Not sure if you are still looking into this matter.  They just notified me today that I owe $604.95.  They played a tape recording of only half of the conversation.  How did you make out with this???  Not sure if I should ignore, or have our attorney look into.

    Please help.
  • 0
    tj
    Contact FTC.

    ACA Recovery is reported to be collecting on bogus "accounts" originating with at least two known fraudulent "business directory" telemarketers.

    One of them, Regional Yellow Pages Online, AKA Thompson Hill Pulishing, and a number of other names, was sued by FTC, and they got a permanent injunction against them earlier in 2010, yet ACA Recovery is apparently still collecting on these fraudulent "accounts" despite the injunction.

    There are also reports that the people behind the sued company have just moved and set up shop at a different location in Montreal, under a slightly different name.

    There are reports on other sites that enough small businesses have contacted FTC regarding this scam that FTC has collected a large file on ACA Recovery and is looking into them.

    Give them a hand.
  • 0
    tj
    http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/status/status.pdf

    "...
    FTC v. 6253547 CANADA, INC., No. 1:09-CV-01211 (N.D. Ohio)
    Parties: 6253547 Canada, Inc., d/b/a Thompson Hill Publishing, The Official
    Yellow Pages, and The Oyp Group
    Opus Media, Inc.
    Karl Garon
    Claude E. Berthiaume
    ..."
  • 0
    Sallye
    Received a letter today saying I owed the same amount. $604.95 Same set up recorded conversation with deletions. Have asked them to send me a copy of my bill as I don't recall ever getting one.  Asked her if I could mail a check to them and she said yes, then asked me for my router number.  I hug up on her and she called my office back and cursed at my employee.  I guess I will send a letter to them letting them know I am disputing the bill or I may not do anything and just wait and see what happens. Got to be a scam since you got the same thing!!!
  • 0
    Robin
    Can anyone give me a number on FTC.  I got the exact same bill for $604.95 and called A.C.A.  They also have a recorded message.  I've been in the hair business for 20 yrs and have never used the Internet yellow pages EVER.  But somehow they have a recorded message of me agreeing. I think they dubbed and taped a conversation of me saying yes to different questions and put it in a message.  I then gave them my credit card number and they forfeited $125 late fee leaving the bill $493.95.  After reading all of these same responses I then called my credit card fraudulent and cancelled that.  I know they will be sending me another paper in the mail or call me.
  • 0
    SM
    My question after reading what everyone is saying about this Scam with A.C.A is:  Has anyone ever been taken to court by ACA??
    I understand reporting them which I will but has anything ever happened to any of you?
    When I told them I was turning this over to my lawyer they hung up on me.
  • 0
    tj
    I have seen NO complaints from small businesses across various websites saying they were actually sued.

    Since this scam is run by phone, with minimal mail contact and even that from the debt collector rather than the directory scammers themselves (to avoid creating evidence that could result in mail fraud charges?), their only "evidence" of an alleged "debt" appears to be the fraudulent telemarketing recordings they have been reported to play excerpts from.

    In fraudulent telemarketing scams, recordings are typically used to threaten the victim, again by phone.  Contrast this with normal business practice, where an agreement for advertising would be documented by a signed contract.  Maybe they can't find an attorney willing to stoop so low as to used fraudulent recordings in court.

    "When I told them I was turning this over to my lawyer they hung up on me."
    Game over.  No point in wasting any more time with you.

    ACA Recovery appears to have evolved over the last decade from collecting on payday loans, using the common illegal "check fraud" script, to this stuff.
  • 0
    tj
    "But somehow they have a recorded message of me agreeing. I think they dubbed and taped a conversation of me saying yes to different questions and put it in a message. "

    That is exactly what they do.  Other complaints report ACA Recovery playing the fraudulently doctored "recordings" in their collection attempts.  

    There are numerous reports that they are doctoring or editing recordings of phone calls that actually asked only to "confirm your information".

    Doctored, edited, or misrepresented "authorization recordings" have been commonly used in "business directory" scams for years, particularly with those run from fraudulent telemarketers in the Montreal area.
  • 0
    EVPS
    I received the same letter. Yellowpagesexpress.com for 624.99. That company sends "invoices" that I just toss out. I will now save them and report it to the post office, AG, etc.  I don't think you should ignore this, these scammers need to be shut down!!!
  • 0
    Galt
    We just got the same exact letter for the same amount, same company.  I talked to Linda Banks and she was a complete jerk.  She told me in one conversation that they had all the paperwork and in another conversation she said she didn't say that.  She told me that they had it recorded and I told her to play it back.  We have never done business with yellowpagesexpress.com ever.  Be careful with these people!!
  • 0
    Kathy Cash
    A.C.A. Recovery, Inc. just sent me a letter saying that my company  owed yellowpagesexpress.com $ 624.99. We have never used this company. We receive things from them and throw them in the trash. What a SCAM! You should be ashamed of yourselves.  We would never use this company.

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