Harassing Collection Calls
Complaint
Sharon Marsh
Country: United States
I am not sure that this is the name of the company because it is very difficult to understand the name of the company. This company has called me 2 times and left 15 minutes of messages on my answering machine. He repeats his name (which I cannot understand) and his phone number over and over again for 15 minutes.........I called them back the first time approximately a month ago and told him do not call again, and today I received the same 15 minute message. He is not calling for me, but and I am not going to put up with the harassment. The phone number that he give to call back is 1-800 -335-0872. I DO NOT WANT ANYMORE COLLECTION CALLS. I HAVE GOOD CREDIT AND I DO NOT CARE WHO HE IS CALLING FOR HE HAS NO RIGHT TO CONTINUE TO CALL AND HARASS ME! Please let me know what else I can do to get him to stop!
Comments
The problem is that the pattern of your complaints is consistent with other coworkers ignoring consumers who indicate they are receiving your calls "in error", failing to remove their numbers from your call lists.
That this is a problem is confirmed by your recent TCPA class action lawsuit.
It is not any business of yours whether people you call give you identification information before you will stop calling them. They have no legal obligation to do so. You, however, do have the legal obligation to not harass people with phone calls, as required by both FDCPA and TCPA. The law does not give you some special right to call people forever, or to demand their identification as the price to getting you to stop.
You may find that people keep hanging up on you, but that is exactly what any sane person would do when called by someone who refuses to identify themselves. What people also commonly report with debt collection calls is that when they ask for YOUR identity, THEY get hung up on. That IS harassment, by any standard, as it results in repeated unwanted calls, fails to provide a way to get them to stop as required by both FDCPA and TCPA, and even fails to meet the FDCPA requirements that you identify yourself accurately, and that you notify those who you call that any informatino you obtain will be used to collect a debt.
You may think you somehow sidestep third party disclosure by just making anonymous calls, but that puts you squarely back in harassment and TCPA violation territory. You don't get to choose which laws you comply with, and which ones you don't. You have to comply with all laws that apply, and just being anonymous to make it hard to go after you isn't the same as compliance. You also come across like some kind of creep.
Phone harassment in debt colletion is not some trivial issue. It is usually associated with deceptive collection, that is actual fraudulent attempts by debt collectors and their employees to con money out of people they have misidentified as "owing" some debt. The combination of abusive calling and harassment, combined with deceptive talk-offs by debt collectors, illegally misrepresents to consumers that they have no right to dispute unowed debts.
This is essentially what Allied Interstate got fined $1.7 million by FTC for: harassing calls with no way to get them to stop, COMBINED with harassing people who DID NOT OWE THE ALLEGED DEBTS. Their press release claimed they just got their call lists mixed up, but the statement by FTC's head of consumer protection clearly stated that abusive FDCPA violations over UNOWED debts was unacceptable.
When you use autodialers in an abusive or harassing manner, it is an indicator that there may be something suspect about your alleged "debts" as well. As FDCPA provides for the consumer right to validation to resolve errors, any attempts to evade validation, whether by harassment or deception, suggest an intent to profit from "errors", i.e. an intent to defraud.
YOU ARE AN IDIOT! it's obvious who you work for!
NOT TRUE - I have told several MRS Associates that the person they are looking for IS NOT AT THIS Number, but the calls still continue, for over 1 year now!
You are an idiot, answers!
Maybe YOU need to get your facts right! As*Hole
Maybe you should "Just Stop It"
You are a bottom feeder who works for a bottom feeder - lying and deceit is all part of the game...for over a year I have been telling you people I am not the person yoyu are looking for, but the calls continue
A year ago, FTC fined Allied Interstate $1.7 Million for similar violations.
FDCPA, $1000 plus damages, TCPA $500 per call, $1500 per call if willful, plus attorney fees.
Or contact the Fathews Law Group, in San Marino, CA. Apparenlty they have filed a class action lawsuit against them, alleging violations of TCPA.
Pretending that people have to tell you to stop in some specific way, or that they have to disclose their identification information or you get to ignore them and keep calling forever, is stupidity. That's what will get you busted.
They don't have to limit their legal responses to whatever game you think you get to play. If FDCPA doesn't provide sufficient leverage, they can use TCPA. Once they realize the choice is theirs, you don't set the rules, they do. As Melvin Belli used to say, "the plaintiff makes the tort".