Standing Up to Pesky Debt Collectors
A debt collection company has left automated messages on my answering machine almost every day for the past six months. Erasing them within a few minutes of getting home from work has become part of my daily routine.
At first, I assumed they were telemarketing calls and that the company would eventually give up, but after realizing I had erased approximately 100 messages, I decided it was finally time to call and ask what they wanted and if they could please, please stop calling me. The messages were starting to drive me crazy.
So I called the number. Before being connected with a real person, I was warned, by another automaton, that any information I provided would be used to collect a debt. That made me a little nervous. Was it possible that I—or, more likely, my husband (sorry, honey!)—had forgotten to pay a bill, or, even worse, a student loan?
After three minutes of waiting, a representative asked how she could help me. I explained the problem, and she looked up my home number in her system.
According to her data, the company was using my number to call about a man whose name I didn't recognize. (For the sake of his privacy, I will leave his identity out of it.)
"You don't know him?" she asked me, confirming what I already told her.
"Definitely not," I said.
She apologized for the inconvenience and said she would remove my number from the company records.
Ever since I made the call, there have been no automated voicemails on my machine waiting for me when I get home. I don't miss them. The lesson: When debt collectors have the wrong number, don't wait six months to let them know.
Tags: debt
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (2) | Print
Reader Comments
You are lucky
I finally had to register complaints with the company itself, the no call registry, the Fair debt collections dept of the government, the district attorney for both my area and the area where the collection agency was located, and their professional collection agency "union". I then advised them via a phone call my attorney would contact them if I received another call. The calls finally stopped. I told them for almost 2 years they had the wrong number and tried ignoring the calls after that. They were very rude and disrespectful when I spoke with them which is what prompted registering all the complaints.
advertisement
