clueless collection agencies

[cellio]

I'd heard that collection agencies were annoying, but I didn't realize they were also clueless.

Today was the fourth day in a row that we received a computer-generated content-free message (no name, no business ID, no purpose -- just a phone number) on the answering machine. As demonstrated by the first three days of this, I usually ignore these on the theory that they're voice-spam. But after four in a row I figured the only way to make it stop was to find out who they were.

When someone picked up the phone I said "I'm returning a call but I don't know who you are or why you called". He gave the business name (something-or-other collections) and then asked to talk with "Claudia [butchered last name]". If you take two or three twists you can get from Dani's last name to what he said, but it wasn't even one of the common, direct mispronunciations. I had to work to recognize it.

I said "I've never heard of such a person" and he said "ok, we'll take this phone number off our list" and hung up.

This is not a relative of Dani's. This was, near as I can tell, someone randomly trying a matching last name (probably every one in the book), without even attempting to determine if they have the right number. A scrupulous business would have given either the name of the person they were calling for or the name of their business in the phone messages. They might have also, maybe, had an actual human being make at least one of the calls; even when I'm home I hang up on machines that call me unless I'm specifically expecting the call.

This did me no harm, but I feel mildly harrassed.

Comments

[ginamariewade.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those terrible, irresponsible people who actually gets legitimate collection calls. (Long story, mostly to do with medical bills.)

I don't answer my phone anymore, at all, for any reason. I screen my calls.
Because the dolts will literally call every single day until they get a payment.

The other trick is to call three or four times a day, leaving no message until the last call, because legally they can only leave one message per day.

[sekhmets-song.livejournal.com]

In the same boat, and it started with medical bills, too. The latest trick that has been used against us is that the creditors for one particular loan call all of the character references we put on a loan application many, many years ago. I think they skirt the legality issue, by just telling these people that they should tell us to call Annoying Bank and that it is urgent. Obviously, they are trying to shame us into paying them. It has had the opposite effect on us. If we have a month where we have to juggle, they are the first not to get paid! They'll be hearing from our lawyer shortly, anyway.

[cellio]

The other trick is to call three or four times a day, leaving no message until the last call, because legally they can only leave one message per day.

I didn't know that. We also get a lot of hang-ups, including several this past week. We don't have Caller ID, so I have no idea if any of them were from the same people.

[aliza250.livejournal.com]

If you're feeling mildly harassed, you should write a mild letter of complaint to the FCC.

[cellio]

That's a good idea. Thanks.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I don't think this is a brand-new technique. Nearly 6 years ago, when I had just moved back to the States, I got a phone call from a collections agency looking for someone whose first and last names were the same as my own. (My first name's extremely common, while my maiden name isn't, so I imagine they were pretty sure they'd caught their fish.) I allowed that yes, this was my name, could I be of service? They began demanding payment on a credit card issued to a Florida address and used while I was not even in the country. Whoa, I said, let's back up here, this cannot possibly be me. Only then did they ask whether X. was my middle initial (no) and XXX-XX-XXXX was my SSN (also no). They apologized and left me alone after that, thank G-d.

[cellio]

Yuck. Rudeness on their part is both unprofessional and, potentially, counter-productive. If I were the person they were trying to reach, and they started with demands rather than identity establishment (more than a name), I'd be more likely to push back while finding out what my legal rights are. If, on the other hand, they were civil and I were the right person, I'd immediately discuss payment schedules with them.