American Lifeline Industries contacted me last week about my "overdue account for light bulbs" and said that the cost and fees was now $255. I said that I had been through this before with a different collection agency for the same thing and that I knew that I had not "forgotten" to pay for them so many times. The other agency was A-1 Services, and I did pay them three or four times because I did not want to ruin my credit. I admit that I could have forgotten to pay once, maybe twice, but not four or now five times.
I probably did talk to someone who phoned asking me to order something but refused. So what is to prevent them from writing out the order and marking it as sent? Then they wait at least 2 years {supposedly they have to wait} and call saying that you owe big. When I said that if they were that concerned with collecting from me why not send an invoice or call me. She then listed the dates that they had called me about the debt---I never got any call about a debt. I did get calls asking me to buy something during that 2 or 3 year period, but I had finally wised up and refused anything. I also had been keeping any invoice or record of any purchase. BUT, how can I prove a negative? I did not place an order on December 29, 2011. I probably was out of town, or if not, I would not have placed an expensive order for light bulbs right after Christmas.
I may have talked to someone then, or they got my answering maching and decided they needed to place an order anyway! It really burns me up, because I thought I was helping someone in need, and they turn around and perpetrate a scam. I have paid for more than I ever ordered because I thought I was helping myself get out of it. Probably then they just figure they have a softie and do it again and again.
Before I went online and discovered that bringing up their website led me straight here I had decided that when they call back later this week, I would tell them I am not paying and that I will contact the Attorney General about this. And I will be told that they will go forward with collection and she can't do anything about the situation because it is all there in black and white. Well, this time I don't care!
Be careful because Claudia will wait a few months and call back saying you still owe them and that you must have paid another company and that the conformation number you have is not theirs. And, of course, she will threaten to turn you in and ruin your credit! So, it doesn't even do any good to pay these scammers because they just still come after more money! I didn't pay them this time thank goodness. Best of luck!
American Lifeline Industries (Claudia) called us also and gave us the same line, word for word. This is a SCAM. Better than contacting the Attorney General is to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc). Our Attorney General's website was a joke but the FTC had a pretty good website for submission of information for them to investigate. The more complaints about American Lifeline Industries to the FTC, the better. The more number of complaints will probably make them take notice.
My story is similar to those above. The supposed initial purchase was in Dec 2012, and I was contacted by Carmen in March 2015. (2 years 3mo later)After spending way too much time thinking about this, I have decided that I will not pay a bill that there is no paper trail for. IF there were 3 phone messages left back in the beginning of 2013, they said nothing about collections or an overdue bill. When I questioned Carmen about this, she said that would have broken my privacy rights. In fact Carmen's recent messages contained just that kind of information. In fact I have bought trash bags in the past and this scam is ruining the reputation of the American Disabled and Disadvantaged Workers who sell them. Preying on peoples fears of getting sent to a collections agency stinks. I am going to send a certified letter saying that I will not pay without a paper bill. If somehow that is produced, I will pay it, but without all the accrued fees.
In the past I have supported the handicapped by purchasing garbage bages from them. I have not done this for years after having been tagged for an unreceived bill and charged exxcessive interest on it. I refused to buy from the Handicapped organization since that time. Yesterday, I was called by Jessica Meyer and Claudia Beaz, who preport that they represent internal collections by American lifeline industries. They said I had purchased bags in Dec 2011 (which I do not recall doing.. They said that they sent an invoice with the bags, which I don not recall receiving. However, they said a fullow up bill was returned to them. They never sent another bill, and waited until now to contact me. Instead of the 89.95 they are now charging me 448.03 and threatened to send me to collections They would not send another invoice "they only send 2 invoices/notifications. I have looked them up and there are other complaint against these people as running a scam. None of us want our credit poisoned but I am concered that this is a total rip off.
March 11, 2015 I have finally learned to google everything. This company and "Claudia" have called several times and left messages that it is very important I call them back. The company has obviously bought a mailing list from the Handicap Workers and are out to get everyone on the list. Do NOT call them back. Just ignore them and hopefully the government will get ahold of them and take legal action. These scammers need to get a real job and quite preying off innocent hard working people. I just wanted others out there to know they are still threatening us!
I got a call today Dec 22, 2014 from American Lifelike Internal Collections saying they had an account in my wife's name. She order garbage bags to help the handicap in 2012 and the account is overdue. they said we owed $69.99. They said they have mailed us the product and invoice and never received payment. We told her we would never answer the phone to organizations we don't know or numbers we don't know let alone order garbage bags that cost $69.99. She threatened to ruin our credit and hung up.
About 3 weeks ago, A Claudia called us on the phone. Caller ID said Private Caller so I thought it was a tellemarketer and didn't answer the phone. She began to leave a message that if we didn't pay our bill he was going to turn us over to a collection agency, so I picked up the call.
She proceded to tell me that we owed them a large bill and it was over due. She said we had to pay the bill right then or she would turn us over to the collection agency. Neither I nor my husband remember buying anything from them but they said the bill was outstanding since 2011 and 2012. I asked her to rebill us so we could see what we had bought and how much as well as all the late fees. She said we owed over $500. We were aghast. She refused to send us another bill and said they don't keep paper trails.
She agreed to split the bill over 2 months and said we could pay half that day. My husband gave her our bank and account number, or we could over-night a check.They only took out what we agreed on. I look back as I write this an can see how foolish we were.
Dec. 2, 2014 we got a message from "Claudia" from American Lifeline Internal Collections. She said to call her at 562-867-7400. The name American Lifeline got my attention because we had an incident with them a few years ago over candles we had ordered, I'm not sure of the date. My husband found it strange that there was no invoice with the candles, and we forgot about it and so never paid. In May, 2009, we got a "courtesy" call saying our payment was way overdue and about to be turned over for collection, but they would "help" us by lowering the amount we owed with all the interest, etc., and if we paid it right then, we could avoid going to court and paying all court costs and the full payment amount. So we gave them a credit card number and paid $193.99. Fast forward to today. I called Claudia back and got the same exact story as the other time, candles and all, except that we supposedly ordered them in December 2012. Two years ago! I informed her of the previous call and subsequent payment, which showed up on the credit card as disadvantage&handicapwrk 562-866-0222. She said that's a different company, there are lots of companies for disadvantaged and handicapped workers. I said after that last time, we would not have ordered any more candles. (We would have been insane to have ordered more in December from ANY company, after the incident in May!) She insisted we did. I said why did they wait 2 years to contact us. She said they had recorded messages that had been left at our phone number in February and 2 other months, which she named but I don't remember. I wanted her to send an invoice. She couldn't, billing was closed, she was only calling out of courtesy, etc., etc. Finally she said okay if we wanted to dispute it, we could go to court, etc., just like the last time. I gave the phone to my husband, and she finally said something about court in 30 days, and hung up on him. But then I went to check them out online (now I remember doing that last time, too) and found this website and several others. So I am adding my report.
American Lifeline Industries Reviews
American Lifeline Industries contacted me last week about my "overdue account for light bulbs" and said that the cost and fees was now $255. I said that I had been through this before with a different collection agency for the same thing and that I knew that I had not "forgotten" to pay for them so many times. The other agency was A-1 Services, and I did pay them three or four times because I did not want to ruin my credit. I admit that I could have forgotten to pay once, maybe twice, but not four or now five times.
I probably did talk to someone who phoned asking me to order something but refused. So what is to prevent them from writing out the order and marking it as sent? Then they wait at least 2 years {supposedly they have to wait} and call saying that you owe big. When I said that if they were that concerned with collecting from me why not send an invoice or call me. She then listed the dates that they had called me about the debt---I never got any call about a debt. I did get calls asking me to buy something during that 2 or 3 year period, but I had finally wised up and refused anything. I also had been keeping any invoice or record of any purchase. BUT, how can I prove a negative? I did not place an order on December 29, 2011. I probably was out of town, or if not, I would not have placed an expensive order for light bulbs right after Christmas.
I may have talked to someone then, or they got my answering maching and decided they needed to place an order anyway! It really burns me up, because I thought I was helping someone in need, and they turn around and perpetrate a scam. I have paid for more than I ever ordered because I thought I was helping myself get out of it. Probably then they just figure they have a softie and do it again and again.
Before I went online and discovered that bringing up their website led me straight here I had decided that when they call back later this week, I would tell them I am not paying and that I will contact the Attorney General about this. And I will be told that they will go forward with collection and she can't do anything about the situation because it is all there in black and white. Well, this time I don't care!
American Lifeline Industries-Claudia
Be careful because Claudia will wait a few months and call back saying you still owe them and that you must have paid another company and that the conformation number you have is not theirs. And, of course, she will threaten to turn you in and ruin your credit! So, it doesn't even do any good to pay these scammers because they just still come after more money! I didn't pay them this time thank goodness. Best of luck!
American Lifeline Industries
American Lifeline Industries (Claudia) called us also and gave us the same line, word for word. This is a SCAM. Better than contacting the Attorney General is to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc). Our Attorney General's website was a joke but the FTC had a pretty good website for submission of information for them to investigate. The more complaints about American Lifeline Industries to the FTC, the better. The more number of complaints will probably make them take notice.
Hate This!
My story is similar to those above. The supposed initial purchase was in Dec 2012, and I was contacted by Carmen in March 2015. (2 years 3mo later)After spending way too much time thinking about this, I have decided that I will not pay a bill that there is no paper trail for. IF there were 3 phone messages left back in the beginning of 2013, they said nothing about collections or an overdue bill. When I questioned Carmen about this, she said that would have broken my privacy rights. In fact Carmen's recent messages contained just that kind of information. In fact I have bought trash bags in the past and this scam is ruining the reputation of the American Disabled and Disadvantaged Workers who sell them. Preying on peoples fears of getting sent to a collections agency stinks. I am going to send a certified letter saying that I will not pay without a paper bill. If somehow that is produced, I will pay it, but without all the accrued fees.
In the past I have supported the handicapped by purchasing garbage bages from them. I have not done this for years after having been tagged for an unreceived bill and charged exxcessive interest on it. I refused to buy from the Handicapped organization since that time. Yesterday, I was called by Jessica Meyer and Claudia Beaz, who preport that they represent internal collections by American lifeline industries. They said I had purchased bags in Dec 2011 (which I do not recall doing.. They said that they sent an invoice with the bags, which I don not recall receiving. However, they said a fullow up bill was returned to them. They never sent another bill, and waited until now to contact me. Instead of the 89.95 they are now charging me 448.03 and threatened to send me to collections They would not send another invoice "they only send 2 invoices/notifications. I have looked them up and there are other complaint against these people as running a scam. None of us want our credit poisoned but I am concered that this is a total rip off.
Getting messages on machine
March 11, 2015 I have finally learned to google everything. This company and "Claudia" have called several times and left messages that it is very important I call them back. The company has obviously bought a mailing list from the Handicap Workers and are out to get everyone on the list. Do NOT call them back. Just ignore them and hopefully the government will get ahold of them and take legal action. These scammers need to get a real job and quite preying off innocent hard working people. I just wanted others out there to know they are still threatening us!
Expensive garbage bags
I got a call today Dec 22, 2014 from American Lifelike Internal Collections saying they had an account in my wife's name. She order garbage bags to help the handicap in 2012 and the account is overdue. they said we owed $69.99. They said they have mailed us the product and invoice and never received payment. We told her we would never answer the phone to organizations we don't know or numbers we don't know let alone order garbage bags that cost $69.99. She threatened to ruin our credit and hung up.
About 3 weeks ago, A Claudia called us on the phone. Caller ID said Private Caller so I thought it was a tellemarketer and didn't answer the phone. She began to leave a message that if we didn't pay our bill he was going to turn us over to a collection agency, so I picked up the call.
She proceded to tell me that we owed them a large bill and it was over due. She said we had to pay the bill right then or she would turn us over to the collection agency. Neither I nor my husband remember buying anything from them but they said the bill was outstanding since 2011 and 2012. I asked her to rebill us so we could see what we had bought and how much as well as all the late fees. She said we owed over $500. We were aghast. She refused to send us another bill and said they don't keep paper trails.
She agreed to split the bill over 2 months and said we could pay half that day. My husband gave her our bank and account number, or we could over-night a check.They only took out what we agreed on. I look back as I write this an can see how foolish we were.
Be on your guard
Dec. 2, 2014 we got a message from "Claudia" from American Lifeline Internal Collections. She said to call her at 562-867-7400. The name American Lifeline got my attention because we had an incident with them a few years ago over candles we had ordered, I'm not sure of the date. My husband found it strange that there was no invoice with the candles, and we forgot about it and so never paid. In May, 2009, we got a "courtesy" call saying our payment was way overdue and about to be turned over for collection, but they would "help" us by lowering the amount we owed with all the interest, etc., and if we paid it right then, we could avoid going to court and paying all court costs and the full payment amount. So we gave them a credit card number and paid $193.99. Fast forward to today. I called Claudia back and got the same exact story as the other time, candles and all, except that we supposedly ordered them in December 2012. Two years ago! I informed her of the previous call and subsequent payment, which showed up on the credit card as disadvantage&handicapwrk 562-866-0222. She said that's a different company, there are lots of companies for disadvantaged and handicapped workers. I said after that last time, we would not have ordered any more candles. (We would have been insane to have ordered more in December from ANY company, after the incident in May!) She insisted we did. I said why did they wait 2 years to contact us. She said they had recorded messages that had been left at our phone number in February and 2 other months, which she named but I don't remember. I wanted her to send an invoice. She couldn't, billing was closed, she was only calling out of courtesy, etc., etc. Finally she said okay if we wanted to dispute it, we could go to court, etc., just like the last time. I gave the phone to my husband, and she finally said something about court in 30 days, and hung up on him. But then I went to check them out online (now I remember doing that last time, too) and found this website and several others. So I am adding my report.