This concerns an alleged collection agency I recently dealt with. Here is the order of events:
1) Received a letter two weeks ago from an unfamiliar return address for an alleged lawyer.
2) Upon opening the letter, which was printed in standard computer printout text, on plain white paper with no company letterhead, I found that the person alleged to have written it, claimed to be the staff lawyer for a collection agency residing at this address.
3) The person who allegedly wrote this letter to me stated his name as Charles I. Turner, Esq.
4) In the letter, he said that this collection agency (at that time, going by the company name of United Credit Specialists), had made numerous attempts to contact me in the past; both by letter and by phone, and I had not responded.
5) In this letter, which he said is the final letter I would get before his client would began a law suit against me, I had two options:
a) make payment in full on the alleged debt of $224 and change within ten days, or
b) send him a letter within 30 days stating that I do not agree that I owe this debt.
To me that is weird in itself, because on the one hand, he'd given me 10 days before their alleged client would proceed to sue me, but then I had 30 days to refute that I owed the debt. Huh?
6) Two days after receiving this alleged collection letter, I called the phone number listed on that very plain and un-business-like collection letter to speak with Mr. Charles I. Turner. My call was routed to someone else.
7) She asked for the ID number on the letter, and I read it off to her.
8) I asked if she could tell me what this debt was for, and she replied by saying that I knew exactly what this debt was for.
9) I told her that while I had made past purchases from the client this alleged collection agency alleges to represent [an online jewelry company I had done business with about 8-10 times over 5 previous years before I became disabled and stopped further purchases from that company], I could not recall what I might have purchased from this company and not paid for. Again she said I was lying and that I knew exactly what I had purchased and not paid for.
10) I said again that I really did not know, so could she please send me a copy of the original sales receipt or something stating what I had purchased, and when I had purchased it. Interestingly while at some point she had said her company works for the online jewelry store in question, she also said, with an irritated sigh directed at me "I don't have time for all that."
11) Then she told me if I did not make payment that very day, she was going to return my file to the original creditor [this online jewelry company] and tell them I was refusing to pay.
12) In response, I told her I was not at all refusing to pay, I wanted help remembering what I bought that I somehow did not pay for. [And, again, she responded by telling me I was lying.]
13) I told her I was receiving disability pay only now, so could I please set up payments to pay this debt. She put me on hold for a minute, came back, and told me she would accept 3 monthly payments to make payment in full. Then she had the nerve to ask me what I was doing buying things I knew I could never afford. Unbelievable!
14) She did not know when I had begun only receiving disability pay. Further, she did not know how much I received in disability pay, nor whether I'd made this purchase before or after becoming disabled. I asked her once again to please provide me with documents that stated what I'd purchased and when I purchased it.
15) She recommended that I go online, to the web site of this online jewelery company, log in as I'd done in the past, and then I could see what I'd purchased [and not paid for].
16) I said I would give that a try, but since it had been so long since I'd been to that web site, I wasn't sure I could remember what email address I might have used to log into my account with this company. Again, she told me I was lying about that too.
17) So I agreed to make the three payments over three months on this debt, thinking it could very well be that perhaps, near the time I did become disabled, I had made a purchase from this online jewelry company, and due to all to commotion of becoming disabled, I simply had never paid for my purchase. Still, I do not have any idea what this dollar amount in collections was for, exactly.
18) After we ended our call, I did try to go to the web site of this online jewelry store, and I tried every email address I could remember having over the previous 5 years, in order to log in. None of them worked. It wasn't the password that was the problem, it was the fact that the web site stated it did not have any records on file for any of the email addresses I tried to use.
19) So I called Ms. Kelly Gray of United Credit Specialists back, and told her I had tried to log into an account I'd had with this online jewelry company and could not do it. She became very angry with me at that point, and said: "Ok, that's it. I don't have time for your games. I'm sending your file back to our client to tell them you are refusing to pay." I tried to say in response: "Why would you do that, because I've already said I would make three payments and you have my payment information on file, so...." Click. She hung up on me.
20)
a) I got busy looking up collection agency law for my state and found out that Mr. Charles I. Turner, Esq., had not followed the law in what he'd provided about his company's right to collect from people in my state.
b) I looked at my credit report and found that the original creditor, the online jewelry company, had not listed any past due debt in my credit record at any time. Nor had any collection agency reported this debt on my credit report.
c) I sent Mr. Charles I. Turner, Esq. a reply letter stating that I wanted the details of what I had purchased, and I wanted this collection company's registration number for operating in my state, and I wanted all of this in 10 days, the same amount of time he had given me. I sent this letter certified mail, to be signed for only by the addressee.
d) I also contacted my personal lawyer by letter about this issue.
It has been not quite 4 weeks since I sent those letters. I have yet to receive any response from Mr. Charles I. Turner, Esq., or his company: United Credit Specialists. Further, I have not, to the best of my knowledge, received anything from my post office to indicate the letter I sent to Mr. Turner at the address for United Credit Specialists has even been received. His alleged company has taken one of the three payments I said I would give. Yesterday I contacted my personal lawyer and he told me to cancel the debit card number I'd given this company and to not pay them anything more until they provided the information I'd requested in my first letter to them. I maintain it is possible that I did make a purchase and due to the confusion of life after becoming disabled, I did not pay for that purchase. Then again, one would think that this creditor would have contacted me about non-payment some time ago. But I do not recall anything. I did inform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about this at the time that I sent the reply letter to Mr. Charles I. Turner, Esq. I recently checked on my submittal to the CFPB, and they said they'd closed my case file on this as they'd been unable to locate the collection agency I was lodging my complaint against. I also checked this web site, and found that someone stating to be a former employee of this company wanted to let everyone reading his post that this company was a scam operation. He listed a great number of names this company has used in only the past 5 years. He wrote about this company's practices, and that he knows it has scammed both consumers and the companies it claims to represent who have turned accounts over to this company for collection. He talked about the internal abuse toward employees within this company, stating that most were convicted felons, out on release, and that episodes of physical abuse against employees was not unheard of. So I am canceling the debit card number I'd given to this alleged collection agency, and they will get not one penny more until they do provide me with the information I requested in my first letter to Mr. Turner. I have sent another letter, also certified at my personal lawyer's recommendation, telling them I have cancelled the card number they need to take further funds from my account, and that I will not make any further payments until they give me a copy of the original document of sale regarding this debt, and they give me their collection ageny ID number, necessary to operate in my state as an out of state collection agency.I also sent a note to the CFPB asking them to reopen my case against this company, and stating my reason for doing that is because of the large number of company names this company has used, and perhaps now that they have a list of (hopefully) all of those names, they can again look into my complaint.
We shall see what happens.
To anybody who has read this long post, and has been contacted by this company (by any of its known names), I suggest that no matter how much they pressure you, do not give in and give them any money until they do verify the debt they claim you owe. Look up collection agency law in your state, and make sure they are following all aspects of that law. If they tell you they are going to send your alleged debt back to the original creditor (their alleged client) telling them you refuse to pay, and they should sue you, don't let that change your mind about not paying them anything until they provide the information you need. DO send them a letter requesting that information immediately. Send it certified. That way, if you do receive a court summons about this debt, you can show that you have requested the information any collection agency is required to give you upon written request from you, and to date, you haven't received it. In this way, you won't be in any legal trouble if you do receive a court summons because this debt is totally valid.
United Credit Specialists Reviews
This concerns an alleged collection agency I recently dealt with. Here is the order of events:
1) Received a letter two weeks ago from an unfamiliar return address for an alleged lawyer.
2) Upon opening the letter, which was printed in standard computer printout text, on plain white paper with no company letterhead, I found that the person alleged to have written it, claimed to be the staff lawyer for a collection agency residing at this address.
3) The person who allegedly wrote this letter to me stated his name as Charles I. Turner, Esq.
4) In the letter, he said that this collection agency (at that time, going by the company name of United Credit Specialists), had made numerous attempts to contact me in the past; both by letter and by phone, and I had not responded.
5) In this letter, which he said is the final letter I would get before his client would began a law suit against me, I had two options:
a) make payment in full on the alleged debt of $224 and change within ten days, or
b) send him a letter within 30 days stating that I do not agree that I owe this debt.
To me that is weird in itself, because on the one hand, he'd given me 10 days before their alleged client would proceed to sue me, but then I had 30 days to refute that I owed the debt. Huh?
6) Two days after receiving this alleged collection letter, I called the phone number listed on that very plain and un-business-like collection letter to speak with Mr. Charles I. Turner. My call was routed to someone else.
7) She asked for the ID number on the letter, and I read it off to her.
8) I asked if she could tell me what this debt was for, and she replied by saying that I knew exactly what this debt was for.
9) I told her that while I had made past purchases from the client this alleged collection agency alleges to represent [an online jewelry company I had done business with about 8-10 times over 5 previous years before I became disabled and stopped further purchases from that company], I could not recall what I might have purchased from this company and not paid for. Again she said I was lying and that I knew exactly what I had purchased and not paid for.
10) I said again that I really did not know, so could she please send me a copy of the original sales receipt or something stating what I had purchased, and when I had purchased it. Interestingly while at some point she had said her company works for the online jewelry store in question, she also said, with an irritated sigh directed at me "I don't have time for all that."
11) Then she told me if I did not make payment that very day, she was going to return my file to the original creditor [this online jewelry company] and tell them I was refusing to pay.
12) In response, I told her I was not at all refusing to pay, I wanted help remembering what I bought that I somehow did not pay for. [And, again, she responded by telling me I was lying.]
13) I told her I was receiving disability pay only now, so could I please set up payments to pay this debt. She put me on hold for a minute, came back, and told me she would accept 3 monthly payments to make payment in full. Then she had the nerve to ask me what I was doing buying things I knew I could never afford. Unbelievable!
14) She did not know when I had begun only receiving disability pay. Further, she did not know how much I received in disability pay, nor whether I'd made this purchase before or after becoming disabled. I asked her once again to please provide me with documents that stated what I'd purchased and when I purchased it.
15) She recommended that I go online, to the web site of this online jewelery company, log in as I'd done in the past, and then I could see what I'd purchased [and not paid for].
16) I said I would give that a try, but since it had been so long since I'd been to that web site, I wasn't sure I could remember what email address I might have used to log into my account with this company. Again, she told me I was lying about that too.
17) So I agreed to make the three payments over three months on this debt, thinking it could very well be that perhaps, near the time I did become disabled, I had made a purchase from this online jewelry company, and due to all to commotion of becoming disabled, I simply had never paid for my purchase. Still, I do not have any idea what this dollar amount in collections was for, exactly.
18) After we ended our call, I did try to go to the web site of this online jewelry store, and I tried every email address I could remember having over the previous 5 years, in order to log in. None of them worked. It wasn't the password that was the problem, it was the fact that the web site stated it did not have any records on file for any of the email addresses I tried to use.
19) So I called Ms. Kelly Gray of United Credit Specialists back, and told her I had tried to log into an account I'd had with this online jewelry company and could not do it. She became very angry with me at that point, and said: "Ok, that's it. I don't have time for your games. I'm sending your file back to our client to tell them you are refusing to pay." I tried to say in response: "Why would you do that, because I've already said I would make three payments and you have my payment information on file, so...." Click. She hung up on me.
20)
a) I got busy looking up collection agency law for my state and found out that Mr. Charles I. Turner, Esq., had not followed the law in what he'd provided about his company's right to collect from people in my state.
b) I looked at my credit report and found that the original creditor, the online jewelry company, had not listed any past due debt in my credit record at any time. Nor had any collection agency reported this debt on my credit report.
c) I sent Mr. Charles I. Turner, Esq. a reply letter stating that I wanted the details of what I had purchased, and I wanted this collection company's registration number for operating in my state, and I wanted all of this in 10 days, the same amount of time he had given me. I sent this letter certified mail, to be signed for only by the addressee.
d) I also contacted my personal lawyer by letter about this issue.
It has been not quite 4 weeks since I sent those letters. I have yet to receive any response from Mr. Charles I. Turner, Esq., or his company: United Credit Specialists. Further, I have not, to the best of my knowledge, received anything from my post office to indicate the letter I sent to Mr. Turner at the address for United Credit Specialists has even been received. His alleged company has taken one of the three payments I said I would give. Yesterday I contacted my personal lawyer and he told me to cancel the debit card number I'd given this company and to not pay them anything more until they provided the information I'd requested in my first letter to them. I maintain it is possible that I did make a purchase and due to the confusion of life after becoming disabled, I did not pay for that purchase. Then again, one would think that this creditor would have contacted me about non-payment some time ago. But I do not recall anything. I did inform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about this at the time that I sent the reply letter to Mr. Charles I. Turner, Esq. I recently checked on my submittal to the CFPB, and they said they'd closed my case file on this as they'd been unable to locate the collection agency I was lodging my complaint against. I also checked this web site, and found that someone stating to be a former employee of this company wanted to let everyone reading his post that this company was a scam operation. He listed a great number of names this company has used in only the past 5 years. He wrote about this company's practices, and that he knows it has scammed both consumers and the companies it claims to represent who have turned accounts over to this company for collection. He talked about the internal abuse toward employees within this company, stating that most were convicted felons, out on release, and that episodes of physical abuse against employees was not unheard of. So I am canceling the debit card number I'd given to this alleged collection agency, and they will get not one penny more until they do provide me with the information I requested in my first letter to Mr. Turner. I have sent another letter, also certified at my personal lawyer's recommendation, telling them I have cancelled the card number they need to take further funds from my account, and that I will not make any further payments until they give me a copy of the original document of sale regarding this debt, and they give me their collection ageny ID number, necessary to operate in my state as an out of state collection agency.I also sent a note to the CFPB asking them to reopen my case against this company, and stating my reason for doing that is because of the large number of company names this company has used, and perhaps now that they have a list of (hopefully) all of those names, they can again look into my complaint.
We shall see what happens.
To anybody who has read this long post, and has been contacted by this company (by any of its known names), I suggest that no matter how much they pressure you, do not give in and give them any money until they do verify the debt they claim you owe. Look up collection agency law in your state, and make sure they are following all aspects of that law. If they tell you they are going to send your alleged debt back to the original creditor (their alleged client) telling them you refuse to pay, and they should sue you, don't let that change your mind about not paying them anything until they provide the information you need. DO send them a letter requesting that information immediately. Send it certified. That way, if you do receive a court summons about this debt, you can show that you have requested the information any collection agency is required to give you upon written request from you, and to date, you haven't received it. In this way, you won't be in any legal trouble if you do receive a court summons because this debt is totally valid.