I received a collection letter from Stuart Allen & Associates on January 21 which stated that I could request in writing verification of claim referenced in the collection letter. I requested this information in writing on January 25 and also contacted the collection agency by phone as it stated in their letter that I must do so within 10 days of receipt of the letter.
I left a message with them twice and didn't receive a call back from them. I also never got a response from the first letter I mailed so I sent a second request by certified mail on March 15.
I finally received a call from a Mr. David Diaz on March 21, upon receipt of my certified letter. I asked Mr. Diaz to please mail me the verification I requested. Mr. Diaz refused to mail me the information insisting that I provide him with a fax number so the information could be faxed to me immediately as he was and I quote "tired of dealing with this claim and me wasting his time."
I advised him I did not have a fax machine and again requested he mail the info to me. He refused to do this. I ended the phone conversation with Mr. Diaz at that point. Mr. Diaz contacted me again on March 28 - again requesting a fax number in order to fax me the claim information. Mr. Diaz stated that he did not want to mail the information because he felt it contained 'sensitive information' that could get lost in the mail.
I advised him to send it 'certified mail' as I did my letter to him so he could receive confirmation that I received the information. He finally agreed to 'do it my way' - again I quote him. I wanted to report this, as I do not feel that I was being unreasonable in requesting the claim information by mail.
I feel that this company was being unreasonable in their collection practices.in Mr. Diaz's first phone call to me he first stated that I needed to commit to a payment plan or make some type of promise to pay prior to him faxing me the claim information.
I don't believe this to be very ethical. I haven't received any claim information from the insurance company prior to it going to this collection agency. No correspondence whatsoever. I would never commit to making payments without even knowing what I was paying for. This involves repair costs to a vehicle damaged by a mini-bike.
The other issue I have with this collection agency is that they mailed the identical collection letter to a second party involved requested the same dollar amount be paid. My question to Mr. Diaz was that had I paid the dollar amount requested and so had the second party who would be refunded? Mr. Diaz stated no one would get any money back and I obviously didn't understand the claim???
You are absolutely right Mr. Diaz. I do not understand how you can justify collecting the money from both of us and neither getting any money back. It seems to me that the collection agency is 'double dipping. Any comments are greatly appreciated.
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