On 02/20 me and my husband received a phone call from Mike Pierce with NES in reference to account we had in collections. We called to see if there was any way that we could set up payment arrangements and were told that we had to pay the entire balance in full. Now if I had $7,000 just laying around I would have paid off the debt a long time ago.
Anyway, we told Mr. Pierce that we did not have the money. He was quite rude and insisted that if we did not pay at least $5000 by today he would be sending us out a letter in 3/4 days ordering us to appear in court. (Mind you this is 7pm in the evening).
Mr. Pierce continued to badger us for the full amount, which we told him time and time again that we did not have. We again asked to enter into a payment arrangement. Of course, he told us it was all or nothing and that, basically, it was no skin off his back if we had to go to court. He put his "manager" on the phone who did not leave his name who told us if we paid $4700 total he would cancel out the debt. Now if I don't have $5000 what makes you think I will have $4700. Finally, Mr. Pierce told us that we were being uncooperative and hung up the phone.
Disgusted, I called NES headquartes at 800) 973-0600 to make a complaint. To their credit, I spoke with two wonderful ladies in the compliance department, Earlene and Tiffany, who did their very best to take care of the matter. Not only did they allow us to make a partial payment that following Friday, they also set up a payment arrangement for the next 6 months!
When I asked why Mike Pierce could not have done this I was told that the compliance division is more lenient and basically concerned with trying to help the consumer pay off their debt and still maintain a reasonable quality of life for their family, not just push the consumer into paying what they don't have in order to receive a hugh commission check.
Furthermore, Earlene and Tiffany were able to assure me that there would be no court dates and that we did not need to get an attorney (which we were advised by Mike Pierce to retain one ASAP). If you too are being badgered by the collectors and you really want to pay off your debt but just can't afford to pay what they are asking, please contact the compliance department to see if there is anything that they can do prior to agreeing to anything the collectors set up. It will save you time, effort, energy, and money. I hope this helps!!
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