I have a tendency to be detailed, this will probably be a long and elaborate post, but I will try to condense my details where appropriate for brevity.
I received a frantic phone call from my wife this afternoon, she stated that someone had left a message on our machine implying that she was going to be sued.
My wife gave me the contact and case information that the caller had left on the machine, and I proceeded to call the number.
A woman answered the phone without indicating what the business was, or who she was. A simple hello was all there was. OK, I though, it struck me as a little odd, since I believed I was calling an attorneys office, but I really didn't think enough of it to warrant any immediate concern.
I identified myself and my purpose for calling, by informing her that I was returning a message left on my machine and I had a case number for her reference.
I was told that she 'represented a client' and that it was her dual responsibility to verify an individuals information and make a 'last ditch effort' to settle, and to file papers with the Court Clerks to be served to people they are actively suing.
She then asked what county I lived in, I responded with the name of my city because I wasn't sure of my county, as we don't really use counties around here as the state is so small.
She then stated that 'alot of people are being served with papers to be sued in Providence County today', and she was trying to determine my willingness to settle before she sent the papers off to be served to my wife.
At this point, I had the inclination that something just wasn't right, but couldn't figure out what it was. I was starting to become anxious; as I still firmly believed that she was an attorney.
My mind was racing, but I quickly attempted to compose myself and ask her what could be done to settle the situation.
She informed me I would need an electronic check for $5,000 before 5:00 pm if I wanted to avoid my wife being served papers in the morning. Needless to say, I was in complete shock, it was 4:15 in the afternoon, and she is stating that I need to pull together 5k within 45 minutes.
[Racing thoughts, who is this lady, why have I never received any papers from her office, can this be real? ]
Again I try to recoil and gather my mind, I ask her who the 'client' is and what can I do, I ask if I can call the client to try to work out some type of arrangement. She informs me that she doesn't know who the client is, at that point my suspicions were flaring. How can an attorney not know who she is representing?!?
So I ask her, are you an attorney? She never answers yes or no, she simply reiterates that her capacity is to attempt to reconcile one last time with debtors before she files papers to be served.
...[minor details omitted for brevity]...
To make a long story short (I would otherwise go on forever with every minuscule detail), I stated to her that I would be willing to work something out, but that it is impossible for me to gather $5,000 in 45 minutes.
At this point she gets visible agitated and her tone (which has been growing progressively harsher) gets even louder; she also begins being very pejorative in her dialogue. At this juncture she basically says she is unwilling to work with me and hangs up. Now I am a pretty laid back kind of guy, I never raised my voice or had any air of anything other than civility and politeness.
This representative never identified herself as a debt collector. Also, toward the end of the conversation, as she grew more rash and spiteful, she stated she was recording the conversation. I questioned her on legality of recording a conversation with out my knowledge, to wit she replied, "now you know, I am telling you now."
At this point I am pretty sure she isn't an attorney, as she is not nearly articulate or intelligent enough to be; so I call my wife back and ask her if the message on the machine ever identified what firm they were calling from or representing. My wife replays the message and tells me, "Alliance One."
So I go back inside to my office and search google for Alliance one, I find their website and notice that they are in fact a debt collector, and not a law firm after all!
I quickly locate the corporate number and call it. A receptionist answers and I inform her that I was just contacted by one of their companies agents who had just led me to believe she was an attorney, and that I would like to please speak with a manager.
She puts me through to some person, and I start going through my recollection, he interrupts me about a minute in and states I am talking to the wrong person, that I need a corporate manager. I explain that I had informed the receptionist of that and he was who I was directed to. He then replied, "too bad." and hung up. I immediately called back, spoke with the same receptionist, who put through to the same person again, only this time it went straight to voice mail.
I then called Chase bank (they are the ones that the debt is owed) and started to explain the events that had just transpired. The recovery agent at chase was very nice and informed me she was documenting everything as I said it. She then apologized for the treatment I had just received by the agent of Alliance One, and said she would be escalating this up to the vendor management department.
I pleaded with the Chase rep to let me work something out with Chase directly, but she responded that I would need to speak with the Vendor Service department as they are the ones that have the authority to 'pull' an assigned debt back from a vendor. She instructed me to call back in the morning (as the department I needed to speak with was already closed), and to give them a reference number that she provided. She said she documented the file thoroughly and again apologized for the actions of Alliance one. She also said, "Don't you worry, will not be suing you, we haven't authorized it and they are just trying to harass you with scare tactics." She also went on to state that Chase does not condone or authorize that type of behavior and it would be escalated.
I thought 'fair enough' and thanked her for her time and compassion.
When I arrived home from work, I went straight to the answering machine to listen to the message myself.
On the message she never identifies herself as a debt collector, she doesn't identify herself as an attorney either, but her semantics clearly illustrate the intent to make us believe that she is an attorney or some other official of the court.
The recording uses terminology such as:
1) "Pending an issue filed in our office as a complaint."
2) "Case number for the complaint"
3) "You will be personally effected by case number xxxx"
4) "Providence County will be the District Court that we do all our reportings through and we will conclude the case with or without you at this time."
5) "You must have your case number when responding to this complaint"
I realize she never actually said she was an attorney, but she never disputed it either, even when I inquired. She danced around the question by stating that she, "filed papers to be served on behalf of her clients."
Also she never once identified herself as a debt collector.
Are these tactics legal? Can one allude to be an attorney or court officer when they are not? I have every intention of repaying the debt, but I will not tolerate these types of tactics.
Also, when I got home from work, I checked the mailbox and there was a letter from Alliance One stating that they have been assigned our account in an attempt to collect a debt for Chase Bank and that I have 30 days to respond.
How can she threaten to serve my wife with papers when I just received the first correspondence from them this very day?
What can I do?
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