We got a call today from Allied Interstate. They said that my sister owed $50 for an old AOL account from several years ago. No contact had ever been made about money owed to AOL. AI claimed they emailed the bill to the closed account (which makes no sense) twice and can't mail anything out because the bill HAS to be paid today and ordered that we give a credit card or checking account number.
The woman was very confused and didn't seem to know where she worked. Finally she gave the name "Allied Interstate", which was confirmed by typing the number into the internet. My mother kept demanding an actual bill in the mail to show that money is owed and they refused and kept ordering her to pay immediately or her credit would be "ruined".
We then call AOL, since this sounded fishy. AOL confirmed they use this collection agency, but also confirmed that no money was owed to AOL for the information Allied Interstate gave us. They confirmed that money was owed to them when the account was closed two years ago, but that it was also paid in full TWO YEARS AGO. There is no valid reason why a company is trying to get payment for something several years ago that AOL themselves do not find owing.
We then called them back to say that AOL said there is no debt, and the woman kept getting angry and insisting that she read some "Federal Law" to my mother which my mom wouldn't listen to. She continued to demand we pay them $51 immediately or they would ruin our credit.
When googled it shows up all kinds of horror stories for complaints, including them ordering people to pay bills that people don't recognize. One complaint said when the original debt was paid it was actually paid to Allied Interstate and Allied Interstate again came after them for that very same debt several years later. This is not a reputable company.
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