Complaint / Review
North Shore Agency, Inc
Fraudulent billing for an expired magazine subscription to Organic Gardening

I did not pay a renewal notice from Organic Gardening because I no longer desired to receive it. The subscription stopped, and a couple months later, I get this deliquent account notice from North Shore Agency. It incorrectly stated that this was regarding an original subscription instead of a renewal. I had notified Organic Gardening that I no longer wanted to receive their magazine.

I wrote to North Shore Agency, stating that my opinion was that this was fraudulent billing, and under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I was notifying them not to contact me further regarding this issue, and that act forbids them from contacting me once notified not to contact me. (see sample wording at http://clarkhoward.com/topics/drop_dead_letter.html)

I found out that some collection agencies buy lists of expired accounts for just this type of activity - obtaining money that is not legally owed.

I also filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.