Corrupt company!
A family member of mine received a letter and then a phone call stating that i owed over $500 back-due for magazines. These contacts came in late January and alleged that I had ordered magazines in August that put me in arrears by that much money (who really orders that many magazines?).
The only letter we (she) received was actually a letter to an outside firm that seemed to be a law firm (but i researched them on internet and they are in cahoots collection agency with many complaints against them). This letter appeared to be copied to me.
They left a number, and I called and reached the collections department - where they proceeded to shout and bully me and claimed to have me on a voice recording ordering these magazines. I kept demanding that they play the recording (because I know I didn't order any magazines). They drew me out in conversation, shouting over my assertions that I never ordered any magazines. At one point I said i felt my blood pressure shooting up (which i did), and that i maybe i would have my lawyer call them. And then a supervisor, "alicia" came on the phone, played the recording (which sounded perhaps like a digital piece-together of my voice or that of a child).
She acknowedged that the voice was not mine, and became very nice. She told me that the person who ordered the magazines had a lot of information about me (which is not true, since they didn't have my address or phone number). She also said that I still had to provide a police report by friday for them to drop the charges, and she gave me this information:
the phone number where they were ordered from (a disconnected phone number in my area)
the address where they were sent (a non-existent address)
the last 4 digits of the alleged visa on which these items were ordered, which she stated was in my name (hence their attempt to collect the balance from me.
She refused to give me any information about the visa (what bank it was from, etc) -saying she didn't have that info. When i asked her if she could get that info for the police, she said yes.
I filed a police report, and the sergeant detective made multiple attempts to contact them. (a line that initally worked for me that was what she gave as her direct line no longer went through. So he and i ultimately reached her through the company's main number).
The detective uncovered the facts that the phone and address were fictitious. Meanwhile, i checked into my credit history (i had recently ordered a credit report) - no such visa was in my name.
In the middle of moving and dealing with multiple other stressors, that could ultimately cost me money, i had to spend the afternoon changing bank accounts and filing a police report.
I faxed the police report thursday from work.
I called friday to confirm the matter was closed. Alicia then claimed that she never received the police report (i have fax confirmation printed out). I told her I was not at work near a fax, and the next time I could re-fax it was monday, and then she again began threatening to take action against me. She accused me of "putting words in her mouth" when i stated that there was no such visa in my name, stating that she never said it was in my name (why would they be attempting to bill me, if the visa info on the order was from someone else?). She also started shouting at me again, and briefly alleged that she did speak with the detective investigating (so then, she should know that the report was filed and not need it, right?)
I told her that if she took further action, i would look into suing her. She told me not to threaten her. I wasn't. I was just keeping her in the loop about the consequences her company would face if they further pursue this fraudulent behavior.
What about all the vulnerable people who couldn't defend themselves against her? If i was still in my mortgage application process, i would've felt pressured to pay them. THAT'S NOT RIGHT!
I bet there's a class action lawsuit in here somewhere. I literally had a blood pressure incident and woke up with more gray hair after dealing with "alicia" from this company.
I figured I'd put this out there, but have relatives who are lawyers...
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