I received my 1st phone call from Associated Recovery Systems this morning and I was stunned on how extremely rude and malicious the individual was. I tried explaining that I needed his number and the amount to talk to my husband about the debt and I wasn't sure if I could call back today or tomorrow. He snapped at me and said that—tomorrow is Saturday! I apologized and told him that I forgot today was Friday.
I asked how soon it would be sent to the credit agency (as I wanted to make sure it wasn't going today, I wanted to make sure I had a couple of days) and he (again rudely) threatened me and said—if you do not give the information today I can easily forward this to the legal department and sue you to put a lein on your property!
Shocked I replied—Look, I am trying to get some information and I'm not sure when my husband will be home. I need to see if he wants to pay it all, and if so on which credit card. He (Aaron Martinez) then told me that if I didn't pay give him any payment information this will go on my credit report. I tried to make a joke by saying—if it was just my name I wouldn't care so much, but since my husband is on it I want to pay it off. I was granted a waiver of $19 if I paid it all.
He told me I better care about my credit, cause he would make sure the debt gets on there. I asked why he was being so rude, he explained that I wasn't being cooperative and I was rude! I told him that most people would've hung up on his butt (I did not curse) by now and I'm just trying to gather information. He started getting more angry and said—nobody hangs up on me! And if they did I would keep calling them back!
I asked to speak with his supervisor, he told me he was the manager. He rudely asked me if I wanted his name and direct line, and of course I said yes. I wrote it down and said ok. He then hung up on me!
I am not one that gets upset easily, I have worked in Property Management (in some real ghetto places with gang members) and they never scared me or upset me. This particular individual did. I immediately went to the btter Business Bureau website for our state and read the Fair Debt Collections Act "tidbits" they had on there.
I also did a seach on them, and found this site. They have a class action lawsuit in California, and another lady is also thinking about suing. I feel that I may also do the same thing. I have yet to have a letter sent to my house regarding an itemized statement about the debt. But, this just started today, and I feel that this particular agency (who by the way is not a BBB member) needs to make sure that they know they cannot threaten, harass and lie to people.
Above is only a snippit of everything, but I think you will see the way I was treated, and why I was so upset. Thanks for reading, and any suggestions regarding them.
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