At 9:533 am I received a phone call asking to speak to Tom concerning an urgent criminal matter with Maricopa County. I asked which Tom, my husband or my son. I was informed the person they were looking for was approximately 53 years of age. I responded that that was my husband. She stated that the matter concerned a ford escort. I told her I was unsure about the vehicle that she was referring to because I had had a stroke in 1999 and had very clouded memory for approximately three years after that. She asked again if I was admitting to the fact that we owned a ford escort during 1999 once again I said that I did not remember any such vehicle because I had had a stroke at that time. She then proceeded to tell me that they would have my husband "picked up at work" for "obstruction of justice" since I was being uncooperative. I became very agitated and asked if she meant that she intended to have him arrested to which she replied yes. I became very upset and demanded to talk to her supervisor. She kept going on about criminal charges and being arrested. It took about four requests to speak to someone else. I'm not even sure it was a different person because the voice sounded very much the same.
The new person informed me that there was an outstanding balance due on this vehicle of approximately 25,000 because of late charges and penalties but they would settle for 9,000 if I paid them now. I asked for the details and she said she would have to call back because she did not have that information at hand.
She called back about an hour later saying it was a ford escort she did not know year or model but the note had been signed July 1999. She said she had contacted the creditor and they agreed to a one time offer of 5,500 if I paid by Aug. 15 2008. I once again told her I did not recall the vehicle that she would have to speak to my husband. She said if he did not respond she would have him arrested.
At no time did they identify themselves as debt collectors but they did suggest that they were with the Maricopa County sherrif's department.
Apparently, they are not familiar to fair collection practices since they misrepresented themselves and were extremely threatening.
Since then they have called twice so far once at 6:10 am and once at 6:36 am the next day.
I have contacted the Consumer Affairs Office and apparently they don't have a license to do business in Arizona or at least they are not listed. I have filed a formal complaint in respect to their practices. He suggest i write them a letter to stop any future phone contact and send it return receipt.
I spoke with an attorney who informed me that the statute of limitations for Arizona is four years and they were well beyond that. He told me to record any future calls and to keep a log.
I was happy to see your site because apparently this seems to be their standard operating procedure. Hopefully something can be done about this company.
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