We had our home listed on the MLS listings as a For Sale By Owner. We got a cold call telephone solicitation to advertise our home in a publication that would supposedly be seen by lots of doctors and professionals. The young lady who was making the solicitation was very nice and polite and so we told her to send us any information she had and we would look at it. She tried very hard to get us to committ over the phone, but we never, and I mean never, do business with telephone solicitors. She finally agreed to send us some information and we promptly forgot about the call. Approximately two months later we got a bill for $200. We called the Healthcare Times and informed them that there had obviously been a mistake. We couldn't seem to make any progress and so we asked to speak with the manager. A Mike Haddad then got on the phone and informed us he was looking at the paperwork and that he had personally approved the order. At that point we realized we had apparently been the victim of a phone scam, but we continued to try to convince Mr. Haddad that they had made a mistake. Mr. Haddad became progressively more rude and hostile and so we wound up hanging up on him after informing him that we had no intention of being one of the victims of whatever scam he was running.
Shortly thereafter we began to get dunning telephone calls and letters. We again informed them that we had never agreed to anything other than looking at whatever information they wanted to send us. The calls were very insulting and obviously designed to bully us into paying their fictitious bill. They have now turned their "claim" over to a Chicago collection law firm that is apparently in cahoots with them. The name of the firm is Serota, Avis & Associates. We have informed them that the claim is bogus and that we have no intention of paying one red cent to these crooks. We have told them to send us any evidence that the claim is legitimate, and to date have received no such evidence.in fact, we have never received anything at all from Healthcare Times despite Mr. Haddad's claims that we have. We are in the process of filing a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General and haven't ruled out a lawsuit against Midland Publications, the Healthcare Times, Mr. Haddad and possibly the Serota law firm.
These people are obnoxious crooks and need to be fined to the point that it is financially painful enought that they will cease these dishonest business practices.
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