Danell--
I am currently dealing with this exact same CA. I have plenty of information that should help you relax a bit.
First, dont panic about their "we're about to sue you" comments. They first called me(my wife, actually, but she lets me handle them because I know the laws) right at the beginning of February and told me that they were about to press criminal charges for theft and defrauding a financial institution. THIS IS ILLEGAL FOR THEM TO TELL YOU--THEY CANNOT PRESS CRIMINAL CHARGES IN A CIVIL MATTER, which is what debts are. Once I told her that she was lying, and that it is illegal to make such claims, she said "thats not your decision, thats my client's decision, and they are the only ones who can decide whether or not to arrest you." I was told at that time that my wife owed "over $700". The lady didnt even identify the supposed original creditor.
The next day, I got a second call, from a guy. He tried to tell me the same bit, and I shut him down in a hurry. These calls continued, and I had one lady actually shouting on the phone at me--YOUR GETTING SUED, HA HA, YOURE GETTING SUED.....Well, at that point, I had enough. I recorded all the calls, since it is legal in my state, so I had enough evidence to really put this to bed. The next call I got, I immediately demanded the supervisor be put on the phone. She told me that they had nothing--no information whatsoever--about my wife being sued, and wanted to know who was telling me this. Come to find out, this debt is supposedly a Discover card with a $548 balance....we have never had Discover. So, I told her on the phone that since I was recording this call, that I do not need to send them validation demands in writing because I can prove that my request was heard by an employee of their company.
Still waiting for validation to arrive....hasnt happened yet, and that conversation with the supervisor took place on 2/6/08
I would take a deep breath, try to calm down, and send off the DV letter certified mail, return receipt requested. Do it as soon as you can. By the way, just in case you were not aware, if they tell you that they are going to sue you and they do not, it is a violation of federal law. You also need to know this--it is not YOUR job to validate the claims that this CA is making. It is THEIRS. What you need to do is send that letter, and be sure to include a statement in that letter that says:
At this time, I also hereby request that all further communication regarding this matter be done through the mail. You are now informed that no communication is to take place by any other means, including but not limited to computer dialers, telephone calls to my residence, cell phone, or place of employment. All correspondence from this point forward is to be done solely by mail. Failure on your part to abide by this request is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and will force me to file suit against you.
You need to send them the validation request no matter what Verizon sends you because they are the ones making claims that you now owe THEM money. The law requires NES to do this, they lied to you when they said they could not. They told me the same crap, and when the supervisor got on the phone, she was afraid that I was possibly a lawyer. More on that later, because we are in the process of suing these morons.