GC Services lawsuit - Can it be filed for violation of FDCPA laws?

Please be advised that a nationwide class action lawsuit was filed last year against GC Services in San Diego, California [Thomason, et. al. v. GC Services, US District Court, Southern District of California, Case No. 05cv940]. You may be a class member in this GC Services lawsuit if you have ever spoken to a GC Services employee via telephone (for any reason, and no matter how long the call lasted). It does not matter whether you actually owe a debt to anyone, only that you had at least one telephone conversation with GC Services.

What is this GC Services lawsuit about? In short, the lawsuit alleges that GC Services routinely places telephone calls to, and accepts telephone calls from, consumers who allegedly owe debts that GC Services is attempting to collect. The lawsuit further alleges that GC Services secretly monitors and records these telephone conversations without the permission of consumers.

The above conduct by GC Services, if true, is a crime (felony) in the State of California and approximately 16 other states. In California, victims of this crime may receive damages of $5,000.00 -- per violation. Other states also allow recovery of money damages for such violations, but the amounts of recovery vary from state to state.

GC Services above conduct is also a violation of the fdcpa for which there is a $1,000.00 recovery. Specifically, it is false and deceptive when GC Services does not tell consumers they are monitoring and recording telephone calls when they are attempting to collect money from people.

Indeed, most consumers are far less likely to talk to GC Services employees if they knew that their calls were being monitored and recorded for some unknown later use. This is especially true when one considers that sensitive information is often disclosed by consumers during these telephone calls (e.g. social security numbers, bank information, credit card info, etc.). Like most collection agencies, there is a high turnover rate with GC Services employees, thus increasing the likelihood of identity theft involving these consumers.

How do I know all of this information? I am one of the named plaintiffs in the GC Services lawsuit. The company admitted to me that it monitored my telephone call (I did not owe the debt), but never informed me that they were monitoring my call until after I thought to ask them if they were doing so. GC Services brags on its website that it monitors and records over 100,000 telephone calls throughout the United States each year.

You are a class member and may be entitled to recover money damages if: 1) you had at least one telephone conversation with GC Services at anytime from May 4, 2004 to present; 2) the GC Services employee did not tell you that your call may be monitored or recorded at the beginning of the conversation; and 3) you live in the United States or Puerto Rico.

If you meet the above criteria, or know anyone that does, I respectfully ask that you please contact my attorneys and share your experiences so that they can certify a national class on behalf of all consumers. They can also help recover the money that GC Services owes you for their criminal violations. This is a very, very, bad company and I believe it has caused, and it continues to cause, a lot of harm to innocent consumers throughout the United States; GC Services must be stopped.


Thank you.

Personal info removed for your safety - Mike

As per my understanding, a collection agency or a person can record the phone calls secretly if they are in anyone of the following states. They don't need to have the permission of the other party.

In your case, California is a state where the debt collector must have asked for your permission before recording it. This is a violation as per the fdcpa laws and you have the legal stand against GC Services. But others who are living in one of the following states, will they get the legal stand?

Well, I don't know about the recording activities of their Ohio office, but I know that they do things that ARE against the fdcpa..Namely--Their employee, Eddie calling people that I work with and telling them that I owe money and that they were going to garnish my wages. In those words.

And no, I DID NOT owe them money..I had already paid through the original creditor, and they chose to ignore the PIF from the OC.

I'm getting calls from GCS in Ohio, for someone else's debt. If you happen to have the complete mailing address for these folks, please let me know. Thanks in advance.
Fred

Just got a call from G C last month. I was one month behind on my Cingular bill. G C called my work number and left a message, but did not say who they were. I called the number back and spoke to Idabell Frazier. She did not identify herself as being with a collection agency, merely said she was calling about my Cingular bill. I told her I couldn't discuss it with her as our company does not allow personal calls. She informed me that my account had been cancelled and I owed them $412.00. I almost fainted. I told her I had to get back to my desk and I would call them back when I got home. At this point (after being on the phone with her for about 7 minutes), she informed me that this call was to collect a debt. She still did not indentify herself as being with GC Services. I called Cingular when I got home (my actual bill was considerably less than $412) and made arrangements with them to bring my account current. I still thought I was dealing with in-house collection department. The very next day I get another call at work (right after coming back from lunch) from Idabell. She got pretty upset when I told her I had called Cingular and made arrangements. I again told her I could not talk to her at work. She called again at work the day I had made my payment. She said she could not understand what I was telling her. (How hard is it to understand I paid my bill?) She then told me I would have to talk to her supervisor. I told her again that I couldn't talk about this at work, and hung up. My phone rang as soon as I got back to my desk, and it was another lady who identified herself as being with GC Services. She was also rude, made some remark about "Don't say I didn't tell you so when Cingular pockets all your money." The following morning (Saturday) my phone rang at 8:01 a.m. Guess who? Idabell! She said I had not paid my account. She got huffy when I told her I had paid the previous day. She demanded the check number that I paid with, didn't understand me when I told her it was an EFT so there was no check #. I then got on my computer, opened my email, and read the confirmation # from Cingular with the statement that the payment was posted the same day. She then proceeded to tell me it had not posted to "their" account and they would start legal process against me. How many violations does this make? Sorry this post is so long but I had to vent! BTW, I live in Missouri. I have been told you cannot secretly tape a conversationin this; you must tell the other person that you are recording. Neither Idabell or her supervisor mentioned recording anything.

FYI, the topic of recording phone calls is highly uncertain at present.

Some states require that only one of the parties be aware the phone call is being recorded (the recorder). Other states require that both or all parties be aware, such as California.

Federal law I cannot recall at current, but in cases where calls are being made between different states, precedent has been set that the call falls under the law of the more restrictive state, i.e. a call from California falls under California's two/all party notification law even if one party is under a one-party notification law.

Then again, I'm not a lawyer, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Good luck.

I spoke with someone from there several times regarding an MCI account from a few years ago. They didn't tell me that they were recording the call, but as I see above, they really didn't have to since I live in NC, right??

It also depends on where you are calling. If you call MCI and get a call center, and are transferred to someone who is physically in CA, I think they have to notify you.

But yes, I believe you are correct. A lot of companies nowadays put a recorded disclaimer on the hold music that says "Your call may be monitored for quality" or training - that counts as notification, even though most people aren't listening at that point.

Yea, I have heard that on calls other than CA's also. I think that when I call my CC company that their recording thing says that...

Got an invoice this week dated Feb. 8 from GC regarding my past due account with Cingular, which was paid in full on Jan, 26. The invoice is for $45.87. Are they trying to charge me a fee for harassing me at work? Do I ignore the invoice, or mail it back with a copy of my zero balance? I've already filed complaints with FTC and Missouri AG's office.

Does anyone know how to obtain all the office address that GC Services LP operates? I know they are a huge company and certainly operate in more states than just Ohio.

They have repeatedly called even though they know that they are calling the wrong person . The last time they called they said that they could record any conversation without informing the person called. They have repeatedly said that they will take me off there calling list and it is all a mistake. The way to stop there people and all others that are down right annoying is to call them back and just waist there time! Be polite but keep them on the line as long as possible and e-mail them if possible. The have limited resources and personnel but the potential of the people is limitless. I had a collector that repeatedly called over several months and declared that they would not stop calling as it was there right. I only called them 2 times and e-mailed 1 time wasting about a total of 30 minutes. The were more than happy to quit calling me

Send them a Cease & Desist letter via Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. If they call you again after you get the green card back, sue them and collect your $1,000 for the FDCPA violation.

my husband has been getting calls and calls from these people for a ticket he thought he paid off months ago. aparently he didnt and now with interest uts almost a thousand dollars we are both unemployed with a 3 month old son and till are threatning to give him jail time.

I have a nearly 20 year old student loan that I thought had been paid in a timely manner according to my divorce agreement. Suddenly I hear from GC Services very aggressively trying to collect this debt. This is the first contact I have had from ANYONE. The ex husband just shrugs.. it wasn't legally his responsibility.
I have not been in hiding for any of the past 20 years. I have moved only a handful of times and kept the same jobs for extended periods of time. I was berated by several collectors who also disclosed information about this debt to my employer.
I was happy to make a payment agreement with them to get this back on track as I would have done earlier. I have not received anything in writing. I had to correct the name of record. They didn't see that as any kind of problem with the forwarding of mail or documentation of the original loan.
I want to start the payments to the Department of Education this week. I do not want to deal with this collector. They play very loose with the laws. Threatening garnishment without having provided documentation of the information I requested. Going so far as to contact my employer to get garnishment information before the appropriate paperwork has been completed.
They ignored the payment plan that I proposed as workable. Seeing that leaving me homeless would be preferential to me paying $75 less per month than they wanted, nay demanded.
I heard the message of recorded calls IF I was placed on hold. That was not disclosed to me with the initial caller. I don't know if I fit into this but I would like to see that GC Services faces some consequences for their questionable practices.
I was trying to find out how to make the payment to them online when I happened upon this thread.

If you are in default on a federal loan, you cannot just get it back on track. And even though it was it was included in the divorce, it has always been your responsiblity to keep the lender informed of your current address...it is not their responsiblity to look for you.

Your account is assigned to a CA so you must work thru them...you do not have the option of working with the DOE. Plus they can garnish your without a court order. I suggest you read the student loan forum....DVing a student loan is considered a stall tactic since they can validate is simply. D