Can a Collection agengy leave this message on a Answering machine ?

Good call--no they can not!! Usually they say "Please call about an important business matter", or something like that. I would save that recording--might be valuable to you later.

I agree. Try and save that message. That seems like it would be a violation.

I know I have received some voice messages where they start out saying this message is for (they state my name) and if you are not (they state my name again) hang up. They wait a couple seconds then go on to say that by continuing to listen you acknowledge you are (they state my name again) and this message is for you.

Then they give the spiel this is a debt collection...yada yada....

I think that type of message should also be prevented. Who is going to hang up? People would listen to that message just out of curiosity!

Hey, GUEST,>..I get the same kind of recording. The recordings never say WHERE the 'business' is, etc. ANYONE could answer my phone. No one DOES answer my phone, except me, however, I think you get my point. It's annoying when they do that. If I don't know who it is, I'm surely NOT gonna say I'm me!! :roll:

i get one like that, i'm pretty sure its for a medical collection agency. but the most recent i dont know who its for but it sounds like the are from india, they left messages a few months back and it didnt bother me, then they stoped for awhile, now they started again, its basically the same script but this time they keep talking about my social security number and they keep repeating the last 4 digits of my social throughout the message. i know its a scare tactic but it still buggs me knowing what they are trying to do. and they call from cell phones and untraceable #'s so there is no way for me to track it back to the source.

I'm the guest from above..forgot to log in before..

Anyway..so far the three times this has happened it has been on my cell phone (which is what I use for a contact number) so it hasn't caused me any additional grief. But I did have one CA calling my sister for awhile. Didn't use this type of message luckily but could have.

So this is where I think they could do this just to try and stick it to you. CA calls a neighbor or family member hoping to get voicemail then leaves a message like that. I guarantee no one is going to hang up. I know I wouldn't, I'd want to know who is calling my phone leaving this crazy message and would listen to the whole thing!

Anyway, I was told it is legal for them to leave a message like this.

Now that I ended my debt settlement program and I'm just doing it on my own I'm sending the DV's right away and making sure to include my address and phone number and telling them to only use that to contact me. This way they have no reason to call anyone else and leave a BS message like that!

I'm not really sure if you CAN stop calls like that. If you try and call them back, to tell them NOT to call you, they get the number you are calling from. I tried to do that from my cell phone. I even 'blocked' the call. However......they read off the number I was calling from. I don't know how they can do that, if I 'block' my phone number. REALLY ANNOYING!!!!!!!

i agree, it is hard because they will confirm your number if you call them back.. i usually block the number (sometimes works) and call from a phone i do not normally use. i was tempted before to use a pay phone :lol:

I've had them leave that same message on my machine at work! Can I sue them for that? I saved the message.

That's something I was going to post on. I use *67 but CA's still can tell the number I'm calling from! What's up with that! When I call another phone of mine with caller ID it shows up as unknown. Can anything be done about that???

CA's phone eqipment unblocks numbers on all calls.

Some of the larger CA's assign numbers to your account. They tell you to call xxx-xxx-xxxx. If they recieve a call from that line, they know it's you.

To the OP - did the CA's message start with "If you are not Arb, do not listen to this message"?

No, it didn't start with that.

Then it is a violation and might be used as leverage by you down the road.

"This is an ateempt to colelct a debt, any information obtained will be used for that purpose."

It's called the mini-miranda, it's required by law to be read in Conneticut, D.C., Indiana, North Carolina, NYC, Texas and Vermont. It can be read in any state but required in those 7, it CAN be left on answering machines with no penalty to the collection agency.

THERE ARE A FEW STATES IN THE US THAT CAN LEAVE A MSG LIKE THAT IT'S CAUSE OF THE BRODY LAW AND SOMEONE SUED A COLLECTION AGENCY BECAUSE OF IT WITH THE CALLS SOUNDING SUSPICIOUS BUT AS FAR AS I KNOW IT'S ONLY CALIFORNIA AND PENNSLYVANIA BUT WHAT THEY HAVE TO WATCH OUT FOR IS THEY ALSO HAVE TO FOLLOW STATE LAWS LIKE FOR INSTANCE IN WYOMING YOU CAN'T DO THAT SO THEY CAN CALL CALIFORNIA AND LEAVE THOSE TYPE OF MSG BUT IF THEY CALL ACROSS STATE LINES AND CALL WYOMING THEY CANNOT LEAVE THOSE TYPE OF MSG'S I HOPE THIS HELPS HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND