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What action can be taken against Account Solutions Group?

Submitted by on Thu, 12/30/2004 - 22:53
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I've been surfing around for information and ran across this page. I am irate over some phone calls I have received do to the rudeness of the people calling. I am not associated with the person they are calling for; I do not even know who it is.

Over the last week or so I have received numerous calls from Account Solutions Group. The first call occurred right before Christmas, the person on the line asked for "Jennifer Maxwell". When I told them that there was no one in our home by that name they asked who they were speaking to. I refused giving them any information and requested that the person identify himself and the company he worked for. The person would not tell me anything other that he was calling from New York from a company he called "Account Solutions." Unimpressed with his answer I told him that I did not have any information for his continued inquiries and asked him to remove me from his do not call list. He told me that he wasn't selling anything and continued to ask me for information. He was able to pull up information on who I was as well as my wife's name and asked me to confirm it. I told him to put me on his do not call list and terminated the call. The call struck me as funny because of the rudeness of the person on the phone and how elusive the person was to any questions about who he was or why he was calling.

Early this week I received a second call from this company. I immediately recognized the call because they again asked for "Jennifer Maxwell". I told the person I had already received a call and asked to be put on their do not call listing. The person again was elusive with any questions about the reason for his call and again pulled up information on myself and my wife. I told him again to put me on their do not call listing and hung up the phone.

Wednesday I received a third call from Account Solutions Group. The person again requested "Jennifer Maxwell". I (at this point extremely frustrated) told the person that I had received numerous calls from his company and had requested to be put on a do not call list. I asked to speak with a supervisor. I was placed on hold and a few moments later told that one was not available. I asked him to take my name out of their listing. He asked to confirm my phone number and address. I told him that I was not interested in confirming my address or any other personal information to him. He told me that if I did not confirm my address he would not remove my phone number from their listing. I told him that was ridiculous. He again started asking questions about "Jennifer Maxwell" and stated that if I did not answer the question he would not take my phone number out of the listing. I told him to remove my listing and told him I would be reporting this incident to the Indiana State Attorney General. I then hung up the phone.

Thursday evening my wife received another call from a company the person would only identify as "ASG". They asked her for "Jennifer Maxwell". When she asked who are they representing they stated, "That depends on who I'm talking to." My wife told them we were not interested and hung up the phone.

I looked the company up on the Internet and found their phone number (the number they gave me during the third call did not work when called.) I noticed a couple of postings on bulletin boards where people said they were "Unlawfully Harassed" by this company. I also found out they are a collection agency of some kind. I called the number on one of the posting and managed to speak to a supervisor. After speaking with her for some time, she said that I am now out of their listings.

I am tired of being called by people like this in the privacy of my home. Even if I did know a Jennifer Maxwell asking to remove from their listing should have been respected by any ethical company. I have enrolled in "Do not call lists" in the past but these people always seem to find a way around the system. What action can be taken to discourage companies like this one?


Hi Samwell,



One more bad story of Account Solutions Group. Many such stories contribute their testimonials and many have complained against them for harrasing phone calls. We advice all to avoid this group.

ASG is Buffalo(NY) based debt collectors, with low profile, unprofessional debt collectors often threatening and abusing debtors.

As you know there are laws to protect you against such unfair debt collection acts, the following thread contains some useful information regarding that,
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/about32.html

For any query feel free to post and we will try to answer with all details, we wish you a very very happy and golden 2005.

Regards
Vikas


Submitted by Vikas on Sat, 01/01/2005 - 01:17

Vikas

( Posts: 2019 | Credits: )


ASG is one of the most customer service compliant agencies in America. They are certified to the COPC standard. All complaints are logged and followed up. They were only protecting the privacy of the person they were calling for. Which is required by law. You should have id'd yourself instead of giving the indication that you were screening the call.


Submitted by on Tue, 01/18/2005 - 11:27

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )




We have heard all bad of it, even it is listed under some of the "bad agencies", but you are free to give us a good feedback of it. We will like to investigate.

Vikas


Submitted by Vikas on Tue, 01/18/2005 - 17:44

Vikas

( Posts: 2019 | Credits: )


I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH THIS COMPANY FOR ABOUT 4 MONTHS,AND LET ME START BY SAYING HOW UNPROFESSIONAL THEY ARE.AT FIRST THE WOMEN WAS VERY VERY NICE BUT THEN SHE WAS JUST TRYING TO TRICK ME.SHE HAD EVEN CALLED MY EX-HUSBAND REGARDING MY ACCOUNT.WE HAD BEEN DIVORCE NOW FOR 10 YEARS AND WE HAVE NO CONTACT.THIS WAS VERY DISTURBING,HOW DID THEY EVEN KNOW WHERE HE WAS,CHILD SUPPORT AND THE COURTS HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO FIND HIM.I HAVE SENT A LETTER TO THE COMPANY BY THE ADVICE OF THE FTC ASKING THAT THEY NO LONGER CALL ME.I KNOW THAT THIS WON'T MAKE THE DEBT GO AWAY,BUT I AM TRYING.I HAVE SENT THE COMPANY $200.00 PLUS I HAVE BEEN PAYING $20.00 EVERY MONTH.THEY SAY THAT THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE BUT THEY CONTINUE TO CASH MY CHECKS,IF THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE THEN THEY SHOULD NOT ACCEPT IT.THEY DO EVERY MONTH.ANYONE WITH ANY HELP REGARDING THIS COMPANY PLEASE WRITE IN.


Submitted by on Wed, 01/19/2005 - 13:40

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


Lisa, be very careful with the transactions, keep a hard copy of every deal made.



Do not pay without a fresh agreement, and try whether you can deal with your creditors directly. Also a lump sum amount can give you a better deal.

Try our DIY section at http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/diy/ , I am sure it will help you understand the tricks.

Regards
Vikas


Submitted by Vikas on Wed, 01/19/2005 - 17:47

Vikas

( Posts: 2019 | Credits: )


Hi,

welcome to debt consolidation Care Forum,

Federal Laws have given the citizens of US enough legal power & independence to fight against the abusive nature of different Debt Collection Agencies. It is advisable that you be thorough with the laws before facing such situations. This will help you to put them down legally on the very first day. Read the article on fdcpa at http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/fdcpa.html , for your knowledge & remember Debt Samaritans are always there with you.

regards,

Temptrss


Submitted by temptrss on Thu, 01/20/2005 - 21:41

temptrss

( Posts: 8 | Credits: )


Interesting! One or two bad experiences over millions of phone calls. Compared to most other collection agencies that disregard fdcpa and harass customers, I've discovered that Account Solutions Group places high emphasis on FDCPA and State Law compliance. With their COPC-2000 Certification process, they have implemented rigorous processes to ensure a consistent approach to professional debt collections. If you check out the Better Business Bureau, you would find a Satisfactory rating and one of the lowest numbers of Attorney General complaints in the country. This company is quite different from the "typical" collections agencies that give the industry a bad name.


Submitted by on Thu, 01/27/2005 - 18:19

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We are a completely independent organization and thus open for every kind of feedback about any creditor or debt consolidation company.

Nice to hear something good about them, we very much appreciate your feedback.

Thanks
Vikas


Submitted by Vikas on Fri, 01/28/2005 - 09:54

Vikas

( Posts: 2019 | Credits: )


Hi,

Welcome to the debt consolidation forum.

It is highly appreciated and indeed exemplary that the Account Solution Group pays due respect to the fdcpa, which mandates that debt collection agencies are highly prohibited from harassing debtors. According to the FDCPA the debt collection agencies are not allowed to call a debtor before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m. They are also prohibited from harassing a debtor with frequent phone calls. Every debt collection agency in the United States need to be aware that there should be certain restrictions in their conduct while collecting debts in any state of U.S. The debtor has the right to sue any collection agency if they are not abiding by the laws.

However thanks for this information about the Account Solution Group and hope you participate more often in our forum and share your experiences with other members and equip us with more valuable information.

Regards,
Jason.


Submitted by Jason on Sat, 01/29/2005 - 00:33

Jason

( Posts: 2430 | Credits: )


I worked for ASG and you are right that once some of the agents get a numer with a name that is close to the person who that they are calling for will call them but according to the fed law once you say that you do not want them to call again and that the person that they are looking for does not live there or if you do not know them. The calls are to stop. If they don't ask to speak with the floor manger than ask to speak with the lawyer on site and state that you want to put in a complant. That should stop the calls.


Submitted by on Wed, 03/30/2005 - 07:32

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:) Dear mr. samwell, I want to apologize for the inconvience of asg's calls but unfortunetly i work for a collections type of department, not asg, and we are unable to disclose the nature of our calls to third parties or else we would be in violation of the privacy laws that are in place.

What I wanted to say is that a collections agency is not trying to sell anything but recouperate money lost so the "do not call list" does not apply.

Sometimes we are given wrong numbers and need to validate these numbers and even though you may feel violated in that respect if you want the calls to stop it is best to cooperate on the first call.

Almost all agency will not tell you what kind of company they are unless they verify they have the right party and only then can they tell why they are calling. Secondly, if you are not the party they are trying to reach and they want to verify that the debtor does not reside in your home all you have to do is verifiy your name and number and and city and zip code. Tell them you don not know the party they are trying to contact and then the collector will remove you from the calling.

If you are not willing to cooperate then the collector does not know if you are just covering for the debtor or if you are in fact the debtor and therefor need to persue you until they can determine they indeed have the wrong number.

Sorry for your troubles but maybe next time you could be a little more helpful!


Submitted by on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 07:05

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )




Actually, NO one is obligated to revel personal information to ANYONE over the phone (Name, address, zip, etc..). It is a responcibility of a "LEGITIMATE" company to at the very least to identify their company name, and address if asked by anyone if called. There are too many "Scam artist" and Identity theives out there to not be able to know EXACTLY who you are talking to.

Also, the fdcpa states:

?? 804. Acquisition of location information [15 USC 1692b]

Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall --

(1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer;

(2) not state that such consumer owes any debt;

(3) not communicate with any such person more than once unless requested to do so by such person or unless the debt collector reasonably believes that the earlier response of such person is erroneous or incomplete and that such person now has correct or complete location information;

(4) not communicate by post card;

(5) not use any language or symbol on any envelope or in the contents of any communication effected by the mails or telegram that indicates that the debt collector is in the debt collection business or that the communication relates to the collection of a debt; and

(6) after the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with regard to the subject debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney's name and address, not communicate with any person other than that attorney, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to the communication from the debt collector.


Section ?? 804.1 applies in this case and ?? 804.3 also.

AND this section may also apply in the case:
?? 806. Harassment or abuse [15 USC 1692d]

A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:

(1) The use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm the physical person, reputation, or property of any person.

(2) The use of obscene or profane language or language the natural consequence of which is to abuse the hearer or reader.

(3) The publication of a list of consumers who allegedly refuse to pay debts, except to a consumer reporting agency or to persons meeting the requirements of section 603(f) or 604(3)1 of this Act.

(4) The advertisement for sale of any debt to coerce payment of the debt.

(5) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number.

(6) Except as provided in section 804, the placement of telephone calls without meaningful disclosure of the caller's identity.


Section ?? 806.5 and Section ?? 806.6 may also apply.

So choage, you are mis-informed and wrong.

Jerry


Submitted by jtucker on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 09:46

jtucker

( Posts: 114 | Credits: )


First of all, there is no "Do not call" list for collections, that only applies to sales and solicitations (not including charitable organizations...they too are allowed to call and are not part of the "Do not call" list). Secondly, you're only hurting yourself if you have a privacy manager or an unlisted # because more often than not, debtors get these because they know they're in debt and are trying to stop the calls. Just be truthful if you are not the debtor and do not know them and that will get your # removed. Check your phone # listing and make sure it's not registered under someone else's name, that may be part of your problem for getting calls with a phone # that a debtor had before. Also, if you are in debt, your minimum payment that you were making before no longer applies when it goes into collections...the interest itself will eat a $20 payment per month alive. If you didn't think you would be able to make the payments every month when you got the card, then you shouldn't have entered into a contract with a credit card company, phone company, or otherwise. Unfortunately, many of these companies do have it legally hashed out in the contracts that you sign that they have the right to add late fees, overage charges, and interest in the event that you go over your balance or miss your payment. Next time, read your contract first and don't argue that you only owe, for example, $300 because that was your card limit...you forfeited the right to argue that when you didn't pay for 6 months (that's usually how long it takes to go into third party, versus in house, collections, depending on the company). Although pride may be a factor, you may consider borrowing money, paying off the bills you have, then worrying about paying your friends or family back later, interest and fee free (and before your account goes into default). Remember, you're only hurting businesses by not paying, which ultimately may cause them to have to let go of workers...if you also lost your job and that is the reason you couldn't pay, you're just making other people lose their jobs in the long run, especially if companies go under because so many people don't think they have to pay....when you take on a bill, you take on a responsibility. In the case of a loan or a credit card (which is also a loan, that's what credit is), you eventually have to pay it back and you are going to get charged to use their money, in the form of an interest rate, unless there is an intro apr, for example. On another issue, bankruptcy, the laws are changing. It was announced in the news a few weeks ago that the government is working on changing the laws so that it will be effective by the first of the year, 2006, that if you do bankruptcy once, that's it, no 7 year grace period, no other chances. So, I recommend to all those young people out there with debt, do whatever you can to get it cleaned up now so that you can insure your credit future for a home, car loan, and most importantly, for your children. It's all about prevention so that you won't have to deal with collection calls. For those of you on social security and disability, I empathize with your situations, but do not use these as an excuse for not paying the bill. If you're on a fixed income of any type, a credit card or loan is probably not for you, even for a small amount. Try to work within your means, don't extend your budget with another debt that you will have to pay back. These things are for emergencies and not for robbing Peter to pay Paul. Eventually, the domino effect of robbing Peter to pay Paul will hurt more people than you think it is helping. For those of you who are in debt because of unforseen circumstances that will eventually be fixed (ex sudden death, illness, job loss, etc), you can refinance your house instead of selling it...you may also be able to find help with some non-profit organizations that are dedicated to getting people back on their feet (but not including credit consolidation, they don't pay enough each month to get your bill down, you're better off just trying to work it out with the collection agency or company to whom you are indebted). Trying to work it out with the original creditor once your account is already in collections is also difficult, if near impossible, most creditors won't even talk to you and will send you right back to the collection agency...they sent your account there in the first place for a reason.

Well, that's about all I have to say for now, if I think if anything else, I will post it. I hope that the information contained in this posting will be of value to both collectors and debtors, shedding some light on a difficult, yet resolvable, situation. I hope these tidbits that I have shared will help make the process easier and help to make collector/debtor relations smoother for both parties.

Happy credit cleaning!

PS-->although I do not have accounts in collections, I do have my share of credit card debt and loans...it is overwhelming and I eventually asked for help from my family who forked over more than $1000 to help me wipe out my debt. Although that did not eliminate all the debt, I am working hard to pay more than the minimum a month, reduce my own interest rates through constant calls to the people whom I owe, and simply not using the credit that has been given to me...if I don't have the money and it's not a need, I don't buy it. Cash is the best way to go, or debit cards that have the $ coming right out of your account...it's as good as cash to me!


Submitted by on Fri, 05/27/2005 - 09:13

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


jtucker,
Just because you can quote the fdcpa does not make choage incorrect. Yes, there are scams out there, but collections is also a process that has to be done and, if you want to quote the FDCPA like that, I can tell you that is all choage was saying that they need to do(based on the first 2 parts that you quoted), verify the information and then they'll be done...if you aren't going to verify your address (which anyone could figure out if they felt like driving there) or your name, without your dob or ssn being revealed (which is really what scam artists would need to get your identity), then they have reason to believe that the people are screening the calls and the debtor is there....just saying wrong # and hanging up doesn't do anything either. There is such a thing as a middle ground where you can cooperate with the questions, first making sure it's not a sales call, without giving out any of the information that would be needed for a scam. Seriously, if someone wants to scam you, they would have done it by now without you revealing your info over the phone. If anything, the blame shouldn't go on the collection agency but on the debtors who set the precedent for screening, making the job of the collector more difficult in determining whether or not he/she is calling the right person. Collectors don't want to be calling the wrong person anyhow, it doesn't get their job done. I recommend to debtors to update their information with the companies they owe so that other people do not get calls in their stead. Show a little altruism!


Submitted by on Fri, 05/27/2005 - 09:33

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


Hi Guest,

Welcome to the forum. I read your post and feel that you have a strong reason to oppose when the information of debtors are not updated with the companies.

You posted:
Quote:

Collectors don't want to be calling the wrong person anyhow, it doesn't get their job done. I recommend to debtors to update their information with the companies they owe so that other people do not get calls in their stead


In this case, there is one concrete reason favoring the collectors but there are other grounds also when the collectors use unfair means and harass the debtors for recovering the debts. It can be dealt legally and there are proper methods to deal with it. Causing harassment, using abusive language, making false or misleading statements, adding unauthorized charges and many other practices should not be the ways to recover any debts.

Regards
Roxette


Submitted by roxette on Fri, 05/27/2005 - 16:48

roxette

( Posts: 4009 | Credits: )


Hello All, I am an employee of ASG. I came here, not to create any controversy nor to be harassed in this forum, but Let me tell you something. Regardless of the debtors I have to call, I stick to the fdcpa and be as professional and courteous as I may be. Is true that there are some agents that are a little rude but if so happens why don't you cooperate with the agent looking for the person? Unfortunatelly sometime we encounter "dead ends" when trying to locate a Debtor but I don't find any reason to raise others attitude up to this point. After all, this is what we do for living and nobody would like himself to be questioned of his work. I am not covering anybody nor protecting anybody but just to let you know people, that if we look for someone at the other side of the phone, regardless of how courteous and/ ehtic and / or professional you may be, there is always a grumpy person with an obnoxious "no" instead of cooperating, so if you wish to be treated with respect, help us to locate the debtor in the same way we do, once again, I speak for myself and a few Professional ones in the floor. This is my humble opinion. Thanks.


Submitted by on Fri, 06/10/2005 - 08:03

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


Hi Anonymus

Welcome to the forums. We will really appreciate if you join us on the board and clear some of the myths and crucial problems faced by some of our community members and guests from the debt collector's point of view.

I read your post and find that you are quite neutral in all cases. I appreciate your positive approach towards dealing with debtors and assume that you do not use unfair and harassing means to recover any past debts which is used commonly in your field.


Quote:

I am not covering anybody nor protecting anybody but just to let you know people, that if we look for someone at the other side of the phone, regardless of how courteous and/ ethic and / or professional you may be, there is always a grumpy person with an obnoxious "no" instead of cooperating, so if you wish to be treated with respect, help us to locate the debtor in the same way we do, once again, I speak for myself and a few Professional ones in the floor. This is my humble opinion. Thanks.


Due to some people who cause bad name in your field, not everybody including you should be treated the same way in general.

Your registration in this site will be completely free of cost as it is to all our visitors and we do actually hope to see your active participation in the forums for the community welfare. Additionally, you will also be earning some extra money through your posts which has been exclusively designed for our registered members.

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/signup/

We do hope to hear from you positively

Regards
Roxette


Submitted by roxette on Fri, 06/10/2005 - 12:59

roxette

( Posts: 4009 | Credits: )


I agree with you. You never know what life will throw your way so things happen and bills sometimes are the last of a persons worries. When medical problems come into play that can throw and person for a loop. I know this for a fact and have had some very bad conversations with ASG. They call me every day and when I tell them I can only send them a certain amount they agree and then call me back 1 day later saying none of that is acceptable. Tonight the man that called (and because of his accent I couldn't understand him most of the time) said that was unacceptable and suggested I file for bankrupcy. That suprised me. He told me they would not accept my payments because they aren't enough. I never thought I would have bill collectors calling me but like I said, one never knows what life will throw your way.
Any suggestions would help
Thanks
Pam


Submitted by on Wed, 06/22/2005 - 18:45

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


Hi pam

Your post says that the collectors tried to bully you which in itself is illegal activity. Though the collections want to recover the money as much as possible, but they should accept the money if you are willing to pay your debt.

I will suggest you to enroll yourself in a debt consolidation program and let the professionals handle your accounts. The trained consultants will proficiently negotiate with your collectors and offer the payment plan which will be set keeping your interest in view.

If you are willing to seek professional help, please enter your contact information at the sign up page in this site to get in touch with the consultant

Regards
Roxette


Submitted by roxette on Thu, 06/23/2005 - 13:40

roxette

( Posts: 4009 | Credits: )


Interesting, indeed. This appears to have been written by their Support Services SVP. At least have the decency to identify yourself instead of posting anonymous spin. PS. Nobody cares about COPC.


Submitted by on Tue, 06/28/2005 - 14:39

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


I had a recent incident with this company, where they are trying to collect a debt that is in good standing with the creditor. How can this be??? They also are calling relatives and my wifes relatives, who by the way have a unlisted number. My wife told them she wanted information from them and wanted to report them to the better business bureau and they hung up on her. Your trying to tell me that this is a reparable company!! They haven't called back since!!


Submitted by on Tue, 08/30/2005 - 06:44

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


Hi Jeevz

Welcome to the forums.

As per the fdcpa law, the debt collector can only contact your attorney if you have hired one. If they contact any other person, then it should be done only once and that also to find out your contact information only. A debt collector is restricted from telling anyone about your debt other than your attorney.

Regards
Roxette


Submitted by roxette on Tue, 08/30/2005 - 11:51

roxette

( Posts: 4009 | Credits: )


I have worked in a customer service oriented business for 18 years. I have often had to deal with people who were upset or irate. In all these years, I have never even come close to the rudeness of your employee, "Phil". He talks over me, he hangs up without listening to me. He is unexcuseably rude! The person he has been calling about does not live in my home, and lives about 11 hours away. We have no way of reaching him. This "Phil" calls morning, noon and night...weekends, etc. We have a baby in the house who has been awakened several times by these calls. This evening, as I attempted to speak to Phil, he interrupted me several times. I had explained that the person he was looking for didn't live here last weekend when he called. I attempted to tell him this again, and he basically called me a liar! Then, when I once again tried to speak to him, he interrupted me, and stated, "you're just going to run on like a freight train, aren't you?" and hung up on me. First of all, if he wanted any information from me, this is no way to get it, and secondly, he is just plain rude. This is not a person you should have representing your company. I called the number on the website, and who answered? Phil! He was, again, rude and hung up on me. I called back and got someone else. This person was reasonable, calm and anything but rude. Much better. I explained the problem and gave the person a possible solution. Phil needs to go, and perhaps be sent to a charm school! Someone, please! Do something about Phil before I have my attorney do something about Phil. Thank you.


Submitted by on Wed, 11/02/2005 - 17:11

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


Hi Kathleen

Please put this request in the website of Accounts Solution Group. This is a debt consolidation forums in which the community interacts on various debt related issues. It is because of this interaction, one of the pages about Account Solution Group is existing in this website.

Please place your request at the customer care cell of Account Solutions Group and request for necessary actions.

Regards
Roxette


Submitted by roxette on Wed, 11/02/2005 - 17:21

roxette

( Posts: 4009 | Credits: )



Submitted by on Fri, 11/04/2005 - 10:39

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


Hi Guest,

As per the fdcpa law, you can restrict them from calling at your place of work. Please send a cease and desist letter in writing to stop calling you at your place of work. Mention in your letter that all the future contacts should be done only in writing rather than by phone. Once the collectors have received your cease and desist letter, they are required to follow it.

If they continue calling you, it will be a violation of the stated law and you can take legal actions against them.


  • Keep a track of all the telephonic conversations, messages that has been left in your voicemail and all other means of correspondence.

  • Write down the name of the employee who placed the call.

  • Copies of all the messages that sounds harsh or abusive.

Give to your lawyer who specializes in the lawsuits of FDCPA and FCRA violations. He will file a case against the CA and you might be compensated if you win the case.

Regards
Roxette


Submitted by roxette on Fri, 11/04/2005 - 15:18

roxette

( Posts: 4009 | Credits: )


I have had horrible experiences with this company- they have called numerous times to parents house and harrassed them. One day they asked for Mrs. XXXXX and my mom said it was her not knowing who it was, thought it was her since we have the same last name, they did not state the first name. When they started telling her what they were calling for, she asked who they were. The gentleman got all devensive and accused my mother of lying and pretending to be me and hung up. Lately i have been recieving AT LEAST 15-20 phone calls a day from "unknown" while i am at work. Sometimes 2 or 3 with in an hour period. This to me is harrassment. That is absolutly unnessicary to call that many times. Especially if you think i will be picking up the phone and actually be nice. Hell no, not after the harrasment will I even consider it. And last, at least leave who the hell you're calling for, not just a company i have never heard of.


Submitted by on Tue, 05/02/2006 - 18:19

( Posts: 202330 | Credits: )


Tink

Calling repeatedly at home or work is actually harassment and is against the federal laws. You should file your complaints at the FTC and the BBB as well as the state attorney general office.

No collection agency is allowed to call repeatedly and discuss the account with someone else other than you. Check the laws in your state and verify if you can record the phone calls secretly or you have to take the other party's permission. If you can have this recording as proof, it might add up to a legal case against the collection agency.


Submitted by john on Wed, 05/03/2006 - 13:51

john

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wow not just me, i know i owe this debt and have tried very hard to pay, but sometimes finances are tight and i have had a couple bounced payments, each time i speak to this company they seem to try to make it harder by asking for more money. I am so tired of dealing with them. but the phone calls at work, my receptionist would drop them in my voice mail and they would call right back repeatdly even if she tried to explain that i was not in the office. Then they would start calling other employees in my office that they had answered the phone before i guess thinking i was hiding, Finally had to have my boss call and tell them to stop.how can i get another company to take over my account?? i want to pay just not them.


Submitted by on Tue, 05/16/2006 - 09:51

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Hi mcrowder

If you do not want to deal with the collection agency, explain the situation to your original creditor. He will pull the account from the CA and work out arrangements with you. Once everything is sorted out, the CA will stop contacting you.


Submitted by john on Tue, 05/16/2006 - 15:39

john

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get a job, and when u spend $5000 do the math. $20 a month is unacceptable and pathetic! ASG is a great company to work with if you got yourself in trouble, they can save u hundreds or thousands! Of course if you decide that ignoring the debt will make it go away, don't complain when the company that gave u the credit sues your dumb #$# for 150% more than what ASG was asking for! pay your bills! also, if you really don't plan on paying, when the collector calls, just tell them who you are, that you are a bum and will never get anywhere! Playing games doesn't work, they know what number they are calling and everyone that lives at the address. dee dee dee


Submitted by on Thu, 06/01/2006 - 21:45

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I do currently work for ASG and have a few things that do stick out in my mind.
I am finding it hard to believe that all of those 15-20 Unknown calls that Tink is recieving while at work are from ASG. In general most collectors have around 300-400 accounts in their desk. It would be utterly pointless for any collector to call the residence more than once and then the place of employment if no one answered at the residence as it would put them severly behind in work and probably get them tossed out for the reasoning behind being so far back in work. Not only that but our calls are monitored and if they do catch us doing that they will take discipilary action. We have an actual Quality Assurance dept that tries to monitor collectors performance and to make sure they do comply with fdcpa. I admit that there are a few bad collectors but that comes with any job, eventually they will be caught and delt with, its just slightly hard for our QA dept to listen to every call all of our hundreds or reps make.
I understand that most of the people that are posting here honestly are upset with getting calls for people that arnt them or dont live there anymore but you have to understand where we come from. We talk to hundreds of people everyday, most of them really are deadbeats, who tell us we have the wrong number or the person we are calling for doesnt live there anymore. After awhile believing what the person says on the other end of the line becomes something you dont do very often. So when you do speak to a collector in an irritated tone or you yell at them then they generally will think that you are lying. We do have tools to verify phone numbers but they dont always provide info for everynumber but if the number is still under someone with the same last name then it becomes even more unbelievable that you dont know them. If they keep calling then fax or mail a letter stating that the number doesnt belong to them anymore or they dont live there. Hopefully it shouldnt come to that often, I'd prefer it didnt happen because it really does just stress out both parties involved and waste everyones time because of the calls.
As for dealing with the original creditor, it really depends on who the creditor is, if its CapOne, they wont bother, they actually redirect your call right to us. And as for mcrowder, they probably are asking for more money because of the fact you did bounce payments. At that point we wont trust the fact that you ahve the ability to get the money in and would rather to deal with larger sums at that point to A)get the account out of our office and B)keep your account from staying here long enough to become even larger with more interest and make you shy away at the growing balance. You might be tired with dealing with us but im sure we are becoming sick of bounced payments. Bouncing it does just make you look bad and that you are trying to hide from it by giving us a bone and running away from it. You might not be doing that but honestly thats what it would look like to pretty much any collector.
To the concerns about payments not being enough, the minimum payments are determined by our clients standards, if we tell you a certain ammount of money isnt enough then its because our client told us that its not enough. Sure you can send it in and it will be taken off your balance but it doesnt count as an actual payment on the account since it doesnt meet the minimum for a payment in our client's view. I suppose a "payment" in this sense is generally just used as a term for an ammount showing that you are trying to meet the clients standards of paying this back, obviously sending money in is a form of payment but not in the sense I mean (that might be confusing but its the best way i can word it).
If you dont want a call from work then tell us. We WILL note it and wont call it again.
I saw Pam mention on the other page about a collector suggesting that she should file for bankrupcy. That is probably one of the claims that I generally find extremly hard to believe as a collector would get absolutly nothing out of this, if the customer files for bankrupcy then the collector will personally never see any of the money collected. And as for having medical issues keeping you from paying it is another thing that we are told from many people who honestly dont have intentions of paying. Everything from "I cant work anymore" to "I'm dying" to "I lost all of my limbs (honestly heard that...more than once)".
As for what Jeevz said about trying to collect on an account that was in good standing, it was most likely the creditors fault. When they send thousands of accounts to us every so often they have been know to do everything from screw up the balances to sending us accounts that were already settled to sending us accounts that should have already been taken care of due to fraud(had three of those yesterday). If its in our computers then the client sent it to us to collect.
As for "contacting" family members or friends no information is ever given other than our name and company name, we never divulge any other information and if asked we say that we cannot speak to them about the matter, just that we are looking for that person.
As for the comment a guest made about telling the collector they reserve the right to record the call, if its ASG the collector probably wouldnt have a problem seeing as how they are already being recorded by QA to begin with.
Our company does have a lot of more harsh standards than the FDCPA as well which new hires from other companys often scoff at and then proceed to get tossed out because they didnt follow them.
I do understand that there are a lot of people out there who honestly cant help the situation they are in and for the most part my coworkers understand that, for the most part we are just doing our job and following the standards our clients give us. We would rather work with customers to fix the debt rather than argue with them, there are just sometimes that situations and attitudes on both sides do clash but those are generally isolated at this company.


Submitted by on Wed, 06/21/2006 - 00:32

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I have never dealt with a polite person from ASG EVER. As for collectorjim, your intentions are good, but most of it is a load of crap. Maybe YOU should listen in on some of your coworkers. My in-laws were harrassed repeatedly by your company, until my father in law got an attorney, because your company WAS asked not to call him anymore, and DID continue to call repeatedly, at least twice a day, EVEN AFTER he spoke to someone on the phone, and EVEN AFTER I had already contacted your company myself and told you not to call him...you HAD my info and chose not to use it for some reason. I NEVER got calls from you, ONLY my father in law did, WHY??? Lawyer and cease and desist letter did work, so there is no use in just telling them not to call, they will not listen.


Submitted by on Thu, 06/22/2006 - 08:11

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To Guest:
If we never called you and only called your father in law then most likely it was because the primary number we recieved from the client you owed for some reason was your father-in-law's. As a general rule of thumb we generally dont remove primaries just because we are told the person doesnt live there unless we have valid proof or reason to believe it to be true. Your father-in-law probably told whoever called that he wouldnt give a proper number leading whoever was taking care of the account to believe that he was just hiding you. No, third parties dont have to give any information in the least, but when you have a primary that says they wont give an updated number or any other information will just lead any collector in the world to believe that that person is just screening for the debtor and reason to believe it is the proper number. And obviously you never dealt with any polite person from ASG as you just said yourself we "NEVER" called you. If we did have your info we would have as every account in the system gets forced through our auto-dialer atleast probably twice or three times a month and every single number on the account gets called. The only times anyone in the company would call the same number more than once is if there wasnt an answer in the morning and its night time, the number was busy, or we were asked to call again. The system goes over everynumber thats called more than once and makes a list and QA verifies and if someones calling those numbers more than once to harass someone, then disciplinary actions occur. There is quite simply no way for us not to have your info and you not get a call. With some clients we even recieve every single number you called them from and those are even all called.


Submitted by on Fri, 06/23/2006 - 09:26

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I did read your post, and as I said if we had your number its impossible for us not to have called it as it gets autodialed by the computer like every other account, theres no need to get highly defensive, I'm just pointing out a fact of how things work there. And as I said before, while you may not have put it as a primary it may have been the primary given to us by the client as they have been known to screw things up from time to time (especially if it was thrown to another agency and retracted and sent to us) as I've said previously, I never said you personally listed it as a primary. I'm not getting into an argument with you over what you say happened as each situation is different, I'm just stating the facts that happens for every account that comes to the office and possible reasons as to why everything happened. Theres no reason for hostility.


Submitted by on Sat, 06/24/2006 - 00:47

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I receieved a "validation notice" from Account Solutions Group approximatley 2 weeks ago. It was about an old credit card debt that I had neglected due to some medical issues. Needless to say I was very hesitant to contact them after reading the remarks from this forum. To make things worse the notorious Phil had left numerous messages on both my cell phone and home phone... I am of a different state of mind than many of the people in this forum. I understanf that I owe the money, it doesn't anger me that I am getting phone calls about it, I was actually happy that was the extent of it. I suffered a hardhship and was unable to pay for sometime, when i started get back on my feet I was in a deep hole and I dreaded having to explain that to someone. I called anyway and was transferred to this gentleman Phil. I remebered the previous post and immediatly became very defensive expecting the worst. Phil was more than helpful. He was a great listener, he explained to me exactly what had happened to the card and discussed the difference between settling the account or paying it in full. He also explained to me the trap that is credit councelling centers. I will have the bill payed in full by the end of next month. This Phil was the polar opposite to the one described previously. At the end of the conversation he told me he was the only Phil in the office and if anything came up to call him directly??? I was worried about calling ASG due the remarks of this forum and I was completely mislead. I feel that if you are honest and forthcoming with these people only good will come of it, whether you pay or not, I am sure that if there was a forum for collectors to tell horror stories about their "debtors" it would be a much longer forum than this, I bet Kathleens run in with Phil might sound a litle different.


Submitted by on Wed, 07/19/2006 - 10:16

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I see that debt collectors here are saying that all it takes is cooperation, if you are not the person they are looking for. I have received 7 call in the last 6 months. I have cooperated with all the calls by verifying that the last 4 of my SS# were different. All I have is the same name of the individual. I cooperated 7 times, politely asked to not be called, and I still get harassed. So to me, the cooperation theory doesn't work.


Submitted by on Fri, 07/28/2006 - 20:39

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First.. pay your bill. Bill collectors are not going to be nice to you. It's their job to make you pay the bill that you have refused to pay for at least six months. Pay it. Don't cry about how you can't, about how someone stole your house and your head fell off and all the other whining stall tactics. If they were going to throw you in prison for not paying, like they should, you could find the money to pay. Deep down in your heart you know that's true. Don't give me any of your santimonious lies about how you just can't. That car payment gets paid every month, doesn't it? So does your other credit card. You just let this one grow and grow and grow, and then when someone finally decided to make you accountable for the bill, you pull the "boo-hoo-hoo" I'm poor gargbage. Of course you're poor. You can't handle your own finances. PAY YOUR BILLS and stop whining about the tactics people have to use to make you pay them.


Submitted by on Mon, 08/14/2006 - 16:57

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You want the phone calls to stop? Pay your bills. You're mad that a bill collector keeps calling and demanded to speak to your deadbeat father? Stop screening his calls, have him call back and pay his bills. He's probably the one who filled out your phone number as a secondary contact number on a credit application. So take it up with him. Mad a bill collector called and was rude to you? Stop saying "may I ax who's callin?" and "no, he ain here" and have the irresponsible debtor call back to PAY THEIR BILL. Legitimate wrong number? Tell the bill collector that you honestly have no idea who the person is and offer to verify your phone and address. They already have it, so acting all indignant doesn't help you. Don't be stupid. All that information you people think is so valuable, bill collectors can look that information up on anyone in the entire world in less than twenty seconds. Worried about confirming your SSN? We already have it. We just want you to admit that it's yours so we don't tell you about the debt and have you go, oh, that's not me. Must be another D'Andre Orenthal Deacon Glasscox Williams Jones IV. Take some responsibilty for your actions and stop using the "you people were rude to me so I'm not paying excuse." It's your fault that you didn't take care of your own finances. And personally, I find it disgusting that you people need someone to call you up and tell you to pay your bills like a normal human being.


Submitted by on Mon, 08/14/2006 - 17:09

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