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

Submitted by on Mon, 07/31/2006 - 10:13
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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.

Quote:

Secretly recording a phone conversation is legal in : Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.


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?


Submitted by BuildingWealth on Mon, 07/31/2006 - 10:43

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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.


Submitted by Jessi on Mon, 07/31/2006 - 18:40

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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.


Submitted by MoTR on Mon, 02/12/2007 - 04:29

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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.


Submitted by Mel on Thu, 02/15/2007 - 10:54

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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.


Submitted by Mel on Thu, 02/15/2007 - 17:11

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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.


Submitted by MoTR on Sun, 02/18/2007 - 06:00

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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.


Submitted by on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 20:22

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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


Submitted by on Thu, 08/06/2009 - 15:40

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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.


Submitted by on Wed, 11/11/2009 - 11:48

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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.


Submitted by on Fri, 12/11/2009 - 11:27

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymous
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


Submitted by SOAPLADY on Fri, 12/11/2009 - 19:32

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I have spoken with GC services several times over the last 6 years... yes i have tickets that i have had to pay and i have been trying to find out if there is any type of amnesty program for paying of what you owe. I live in las vegas and i cannot get my license until i pay cali.....so i have to contact them again.....what do i need to do to be a part of this lawsuit...my email is personal information removed per tos.. thank you.


Submitted by on Thu, 12/17/2009 - 19:31

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Anyone have #for the lawyers working on this?


Submitted by on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 07:50

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858-536-8007- Apparently this lousy firm keeps calling asking for a guy I've never heard of. I've asked 7 times to be taken off their list. They call, I answer, I say nobody is here by that name, they keep calling. How can I sue them out of existence? Horrible company of whatever kind they are.


Submitted by on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 15:36

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GC Services? Call them, ask who they are? Ask where they work? Ask what their address is? Ask who they work for? They will tell you nada. nothing! tell them to take a leap. They are worthless 3rd party callers who will refuse to tell you why they are calling and who they are working for. It's a scam at best. Deny any info


Submitted by on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 15:39

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I have had several conversations with GC Services in CA. In fact, I just got off the phone...I owe for traffic violations...I have one that is listed on the E-court site for $700.00, however, the representative tells me I have two others. I have had them send me a bill and only has one fine listed as well. I talked to the representitave this morning, he said there is no information at all regarding the two other fines, which total $916.00...I just owe it! I went to the DMV, got a print out...there are no other fines...but GC services will not clear my hold on my license until I pay it! Now what am I to do?


Submitted by on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 10:00

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Hi, got my third call this am from these people looking for my son and wanting him to call them...I have told them they are harrasing us..who dont owe any money. I *69 the phone number and called them back..she was very rude and told me that "since I have so much time I should be looking for a job" . My husband and I both lost our jobs almost 2 years ago..and our son did too...We are not dead beat..our son is not a dead beat..We live in Michigan the highest unemployment in the nation. She was very rude..How can these people sleep at nite. The calls have to stop..I told them my next call would be the attorney generals office. Anyway..I am interested in the suing thing...I totally agree with what you have said. They are looking us up on internet because the first call was a home number I ported to a cell when we sold our house in 2003. WE DONT OWE THE DEBIT...OUR SON DOES. HE KNOWS THEY HAVE CALLED BUT HE TOO HAS BEEN OUT OF WORK FOR 2 YEARS. PAY THE MORTAGE OR PAY A CREDIT CARD...THE CHOICE IS CLEAR..KEEP A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD...MY SON DID'NT ASK TO LOSE HIS JOB..HIS CREDIT IS PROBABLY RUINED BUT SO FAR HE IS STILL IN HIS HOME...ANYWAY DONT MEAN TO RAMBLE..I WOULD LOVE MORE INFORMATION.


Submitted by on Wed, 02/24/2010 - 09:25

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hi guys,

similar story. they keep calling everyday for the past 4 months since i changed my telephone number looking for an individual who is not myself. i keep telling them that my number is not the guy they are looking for, every time, they tell me they removed my name from the list.

funny extra thing: i have a google voicemail acct, no relation at all to my cell phone, i just signed up for fun, dont really use it. they call and leave a message looking for the same guy!

what are the chances that both my numbers were this guy's previous numbers? something isnt right.

i just filed a lawsuit on their ass. compensation for harassment on my way!


Submitted by on Mon, 03/15/2010 - 16:31

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GCS called our home trying to reach a relative and wanted us to forward their info to our relative. Although I took down their number first, I got suspicious as I couldnt' understand why they have contacted us and could not answer how they got our phone number. I do not know whether our relative has any outstanding debt. 1) do we have any legal obligation to forward GCS's info to our relative? 2) will they or can they continue to harrasse us?

Thanks.


Submitted by on Sun, 04/11/2010 - 00:28

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GC services may not have your relative's phone number so they are simply skiptracing, trying to get a message thru. How is this harassing you? You have no obligation to pass the message along but if they dont get ahold of the relative and the account is passed to another CA, the cycle will happen all over again. Contact your relative, give them the message and tell them you dont appriciate the calls and make sure that the CA has the correct contact phone.


Submitted by SOAPLADY on Sun, 04/11/2010 - 04:50

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I had a run in with GC services regarding two traffic violations that were not moving violations. As a result, I was unable to renew my DL on my birthday. Ok I forgot about the tickets, and thats my bad. However it did not warrant the treatement I recieved by GC services.

First and formost, when I called GC services, I let them know that I was on disablility, and was unable to make the lump sum of approx $1600.00 due to being on a fixed income. GC did not inform me at any time that my call was being recorded. During the phone call, GC services refused to take payments, and later when I had the money from my family members (who had to take the money from their retirement fund) GC services refused to take the payment. The man on the other end of the phone laughed and wouldnt even let me finish my sentence, (in which I was attempting to pay them) but instead hung up on me. This occurred on four other separate occasions in the same day.

Later my DL was suspended due to GC services refusing to take my calls. I have tried repeatedly to contact them over the last six months re:this issue. Finally, after finding that
there was a GC serv rep at the courthouse in Navada county California, I was able to have that rep call the office in San Diego to try and clear up the matter. She also did not let me know that I was being recorded. On May 6th 2010, I called the office in San Diego, and was directed to a rude man by the name of Mr. Valenzia. The Bill was payed, in full, but Mr Valenzia did not let me know that I was being recorded, but that I would have to call back the courthouse to let the woman in Nevada county, known only as Kay, know that
the Bill had been payed and to send the release to the DMV. Upon calling Ms Kay in Nevada county, I was also not informed that I was being recorded w/o my knowledge. Ms Kay informed me that she would not be able to send the release to the DMV until May 10th, 2010, and at that time she would send the release to the DMV.

I called ms Kay at in Nevada county on may 10th as instructed to get my DL released so I could renew it. Ms Kay informed me that a "new policy" had just been instituted on May 1st
that caused a 60day additional wait on the report to be sent to the DMV. Ms Kay had not informed me at the time I had made the payment that this "new policy" had been enacted, nor did she let me know that I was being recorded either.

Since this whole fracus began, I have gone from having a simple hold on my DL, to having my DL suspended. I am certain that there will be additional fees, and possibly a warrant out for my arrest because this company refuses to process the payment which I have checked on today. And this all happened because I answered the phone to one of their rude employees and wanted to do the right thing?

To me, every one of the GC employees should be charged with te felony counts that are pending against them. what recourse do we have? and how do I sign up for this class action law suit? If you have the answer please email me at CONTACT INFORMATION REMOVED
This company needs to go down big time.


Submitted by on Mon, 05/10/2010 - 16:52

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I received a call from GCS a few months ago. I verified who I was by answering questions regarding my SS#, DOB, etc. It wasn't until I gave that info that they told me who they were, why they were calling and that they were monitoring and/or recording the call. Even after verifying who I was they called back 1 hour later. Later that afternoon they called again, and again that very evening. Each time I said, "I already spoke with you today"...the fact I verified my info earlier means they had verification in each of these subsequent calls.
They also claim I owe money for two schools - one I attended, The other school I never heard of. They did send me promissory notes but none for the school loans I am disputing. I just got off the phone with a manager who kept repeating "You DID receive the promissory notes". I repeatedly reminded him that I did not for the disputed loan, but he was incredibly sarcastic and harassing. I definitely want in on this lawsuit.


Submitted by on Tue, 06/01/2010 - 09:13

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I used to work for Gc services and they teach you to be rude and insulting. I was nice and always polite and explained the situation in the best of my abilities to the people and listened to the people. Everyone has a situation. In return I was the youngest collector but one of the top collectors on my team. Though I didn't work there long no one could understand the concept of respect. You collect more flies with honey then with vinegar. They think they can bully someone into paying but the truth is you cant. If someone wants to pay they will. If they don't They wont. But when you are kind and sensitive to their situation they are more willing to give you their time and info to help themselves and you. For some reason this is a tough concept for them.


Submitted by on Sun, 06/20/2010 - 01:58

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymous
I used to work for Gc services and they teach you to be rude and insulting. I was nice and always polite and explained the situation in the best of my abilities to the people and listened to the people. Everyone has a situation. In return I was the youngest collector but one of the top collectors on my team. Though I didn't work there long no one could understand the concept of respect. You collect more flies with honey then with vinegar. They think they can bully someone into paying but the truth is you cant. If someone wants to pay they will. If they don't They wont. But when you are kind and sensitive to their situation they are more willing to give you their time and info to help themselves and you. For some reason this is a tough concept for them.

I use to be an office manager for a small company in the Nampa area. I had the unpleasant task of calling customers when they were late on their payment for services rendered. I was always polite, always. I just stated the facts and proceeded to set up arrangements with the customers. There were very few times that I was hung up on or treated rudely by the customer. I honestly believe that behaving respectfully will achieve more positive results, than not.


Submitted by Shazzers on Sun, 06/20/2010 - 05:31

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Corporate office below
[SIZE=4][/SIZE]
GC Services LP
6330 Gulfton Street
Houston, TX 77081-1198
(713) 777-4441


Main office in Irwindale, CA
4900 Rivergrade Rd.
Irwindale, California 91706

This company is aweful to work for and to deal with... I'm actually sueing them myself!


Submitted by on Mon, 07/12/2010 - 15:13

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HOLY CRAP!! What a terrible, rude, bunch of jerks that work at GC in Ohio!!!!!!!! We were threatened, harrassed and insulted by everyone in this company. When asked to speak to a supervisor. GEE guess what there wasn't one to be found. Not to worry we will be calling the CEO on Monday and I have already contacted an attorney. They NEED TO GO DOWN!!!!!


Submitted by on Fri, 07/30/2010 - 16:53

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no, we dont secretly record calls, we plainly state a dislosure as soon as the debter is identified that " calls MAY be monitored for quality assurance."


Submitted by on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 20:55

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Has the class action lawsuit for GC services settled? I'm in SC and my local phone co says I can't be recorded without my permission, which GC admits to doing. GC claims it's legal in Ohio to tape a call as long as one of the two parties is aware of the taping. I guess then it's ok for me to tape them, lol. I will be calling the FTC about this.
My incredible anger is over the fact that GC discussed my situation with my 70+ year old parents without my permission. They told my 78 year old father that IF I didn't call them by noon they couldn't guarantee my wages wouldn't be garnished. Since I only receive SSI this upset my parents. After doing that GC finally called my house & left a message on my answering machine which was basically a threat. They still claim not to have my home number. I should really put it on Utube & make the guy infamous. I don't want show all my cards now as I understand they monitor this site. I haven't even gotten to the part where we finally spoke over the phone. I read the Fair Debt Collections Act & GC broke numerous rules. I welcome suggestions on class actions or other lawsuits. Thanks in advance.


Submitted by blufftongal on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 19:06

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