They really are a great big scam!!!!

Today is the first time I have spoken with this company. I spoke to 5 different people all of whom were very rude except one man. This man "Bob Reid" gave me several little tidbits of information when asked, however most of this information when checked turned out to be incorrect. According to the Takhar Group I owed a book club for an account overdue. Mr. Reid gave me a file # and web address for the Takhar group so I could "lookup the retainer notice" that was supposedly sent to me over a month ago. Now, I did go to this website and looked up the file # given to me. This in turn brought up the options to pay balance or see letter. I chose to see the letter that I had supposedly been sent and the info given on said letter was minimal at best. It did not even include the name of the original claimant!! Only my name, address and supposed balance were listed. I asked about being sent validation of said ddebt and was told that the Takhar group was not obligated to send me such material that they had sent the retainer letter that was required by law!! I then explained to Mr. Reid that I had attempted prior to our speaking to obtain info on said account from the book club, but could no do so because I did not have an account #. Mr. Reid gave me the supposed account number, and the list of items I supposedly owed for. I had previously been told on the initial call that the Takhar group had no such list! Mr. Reid informed me that there were 2 items listed and no contract fee. I then told him that I found this odd as the particular book club he was speaking of could only be ordered from if one had a membership, which would imply there also being a contract. He found that odd as well and gladly gave me a telephone number to contact the book club. I thanked him for the "help" and proceeded to contact the club that I knew I had never had a membership to. Upon checking their website I was informed that the account number I had given was invalid. I tried again, same thing!! I then called and was told the same thing invalid account number. So I called the Takhar group back, asked for Mr. Reid and was told he had left for the day. So I verified the account number given to me and tried with the bookclub again. Same results. I contacted the Takhar Group a final time and verified the account number for the 3rd time. when the lady gave me the same number I told her I had tried to access the account info online and by phone and was told that number was invalid. She then told me "Oh they won't have it on file because your file has been transferred to us". Not so, the original company would at least have on file that the account had been turned over to a CA. This account simply never existed!!! The woman then asked me whether I intended to pay the account today, because they had to report to the credit bureau by the close of business. This was @ 6pm Central time!! It was after the close of todays business. I told Mrs. Thing that she could mark the account as refusal to pay because this was an invalid account and never existed and I believed that the Takhar Group was attempting to collect a false debt. Seems like a lot of work to try and screw someone over!!! Beware, If this company should contact you I would advise that you be very cautious and verify nothing unless they can provide proper validation of debt beyond a mere retainer letter. Also, I would suggest contacting the company they claim to be collecting for and provide the account # given by the Takhar group. Chances are you'll find out the same thing I did. It doesn't exist!!!!!!