Please Hold for an Important Message...

[dr_mabeuse]

Nothing to do with sex, religion, politics. This has to do with bill collectors who call you up with a recorded message that tells this is not a sales call, but an important message about your account; and that you should call some number. They don’t identify themselves, don’t tell you what it’s about; just that you’re supposed to call them.

My question is: is this legal? Is this fair? Do these calls meet the legal requirement of notification porior to appending late charges or—worse—disconnecting some service? How are you supposed to know that these calls aren’t pranks?

Worse is when you get a machine calling you and saying “All our operators are busy. Please hold for an important message.” and then just leave you there while dinner’s burning on the stove. How can they legally expect you to wait on the line when they don’t even identify themselves?

With all these great literary issues occupying my mind (“come” or “cum”?), I occasionally miss a payment or two (ahem), and I’ve noticed that these companies start dunning you right away these days. I don’t mind paying what I owe, but it seems to me that these tactics are not only thoughtless and impolite, but possibly illegal as well.

Any legal scholars out there?

---dr.M.

 

[shereads]

Duly noting how embarrassing it will be if I'm the only other person in the forum who's ever experienced one of these calls (only one, back in 1997), I couldn't let the thread just sit here.

I don't have anything to say about it right now, but if you'll hold until later, one of my representatives will return to the thread with an important message.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Nothing to do with sex, religion, politics. This has to do with bill collectors who call you up with a recorded message that tells this is not a sales call, but an important message about your account; and that you should call some number. They don’t identify themselves, don’t tell you what it’s about; just that you’re supposed to call them.

My question is: is this legal? Is this fair? Do these calls meet the legal requirement of notification porior to appending late charges or—worse—disconnecting some service? How are you supposed to know that these calls aren’t pranks?

Worse is when you get a machine calling you and saying “All our operators are busy. Please hold for an important message.” and then just leave you there while dinner’s burning on the stove. How can they legally expect you to wait on the line when they don’t even identify themselves?

With all these great literary issues occupying my mind (“come” or “cum”?), I occasionally miss a payment or two (ahem), and I’ve noticed that these companies start dunning you right away these days. I don’t mind paying what I owe, but it seems to me that these tactics are not only thoughtless and impolite, but possibly illegal as well.

Any legal scholars out there?

---dr.M.

Notification that you have missed a payment or that you are about to have a service disconnected is not required by law. In other words doc, they don't have to let you know you are in arreas. Most companies will try to contact you because they aren't really interested in turning your service off, they just want their money. Credit card companies and other creditors are also behooved to try and contact you before they start slapping late and finance charges on you to make sure it isn't a mistake on their end, but the law dosen't require them to do so and some seem to make a habit of putting the onnous on you to tell them when they have screwed up.

In the case of collection agencies a computerized voice telling you that you must call back is patently illegal. Before they can begin to harass you fulltime they must speak to you or write to you and make sure that you have been notified that the debt exists and that they have been contracted to collect on it.

As an aside for anyone who might not know, a collection agency has no right to harass you, contact you or in any way do anything with or to you. If you are contacted by one you can simply say I have never done buissness with you and do not wish to hear from you again, should you contact me again I will report it to the state attorney general's office. Once you do that they will cease to bother you, they are bound by law to cease and desist if you tell them to.

-Colly

 

[reohoko]

Ok, I have to tell you a story (it would be hilarious if it didn't happen to me).

My phone, never gets answered very much anymore. Here is why:

Every day I get bill collectors calling me. I have bill collectors calling for the people that owned my house before me, the people that rented my house before, the people that owned the house I rented before this house (I stayed in the same town when I moved so my phone number stayed the same), I have bill collectors calling for 3 credit cards (one because they didn't discontinue his card and now they want a $100 dollars for a 12 yearly fee they were not supposed to charge because he DISCONTINUED his card - they other two because that was back when he was in the hospital and I can't fix the problem yet).

The calls are almost always machines, and many of them are the "Please hold for an important message".

No one beleives that those people do not live here (one of the people I get calls for is even dead from what my old neighbors told me). I just let my machine answer the phone. I got tired of being called a liar when I said the people didn't live here and that I didn't ever know them to know where they lived now.

I don't know if it is legal, I can't afford a lawyer to ask one. LOL I would call it harressment, personally, but since I don't even answer my phone, it doesnt' really bother me anymore.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Ok, I have to tell you a story (it would be hilarious if it didn't happen to me).

My phone, never gets answered very much anymore. Here is why:

Every day I get bill collectors calling me. I have bill collectors calling for the people that owned my house before me, the people that rented my house before, the people that owned the house I rented before this house (I stayed in the same town when I moved so my phone number stayed the same), I have bill collectors calling for 3 credit cards (one because they didn't discontinue his card and now they want a $100 dollars for a 12 yearly fee they were not supposed to charge because he DISCONTINUED his card - they other two because that was back when he was in the hospital and I can't fix the problem yet).

The calls are almost always machines, and many of them are the "Please hold for an important message".

No one beleives that those people do not live here (one of the people I get calls for is even dead from what my old neighbors told me). I just let my machine answer the phone. I got tired of being called a liar when I said the people didn't live here and that I didn't ever know them to know where they lived now.

I don't know if it is legal, I can't afford a lawyer to ask one. LOL I would call it harressment, personally, but since I don't even answer my phone, it doesnt' really bother me anymore.

It is harrassment and it is illegal. You cannot be contacted and harrassed about debts that don't belong to you. I would suggest this tac, the next time one calls and you tell them the person dosen't live there anymore as soon as the open their yaps again ask for their name and the company they represent. They cannot by law refuse to identify themselves or their company. Once you have a name and company name tell them that the person dosen't live there, you are considering this due notification that you do not wish to be harrased any longer and that should they call back you will send a complaint to the State attorney General's office and the better bussines beaura.

It isn't fool proof, some people working for the companies are too stupid to realize the impled threat, but in general most companies will cease and desist ater such a warning. If they persist just type up a letter of complaint and send it to the State AG's office. They will persue it for you and the harrassment will stop eventually.

-Colly

 

[reohoko]

Oh, COOL!!! I will do that but I hate waiting for the machine to get to the people part.

thank you!!!!

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Oh, COOL!!! I will do that but I hate waiting for the machine to get to the people part.

thank you!!!!

No problem,

I had five roomates in college and not oneof them could balance a checkbook, much less deal with the rest of their finances. I hate phones, but when ours started ringing off the hooks and the calls were all for their creditors I did some research. I then began to impersonate my roomies when the collection agencies called. If the person calling is the actual company, go the State Ag route. If it's a collection agency, just tell them you have never done buissnes with them and don't wish to be contacted again. It sounds so simple that it couldn't work, but in my experience so far it has worked every time.

-Colly

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Years ago I worked in a furniture store in a poor part of town. When things got slow, the owner would have us call delinquent accounts, asking for payment.

The thing was, the owner also called people whose accounts were paid in full, demanding payment, and a certain percentage of them would just send in a check. They’d lost their payment books, or hadn’t kept them up to date, and really didn’t know how much they owed, or whether their accounts were paid out of not. They just paid.

This was clearly illegal, but the owner did it anyhow. The cost of a phone call was cheap, and if he were challenged he just apologized for making a mistake and hung up. And it’s surprising how many people paid, and kept on paying. I distinctly remembered a woman who'd bought a sewing machine and paid for it for years and years.

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

I distinctly remembered a woman who'd bought a sewing machine and paid for it for years and years.

Gawd, that is so sad. I became utterly dejected over the political/death penalty discussion and came here for solace, Mab. I think that's tragickle irony. Must go find a hankie.

Pedita

 

[Guest]

I have caller ID, so unless it's a number that I recognize, I just don't answer.

I've had the bill collectors to call before, luckily it's been quite awhile since I had that problem. Personally, I think if they want to notify you about an overdue bill then they should send you a letter. Repeated phone calls do nothing but annoy the hell out of you and do NOT make you pay any faster.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Telephone answering machnes serve two functions. One is to record phone calls when you don't answer the phone for whatever reason and the other is to screen calls. If people are calling yu and they know you will talk to them, they will announce themselves when the time comes to record. You can ignore bill collectors and telephone solicitors and other nuisances, and delete their messages. The problem is when they call you at work. That is illegal if you tell them not to but they do it anyhow.

Colly, chances are the statutes of limitations have run out on the debts you are being called about anyhow. I don't know where you live but in California it is four years.That doesn't mean they won't try to collect anyhow, but if you can point that out, you might run them off.

If I get a phone call from a machine, I always hang up, once I know it is a machine. I don't even listen to find out what it is about because I know I don't want to deal with the people on the other end anyhow.

 

[Boota]

I was being harrassed by a company that I had financed a car with. I made my last payment and thought it was all done, but they sent me another bill for $1.37. Instead of complaining, I knew they were wrong, I just wrote them a check for the $1.37 and thought that that would be it. I was wrong. They sent me another bill the next month with interest on the $1.37 they said I didn't pay. It was now over $3.00. I figured it wouldn't take long to accumulate a serious bill at that rate, so i called to get it straightened out. Of course, they couldn't admit they were wrong and gave me a huge runaround. I agreed to pay the $3.18 in full and that would finish our business. To make sure that they were done fucking with me, I got a big piece of cardboard and 318 pennies. I taped one penny to the cardboard and wrapped the tape all the way around the cardboard. Then I laid the next penny beside it, on top of the previous tape, and wrapped it around again. I did this until I had the whole sheet of cardboard covered in pennies and scotch tape. Sure, it cost me almost $10 to mail it, but it ended my business with those people.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Hey Boota,

the next time you make a final payment on something mark Paid In Full onthe check prominently. If they cash it then they canot ask for more money.

-Colly

 

[dr_mabeuse]

If I get a phone call from a machine, I always hang up, once I know it is a machine. I don't even listen to find out what it is about because I know I don't want to deal with the people on the other end anyhow.

This is what I was really asking about. Say they're going to turn off your service unless they receive payment in X days. Is it legal for them to give you this "Please hold for an important message..." business? Is it legal for them to call without indentifying themselves and just tell you to call some number? Does that constitute due notice prior to termination of services?

---dr.M.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Gawd, that is so sad. I became utterly dejected over the political/death penalty discussion and came here for solace, Mab. I think that's tragickle irony. Must go find a hankie.

Pedita

When I saw what went on in the furniture business, that's when I realized that I would never be a businessman. See, I learned that a businessman is not someone who buys something for 5 cents and sells it for ten. A businessman is someone who buys something for 5 cents and sells it for 5 dollars, and feels good about it.

These people I worked with were not monsters, but they assumed a real caveat emptor attitude when it came to making money; a real visceral pleasure in exploiting the main chance. I just never had that fire for profits in my belly. I knew I'd never be a businessman.

These are the people who put pop-ups on your computer selling pop-up removal software. These are the guys who pay for TV infomercials on diet supplements and get-rich schemes and just sit there and lie, hire actors to give testimonials, and just tell absolute, sleazy, underhanded lies; who have no qualms about charging $149.95 for three cents' worth of vitamins that no one needs anyhow, and get rich off it.

Of course, not all businessmen are this bad, but these are the guys I always think about whenever I hear someone extolling the virtues of laissez-faire capitalism.

---dr.M.