The other right you have is they have to disclose this to you in writing and you have a certain time frame after you receive it to respond. You have rights.one of those rights is they must disclose the information they have about the account. In my case, they couldn't press it because they knew that legally they'd lose, so better to cut their $20-30 loss and focus on the next person to scare.īottom line, never let a collection agency scare you into doing anything. Apparently with these transactions they can't really do anything to you anyways.there are two ways companies go about collecting money.this way and the old-fashioned way of a corporation handing a case off to a collection agency in the event of a real-time delinquency. That was three years ago and I haven't heard anything from them again and nothing ever appeared on my credit record. I got a lot of angry language about them ruining my credit if I didn't pay, but I simply ended the conversation. I called them back and stated I had talked to AT&T, and that I had been a customer of both Cingular and AT&T for many years and they had NO record of me ever being late.furthermore, if I was still an AT&T customer, you'd think they would have records of that, but they didn't. The theory is these collection companies figure they can scare enough people to actually make a profit, and I'll tell you that they were very rude, deliberate and pushy, even when I was trying to work with them. Some of the debts were actual debts, others were mis-matched balance sheets. I supposedly owed $200, and this company likely paid a few dozen bucks for the debt, and the permission to "recover" what they could. ![]() Unfortunately, when Cingular was absorbed into AT&T, rather than going through the expense of auditing the erroneous accounts, they simply sold off the "overdue" accounts to any companies that wanted to buy the debt, for pennies on the dollar. Had the company not merged, they would have annually gone through each system and audited them to make them match. Many of these are just accounting errors since most large corporations have two or more systems that keep track of the various charges. I called AT&T back and they stated that my old Cingular account number would have probably been changed, but they didn't indicate I had any late balances.Īfter making more calls, I found out that when companies the size of Cingular and AT&T merge, they often have un-accounted for balances. In 2006, Cingular had been bought out by AT&T. The only AT&T-related company I could come up with was Cingular, with whom I had my cell phone with. I did more research and discovered that I had GTE and Sprint as landline carriers in 2002 (I lived in Alabama). They ran my SSN and transfered me to each of their business units that I had accounts with over the years, and no one knew where this debt came from. I called AT&T, and the number I had been given didn't match any of their numbers. I checked my credit too, and didn't notice anything stating that AT&T had written off anything. So I asked them for the amount I owed, the account number they had and any other particulars (including what division of AT&T this was coming from). 9 times out of 10, they are simply out to scare you into paying something.Ĭase in point, a few years ago I got a call from a collection agency saying I owed a couple hundred bucks for an AT&T bill dating back to 2002. Don't pay them anything until you do your research. If you're contacted by one and you think you don't owe anything, ask for the details on the alleged account information, then hang up. If you choose to do business with this business, please let the business know that you contacted BBB for a BBB Business Profile.Īs a matter of policy, BBB does not endorse any product, service or business.2 on the collection agency issue. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.īBB Business Profiles generally cover a three-year reporting period. However, BBB does not verify the accuracy of information provided by third parties, and does not guarantee the accuracy of any information in Business Profiles. ![]() BBB asks third parties who publish complaints, reviews and/or responses on this website to affirm that the information provided is accurate. BBB Business Profiles may not be reproduced for sales or promotional purposes.īBB Business Profiles are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment.
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