Daily, my home phone rings with nuisance calls from various states and local numbers. Mailings are worse.
My husband received a statement dated April 9th from AssetRecovery Solutions, LLC saying he owed $4,79.68, and that the account had been referred to their agency for collections. Friends cautioned me to follow up on it.
I worried the erroneous bill would affect our credit rating, so I went to our local police station. An officer took my name, listened to my complaint, and went into the back of the station, probably to run a check on me. He returned for the mailing. The second time he came back into the lobby, he asked, “What year is your car?”
“Two thousand twelve,” I said.
He left again and returned a third time. “Are you leasing a car?”
“No,” I replied. “We bought our Focus at Rice & Holman, but it’s paid off. We bought my husband’s truck from a friend.”
He sat down at the table in the lobby next to me. As he scanned at the back of the mailing, I said, “We’ve never had any dealings with Providian Bank or those other companies.” Thirteen businesses were listed under Resurgent Companies.
The officer said, “You should call them.”
“I didn’t call because I don’t want them to have my phone number or any more information about us.” I was tired of scammers, spammers and incorrect billings.
He stood up and said, “Come with me.” I followed him into the back and accepted the seat opposite him at his desk. “If you call from here, they won’t get your number.”
While looking at the mailing, he punched at the old school phone with extra buttons on his desk, then turned the dinosaur around to me. It rang without me touching it. It was on speaker-not so old school.
I was put on hold and expected to be sitting in a police station for the rest of the morning. But, after two seconds, someone answered. I told them what I had told the officer. The person asked for my hubby’s name and the ID number on the mailing. Then said, “Do you know the last four digits of your husband’s social security number?”
I looked over at the officer typing on his computer. He shook his head.
“No,” I lied.
“Is your husband’s birthday April 9th -?” I didn’t pay attention to the year.
“That is incorrect.” No lie.
“We must have the wrong person. I apologize for the mistake. You won’t receive any more mailings regarding this.”
The officer hung up, and I said, “Thank you so much for your help. If my mother had received that mailing, she’d be very upset.”
He turned his desk phone back around to face him. “That’s a problem. Older people sometimes pay it.”
I said, “I get calls all the time too.” Could the officer do anything about those?!
“Everyone does.”
I guess that was his way of telling me he couldn’t stop the calls. He added, “Never put money on a card and mail it to a solicitor. Ignore IRS calls. They’d just take what you owe them from your account.” I appreciated his concern, even though his information wasn’t new.
Had the police station come up on AssetRecovery Solutions, LLC’s caller ID? Maybe that’s why they didn’t put me on hold for long. Thinking over this possibility, I left the police station empowered.
Until I got home. Diagnostic Pathology Consultants had sent me another erroneous bill. I picked up our home phone and called my health insurance company, again.
No kidding, Dawn! This is atrocious. It happened to my mother-in-law. Unfortunately, she told us about it AFTER she paid money out. What a scary world we live in. I'm so sorry to hear you were [or still are] swept up in this. My heart goes out to you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Victoria. It's taken care of now, but it took up my time, and caused me such headache dealing with it, that it is an injustice.
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