Question:
Has anybody had any experience with talking to people at collection agencies?
Do they give them any training to be nasty and not listen to what they
are told?
I have been breaking my head trying to explain to them about a bill that
has been paid but the Medical center made a mistake about the dates. But
they keep repeating the same thing again and again:
The date of service and the date of the benefits don't match
They just drown your voice and keep repeating the above. Do they think
that if they repeat enough number of times it will become true or are
they told that if people are harassed they will pay just to get out of
the harassment.
I think these are the rudest people that I have talked to. Also they keep
threatening you that you would be reported to the Credit reporting agency.
This is probably their trump card which they always like to bring up.
If they call at my house and my wife tells them to call me at the office,
they rudely say that "you ask your husband to call me and we are not
going to call him. It is your credit rating at stake. If you do not
tell him to call us we will spoil your credit rating". All of this is
said in a very rude manner.
My question is:
Is there something that they could be told that would cause them
to behave properly or are they beyond anything?
Answer:
Q:Has anybody had any experience with talking to people at collection agencies?
Do they give them any training to be nasty and not listen to what they
are told?
I have been breaking my head trying to explain to them about a bill that
has been paid but the Medical center made a mistake about the dates. But
they keep repeating the same thing again and again:
The date of service and the date of the benefits don't match
They just drown your voice and keep repeating the above. Do they think
that if they repeat enough number of times it will become true or are
they told that if people are harassed they will pay just to get out of
the harassment.
A: What you're running into is that collection agencies aren't paid to
arbitrate disputes; they are paid to collect money that a client has
virtually written off as uncollectable. Their getting paid is solely
of function of getting the deadbeat to pay; they get no reward for
determining that there was an error.
Q: I think these are the rudest people that I have talked to. Also they keep
threatening you that you would be reported to the Credit reporting agency.
This is probably their trump card which they always like to bring up.
If they call at my house and my wife tells them to call me at the office,
they rudely say that "you ask your husband to call me and we are not
going to call him. It is your credit rating at stake. If you do not
tell him to call us we will spoil your credit rating". All of this is
said in a very rude manner.
My question is:
Is there something that they could be told that would cause them
to behave properly or are they beyond anything?
A: The "book answer" is to inform them that you don't owe the money, that
any information that they have to the contrary is wrong, and if they
do report you to a credit agency based on this misinformation, that
they may be committing libel. The problem is that they've probably
heard that line too, and they figure that if it comes to that, they're
defense would be that it was an honest mistake and not a malicious act
on their part.
The only realistic way to get them off your back is to go back to the
people who reported you to them in the first place and see if they
can straighten it out with you, and get it in writing (e.g., a letter
saying that you owe them no money for services, etc.).
There's no easy way out because there's no way to negotiate with
these people; they're not paid to negotiate, there's no benefit
to them to negotiate, and the mentality of the kind of person who
works in that kind of job is one of "don't care".
