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Within the past week, United Recovery Systems has called me at least 4 times on my cell phone. I believe they have called me before. On at least two of these occasions, I answered the phone and told them they had the wrong number and to take my number off their list.
This morning, they just called again. I again told them to take me off their list because they had the wrong number. I hung up but then called them back and told them the problem. I have now been put on hold for 15 minutes, listening to their music. I will hang up soon, but this is very annoying.
Mr. Wynn from United Recovery Systems has called my home phone, my wife's cell phone, and my cell phone (twice), and when I returned his call, he was "out to lunch." All he left was a file number. It would make more sense to call once, wait at least a day, then try other avenues...
I work for this company. I would like to take the time to explain a lot that I can't while I am working. URS is a company that has been in operation for over 30 years, it is one of the largest, and the FDCPA, GBLA Act, and strict Corporate regulations define what we can and cannot do. Essentially our job is to recover a debt in the least possible time as far as possible towards 100% of the debt. That doesn’t mean you have to pay it all now, or all of it at all, talk to the rep about it.
Some states have laws that override federal laws (FDCPA) but generally we can do all of the following:
Contact 1 time per day at any given number (or re-contact if no answer)
Home, cell, place of employment, relatives, neighbors (nearbys), multiples (same last name), associates (indicated on the credit bureau – CBR) and any other possible source of LOCATION INFORMATION (even the bar, minimarket, local – use your). But these third parties may be contacted only once unless we believe that in the meantime they might have acquired further info. There is a lot more to this and there are some limitations and variations that I can address in the future, but I don’t want this to be too long.
If we have a valid contact this STOPS – if you don’t answer the phone or call back it will continue. This is NOT harrassment. When we make a call, if we are unsure the number is a HOME or CELL phone for the consumer we will leave a very generic message that does not imply that a debt is owed.
Anybody we talk to, even at a home number, we will not imply the nature of the call except a "personal business matter" as we do not want to embarass anyone and it is against the FDCPA. Many people pry and want to know what it is about. Give us a break, we don't want to waste time either and we cannot disclose that information to anyone except the consumer, his/her spouse (with the exclusion of some states), attorney or any person that consumer may delegate, we have to record that permission before discussing.
If you say you are the person we are looking for, we are going to ask for a second verification either confirming the mailing address (a po box is fine) the last four of the SSN, or date of birth. This is for your protection. We have all this information anyway, not confirming justs wastes your time and doesn't solve your problem.
By the way – collection agencies are not subject of do not call lists.
Answer the phone, call back, be polite – we will too. We are here to find a solution, be sure there will be one within your capabilities. If it is not YOU we are looking for, sorry, tell us that and you will receive no further calls if we can define that you are a third party with no information.
Being a 3rd party collector we are not allowed to threaten like 1st party, most experienced collectors do not want to anyway. The new hires are usually pretty fired up, but we keep a close eye on them and they usually have an experienced collector next to them on one side or another. Sometimes a collector might seem rude but time is of essence, we have all heard every story, we will listen, but we have to make decisions quickly that take into consideration many things. The consumer (yes, we actually care), The client (original creditor), our company, and ourselves. Yes, we know something bad happened, we don’t need the raw details, we just need to find a solution.
Remember - your problem is not ours, we did not cause it, we are only here to find a solution that does not cost you a penny, there are no charges to you for the services our clients (creditors) pay for.
URS has been calling me for 2 years -- they always ask for someone named Stephanie Horn. She's not me and I have no idea who she is. Every time I politely explain they have the wrong number and to update their files. Without fail, I receive another call.
So - to the person to works for URS, the problem IS yours. URS clearly has horrible record keeping practices and poor customer services. I've tried being nice and being stern. I have asked to speak to a manager who always promises to me that they will update the records -- to no avail. The worst part -- The calls are coming into my cell phone during the day, so I'm paying for these annoying calls!
Serioulsy! Two years of this harrassment! What am I supposed to do?
Ms. DuneBuggy, Ma'am? This Stephanie horn person is obviously in collections for a good few credit cards. in all honesty it would not surprise me if she has 3-5 different accounts in the urs system, she has used your phone number as one for the applications and or has had it in the past and called in to the credit card company. and it got planted on all of the files that urs gets. be polite and just tell them that they have the wrong number and your name. wrong numbers can be reset to good contacts if there is no information attatched to them. names to other people besides the card holder attatched to a wrong number will not generally.
I also have got such calls from past few days. They are disturbing me so much that i am planning to sue them. I have got some more infos on their torture from this website too http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/collection-agencies/answering-machine.html