When I moved in to my current resident some 10 years ago the cable company misspelled my name. How they managed to turn a 4 letter name into a 7 letter monstrosity with only an initial “R” and no vowels in common has always been a mystery.
But it always alerts me when an entity; spammer, scammer, mass marketer contacts me using that misspelling, that they bought my name from the cable company lists.
Today Lockhart Morris contacted me using this name saying I owed money. These people used the non-existent person’s name. I asked who I owed it to. They could not tell me, only that it was a “finance company.” The only thing I have ever financed is my car and that is long paid for and I hold the title. I traded in my old car, which was also paid for, as the down payment 16 years ago.
And my cable bill is automatically deducted and paid up.
They did not have my real name so I asked them what address they had. They didn’t have one. They could not tell me, only that it was from a finance company. I asked when the debt was incurred; they could not tell me, only that it was from a finance company.
Did some checking and this company is in Texas. Did some more checking and it turns out Texas is a haven for illegitimate and semi-legitimate debt collectors. Scam artists. Despite what the Lockhart Morris employee has been paid to post in this site, a legitimate company would have my correct name, my correct address, the name, and date of any legal debt; and this boiler-room phone bank lacks all of those.
I live in alaska and was just informed by my sister that a message from a John Essel was on my parents" machine (where I used to live until now) and that he had talked to me last February, but for the life of me I don't remember ever talking to anyone based in Dallas. I've only even been to Dallas one time in my life, and as far as I know my finances are in order and creditors I owe I'm paying. Hmm... If something happens, who should I report this to?
John Montgomery and John Essel, are one in the same. He is not a lawyer as he claims. The company he works for is Lockhart, Morris and Montgomery. Their website is LMMCOLLECTIONs.COM. Though, I've heard him use other names and research on the Web reveals others have had him misrepresent the company name (such as in this thread). If you've ever conversed with him, you will also notice his accent changes. From slight to thick Texas accent.
He will make all kinds of threats. Threats that you should be aware, he can not, will not follow through on.
Let me put it out there, right now. I DO owe a debt. However, I had a major medical emergency (13 hours of open heart surgery), late last year, that has left me disabled since. I can't work. So the only money I get, is disability. I was trying to keep up with my bills, but trucking school debt, was not high on my list. Putting food on the table, utilities, car payments... you know... essentials, came first.
So earlier this year, I start getting these calls and hangups on my voicemail in the morning, before I wake up. My ringer is off when I sleep and if you can't leave a message, then its obviously not important enough. One day, he called at a reasonable time, so I answered the phone. His name was John Montgomery, he was a lawyer (he claimed) and they were going to sue me, if I didn't pay them the money I owed my creditor. I politely told him my situation and offered to make a payment arrangement with him. No, he said... they want the full balance ($800.00) paid now! Again, I explained my situation and would be more than willing to set up some arrangement to send them what I could, every month. He became even more irate, went off on an angry rant for several minutes and again threatened to sue. At this I laughed, knowing damn well they weren't going to sue me for $800.00. So I started poking back. "You're a lawyer huh? Well, my uncle happens to practice law in Texas. Former Asst District Attorney, maybe you know him." At this point he started dancing around. He knew that he had been caught in his lie.
So our conversation was basically over. I told him, when he was ready to make arrangements, to call me back and we would talk, otherwise don't bother me and I hung up. He immediately called back and before he could get 2 words out of his mouth, I again told him, "Sue me or call back when you're ready to make payment arrangements". 4 months roll by and I get a call from a John Essel, real polite, warm southern drawl. He wants to set up some arrangement with me. He then however, tries to dictate the terms and insists on giving them my banking information... but don't worry, they'll only take out the set amount, every month. I told him straight up, what I was going to send, when I was going to send it and by no means, were they going to get my bank info. He said he needed to send me a copy of the agreement and asked if I had a fax. I told him to send it to my mailing address, which he already had. A week later, I receive a form from them, asking for my banking information. No payment agreement... just a form. For those of you that don't know. Don't EVER fill one of these out. They WILL attempt to take full payment out at once and its perfectly legal for them to do so. They instead, got a cashier's check sent to them the same day, to the address on the form.
Don't believe their lies, don't fall for their intimidation. They are not going to sue you, get your license revoked, destroy your career, etc. They aren't anything other than a collection agent. They aren't staffed with lawyers, they're staffed with people making a commission on a debt collection. Tell them the terms that are agreeable to you, that you can work with. If they can't live with that, at the time. Tell them to call back when they are ready.
This number call me 2145226424 me talking about being me to court on my voice mail I don't know
how are these people getting my number but this is the 2nd time I have chnage my number for harrsement. And his name is Zack