WATCH OUT FOR THESE CRIMINALS....! I worked at this company and everything they do there is illegal. They purchase all of this debt and pay the collectors 20% per payment. They tell us to represent ourselves under false aliases and threaten check fraud by reciting the laws that govern the state that the debtor tive in. We used to refer to ourselves as "investigators" and pending warrants on every debtors answering machine, and threated to issue a summons by a local sheriff through the magistrate court. They are CLEARLY breaking the law. If they call you DO NOT PAY THEM...GET A RECORDER AND SUE THEM FOR WHAT THEY ARE WORTH!!!!
Don't let these unprofessional slobs aka debt collectors intimidate you. Send them a cease and desist letter which you have every right to do under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Better yet fax it to them at: 404-249-9599 and tell them to stop contacting you. By law they can call you one more time to let you know that they may take legal action. And don't lose sleep over that threat either. Unless you owe tens of thousands of dollars, this outfit ain't going to court over a couple hundred bucks. They can't afford to. They are just trying to recoup the money they paid to buy the debt. If they continue to contact you, record the phone calls and file a complaint with your state's attorney general.
Well, we could probably get a class action suit going. I have never heard of anything so unprofessional as this outfit. Everyone has the right under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to send any debt collector a cease and desist letter asking them not to contact you any further. Fax it to them and keep a copy of your machine's verification report. Here's the fax number: 404-249-9599. After I faxed my letter to them, some smart [***] called me right back and said that they were going to take legal action. Any debt collector can call you ONCE after they receive the cease and desist to tell you they may take legal action. THAT'S IT. They cannot call you anymore and if they do, record the phone calls for evidence. Get in touch with your state's Attorney General's office and file a complaint. And don't lose any sleep over their empty threats to take legal action. For the small amounts they are trying to collect, it would cost them more than it's worth. This place will be out of business before long. The sad thing is they will get back into business under a new name.
Also, has anyone noticed the posts on this site from what appears to be employees and/or the owners of Vandenberg, Chase & Assoc. They are easily recognized: they are the ones telling you to "just pay the debt." What a racket!
Guys, don't let this small time operation intimidate any of you. Under the FDCPA, you have the right to send what is called a cease and desist letter requesting that Vanderberg, Chase & Associates stop calling you. Fax it to them at: 404-249-9599 and keep a copy of your fax machine's transmission verification report. If you can't fax it to them, then send it to them via certified mail, return receipt requested to: 887 W. marietta St. NW, Ste J102, Atlanta, Georgia 30318-5266.
Once they receive your letter, all they can do is call you ONE MORE TIME to let you know that they MAY take legal action. And they will, but don't lose any sleep over it. These small time jerks don't have the funds to take you or any of us to court over such small amounts of money.
And the people who are posting here using multiple pseudonyms claiming that you should just go ahead and pay the bill are merely Vandenberg, Chase & Associates employees. These people will be out of business by the end of the year if not sooner.
If they continue to harass you after you have sent a cease and desist, record every call as evidence. Call your state's attorney general's office and report them. DO NOT LET THESE UNPROFESSIONAL P*R*I*C*K*S INTIMIDATE YOU.
One trick collection agencies are doing today has nothing to do with the original contract. I doubt if Vandenberg is that smart. They sure have not proven anything to me except the fact that their methods of collection will get them into deep trouble. I've seen these type of collection tactics before.
Anyway, the trick the collection agency does is to have an attorney file a complaint with the courts. They could do it themselves if they knew how. Again doubt if they are that smart. Once the complaint is served on you then you have like 20 days to file what is called an answer. What happens is people most of the time ignores the complaint. Once you fail to respond a judgement will be entered against you. This judgement can be enforced. Wage guarnished. Property seized and so on. What I have seen many times is the compliant will simply state breach of contract. The reason that this is done most of the time is because the debt is usually time barred or it's beyond the statute of limitations in which you can be sued for the debt. Check your local state laws.
The idea behind this type of complaint is for the collection agency to get that judgement against the person. It's a trick that does work. In many cases you can get the judgement vacated or thrown out but that's going to cost you money to do that. And by that time it may be to late and the court may have already issued the writs to guarnish your pay or seize your property.
I'm just giving you some in-sight on at least one of their options. I agree with what has been said on this board. It's obvious Vandenberg has no clue on how to run a collection business. If anybody from Vandenberg is reading this I personally think your all a joke. I also think your website is a bigger joke. Telling visitors you abide by the FDCPA. I doubt if any of you at Vandenberg can spell FDCPA let alone abide by whats written in it.
In closing I also agree with another post here. It's obvious to anybody that has a brain here to easily see it's employees writing many of the posts written here. I also agree that your life as a collection agency is going to be short lived unless you start following the rules.
Again people... FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION concerning your ordeal with Vandenberg. If enough people file a complaint they will look into it.
Another piece of advice... If enough people don't pay them they will cease to exist. My personal opinion to anybody and everybody is NEVER pay a collection agency.
I received a call from this "law firm" yesterday at my place of work. At no time did the caller "Bob Davis" identify himself as a debt collector or advise me of my rights in regard to the debt collection which he is required to do by law. He told about a check he stated I fraudently wrote over three years ago and that was a crime that they could prosecute me for. When I asked him for more information and something in writing he got angry and more threatening. Nothing worse that calling someone who actually has information on the FDCPA. I don't know what this debt is and he demanded I make arrangements when I have never received anything in the mail in regards to this debt. Then I proceeded to tell him that he needed to send me something via mail and not call me at my place of business again. This made him even angrier. I don't know about this company but this person clearly violated several parts of the FDCPA when calling me. I received an address from him o99f 887 W. Marrietta St. NW Ste J102 Atlanta GA 30318. I will be responding to them via mail, also contacting the FTC and the attorney general because this person was representing himself as an attorney which he clearly was not.