I've been contacted by this company and OH BOY. The first time, I was informed that this was a legal office, NOT a debt collection agency. I asked for a bill, so that I could contact my old insurance company and see what happened. The agent said that it had been too long and they probably wouldn't be able to get that information. They did, however, send me their own bill on their own "letterhead" which didn't give me any actual information. After talking to a lawyer friend of mine, I sent them a letter that asked them to send me verification of the debt, aka a bill from the original owner of the debt. I sent this letter by certified mail, and asked that they also send me the verification by certified mail. I got the return receipt, and for a month, got no calls. Now, it's January, and they've started calling. I've been keeping a log of when they call, and the moment they get past the "This is David Reitman calling to collect a debt," I simply say that they need to send verification of the debt by certified mail, and until then, they need to stop contacting me, and then hang up. They've gotten pissy with me, and also offered to "make me a deal," but I've yet to see legal proof that I owe them money.
And you should be reported to the authorities for theft of service for non-payment of your past due invoices! No different than robbing a store, you robbed my client of monies owed for services rendered!
Validation is required per the FDCPA. As a law firm you should be aware of this requirement. If you are indeed ready to ligate, you should have no problem validating the debt.
Try contacting them and seeing what exactly its in reference to. Some times insurance companies don't remit payments on your behalf and the next thing you know, your in collections, it may be an oversight and/or you may not have realized that your policy had a deductible and or didn't cover full amount.
Stop claiming Fraud! The issue here is that your 1199 Union or insurance failed to provide payment on your behalf, it is not a discount! It is a settlement offer. It is used to mitigate the amount of time and money being spent on the account (by us) and to offer substantial savings to yourself so that you will be more likely to pay and put the matter to rest. By law our client has the right to pursue the "full amount" owed and again, we work on the belief that what our clients send us is accurate. If you can provide proof that the acct is paid and /or that you are not responsible, our office would be happy to remove the acct from our system and put the matter to rest. Not facing the phone call will not resolve the matter and I advise you to answer, work with the individual calling so that the matter can be cleared up once and for all. Good luck.
I suggest you call them back, get the details and work with them. They can provide more detail and info in relation to the debt so that you can confront the company that "placed" you into collections.