I got a message from "Johnathan Rivers". He left a message for my wife under her maiden name(married for 6 yrs). He claimed to be calling on behalf of the local county court. He warned that he will have someone from her office stop by my home to "serve" my wife. In his message he reffered to a dockitt number. He tried very hard to sound official and intimidating. A short conversation with the local courthouse clerk's office identified him as a bottom feeder collection agent. When I called back the number he left, the lady answering the phone claimed that they were not a collection service, but a "mediation firm". When I asked for the name of the layer or law office that they do business under, she hung up. Nothing but scumbag liars, don't give them any money..
So the other evening I got a call from a "No Caller ID" number on my phone. Of course, I know better than to answer there calls as they are normally telemarkerters of some sort. The corresponding message was from a "Johnathan Rivers" who was an employ of my local County Court office and was tasked with serving me papers. His message informed me to call 816-396-5536 and reference a docket number as I was being served papers at my place of work and home (flag one, serving at my home AND work? there was no OR in there).
Since this was right about 4pm I waited until the next morning to begin my calls starting with the number he gave. There I was transferred to a "Frank White" and he informed me that I was being sued for breach of contract for an old Credit Card debt. I gathered as much information from him as possible but since it was early and I hadn't had my morning coffee and I was at work (prior to 7am) i was a bit rattled. But I gathered myself and got what information I could from him and he stated that he was from Asset Retention Services and they were an arbitration/mediation firm and were not directly involved in the suing. He was there to try and keep things out of court and hopefully settle at best. Since I was "cordial" with him he said he woudl do what he could to lower the out of court settlement amount as much as possible but they could only do a lump sum payment. I told him I would have to get back to him and see what was possible.
This is when I started the research, No such "Johnathan Winters" works at the Count Court office (flag number 2) or ever has, No such person works at the local PD and No such person works at the local Sheriff's Office (flag number 3). Doing some googling there is no such company that I could find as "Asset Retention Service" and the number brought up this page and a few others (flag number 4). That afternoon I got a call from a "Dave Simmons", since it came up with a "No Caller ID" again I let it go to voicemail. I still had the VM from the "server" "Johnathan Rivers" and low and behold it is the SAME VOICE/PERSON (BIG FLAG 5). At this point I knew what was going on and the debt they were trying to collect on was past the states statute of limitations for debt collection.
The next morning (this morning) I contacted them again asking for "Dave Simmons" and as was immediately transferred to "Frank White" when the girl said she could not find his number and asked for the docket number. After a 15 minute conversation with "Frank White" gathering information on what they had, when they had a documented last payment, etc. I informed him that I was a bit confused as I could not find any documentation in MY RECORDS about the credit card, I had talked to 3 different people and was confused who I was to deal with, etc. When he asked for the names he informed me that "Yes, I have a Johnathan Rivers on my company roster he is in fiscal it looks like (oops) and I can't find a Dave Simmons but I do have a Dave SIMON. I talked to him yesterday about his docket and I guess he may go by Dave Simmons." LOL, this started the downward spiral for him with me stating I did not remember that credit card debt, I was confused as to who I was supposed to talk with, I had called the local PD and SO and no one by that name works for either, and that according to the state statute of limitations for debt collection, a credit card (considered and OPEN-ENDED account) has a limit of 4yrs and since he stated the last payment/collection notice was from Sept of 2006 that we were WAY past that collection time. I then asked if I could have the Law Firms name that was representing the case and the lawyer that would be responsible so that I may contact the firm directly. He said that he did not have that information as it had not been filed yet and thus a firm had not been selected (wait didn't I get a call from Johnathan Rivers saying he was going to serve me with papers and that processing had occurred? This can only happen if someone is officially suing you and a law firm is already representing).
At this point he became aggitated and stated that he was just trying to help me out and that if I wanted to take this to court then fine. He was sure that with the information stated I would be able to win the case so no worries on my part. At this point I stated that I would like it not to go to court (just playing with him now and I am sure he knew it) and was just trying to gather information so that I could be sure that all my ducks were in a row should it actually be mine. It was at this point he said "Fine, then I will go ahead and file the litigation for the court action." and he hung up.
So, when dealing with these guys....
- don't give out any information they don't already have
- don't admit to owning the debt
- know your states Statue of Limitations on Debt Collection (lots of info on it out there)
- Get as much information as you possibly can from them along with their name, company information, the law firm serving, lawyer that is responsible, etc.
- don't promise them anything (best to play dumb "sure I would love to take care of this out of court but I need to check my finances)
- most of all keep your cool and do your best to out-smart them
I luckily work for state Dept of Public Safety so I have access to all worker names, when I told him that in my state and county (aside from the two largest) documents to be served are done by local PD or the SO for the county. By their company stating that they are serving papers on behalf of my County Court office they are in essence impersonating an officer which is a punishable offense.
These people are nothing but scumbags trying to frieghten people into paying for debt that no longer may effect them. Play it smart and they will leave you alone completely.
My mom actually received a call from this number two weeks ago for me. How they got her number is beyond me. But, I called it back. The lady who answered the phone said "legal department", immediately I thought oh my goodness. She stated I owed a past credit card in the amount of $1868.31. For one, I never had a credit card with a limit over $500.00 but I figured it was combined with collections fees. I went along with it, since I knew I owed on a card. However, a couple days later I received a call for a 727 area code saying "we received a returned merchant not attached with your location and drivers license number." Of course, I tried calling it back. Funny though, they hung up on me! Several days after that call I received a letter in the mail from Asset Retention Services with a docket number and the $1868.31. That same night my mom called me saying I had another letter from Asset Retention Services same docket number but with half the amount. Also note, the letter at my moms says for a loan. The initial call and my letter at my home address was about a credit card. I immediately called the credit bureaus to put a flag on each one and also ordered my credit report. Well, on Friday, I received another call from 816-396-5536 saying that I need to make further arrangements to take care of this debt. I started asking questions as to who originally held my debt, contact information and date the debt was open. The lady I spoke with gave me the name of BancFirst (spelling she gave me), a sixteen digit card number, and the account was opened 19 May 2003. I might be dumb but, that's 11 years ago. I kept asking her why now all of a sudden is this supposed credit card wanting payment and why isn't there anything on my credit report that shows default somewhere 30-60-90 days after the card was initially opened. I was hung up on. I called three more times and spoke with a man who says "what's going on" and then I hear a doorbell ring. The man states, "can you hold on a minute". I continued to ask same questions and got nothing but once the account has been sold to collections company, the initial debtor does not have further information on you. I went on to ask about why it was not showing on my credit report. I was again hung up on. These scum bags need to get a real job and leave everyone alone!! Just really not sure how to get them to stop. I have already reported Asset Retention to the Federal Trade Commission. Hopefully, that's enough. This number and company will be reported next if I continue to receive phone calls and letters.