how to stop harassing calls from collections agency?

[doritos]

basically NCO financial is calling me everyday for the past few months begging for me to pay the stupid skytrain ticket that never existed to me because I never took skytrains back in the day. The calls have been getting worse, these fuckers are calling my house at 7am in the morning. Is there anyone I can report to or is there a way I can get them to stop?

I've tried blocking anonymous private calls with my Shaw phone. The problem is, the Shaw phone blocking feature resets everyday so that does not work for me. Thanks!

[Qmx323]

mail them a signed letter stating that further communications must be done through physical mail.

here is more info.

Debt Collection Complaints

[08civicsi_coupe]

pay it!

[doritos]

Originally Posted by Qmx323

mail them a signed letter stating that further communications must be done through physical mail.

here is more info.

Debt Collection Complaints

thanks very much, I've been needing something like this!

[jepho]

Originally Posted by Qmx323

mail them a signed letter stating that further communications must be done through physical mail.

here is more info.

Debt Collection Complaints

Exactly this. And if they continue tell them you'll file a formal complaint for harrasment.
They'll stop
They are so persist ant cause if you pay the people who collect make money...commission style.

[Renxo]

tell them its a new phone and wrong number they wont bother you again lol

[Glove]

1) dont have a house phone (whats the point anyway?)
2) get iphone
3) download app called iblacklist
4) everytime someone calls me that I dont like, put them on the blacklist app, and they get a busy signal everytime they call.


Solved all my telemarketer problems

[aphextwin]

Ask if they can put you on the do not call list?
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[snails]

pick up the phone and hold a key on the keypad until they hang up!
they are usually wearing headsets, this wont be a good time for them


i did it to my bank for a week.. they were calling to tell me someone else had accessed money in my account.. oops

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by snails

acceced

Such an appropriate smiley.

[snails]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Such an appropriate smiley.

sorry, was typing and not paying to much attention

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by Renxo

tell them its a new phone and wrong number they wont bother you again lol

doubt that. they'll make a few bait calls pretending to be someone else to see if it's the right person still...they have ways of tracking you down. especially if it's a home phone they'll try to ask for your relatives to ensure there's a connection to you.

written consent to stop calling is the best way. when they call you can tell them all future correspondence is to be via mail as well, but they might not follow through until they get a letter.

[Jason00S2000]

NCO sends me a card every Christmas!

[GLOW]

^-

[Mr.HappySilp]

Tell them the person they are looking for move and give them some fake phone numbers (such as fire stations, non emergency police line)

[vafanculo]

"Cease and desist". If they care about their collectors license, they have to stop contacting you. Also, tell them you only want written communications.

Lying and saying that the person has moved will only work for so long. They have skiptracers, and their job is to access variuos databases to find your contact information. Eventually, the calls will start again.
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[Mr.HappySilp]

Not if it is a call phone number!
Or put gay porn on speaker whenever they call in.........

[nsmb]

http://www.revscene.net/forums/66976...llections.html

[Renxo]

it really depends on the collection agency... not all have skip trace, but written cease n desist letters are def the best way to go if it's a personal phone....

If it's a workplace you can just tell them do not call your work. That is enough.

[ynot-llat]

if you have an android phone, download blacklist and add their number. done
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[Presto]

An article popped up, on CBC, on the subject on annoying collection agency calls.

Employees of one of Canada's largest debt collection agencies, iQor Canada, have routinely and sometimes knowingly contacted people who did not owe debt, a practice for which the company has been fined several times this year, a CBC News investigation has found.

Hundreds of complaints have been filed over the past few years about iQor Canada to provincial consumer affairs agencies, the federal telecommunications regulator CRTC, and the RCMP Anti-Fraud Squad, many stemming from repeated phone calls to people who don't owe any money.

Former employees told CBC News about calling non-debtors — including relatives of debtors and unrelated people with a similar last name to a debtor.

"We would just keep calling them and calling them and calling them,” a former employee told CBC News.

The insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that in some cases the debt collection agency only had the last name of a debtor and would call everyone with the same last name in the general geographical vicinity.

“[The company] just pays us to call them and we call them and we don’t bother with if it’s honest or not," said the former iQor worker.

The former employee said he believed some people even paid for debts they never owed.

“People paid bills they had no idea where they came from just because they wanted to unblock their credit, or stop being called," said the former employee.

Company 'regrets inconvenience'
IQor Inc., the New York-based global parent company, refused to comment on specific cases due to privacy regulations.

In a written statement, the company said, "iQor takes seriously any call placed to a wrong number and regrets the inconvenience caused to any consumer as a result."

The company said it has recently developed a "statistical model" to identify likely wrong numbers.

Another former employee, Sunny Bakshi, said that while most calls made by iQor employees were to people who owed money, almost one-third were to non-debtors. He said part of the problem was caused by overzealous managers focused on debt collection quotas, plus a commission incentive system for collectors.

“It became … the whole type of militant scenario where they just wanted calls, calls, calls, money, money, money," said Bakshi, who worked as an iQor debt collector for six years. He's currently suing the company for unpaid overtime.

Bakshi noted that inaccurate information from creditors can also lead to the collection agency pursuing the wrong people.

"Sometimes some employees would continue to badger these people because they could be the third relative or they could be the neighbour," said Bakshi.

Many Canadians have erroneously received recorded phone messages from iQor Canada — which operates call centres in Montreal, Cambridge, Ont., and North York, Ont. — for more than a year.

“I don’t think they care about anything as long as they can get some money," said Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers' Association of Canada. "The only weapon they have is intimidation."

Robert Buisson of Laval, Que., said he was harassed by iQor Canada for a year and a half over a $90 Rogers bill in his father's name that had already been paid.

Calls from the collection agency continued even months after Buisson's father died.

“There's no respect at all,” said Buisson. “The law is, you're innocent until proven guilty. And in their mind, you're guilty, you know?"

The calls only stopped when Buisson complained to Quebec's provincial consumer protection agency.

Randy and Nina Walsh, a Toronto couple without any debt, were also targeted by iQor Canada and received calls several times a week for eight months.

"The calls were nothing short of harassment,” said Walsh. “After about four or five months, the calls were driving us crazy."

The couple says they repeatedly told the agency that they were mistaken, but the calls continued until the Walshes contacted the Better Business Bureau, which convinced iQor it was the wrong number.

Emanuel Carvalho of Markham, Ont., who received persistent voicemail messages from iQor for more than six months and says he's never been in arrears in his life, believes the company should not be harassing people unnecessarily.

"They better get their act straight and indeed find out who [are] the real people they should be contacting,” said Carvalho. “That is their job.”

Fined across the continent
Alberta and Quebec have slapped iQor Canada with a total of $25,710 in fines for violating provincial regulations this year.

Quebec fined iQor Canada $12,510 in February for several violations of their consumer protection regulations, such as continuously contacting a non-debtor, failing to correspond only in writing when asked to do so and failing to respond on time to an information request.

Alberta also fined the company for a total of $13,200, including for restitution, related to several cases that included collecting money from someone who didn't owe it, calling someone excessively to the point of harassment, pursuing a debt after the statute of limitations had expired and calling a person more than three times in a week.

Cran believes fines should be increased to serve as more of a deterrent for companies and that the federal government should handle debt collection regulation due to scope of the problem.

“There should be heavy, heavy fines available,” said Cran.

The American subsidiary of iQor, Allied Interstate Inc., was fined $1.75 million in the 2010 by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for its alleged attempts to collect debts from debt-free individuals, "harassing phone calls" and the use of "abusive language.”

Following a high-volume of complaints in the United States, supervision of debt collection agencies is slated to fall under a federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for the first time starting in January of 2013.
source

[GLOW]

sounds like a scumbag company. i swear some of the people that work for collections agencies really enjoy the harassment and get off on it.

[Glove]

with any kind of smartphone these days, there are blacklist apps, this shouldnt be a problem for people anymore.

Last night an insurance agent called me and asked me if I was going to renew my motorcycle insurance for the winter, I said obviously not, she then tried to sell me storage insurance. Proceeded to hang up, one more number to the blacklist.

I have no clue how she even got my fuckin number, but I know il never have to hear from her again.

[Psykopathik]

remember these collectors buy your debt from other companies, its in their best interest to keep hounding people. but fuck, when they are wrong, they better back the fuck off.

[Mancini]

Originally Posted by Glove

with any kind of smartphone these days, there are blacklist apps, this shouldnt be a problem for people anymore.

Last night an insurance agent called me and asked me if I was going to renew my motorcycle insurance for the winter, I said obviously not, she then tried to sell me storage insurance. Proceeded to hang up, one more number to the blacklist.

I have no clue how she even got my fuckin number, but I know il never have to hear from her again.

The key word here is "renew". You gave them you're number during the original transaction. They are legally obligated to advise you that your coverage is expiring.
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