Hello All, I posted a week or so ago about my situation and I haven't received any responses yet. As of today I have received two phone calls and two letters from NCO Financial for basically made up sums after I sent them the cease and desist letter. I consulted a lawyer about this and they want between 200-300 dollars to solve this for me which is more than the amount that NCO and 1&1 is trying to bully me into paying. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to cut the people off without damaging my credit?
How did you sent c&d letter?if they received it their in violation on the phone calls was it complete no mail?Just keep track of them.
Thank you for the response JJGross. I sent them certified mail return receipt. Should I send another letter? How aggressive can/should I be with them? What it looks like they have done is changed the account numbers on the new letters and again- this is not a valid debt because this is for a prepaid service. It seems that I am getting no where with the company and what they are doing is illegal. Should I attack the CA instead to get this resolved?
If it's a prepaid what are they claimling you owe and who you owe.do you have proof that it's paid.you can tell the ca that it was a prepay and see what what they say
Thanks again JJGross. It is a prepaid service. You pay in advance for 3 months of service, 6 months, or a year. I signed up for recurring billing for this service (websites) approximately 2 years ago. In June 2008 my card didn't go through for July-Sept of 2008 on one package and July - December 2008 on another. They suspended service and then sent me to a collection agent around late June. I just started hearing from them in July. I contacted the original company and they sent me all these emails that are simply confusing. They are claiming that it is a valid debt because I signed up for recurring billing. Since they sent me to a collection agency versus contacting me, I don't want to do business with them at all. So I canceled the accounts in July and despite all this I am still being hounded. They want me to pay for July - December 2008.
I just had my oxygen supplier call and my card didn't go through.All they did was call me.I would think that a phone service would use the phone.You can try to neg with them,if they email you that's not a safe way to go your computer could have crashed.try to resolved it.
Thanks Again JJGross. I would have appreciated a phone call from them. I just want the situation to be dropped. I no longer want the service because they sent me to a CA instead of calling me. It was due in June and they gave it to a CA in June. I am not nor have I ever received service for the July-Dec period, but they are trying to make me pay for it by giving it to a CA. The OC has been very nasty to me via email and on the phone. Sadly I am not the only one they have done this too. It seems to be the way this company operates.
I have decided to send another cease and desist letter to the CA. Should I follow through with reporting them to other agencies? This will be my second cease and desist letter.
Just send NCO a letter that they have violated the law by not honoring your first C & D, and your are going to sue them. They will crawl back in their hole. If they are reporting, dispute the TL's -
The bill is for the transaction which they couldn't bill you for. Unless you CANCEL before the billing date, your next term begins. If they can't bill for the service, you STILL received services from the attempted BILLING date, and the WEEKS following the BILLING date BEFORE they suspended the account. In this example, you are being billed correctly. Now, my example with a VOIP company is dramatically different. Service was initiated on the 30th, THEY BILL on the 1st, even if your billing cycle just started the day before. TWO weeks into the billing cycle *THEY SUSPENDED SERVICE* despite having been pre-paid *TWO* more weeks service beyond the suspension. and despite them SUSPENDING service, they continue to bill for services they are refusing to render (and I refuse to provide new billing information to pay for 5 months of service which they refused to provide, especially when they've short changed a total of 3 weeks of services which were paid for). In your case, the billing period began BEFORE the suspension, which means that the bill was VALID. In my case, the billing period began 2 weeks AFTER the suspension. Oh, the best part, they have officially replied that they will not CANCEL service, unless the months of service they refused to provide are paid for; even though they've not provided all of the service which they were paid for.
Now, I'm not saying to let NCO off the hook... Go after them with double barrels, sending a certified letter to their executive offices, with a suit that you intend to file... You don't need a lawyer to draft the suit, and in Federal Court, you can file 'In Forma Pauperis' if your income is not sufficient to afford the filing fees. So send them the suit for violating the C&D, and in a month, go to the court and file. With a C&D, you have a fairly simple suit. On date @ time (you can get the time from USPS.com), NCO received the C&D letter via Certified Mail, tracking #. On date (@ time), NCO wrote/called to continue collection activity.
From personal experience, 1&1 *DOES* contact you, via e-mail, they typically send you at least 3 or 4 e-mails before suspension of service (it depends on the service type being billed for, since one service type has a longer suspension window, another in-house e-mail goes out for those cases). 1 the initial invoice (in 7 days, we'll bill your card on file). 1 the initial the transaction didn't go through. then at least 2 more outstanding balance notices giving you the time line for SUSPENSION of the account. It is customary for web hosting providers to send most if not all of their communications via e-mail.
JLynn and Jam, I wish I had read this before sending the 2nd cease and desist. Would it be too late for me to still file? Also how does that work? I have never done anything in court before. I file in my county right? @Jam I only received the one invoice. The thing is all my information was the same - my card number address etc. I did send them a cashier's check for the last two weeks in June and they told me that they ripped it up. At any rate I did cancel in July and still haven't heard anything.
Sending a second C&D can only help, you, since it shows that you told them not once, but TWICE that they were to stop communicating on this matter. Do you have a copy of the cashier's check? If you have a copy of this, you have proof that you made the payment, if they chose to destroy it, that's their decision... (Although their invoices do tell you to not mail a payment, it would be intelligent to RETURN the payment uncashed as opposed to destroying the payment.) You can still draft the suit, and send it CMRRR to the executive offices. The suit is a little bit more than the simple version I posted, but not much. You can find a good example, citing NCO by going to the FTC web site, and searching for NCO, and bringing up the suit against NCO for violating the FCRA in their reporting. It'll give you a template to work from. You'll need to make some changes, for instance, that suit is mostly for FCRA violations, you'll be pursuing the FDCPA. You'll be pursuing the suit as an individual consumer, not as the FTC pursuing administrative actions. You'll need to make those changes. The next section is the simple part. On an unknown date, 1&1 referred an account to NCO. On xx/xx/xxxx, they wrote a dunning letter, mailed on xx/xx/xxxx (postmarked date, if available), received on xx/xx/xxxx. Said dunning letter included the requisite notice of my rights to demand validation in accordance with the FDCPA. I disputed the account, and told them to cease communications. Said notice of dispute and cease communications was sent via certified mail return receipt requested, on xx/xx/xxxx, and was received at xx:xx am on xx/xx/xxxx. They continued communicating on xx/xx/xxxx (@ xx:xx - if available). They continued communicating on xx/xx/xxxx (@ xx:xx - if available). They continued communicating on xx/xx/xxxx (@ xx:xx - if available). They continued communicating on xx/xx/xxxx (@ xx:xx - if available). Then list the counts, for each communication after they received the C&D, add an additional count, while you can only get $1,000 in total, it'll help to show a pattern, of violating. Count I For the communication at xx:xx on xx/xx/xxxx, NCO continued communications after being told to cease communications, in violation of Section 805 of the FDCPA. ...
Here are 2 email that I've had tremendous success with when sending DV letters: mike.barrist@ncogroup.com - he's the president and lisa.signore@ncogroup.com - she's the general counsel. I've had 2 deletions based on emails to these 2 village idiots. Remember, NCO settled a 1.5M lawsuit in the not distant past. Don't screw with any of the other bottom feeders in the executive offices. Send Directly.
Hello Jam and Old Marine. Thanks for that info. You have both been a really big help. At least in shoring up my confidence in dealing with this. @Jam I do have a copy of the cashier's check. It was done in triplicate and I have the bottom copy. When all of this happened my first instinct was to settle it and get it over with. I know that they require the credit card for the recurring billing, but like I said my card wouldn't go through and everything was fine on my end, the banks end etc. Long story short I bought the cashier's check to clear this up for the time I received.
I want to thank all of you for offering your advice. The situation was resolved in my favor. I just got a letter today. I am so happy that this is over.
Thats good news you just have to have patience.and thanks for the follow up so few people let us know what happens
