Hello , everyone I hope somebody can give some advise on this issue: An account for a cell phone that I used to have was sent to a collection agency ( last year ) I pay thru the phone via debit card and for some reason I was charge twice on my bank statement theres one charge directly to the cell phone company and 3 days after a charge to the collection agency. I can prove this charges with the bank statements. I been calling both the phone company the collection agency, but they just keep telling me that will investigate. I have copies of all my bank statement I never got a refund for this double charge and it is about $4oo.oo Can someone advise what is the best way to try to resolve this. Regards
I'd file a claim in small claims court against the CA. The argument I'd take is that as soon as the phone company, the debt was settled and the CA had no claim to make a withdrawal and they should give you your money (and court and collection costs) back. I also wouldn't hold my breath on seeing the money for a while.
Well, maybe and maybe not. I think that depends on how you go about it. If I were doing it I think I would probably prepare my case and an intent to sue letter asking them whether they want to pay up or would they rather you filed the case in court. I'd point out to them that if they prefer that you file the case against them you will be only too happy to do so but the costs will escalate dramatically. So if they pay up now they can pay just $400 but if you file there will be court costs of about $200 (or whatever the cost actually is) plus $50 for service of summons and 5 hours of attorney time at $200 an hour which would make the total come out to $1650 plus interest at the legal post judgment rate until collected. If you case is well prepared and looks professional they just might capitulate quicker than might be imagined. If not then go ahead and pull the trigger. I've found that to be a pretty effective tactic. I've never used that against a collection agency but I'm about to do so rather than just go file a federal case. Of course, if they don't want to settle for the statutory $1,000 then I will do just exactly what I threaten to do and won't waste any time doing it. This time it is against the collection agency that tried to collect $116 from me for an ATT phone bill. I sent them a demand for validation and they sent me a really great set of proofs direct from ATT showing exactly what the charges were for. I refused to pay and when I refused to pay they sent it to another collection agency. I got the initial contact letter from the second collection agency offering to settle the claim for $45 yesterday. Of course, I'll send them a validation demand before the 24th of January and see how many violations they want to commit.
