Collection Calls from Transworld Systems
Feb 27th, 2010 by Alex
Over the past six days I’ve received as many collection calls from Transworld Systems. I’ve missed most of these calls, but strangely they continue before the voice mail prompts and have been recorded.
This is an important message from Transworld Systems. The law requires that we notify you that this is a debt collection company. This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. Please call David Beakler back today at toll-free 1-877-294-4662. When calling us back, the reference ID is 18482550. Thank you. Goodbye.
All calls have been made to my cell phone. All calls reference the same point of contact (David Beakler) and reference ID (18482550). All of them are automated, utilizing one of three different synthesized voices (an American female, badly encoded male, and European female).
The messages themselves vary slightly in content, but seem to correspond to the voice synthesis used. The badly synthesized male voice usually says that the call is “about a personal business matter” while the European female voice relays the toll-free number a second time.
Until this morning, the different voices were used with unique telephone numbers. Now it seems that things are being mixed up a bit.
02/22/2010 14:06 EST, 877-294-4662, American female
02/23/2010 17:52 EST, 866-273-0169, poorly encoded male
02/24/2010 11:04 EST, 866-376-5647, European female
02/24/2010 08:18 EST, 877-294-4662, American female
02/25/2010 08:06 EST, 866-273-0169, poorly encoded male
02/26/2010 08:09 EST, 866-376-5647, American female
So, here’s the problem. I don’t have any debt.
I pay my bills. I haven’t been missing any bills that I was expecting. To the best of my knowledge all of my insurance claims have gone through without a hitch. I haven’t received any communications or correspondence from my providers, all of whom have my home address and telephone number. I would think that most providers (be it a doctor, lab, whatever) would make an attempt to contact me directly before turning the bill (and percentage of the account) over to a collector. Frankly, there aren’t any bills that I’ve had that are big enough to warrant turning half over to a collector.
There is a second possibility, however. Over the past month, I’ve received two calls for someone else. Both from medical institutions. I chalked it up to a miss-dialed number the first time, but when a woman from a surgeon’s office called and left a long message I figured that the patient had recorded the wrong phone number on his paperwork. I called the surgeon’s office back and left a message explaining that her message did not reach her intended recipient, thinking that the patient might not be getting important test results. I offered to provide more information if she cared to call me back, but she never did. Now I’m thinking that the patient intentionally used a different phone number to help skip out on the bill. I’m pretty sure he didn’t use my name on the paperwork, since the second call from the surgeon’s office references his name specifically.
So, what to do?
Return the calls and try explaining to the collection agent that they’ve got the wrong person? I’m sure they’d heard that before. Or just call and verify the source of the debt? I have no intention of forking over my personal information until I’m sure they’ve got the right person; they’ve already got my phone number, so there’s no harm in calling back from that (rather than a pay phone). Or is there? Or do I just ignore the calls entirely?
Any ideas, Internets?
Call them and tell them. The info that they’re number of record is bad is useful to them. You may need to go through some BS before they correct it, but bottom line is that it’s better for both parties here to get the record corrected.
The Consumerist has just such an article for you!
http://consumerist.com/2008/07/how-to-protect-yourself-against-aggressive-debt-collectors.html
http://consumerist.com/2009/08/how-to-fight-back-against-debt-collector-ninjas.html
http://consumerist.com/2009/11/judge-makes-debt-collection-firm-pay-stranger-115-for-dragging-him-to-court.html
You’ll probably end up having to send a Cease & Desist letter under the terms of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You’ll have to actually talk to the people on the phone to find their address. end the letter by registered mail. Then, if they keep calling, you might have to take them to court.
You can try to call them, but usually this does not dissuade them. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you have to send a formally cease and desist letter, samples here (http://bit.ly/4ZU4SZ) for them to stop. Make sure you send it certified. If they do not, then you can seek punitive damage of $1000 per violation under the FDCPA.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre18.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcrajump.shtm
As mentioned above, if they’re not a “good” or “friendly” debt collector you’ll probably need to send a certified letter to them. After they’ve received it you can sue them for money if you really want, but I have always found it works best to report them through the FTC’s website and tell them that every time they call you illegally you’re reporting their company to the FTC for infringement of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. That usually stops them within a few calls (money speaks).
Good luck!
[...] collection calls have stopped. As I suspected, it was a simple case of my phone number being on the wrong [...]
This almost exact same thing has been happening to me lately, including the doctors offices calling me (thinking I’m someone named Ian or Ethan). I haven’t called anyone back, but it’s starting to annoy the f out of me. I just thought that Transsystems was a complete scam, so I was ignoring them, but maybe I should call them back?