Post by "Pop" Stran on Jan 19, 2005 13:36:32 GMT -5
The first step to protecting your rights is Indetification.
According to the '91 Phone act (which BTW applies more directly to telemarketers than collectors, but some issues are fairly universal) and the Fair Debt Collection Act (FDCA), the caller must identify themselves by name, as well as the company for whom they are calling.
This is a business call, and must be conducted in an appropriate manner.
When the caller opens with,"Hello miss jones. I'm calling regarding your overdue payment in the amount of $94.59 to the Ace phone company", you should first Keep Your Cool.
Reply immediately with," May I ask your name?" and when answered, "And the company you work for?"
You should be taking notes at this point...Once a call turns sour, it's nearly impossible to collect this info after-the-fact.
*Note that the caller is forbidden to block their company name and/or phone numbers from CallerID.
Should you have this service, also note that data once the call is completed.
For any business, Time Is Money.
Engaging the caller (both collectotrs and telemarketers) in a question-and-answer banter not only offers you the chance to swing a little power in your direction, but it ties them up much longer than they expected for this call.
Be pleasant. Be meticulous.
Ask for the company's address...and, "How's the weather in Tampa today? We're getting a little rain here."
One of the goals at this point is to retain control of your telephone and the calls made to it.
Will this annoy most collectors and telemarketers?
Most Definately.
They are both trained to take & keep control of a conversation, and your manner will weed out those un-professional callers and bring out their dark side.
They will label you a "Space Case", and make attempts to grab your attention.
A real pro won't allow you to bring the call to a personal arena...They will respond with patience and persistance...but the true professionals aren't the reason for these boards.
When you find yourself in a phone conversation with a collector or telemarketer who seems to be heating up...Keep pulling them further into the personal arena, and away from the business at hand.
Don't insult them too seriously, and control your language...but DO have fun with it.
You're Winning...and They Know it.
As an explaination, allow me to offer the following example:
When I moved from Maryland to West Virginia, I changed banks.
After transferring the funds, we closed the account at Provident by phone, and was told there was about $3 remaining at the time...no big deal.
Account's closed...and soon forgotten.
About 9 months later, I got a call from a collection agency stating that they had "tracked me down" after "skipping town to dodge this debt".
To say that I was puzzled is putting it mildly...but the manner of this collector was even more intriguing.
Judging from the accent and vocabulay, she was an older southerner with limited education both in life and in her current field of employment.
It turned out that my closing the Provident acct with a few dollars remaining had violated some bank policy, and they had not only refused to close it, they had also been assessing my acct for fees...to the tune of $380 so far.
After engaging her in about 20 minutes of banter (and taking careful notes, of course) she began to get very heated.
Her voice had gone up a few decibels, and the accent was getting thicker...I think the questions regarding her limited training had gotten under her skin...She tried for the umpteenth time to steer my attention back to the reason for her call, and force a direct answer from me.
Clearly she had had enough...and she slipped.
During the ninth round of explaing the debt to me ( "I'm sorry, I know you probably told me already, but How did I come to owe this money?"), she used the terms "skipped town to avoid a debt" and in case this wasn't clear enough..."deadbeat".
*I should note that she did not directly call me one, but in the heat of her frustration she let her hidden thoughts slip.
She didn't rile me (I've been called worse...Who hasn't?), but I told her that the tone of the conversation had gone quite negative, and asked to speak to her supervisor.
She refused this request of course...While not too sharp, she wasn't too slow to realize she had gone (been pulled) into the grey area of the law, and it was getting darker.
BTW: They never refuse outright, but instead will lie about the availability of their supervisor.
No problem; I expected it. After 6 years of managing a construction crew, I was used to being lied to...and was very good at spotting it before it was even said.
She wasn't about to try to explain her behavior to the boss.
I asked for the supervisor's name and title, and told her that I had another call to make now...Goodbye.
Now first of all, the debt was valid. Unfair, Yes...but still valid.
My first call was to the client, Provident bank. Using the last statement I had, I tracked down the customer service dept of the main branch.
I explained the circumstances behind the supposed debt, and then the collector's call.
I repeated the terms that we both knew were illegal, though I faked ignorance of the law...Some decisions come faster and easier when you allow the other person to think it was their idea...all you need to do is just steer them toward it.
I expressed my severe disappointment in Provident's methods of trying to collect this debt.
("...and as soon as I hang up I'm calling my son in the State's Attorney's office to ask him about it".)*
*Yes, I knew they weren't responsible or even aware...but it's not an apology I want, it's action...and I got it.
After much apologizing, and sharing the info I had collected on the agency, that call was finished.
My next call was the agency itself to give them a whiff of how close their employee had put them to a libel suit, just to see which way they jump...but I didn't get to make that call.
I had left the phone off the hook for about 10 minutes,
( I expected Provident's Customer Service manager to be calling, since dealing with the agency falls on his desk, and the rep I had talked to would very likely run my complaint to him...Not being able to get through on the first try allows them to sweat a bit more ["Well, he did say he was calling the State's Attorney's office"...])
and the moment I hung it up to get the dial-tone back, it rang...it was the Customer Service manager.
Two things had happened in those ten minutes:
First, the agency had just fired the rep who made that call...she was clearing her desk as we speak, and Provident had excused the debt...wiped my slate clean.
I feigned a little mild shock at the agency's decision, and thanked him very much for the clean slate.
After another apology on behalf of Provident bank, we both agreed that the matter was closed.
The moral of this story is simple; The telephone was yours before it rang, and no caller should be allowed to make you feel powerless with abuse or harrassment.
You Don't Have To Take it.
According to the '91 Phone act (which BTW applies more directly to telemarketers than collectors, but some issues are fairly universal) and the Fair Debt Collection Act (FDCA), the caller must identify themselves by name, as well as the company for whom they are calling.
This is a business call, and must be conducted in an appropriate manner.
When the caller opens with,"Hello miss jones. I'm calling regarding your overdue payment in the amount of $94.59 to the Ace phone company", you should first Keep Your Cool.
Reply immediately with," May I ask your name?" and when answered, "And the company you work for?"
You should be taking notes at this point...Once a call turns sour, it's nearly impossible to collect this info after-the-fact.
*Note that the caller is forbidden to block their company name and/or phone numbers from CallerID.
Should you have this service, also note that data once the call is completed.
For any business, Time Is Money.
Engaging the caller (both collectotrs and telemarketers) in a question-and-answer banter not only offers you the chance to swing a little power in your direction, but it ties them up much longer than they expected for this call.
Be pleasant. Be meticulous.
Ask for the company's address...and, "How's the weather in Tampa today? We're getting a little rain here."
One of the goals at this point is to retain control of your telephone and the calls made to it.
Will this annoy most collectors and telemarketers?
Most Definately.
They are both trained to take & keep control of a conversation, and your manner will weed out those un-professional callers and bring out their dark side.
They will label you a "Space Case", and make attempts to grab your attention.
A real pro won't allow you to bring the call to a personal arena...They will respond with patience and persistance...but the true professionals aren't the reason for these boards.
When you find yourself in a phone conversation with a collector or telemarketer who seems to be heating up...Keep pulling them further into the personal arena, and away from the business at hand.
Don't insult them too seriously, and control your language...but DO have fun with it.
You're Winning...and They Know it.
As an explaination, allow me to offer the following example:
When I moved from Maryland to West Virginia, I changed banks.
After transferring the funds, we closed the account at Provident by phone, and was told there was about $3 remaining at the time...no big deal.
Account's closed...and soon forgotten.
About 9 months later, I got a call from a collection agency stating that they had "tracked me down" after "skipping town to dodge this debt".
To say that I was puzzled is putting it mildly...but the manner of this collector was even more intriguing.
Judging from the accent and vocabulay, she was an older southerner with limited education both in life and in her current field of employment.
It turned out that my closing the Provident acct with a few dollars remaining had violated some bank policy, and they had not only refused to close it, they had also been assessing my acct for fees...to the tune of $380 so far.
After engaging her in about 20 minutes of banter (and taking careful notes, of course) she began to get very heated.
Her voice had gone up a few decibels, and the accent was getting thicker...I think the questions regarding her limited training had gotten under her skin...She tried for the umpteenth time to steer my attention back to the reason for her call, and force a direct answer from me.
Clearly she had had enough...and she slipped.
During the ninth round of explaing the debt to me ( "I'm sorry, I know you probably told me already, but How did I come to owe this money?"), she used the terms "skipped town to avoid a debt" and in case this wasn't clear enough..."deadbeat".
*I should note that she did not directly call me one, but in the heat of her frustration she let her hidden thoughts slip.
She didn't rile me (I've been called worse...Who hasn't?), but I told her that the tone of the conversation had gone quite negative, and asked to speak to her supervisor.
She refused this request of course...While not too sharp, she wasn't too slow to realize she had gone (been pulled) into the grey area of the law, and it was getting darker.
BTW: They never refuse outright, but instead will lie about the availability of their supervisor.
No problem; I expected it. After 6 years of managing a construction crew, I was used to being lied to...and was very good at spotting it before it was even said.
She wasn't about to try to explain her behavior to the boss.
I asked for the supervisor's name and title, and told her that I had another call to make now...Goodbye.
Now first of all, the debt was valid. Unfair, Yes...but still valid.
My first call was to the client, Provident bank. Using the last statement I had, I tracked down the customer service dept of the main branch.
I explained the circumstances behind the supposed debt, and then the collector's call.
I repeated the terms that we both knew were illegal, though I faked ignorance of the law...Some decisions come faster and easier when you allow the other person to think it was their idea...all you need to do is just steer them toward it.
I expressed my severe disappointment in Provident's methods of trying to collect this debt.
("...and as soon as I hang up I'm calling my son in the State's Attorney's office to ask him about it".)*
*Yes, I knew they weren't responsible or even aware...but it's not an apology I want, it's action...and I got it.
After much apologizing, and sharing the info I had collected on the agency, that call was finished.
My next call was the agency itself to give them a whiff of how close their employee had put them to a libel suit, just to see which way they jump...but I didn't get to make that call.
I had left the phone off the hook for about 10 minutes,
( I expected Provident's Customer Service manager to be calling, since dealing with the agency falls on his desk, and the rep I had talked to would very likely run my complaint to him...Not being able to get through on the first try allows them to sweat a bit more ["Well, he did say he was calling the State's Attorney's office"...])
and the moment I hung it up to get the dial-tone back, it rang...it was the Customer Service manager.
Two things had happened in those ten minutes:
First, the agency had just fired the rep who made that call...she was clearing her desk as we speak, and Provident had excused the debt...wiped my slate clean.
I feigned a little mild shock at the agency's decision, and thanked him very much for the clean slate.
After another apology on behalf of Provident bank, we both agreed that the matter was closed.
The moral of this story is simple; The telephone was yours before it rang, and no caller should be allowed to make you feel powerless with abuse or harrassment.
You Don't Have To Take it.