Debt Collector To Customer: “Dear Shit”
It was misadressed to one Shit Face, perhaps purposely.
Blotter:
“Dear Sh*t” read the letter a New York man received from a debt collection company trying to collect a $16.39 debt.
The letter from Nationwide Collections was addressed to “Sh*t Face” and threatened to take the customer to court over the debt, owed to Columbia House, a music subscription company.
According to consumer attorney Kenneth Hiller, “These kinds of abusive practices by debt collectors are common.”
As reported previously by ABC News, the debt collection industry has been under fire for heavy-handed tactics, mostly for harassing phone calls.
Hiller, who has been retained by the Nationwide customer, said this is the first time he has seen a company use profanity in a collection letter.
“It shows a debt collector who’s either very malicious or does not have adequate safeguards,” he said.
Hiller said the customer has signed a sworn statement saying he did not use the offensive term in any of his correspondence with Columbia House.
The president of Nationwide Collections, Phil McGarvey, told the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the account in question contained the offensive name when Nationwide purchased it from another company. McGarvey said the profanity wasn’t caught by his employees because collection letters are sent through an automated system.
McGarvey said the threat of a lawsuit contained in the letter was also an oversight and that his company typically doesn’t sue customers over such low amounts of money.
McGarvey said the company plans to apologize to the customer.
“We regret the offense caused, but it was unwitting,” he said.
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“oversight”? “unwitting”?
Don’t think so. These people are the lowest of the low. They are the slime on the bottom of the scummiest bottom-dwellers.
They use threats, intimidation, lies and high-pressure tactics to prey on the weak and uninformed. People don’t realized that there are strict laws and regulations over the collections industry, and they don’t have to put up with that garbage.
Kahuna
November 13th, 2007 at 6:33 amThen again, if people would just pay their debts their wouldn’t be any problems.
Especially Columbia fucking House, c’mon, don’t be a cheapskate.
November 13th, 2007 at 7:26 am