| May. 30th, 2009 @ 12:35 am (no subject) |
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Today I had what I think is a bill collector call. I say "think" because they left a message that I cannot decipher and the number that comes up on my caller ID looks like a sort of "main" number that just goes to a call center or whatever. I have no idea who called or why, all I heard clearly is they are trying to collect some kind of debt and that I needed to call them back "by the end of the day today". Naturally I got the message at midnight and will have to wait the weekend. I have no idea what "debt" they're talking about, as to my knowledge I am current on all my bills. I have received no written communication and am inclined to dismiss it for that reason, but I know better than that.
Several years ago, I was current on a payment agreement with a credit card, and then one day out of the blue I got a very harassing phone call from someone at a collection agency who threatened me with all kinds of dire consequences if I did not pay them immediately. When I mentioned to them that I had not received written communication that the debt had been transferred or that I needed to make new arrangements and therefore would NOT be paying anything over the phone whatsoever, they pretty much freaked out. It turns out they were legit enough -- I got a letter some three days later. But still, I prefer written communication.
Especially in times like these, where the message was so garbled, I couldn't have hardly known if it was a bill collector or someone like my grandma. Which would be a challenge, really, since my grandma died quite some time ago. Also, and this is just a pet peeve of mine, the caller ID info gives a number which is most certainly not really connected to them and the "name" portion of the Caller ID says "No Name". These are calls of the worst sort. I mean, if the IRS wanted money from me, the ID would says "Internal Revenue Service". Even if they're just a collection agency, I need to know that. Putting "no name" or "toll free svc" or whatever just alerts me that this is a call I might not want to take (for the record, we were both out when the call arrived). I really don't know what to think about all this. I mean, I'm inclined to say that if they want money from me, they should be required by law to identify themselves, but you know, I'll bet it has something to do with privacy laws -- that way my roommates or whoever don't need to know that I'm getting calls from a debt collector. But you know, it's not like all that many people call with such vague (or missing) caller ID. I mean, "Unknown Caller" is a pretty well known pseudonym for such companies.
My plan is to call them on Monday (the "main number") and try to figure out if I can get to a real person who can tell me what is going on. Any other advice would be appreciated, if ya got it. |
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