collectors harassing me

[volmom]

Is there anyway to get the harassment to stop. All other collectors have been playing fairly-only contacting me once per day. One agency calls repeatedly-I have already talked to them 3 times and its only 10:50am. The last phone call the guy screamed that if I wanted the calls to stop then I better pay my bill. I won't be filng until the first week in July.

[momof5]

Your only a couple of weeks off from filing. Just shut your ringer on your phone off and ignore them. There isnt much they can do legal wise in 2 weeks, so your fairly safe.

[sahaley]

ringer off and answering machine on... although I found that they typically did not leave a message

[keepmine]

well you can ignore them as advised but the question is are they OC collectors or CA collectors? If they are CA collectors send them all a C&D and it will stop all contact. Generally I start calling them over and over multiple times a day, I mean I have time to waste why not let them burn thier time on talking to me about nothing.

Hell yeah! Call and tell you won't be paying today. Do that every 30 minutes or so and have a little fun out of it.
Also, get one of those airhorns they use to start track meets and when they call, blast that butthead right in the ear.

[AngelinaCatHub]

OK, anyone with a fax machine? You can set a fax machine up to keep calling and if it is an 800 type call, they have to pay for it. 800 calls are not free, they are paid for by the owner of the phone. I once had a person who caused me a lot of legal problems and noted that when they did not answer within a time, a fax machine was on. I went and found a book on computer and had a modem fax card in and sent them the book. It not only ran the paper all over but it burned the fax machine up. I found this out when I took them to Court. It was cooooool to do. 'Hub

[AngelinaCatHub]

Another thought, get a device to look at the number if you have ID on your phone. 'Hub

[AngelinaCatHub]

Another one, tell the caller "It is my legal obligation to record our conversation now and in the future" That may kill them off. But as spoken above, you are only weeks from relief.

[WhatMoney]

You can set a fax machine up to keep calling and if it is an 800 type call, they have to pay for it. 800 calls are not free, they are paid for by the owner of the phone. I once had a person who caused me a lot of legal problems and noted that when they did not answer within a time, a fax machine was on. I went and found a book on computer and had a modem fax card in and sent them the book. It not only ran the paper all over but it burned the fax machine up.

LOL Now that's real gorrilla warfare. I keep my fax machine turned off for just that reason, since it otherwise would answer after 5 rings.

[WhatMoney]

I use software called PhoneTray, which works with caller ID and an internal modem on your computer, to intercept and route unwanted calls. It works with a regular phone line. The Free version is all that is needed.

http://www.phonetray.com

This is not for technophobes, as there are only limited internal modems that work correctly with caller ID. But they are dirt cheap - I paid $8 for the one that works best with Phonetray. I also get a complete time stamped log of anyone that calls - which can be transfered to a spreadsheet or database for further caller analysis.

I use distinctive rings to ID friendly callers - any wave file you want to use - or use the ones they provide. And for the collectors, they just hear ring, ring, ring, ring... for about 25 rings before a giant Ooga Horn announces the end of the call, and the modem hangs up on them. Because of the caller ID intercept, I hear no rings from them of course. Friendly callers are routed to an answering machine after 4 rings if I don't pick up or am not at home.

Or, they can get any message I program especially for them, like the one that gives the no-connect beeps and then announces that their telephone service has been suspended for non-payment of their bill, and to please contact their local office immediately (in the most sarcastic female telephone company voice you can imagine). I've found most hang up after about 60 seconds of ringing. But it wastes their time and ties up the automatic dialers, who can't distinguish a recorded ring from a voice message, so they just time out.

[Charles245]

a guy screamed at you?

you don't even need money to sue the debt collectors who are harassing you. according to the fair debt collection and practices act, you can sue them for any of this abusive calling type stuff and they have to pay your attorney's fees. go to www.consumercounselgroup.com and e-mail under contact info on that site what happened to you. They will tell you if you can sue the guys.

All you have to do is give the lawyers the case and they will take care of the rest and get you money. check out that web site. it's awesome.