AlmostFixed Posted November 18, 2006 Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 Here's a new one...for me anyway...Last Spring I contacted a lawn service company by phone to inquire about their services (in response to a mass mailing they sent out). They said they could do the service that day, but I said I wasn't ready. I never called them back (decided to spruce up my lawn on my own) but then received a bill from them for $200+ in services. I sent a nice letter back saying, basically, "You're mistaken. Though I inquired about your service, I never signed up nor received service." I didn't hear anything back, and assumed all was settled.Got a letter last week from Western Control Services (local CA) for $300+ (the original service charge plus late fees) so I sent a DV. They replied today with a nice letter from the manager and a photocopy of a form the lawn company uses listing my name and address written in, the charges & late fees, and supposed day of service.How best to respond? There's no contract. I never asked for nor received service. I thought perhaps forwarding the letter I sent to the lawn service on to the CA, and sending a much firmer letter to the lawn service telling them that they are on dangerous ground by messing with my credit.Suggestions welcome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direred Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Wow, that's screwed up.Personally, I'd file a police report for fraud, then use that police report and send it to the CA and to the lawn service company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victim2DebtCollector Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Here's a new one...for me anyway...Last Spring I contacted a lawn service company by phone to inquire about their services (in response to a mass mailing they sent out). They said they could do the service that day, but I said I wasn't ready. I never called them back (decided to spruce up my lawn on my own) but then received a bill from them for $200+ in services. I sent a nice letter back saying, basically, "You're mistaken. Though I inquired about your service, I never signed up nor received service." I didn't hear anything back, and assumed all was settled.Got a letter last week from Western Control Services (local CA) for $300+ (the original service charge plus late fees) so I sent a DV. They replied today with a nice letter from the manager and a photocopy of a form the lawn company uses listing my name and address written in, the charges & late fees, and supposed day of service.How best to respond? There's no contract. I never asked for nor received service. I thought perhaps forwarding the letter I sent to the lawn service on to the CA, and sending a much firmer letter to the lawn service telling them that they are on dangerous ground by messing with my credit.Suggestions welcome!!Personally.... I'd not only call the police, but I would also contact the AG office, and depending what state your in... I'd contact the State agency who oversees the CA. The police may or may not get involved... but if they do... they'd have to go to the business and at least collect their side of the story. I've seen this sort of thing happen a lot with pool companies... Best Advice is to document where you were the day they claim they provided the services, include times and such. The worst of this kind of situation is that many states allow for "mechanical type liens to be placed on property so don't delay on this.A good friend of mine had this happen with a pool company - here's the letter we wrote to the pool company and cc'd the CA, AG, SOS, FTC...Dear ___ Pool Service,I just received a letter from a collection agency which claims to be representing your company in an attempt to collect money you claim I owe.Since when did you change your services from cleaning pools to extoration? I believe you have failed do your homework correctly on this matter. First of all, I did not call your company for any services whatsoever. Secondly, I believe I would be 100% correct to say that your business ethics are very shady. I don't really know how much money your hoping to collect from me for the so called pool service you claim to have provided me, but I can assure you whatever the amount was, you can certainly triple it and send me a check to settle out of court. You see, I DO NOT HAVE A POOL but I do have the evidence that you have attempted to commit fraud, and buddy there's a law against that here in this state. Now, to assist me with bringing this matter to a close, would you like me to stop by your office and pick a certified check or would you rather I send a courier? Let me know, if I don't hear from you within 10 days, I'll assume you have no intention to pay me for the stress and time you have caused me and I'll refer this matter to my attorney for the filing of lawsuit.I look forward to a quick resolution of this matter as I am sure you do too!Signed.Needless to say, we pushed this issue and DID collect from the pool company and from the CA simply because the collector was STUPID and didn't bother reading the letter and continued to attempt collection and reported to the CBR which (me being smart) had my friend pull a CBR daily.. oh all them fees were recovered as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpgirl Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 I'll bet this may be a case where directly contacting the owner of this company would most likely solve the problem immediately. Contact directly by phone or certified mail. Most likely this person would be both shocked by the sloppiness of the office/bookeeping staff and perhaps grateful to find out that his office staff is opening him/her up to lawsuits.He/she may end up being a jerk but I would try that approach first.Doctors offices often are the same way. The MD really has no idea how inefficiently their own office is run. Anyway, your situation is interesting, I would like to hear the outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpgirl Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 BTW - Victim.... your letter is classic. Thanks for the laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Methuss Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 This crap is becoming all too common. Shady companies of all sizes seem to think they can just bill a consumer for something even if they never provided the service and call it a debt owed to them. Even big companies like Sprint PCS are doing it (I'm dealing with one from them right now).When the economy is on the skids, companies seem to resort to this or padding bills with bogus charges for a little extra cash. And it's one thing I wish Congress would address. A consumer right of action at the federal level allowing consumers to easily take appropriate action against a company for such fraud. Right now the laws are complex and expensive to enforce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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