Why I Hate Bill Collectors
Some years ago, I fell on some really bad financial times. Pretty much my whole world caved in on me, and I was receiving nonstop phone calls from bill collectors trying to get any last dime they could out of me. I was out of work and had no savings, yet that never mattered. They wanted any nickle they could get out of me. After I started working again, they continued to hound me, and I started paying them off one by one, and avoiding the others until I could afford to pay off the next one. What I discovered is that no how sanctimonious they act, many of them as massively corrupt. I had one that was collecting for an old charge card I had. I negotiated a large settlement, and I gave pretty much my whole savings at that point to pay it off. That should have been the end of it. But it wasn't. A few months later, a NEW creditor contacted me, demanding payment for that charge account. It appears the original credit collector pocketed the money and then sold the account to another collector. This happened to me a second time with another bill collector. Finally, I paid off the bulk of my debt, but I avoided collectors like the plague. Still do.
Well, recently I moved to South Korea. Well, in doing so, there are some companies that refused to stop doing business with me. Like Comcast. I phoned them, telling them I had disconnected my cable and services when I left. Did everything on the phone and in person. They still have me connected to an apartment I haven't been in since October of last year. Pretty good chance they've now utilized a bill collector to come after me because I refuse to pay them, even though I called back EACH MONTH trying to get them to cancel that account. I finally just gave up.
Got a call today from a bill collector. It was one of those recorded calls from a company I've never heard of before (meaning someone "bought" my debt from some unknown debt I probably have from a company that I stopped doing business with, had disconnected on my own, but refuses to stop doing business with me because they realize that if you keep harassing someone over and over, they might just be stupid enough to pay them money, even though everything should have been canceled correctly at the time of disconnect).
Talk about a way to ruin a day, not that it's all that great a day either as it is now 19 days past the date my paycheck is due and there's no sign it's ever going to be paid.
The thing is: When you talk to a bill collector, they don't really talk to you. I used to try talking to the ones that were trying to charge me a second time, and it's like talking to a girlfriend you're trying to break up with, who keeps trying to figure out when the next date is. You tell them you already paid it, and within a few seconds, they're asking how you want to pay it: Credit card? To me, bill collectors are like parasites that you can't get rid of because no matter what you say to them, they refuse to believe it. When you finally do convince them you're already paid, that's when they sell the debt to another collection company, and you have to start all over again.
Stumble It!
Well, recently I moved to South Korea. Well, in doing so, there are some companies that refused to stop doing business with me. Like Comcast. I phoned them, telling them I had disconnected my cable and services when I left. Did everything on the phone and in person. They still have me connected to an apartment I haven't been in since October of last year. Pretty good chance they've now utilized a bill collector to come after me because I refuse to pay them, even though I called back EACH MONTH trying to get them to cancel that account. I finally just gave up.
Got a call today from a bill collector. It was one of those recorded calls from a company I've never heard of before (meaning someone "bought" my debt from some unknown debt I probably have from a company that I stopped doing business with, had disconnected on my own, but refuses to stop doing business with me because they realize that if you keep harassing someone over and over, they might just be stupid enough to pay them money, even though everything should have been canceled correctly at the time of disconnect).
Talk about a way to ruin a day, not that it's all that great a day either as it is now 19 days past the date my paycheck is due and there's no sign it's ever going to be paid.
The thing is: When you talk to a bill collector, they don't really talk to you. I used to try talking to the ones that were trying to charge me a second time, and it's like talking to a girlfriend you're trying to break up with, who keeps trying to figure out when the next date is. You tell them you already paid it, and within a few seconds, they're asking how you want to pay it: Credit card? To me, bill collectors are like parasites that you can't get rid of because no matter what you say to them, they refuse to believe it. When you finally do convince them you're already paid, that's when they sell the debt to another collection company, and you have to start all over again.
Stumble It!
posted by Duane @ 8:09 PM
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