American Agencie ripoff Torrance California

American Agencie sends mail to wrong address and holds me responsible... accuses me of terrorist threat! Torrence CaliforniaIn .....

1997 the company I worked for filed bankruptcy. They did not pay the final PacBell phone bill for $69.00. The phone was in my name, since it was my regional office, but all responsibility for all bills were assumed by the corporate office.

When they didn't pay their final bill, Pac Bell charged me. It showed up on a credit report a couple of years later. The credit agency I contacted told me they would remove it.

I thought it was taken care of until a month ago when I applied for a credit card and was denied because I had a collection agency listed on my report. Turns out it was American Agencies.

They sent me a bill and I phoned them and have never had such unprofessional dealings with anyone! They informed me that they had been trying to contact me and sent many notices to an address in Dallas TX.

I have NEVER lived in Dallas TX and explained this to them. I agreed to pay the outstanding principle just to clear my name, as I can't get my former company to take responsibility since they no longer exist. I was not willing, however, to pay the over $80.00 in interest that has accrued since they sent out notices to the wrong address.

I was told that the Dallas address was the address they had been given. It is actually the address of a former supervisor and I have no idea how they got that address!

I told the woman I spoke with I did not want to be penalized for their misinformation and do not find it at all reasonable that I have been accruing interest without my knowledge since they never properly contacted me.

I was told that didn't matter. Their policy is that sooner or later the consumer becomes aware of the collection, usually through a credit report, and that it wasn't their job to track me down and make sure they have my proper address.

Yet, they can continue to charge me interest? I told the woman I hoped at some point in her life she was on the receiving end of this bureucracy so that she then may realize how unfair it is. At that point she accused me of making a terrorist threat against her, said she was documenting the call, and hung up on me!

I called back several times trying to get the name of the president of the company, an e-mail address, etc...and I was told they weren't allowed to give out that information.

The switch board operator finally put me through to the voicemail of Patrick James who is supposedly the manager there and I left him a lengthy voicemail. He has not called back.

The woman I spoke with who accused me of being a terrorist was the third person I spoke with that morning. The first put me on hold for 20 minutes and never came back. The second refused to let me speak to his supervisor, Mr. James, and said I could call back as many times as I wanted, but he would always answer Mr. James' line.

Who are these people and why are they allowed to function this way and who is the president of the company? Can the BBB help? I would greatly appreciate any suggestions.

Lisa
Sacramento, California
U.S.A.