Eltman Eltman & Cooper ripoff phone harrassment of innocent people, screaming, belligerent, insulting and abusive New York New York

In late November I received two calls from Eltman Eltman & Cooper. I called them back to see what it was about. The receptionist continually hung up on me, or transferred me to people who were not there. I was finally able to talk to someone and determined they were calling for someone I do not even know. I explained that I was not this person, and asked them to please stop calling me. The man I spoke to was very rude, but eventually told me my number would be removed.

Since that time I have received almost weekly calls from this firm. They have left many messages, always asking for that same person. This week they called three times, Mon 3/8, Wed 3/10, and today Fri 3/12. Today I answered and explained again that I am not the person they are looking for, that I had already explained this in November, that I believe they are harassing me, and that if necessary I would file a complaint with the appropriate authorities. The caller proceeded to scream at me, tell me that I was stupid, that I knew nothing about the law, and that I should go ahead and file a complaint. When I asked for the address of her company so I could go ahead and do that, she taunted me and said I must already know it. (This is not true. I only had their name and phone number, which I was later able to use to track down their address myself). She refused to give the address, and hung up.

I called back and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was connected to a Mr. Derek Riley. I attempted to explain the situation to him, but he continually cut me off in mid-sentence, and refused to let me talk. He told me that my number would be removed. I tried to explain that had already been promised back in November, and that I wanted to be sure it would be removed this time. I say tried to explain, because he continued to cut me off in mid-sentence, and I had to ask him at least three times to let me finish a sentence. He became more and more belligerent. By the end of the conversation he was screaming so loudly that I had to hold the phone away from my ear. He suggested I file a complaint or hire a lawyer. I pointed out to him that I shouldn't need a lawyer when I was not even the person they were looking for. He ended the conversation by hanging up on me.

I want to make it clear that I am not the person they are looking for, I have never met him or had any contact with him whatsoever. The only connection I have with him is that it seems I have a phone number that once belonged to him. These people are harassing someone who is not in any way connected to the person they are looking for. Furthermore, I am not a debtor, I do not owe any debt of any kind, and I pay all of my bills on time. This is purely a case of mistaken phone number, but for some reason these people apparently feel the need to yell and scream at anybody who suggests they might have made a mistake. If this is how they treat people who don't even owe them money, I would hate to be one of the unfortunate people who does.

I am putting this out there for any one who actually has to deal with them, who owes them money or whatever. Do not even attempt to talk to these people on the phone. They are belligerent, rude, abusive and unreasonable. They were that way from the very first time I called them back, simply asking to have my number removed from their system. If you have to deal with them I suggest you hire an attorney to do it. Nobody should have to deal with these people's abusive behavior, but at least a lawyer gets paid to do it.

One more thing: I found another reference to Eltman Eltman & Cooper on this site. According to that entry they are somehow involved in the Next Card scam. I have no knowledge of this myself, I know nothing about it, but if you are dealing with these people, you might want to check that out.

I hope this information is helpful to someone in the future.

Nancy
New York, New York
U.S.A.