NRS-COLLECTIONNRS-COLLECTION, NCRS-Debt Collect Received letter stating I owed a past due amount of $289.99 as a "cancellation fee" to P.M. Service Company Davidson North Carolina

On Monday, June 22, 2009, I received a letter from NRS-Collection (I have found out through research done online they also use the name NCRS-Debt Collect) addressed to me at the office where I work informing me that I owed a cancellation fee of $289.99 on a past account to a P.M. Service Company. A due date of June 22, 2009 (the date I received the letter--the letter itself was dated June 16, 2009) was listed and the letter went on to say that if the debt was not paid by that date, an additional fee of $300, plus "additional costs" may apply (the amount[s] of the "additional costs" were not listed). The letter went on to state that I did not owe the money to NRS-Collection but I was to make the check payable to NRS-Collection. The letter stated that the "company had been unsuccessful in receiving your cancellation fee either by phone or by mail." I have lived at the same address and have had the same telephone number for over 30 years now which would make it very easy for P.M. Services to find me.

The letter was sloppily written and mistakes in punctuation and spacing were noted. The formatting of the letter was also very unprofessional. Some lines of the letter were typed in lower case and some in upper case. I noted that if the writer was attempting to make a statement that expressed serious penalties (legal action/additional penalty fees) if the recipient of the letter did not comply with payment, it was typed in all upper case letters. No company letterhead was used as you might expect with a legitimate professional company--just the "company" address, centered, at the top of the page and in the upper left-hand corner in a very small font it stated, "Offices: New York, South Carolina and North Carolina". It also appeared to be a poorly photocopied form letter. A blank, underlined space was provided where the sender hand wrote the amount they claimed I owed (again, $289.99). The letter was signed in the following manner:
Sincerely, 980-621-2746/ OFFICE HOURS 8am-9pm EST
Collection Managers/ BETHANY OR LEWIS

At the lower right-hand corner of the letter, the word ASAP (in all uppercase letters) was hand written using a black ("Sharpie") marker along with the admonition, "PAY OR CALL !"

The letter instructed me to call, "due to the privacy act", for "additional information that can help you!" I called the "company" at the number listed on the document (980-621-2746). I did not reach a human being but a recorded message requesting that I leave a message, to include the Invoice Number (which was included in the text of the document), my name and a telephone number where I can be reached. I did as requested, leaving a legitimate phone number where I could be reached. I also requested any and all documents proving that I owe this money. I have as yet to receive a return call.

I went online to a) ascertain what this P.M. Service Company was as a business, and b) to find out if this was a scam. "Rip-Off Report" was listed as a web site that reported NRS-Collection as a scam operation. I also found similar information on one other web site. From the information I found online, it appears that they frequently also attempt to defraud elderly people. I am not elderly but I do work for a nonprofit retirees' association that lists the names of their employees on the association's web page. I suspect among other sources of information, they also search for web pages of this nature and find their potential victims there. As I believe that mail fraud has been committed, I also intend to file a complaint with the US Postal Service.

Walady
Somewhere, Washington
U.S.A.