This company contacted me in December regarding an outstanding debt I owed. We briefly discussed that I owed the debt, and the lady informed me that I would be sent information on how to pay it. Yay.
So a couple weeks go by, and I got nothing, so I take up the bat and call them back. I speak with a receptionist, ask for the lady with whom I’d spoken to before, and she informs me that “my case is now being handled by a Mr. X”. So, I get transferred to Mr. X, whose voicemail indicates that he is “away from his desk, and is only available from 11 AM to 1 PM, Tuesday through Thursday”. The times I’m in class.
I ask the receptionist if there’s anyone else I can speak to, but she says that they have strict rules regarding who I can speak to about my account. I leave him a message, and expect a return call. I get nothing for, oh, a week.
So I call back. It’s now mid-January, and my account is now “being handled by a Mrs. X”. So, I get transferred to her, and she informs me that they have been trying to call me during 11 and 1 every day for a week. Some quick logic returns that, doh, the way my telephone service is set up on campus, I am not able to receive unknown callers as a telemarketing block. I tell her this, and ask that, under the FDCPA, we correspond via regular mail (both because I am busiER during HER hours – Monday through Wednesday, 10AM til 2PM, and because I want to start keeping a paper trail).
She takes my address and says that something will come.
So… I let 2 weeks go by, and call back. I actually manage to find a time to call Mrs. X where I am not in class AND it’s during her hours. Unfortunately, during her hours, she’s gone to lunch. I leave her a message, clearly stating my request to be contacted by mail, and leave my address. A week goes by.
That brings us roughly to now. This morning, at like 8:10AM, I get an e-mail from the DEAN OF STUDENTS OFFICE, who tells me the following:
A valid e-mail, and I’m like – WTF? So now, I’ve skipped the class I should be in right now to call back this charming woman who has refused to contact me via mail and has now contacted the Dean’s Office threatening legal action, AND SHE’S NOT AT HER DESK.
Has this company violated some kind of law? Specifically, doesn’t the FDCPA specifically state that I can tell the agency that I do not wish to receive phone calls and, instead, ask that they send me mail? And isn’t it illegal for them to continue calling me after I’ve done so?
Further, is it legal for them to call the Dean’s Office and threaten me with litigation because I have not received any of their calls?
Thanks guys… if this is more Pitworthy, feel free to move it.