A couple of months ago I got a nasty letter from some attorney demanding collection on a $99.xx debt for telephone service to Eidos Interactive. I politely told the guy that I had never done business with Eidos Interactive in my life, and that as far as I knew Eidos Interactive wasn’t in the telephone business, but thank you for calling.
As a precaution, I sent a copy of the correspondence to the office of the Attorney General of Illinois, Consumer Affairs division, simply alerting them to the fact that something fishy appeared to be going on, and please be aware in case other consumers bring similar complaints.
Today I got a letter from the Attorney General’s office, along with a copy of a letter from this lawyer, saying that my case has been closed and that they will seek no further action on my case.
Kudos to the Office of the Attorney General of Illinois, who went to bat for me even though I didn’t ask them to!
And since this is The Pit, let me say this: It turns out that this lawyer was trying to collect on calls made to a 900# in 1999. But here’s the juicy part: although those calls were made from (217) xxx-xxxx (my phone number), it wasn’t my phone number at the time, as I lived in Missouri in 1999. IOW, someone assumed that since 217-xxx-xxxx is my number now, then it must have been my number when these calls were made, ergo it’s my bill. That’s pretty carelss business, and I’m considering legal action.
Congrats, rastahomie. I’m glad to see that got resolved smoothly. I posted in your other thread about checking your credit reports; my advice still applies. Give it a month & order your credit report(s) to make sure this “collection” isn’t on there.
hey, rh, I just posted in your other thread in GQ. Maybe do a guy a favor and drop a linky-link into that one, and keep folks like me from showing their ass? Congrats on your success, and keep up the good work.
I want to prevent this from happening again. IOW, I want to force the phone comapny to stop telling debt collectors that my phone number is and was (217) xxx-xxxx and that I owe on old bills. Also, I want whoever did this the first time to get some kind of reprimand (a fine, a stern reprimand from the boss, something).
But to win a case, don’t you at least have to show some kind of damage? I mean, you only got one letter. I could see it if you recieved letters regularly, and phone calls. That could be considered harrassment…Is there more that you are not telling us?
I don’t think you could win your legal action, as it stands.