Actually I used to be a bill collector. First of all, they don't give you their real name. Secondly, no one had to give them your phone number. if they have the debtors address they reverse it and get a phone number, and sometimes it's the phone number of the new tenant or owner of the home. They will also look up the address and phone numbers of neighbors to that address and try to find out information from them.

yup, collections, looking for somebody who doesn't live here, called twice between noon and 1pm. next time i will give them that deadbeats cell number with my blessings. i also think they may be getting numbers through online PC to text programs, as these only started up a couple days ago when i texted somebody - not the deadbeat - via my PC. There is another number 855-323-4688 that has popped up as well. No messages left on either numbers calls.

they called my cell phone but didn't leave a message.
they called my work #, so I answered it.  they said that I owe $800 on a medical bill from 2012.  it is now 2014...there is no way i would remember that i had a medical bill for that much.  neither i will pay for it because it has been too long of a wait until they had to contact me.

I just started getting calls from these people. No message left. I don't answer numbers I don't recognize. I have no past medical bills or anything else for that matter. Stop calling.

This is highly inaccurate. If they refuse a payment, then yes, but if they refuse a payment offer, no. They have the right to refuse an offer. And even if you are making regular payments, regardless of the amount, and it is not agreed to in writing by the company doing the collecting (i.e. they say $3 is not acceptable, you make your $3 a month payments anyway) they have the right to take further action against you.

Bill collector

We've been getting calls from these guys, but we don't owe them any money.  They, and 6 other collection agencies, have been calling since last September for the deadbeats who used to have our number.  Some actually listen when I tell them I've never heard of the people they're asking for (a couple, probably husband/wife) and stop calling, others, not so much.

I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to pay these deadbeats debts.

Based on this post, I assume you are perfect?  YOU dictate that someone's inability to pay their bill makes them a "parasite"?!?!!  YOU have no idea what circumstances results in someone being sent to collections.   Extended illness, job layoff, injury, or just plain error (on the part of the biller or billee).....
I pay my bills.  I have a fantastic job. I make decent money.  I am in collection because the hospital wouldn't work with me to make payments that were REASONABLY AFFORDABLE following a medically necessary surgery - my co-pay $7000.

You might want to check spelling before calling folks names.

Who cares about what they "make." They are still parasites. Quit trying to defend them; or, is it yourself you attempting to vindicate?

Jackassary. Keep your crap to yourself.

I think you're really starting to reach people.  Changing lives, dude.  Changing lives.

You might want to find some blood pressure medication and get a hobby, dude.

Yes, I owe money!  I am the first to admit that.  Along the way I have lost my path with a lot of medical bills, and a collection account is what happened.  

When this collection agency phoned me, the man on the line used his own emotions, not a professional way of communication (I am a disabled American receiving SSDI benefits) to yell at me about paying, and how there is no way I could pay using SSDI. I explained that I have a consolidation service, and I would like to put them on there until it was paid off.  This way they would be paid all regularly.

No way!   These guys are creatures of a poorly trained company.  I was very upset by this (which I will report to disability services) because who phones you and yells at you?  Anyhow, I tried to make a good faith payment, but was refused.  I downloaded an application to record my calls.  If you phone them (I phoned to see if I could try again to work something out) and tell them you are also recording the call, they pretend they don't hear you saying, "Hello?  I can't hear you?  I am hanging up now!"  I have done this 3 times now.   Same thing.  Wow.  I now use Mr.  Number to block calls.  I will pay with my consolidation anyway (the consolidation company is already contracted with this agency to accept 25 dollars a month).

They just sent my boss garnishment papers, ive lived in eastern washington over 7 years now, and i guess
what there wanting me to pay is from 9-10 yrs ago.  Can they still garnish me

I called them back and the person I worked with, "Mr. Jones" was perfectly reasonable and friendly. We discussed 2 outstanding debts that I have under collection with them (being unemployed for any length of time really sucks, ha ha) and arranged to make payments on one, and they are going to mail me information on the other so I can research the debt.

All in all, not a terrible experience.

They called me asking for a Mallory something, I couldn't hear the last name but the lady was very rude.

Why comment if you are just going to be an a***ole and bi***??? People are on here looking for answers. Not to listen to dicks like you harass them like the MCA does. You must be perfect and have never owed a cent in your life. It must be nice having your parents pay your bills for you.

Can't get a body from this number.  Handy Hint to those paying debts in increments:  Make a small payment, whatever you can, on the back of the check - in tiny writing as necessary, write this:
"Endorsement/deposit of this check constitutes acceptance of payment agreement as follows: *write your terms here* ...and endorser/depositor agrees to never contact debtor by telephone again, or face civil suit and any criminal penalties as allowed by law for breach of contract herein."

Follow your terms religiously, but make sure you make a very legible copy to use in court as necessary.  Only once have I needed to take this to court, and I won $1000, what I sued them for, because they defaulted by not showing up in court (cost them more to defend it than to default, but usually they'll settle, as I have had them do before, once, as well).  The debt was to a physician's/hospital double billing I could not get them to reverse in the amount of $300. The one that got settled was AT&T when I called to ask them where to send the summons.   Any other time I've used this, they've of course called, and I provided them with a copy of the endorsed check, and they went away.  BTW,  your "terms" can also read, "CONSTITUTES FULL AND FINAL PAYMENT"....and absolutely should when you think you are paying it off!!!  Otherwise, they'll keep after you for pennies.

Both me and my husband are payin our bills and past debts. I got a phone call from this number but they hung up on me.

Do web searches for:

fair collections practices
medical debt bundling
bad debt acquisition
furnishment of records
dispute credit information
call center scams
medical care rights

When they leave someone's name as person who "this business matter, bla bla bla..." they're breaking FTC laws governing collections practices. Go to FTC.gov now.

What's annoying to me is that I have told them 11 times that they have the wrong number and they STILL continue to call me for some Angie chic. I am looking up the address and going to see if I can find out where they are. They're going to get a face to face piece of my mind and then possibly some spit in their eyes. Tired of these a***oles blowing my phone up relentlessly when I'm not even the person they're looking for. If you want to collect a debt, morons, it would be a good idea to make sure you have THE RIGHT EFFING NUMBER!  Dumbasses. Oh, and I don't know what all this automated talk is, every time they call my phone, it's a human being saying I need to call them back. Oh, I have. Several times. And they're still too stupid to figure out this chic's actual phone number. No wonder they're debt collectors, probably the only thing they're qualified for. Keep 'em out of the public eye so their stupidity doesn't infect.

Oh look, another call from the same company. And I am still debt free and wondering wtheck. I am hesitant to answer and push buttons as that keeps me on the line longer and validates my number.

Ugh.

I have received several calls from this number.
1. I do not owe anyone any money. My debts are paid directly through my bank and I am in the clear.
2. If I owed a legit company, they would contact me first, not send a collection agency.
3. In this 'new society' there is no such thing as an honest mistake. If you are late you are a criminal. And o put people on hold when you ate he one calling?..
4. $15.00 an hour is more than I make.

I receive a call from them every morning. Now as I do have debt it is not with then and I too have arrangements. Im currently working on consolidating to lower debt. I have over half of it taken care of as of last month. About 3 weeks ago I created an account with centurylink for home phone service and internet. Not even a day after my home phone was set up I began getting 6 am calls for a woman named Rhonda. They asked for my name when I told them to take this number off the list. I was woken up every morning for 2 weeks by them. Every morning I again told them I just recieved this phone number and there is no Rhonda here. Again, they continued to call. I had no problem giving them my name as the debt is not mine. When I gave them my name they said they couldn't find any debt on me and they were sorry for calling. The problem I had is that I had to go through that every morning even after I gave them my name. Most phone companies recycle phone numbers. It makes it very hard for the person who receives it. I also had to deal with about 5 other companies that were calling this woman named Rhonda.

I received a call asking for some random person I'd never heard of before. I didn't pick up and they left a msg Wednesday. I called right back and found out it is Merchant Credit Association in Bellevue, WA.

I searched them and they handle medical bill collection.

I asked them to not call back since I have no clue who the person they were asking for was, but they called again today and didn't leave a VM. Maybe its time to write a Cease and Desist letter.

your a mean person and no heart. You must be a Attorney or in the debt collecting business that makes honest ppl feel bad when they loss their stuff and jobs due to the government miss managing our money and pissing all our tax money away. Yet you are not saying the government are parasites are you because they don't pay their debts either!

by law they cannot leave a message other than their phone number because they cannot reveal to anyone but yourself that they are trying to collect a debt...and when u get a recording, there is no way to be sure who the phone belongs too.  so, they are complying with regulations. Until you pick up and tell them you are not who they are looking for, they will continue to leave messages. You can just say no then ask them to remove your phone number from that account.

I didn't answer as I didn't recognize the number.  Why answer if they don't have the courtesy to give their name?  Don't know why they would call me.