http://www.newearth.demon.co.uk/poems/lyric006.htm

According to the FDCPA, they are required to verify the debt within 5 days of first contact.  That verification letter (dunning letter) has a whole bunch of stuff required to be on it, one of which is a statement that you can dispute the debt within 30 days.  If they refuse to send you are verification letter they can be sued for violating the FDCPA.

Anonie or Shill Kill can back me up or refute me if I'm wrong.  The rules are different in the US than they are in Canada where I am.

When posting a message to a forum such as this, you really should pay attention to the little red squiggly lines that form under words.  It is an indication that you spelled the word wrong and should right click on it to see what your suggested corrections are.

Here's a portion of a BBB response this group of BFF (bottom feeding flounders) made to a complaint.... Check our the Freudian slip near the end

Interstate Recovery Service has abided by all the rules and regulations that govern our industry. I do not believe there are any basis for *** ******'s complaint against our company. we are only attempting to collect what we believe to be illegal and just debt. - See more at: http://www.bbb.org/norfolk/business-reviews/c ... h.n6SmFST6.dpuf

If the debt is legitimate, there isn't much you can do.  If it's a scam, just ignore 'em.   If legitimate,  they can take the matter to small-claims court and you can show up and argue your case.  This is a civil matter.  If you get a judgment against you it might affect your credit rating.  But that is all, they can't jail you or charge you with fraud or anything like that.  Frankly, i f you don't have the assets necessary to satisfy a judgment, then I wouldn't worry about it too much.   I'd offer 'em 10% on the dollar, if they won't take that, then I'd say the hell with them.

That being said, if you're a student with little or no income or assets, it might be a good idea not to get involved in anything that involves any sort of long term payment plan.  In other words , look before you leap.

I'm just sayin'

Im having the same problem. I was a freshman in college when this magazine subscription company called Country Wide Periodicals called me. I had agreed to subscribe not knowing there was only a 3 day grace period to cancel my subscription. The lady on the phone had just rambled on and on about winning a free watch and that I am entered into a sweepstakes for $500. She too had told me that the our conversation was being recorded. I had received my magazines but no watch and I called back to tell them I no longer can subscribe because I was no longer able to afford it. The man on the phone had told me that it was not possible and was very rude. Later I had gotten a letter in the mail from this debt collection company, Interstate Recovery Service saying I had 30 days to pay a debt of $789.99 to Country Wide. I had called to tell them it was a mistake. I spoke to a lady named Marissa Harris and she had offered me a settlement amount of $689.99. I told her that I was  broke college student who had just lost a job so she said that she will give me a student discount knocking it down to $517.99 but now I only had a few days to pay off a debt. my 30 days arent close to being up. I was overwhelmed by everything she was saying, a lot of bs trying to make herself sound legit but really everything she was saying was just all confusing. I told her that I would get back to her so I could discuss with with my parents and she had told me that after this phone call it will be the only deal on the table and they would not be able to change it due to policy.

IF THIS REALLY A SCAM, HOW CAN I GET THESE PEOPLE TO STOP HARASSING ME? PLEASE HELP.

same happen to my son who is active duty military, these people called him while on leave for the holidays early in the morning stating they were attempting to collect a debt for a magazine subscription and offered a settlement amount of $999 and you right something does not seem right. I immediately had my son called back and put them on speaker, I can assure you the magazine company is definitely a scam. My son received orders to go to Japan and left the states in Jan 2013, he called the magazine company in December 2012 to cancel the subscription and now here comes this collection agency who by the way answers the phone with the same girl every time and she just says "Hello" - 1800-664-4946 no company name, voicemail or anything. I asked the collection agency for documentation or something in writing stating the terms and conditions of the original agreement for the magazine subscription and their cancellation requirements, they tell us their client does not provide them with that information and the client sent him a confirmation letter, ok have them resend us the confirmation letter we no longer have that but supposedly the conversation was recorded, send or play for me the recorded conversation, neither company could do that either. somehow both of these companies, if they are legitimate companies are working together to scam folks. I spoke with a Charles Ward and a Aaron Simpkins who were both very un-cooperative and hung up on me after stating I was just his mother and Chris is a man and should handle his own affairs. I am fighting this and will not allow my son to pay them one dime.

A regular Rhodes scholar, this one.  Sheesh.

TASHA YOU MUST OF GOT FIRED I BEEN DOING COLLECTIONS FOR YEARS AND I HAD MANY PEOPLE CALL ME SAYING IT WAS ON THEIR CREDIT YOU MUST AINT HELP ENOUGH OF PEOPLE GET OUT OF DEBT THATS WHY YOU ARE ON HERE BASHING THE SAME COMPANY YOU WORK FOR  

I requested to cancel the magazine service, but they still kept sending me magazines and told me I could not get out of the contract. A contract I never signed. Now this interstate recovery place is calling me, that is supposed to be a debt collector. I refuse to pay for something that I requested to be cancelled way before they sent the first magazine.they don't have your social so they can't affect your credit, thats what an inside source stated. I've managed to get rid of intersate recover by telling them they have the wrong number. It has worked pretty well.

Tasha, if you really knew what you were talking about, some of the accounts do go on your credit when its no longer in our hands and some dont..doesnt mean its a scam!

I used to work there...its NOT a scam..its federally regulated and it would be stupid to settle a debt if it were a scam dont yall think it would make more sense (if it were a scam) to pitch the full balance on the account? Instead of offering you a settlement? The magazine companies were the ones that "scammed" you...get it together people!  The magazine company called you and said you won a free walmart giftcard,gas card,or some kind of free gift but all you had to do was give them your credit card number and order a magazine subscription...now does that REALLY make sense to you?? Why would you give your credit card number or banking info to something thats supposed to be free?? SO with that being said, if you got a call from interstate, its a legit debt! Dont get mad at them for trying to help YOU out, its not THEIR problem you didnt read the fine print, pay your bills and you wouldnt have these problems!...and if youre wondering how they got your number, its called cross referencing, its not that hard to do!  Look them up on the BBB website, i pasted the link below, copy and paste it into your adress bar and see for yourself, they are A rated with the BBB..hope this helped!

http://www.bbb.org/norfolk/business-reviews/c ... ach-va-90033954

Scam I use to work dere it don't go on your credit

Spek12345 There is  processing fee. 10.00 for each payment.  If you don't want to pay it tell them.  ALSO You all are the ones who got yourself into the situation you're in.  HOWEVER, if you do not accept a settlement and do not make any payments nothing is going to happen to you...The magazine company is not going to report it to your credit or take you to court.  Just tell them not to contact you again.  The words BBB or attorney general make EVERYTHING stop ;). Don't let these jokers lie to you and tell you that your wages can be garnished or ANYTHING like that...its all a big lie.  If you say you're not going to pay there is nothing this company can do.  I

Also, have they told anyone else that the processing fee is usually $20 but they can reduce it to $10? If so, then that seems a little fishy to me.

I was stupid a few years ago, thinking I could beat the system of "better-gifts.net" and win $1000. In the end, I did receive the $1000 check, but it has finally caught up with me. I don't know if the settlement is valid or not, but I do believe it is "real," and if it will clear my name, then so be it. I have to pay over $700. I should have tried negotiating for less, but whatever.

I just want this whole thing over with, so I'm paying the money. Just remember, if it's too good to be true, then it probably is. If it involves subscriptions and shady practices, then STAY AWAY. You may be able to negotiate the amount and the time in which you have to pay it back, so try to do that before you agree to the settlement right away.

here's the thing u flippin idiots. like a couple people have said, if you didn't pick up the phone and give these magazine people your credit card numbers, you wouldn't be having this problem. pay ur damn debts. i used to work for the company. the debts  are legit. if they make a mistake, they will fix it, i.e, the wrong name. you don't have to be rude when you talk to them. give respect to get respect.
they are offering you a way out. no, you can't go to your credit report to see if it's real. like they tell you, if you're smart enough to know, THEY do not report you to the credit bureau but if you don't accept the fair debt settlement, the debt goes back to the magazine company and you're stuck with your $1000 bill. Who wouldn't want to pay off a $1000 bill for $300?
and the reason they change their number so much is because you people try to screen your calls to "get away" with not having to pay your debts, so they have to change the number to get you to answer.
p.s atx guy-there is not a statue of limitations on your magazine debt. did you think to ask them to verify that they had the right person before you came to bash them on the internet? mistakes are made sometimes-did that ever occur to you?
npd192- no genius. it's not for one magazine. it's for the contract that you didn't cancel but didn't pay for. boy aren't you a smart one.

A lady named Kristin called from this company to collect a debt from 2008. I called the original creditor and they told me that the debt had been paid in 2008 and these people are trying to scam me. I've reported them to the FTC. If you don't think this is legit, then get in contact with the company that supposedly called Interstate Recovery Services to collect for them.

yes I agree and have a lawyer involved!  The magazine company Direct Readers Guild is a scam and then they got a collection agency involved and their agency was also sued due to collecting for Fraud company!  So now they changed collection agency and guess what...they call from cell phones,  look up the numbers on your caller id you'll find calls from NY, DI and other places.  But their company is out of VA!! REALLY!  Call them back and you'll hear kids in the background!!!!!!  SCAM I SAY SCAM!

Obviously you don't know about the mag company cause they have been found to be fraudulent and their old debt company was sued due to the fact that they were collecting for a fraudulent company!!!!

AND FURTHURMORE WHO IS DUMB ENOUGH TO ORDER MAGS OVER THE PHONE ANYWAY,CAUSE THEY SAY U HAVE WON SOMETHING WAKE UP PEOPLE NOTHING IS FREE IN THIS WORLD.

THEY ARE ONLY DOING THEIR JOB

You are a liar these people are scam artists!

Yes, they are still at it. We received the call today, same sad sap story, BUT it was THEY who are nasty and belligerent, threatening and hostile. Seems like most of us have the same issue from the same time period and same dollar amounts. What a coincident... I filed complaint with AG and will now file fraud complaint with the USPS.

Has anyone actually received any legit information in the mail about this company or followed up by checking their credit report to see if there was a real debt they were collectin on.

I received a call yesterday and the only information the guy knew was my name and address and then asked if I "remembered having trouble canceling my magazine order in September 2011" which rang a bell bc that is when I did have fraudulent charges on my debit card and reported it to my credit union and they handled it. After the call yesterday I called my credit union again to see if double check these were connected and she told me that they requested the funds back from the 4 different book/magazine companies and NONE of them came back to say dispute it as she explained sometimes companies will provide proof that the consumer actually signed up or purchased the product being claimed a fraudulent. I have no reason to believe this $1400 debt is real and will not be paying $600 to settle! The only information I could find on interstate recovery is the bbb complaints and this page....doesn't seem too legit to me...

I also had a magazine debt they called me I thought it was a scam but I did my research on them yes it was sounding like a daycare in the back round but it's not like they are calling regarding library books but I think why all of you guys are fussing is because don't nobody wanna spend money on past due bills but will make a bill people really need to get it together and pay what's owe why wouldn't you take a settlement it's an easy way out if you think about the magazine company is losing out not you face up to your responsibilities i did they will work with you i paid it off in 3 months over time..

there are no kids in the office, it's a legit company but we have fun while we work so yeah it might be a little noisy at times, but we have fun. it's a professional setting but we have a positive attitude toward everyone we work with and we really do try to save you guys money but then you get on the phone and curse us out. we're not the magazine company! dont freak out on us, we understand that you're pissed about getting stuck with this debt but we're only doing our job and that is to simply offer you a settlement. stop yelling in my ears too, thank you. & please stop ordering magazines so we can stop calling you.

I just got off the phone with this company. It s in fact a company claiming you owe a debt to a magazine service, the settlement for me was $300. They called me in May 2012 as well, stating the debt from 8 years ago, and I disputed the charge and asked for proof. They EMAILED me a letter, despite my request for a mailed letter. The email went to spam. They only now (five months later) followed up on it. I still have never received anything in the mail. When I still disagreed with the charge, the woman on the phone (I'll give her credit for being nice and seeming like she cared for my credit) advised that while they do NOT submit things to credit reports, that my debt would go back to the collector (Magazine Service) and that I would likely end up paying the whole sum instead of the settlement, so when could I make the settlement payment. I again told her I was not comfortable with this. I thought about it and started to accept a payment plan when I heard a child in the background. That's when I stopped all processes. I do NOT believe this is a real debt company for one minute.

If you get a call from them, and they DO have several phone numbers, do NOT accept a settlement. I can't prove that this won't come back to me (yet) but I do feel comfortable in the fact that I did not give them one single penny. .

These people ate sketchy as hell, just check your credit report if you are really in collection, they can't validate the debt for you so it is false, they call me all hours of the day from different numbers one time i called back and got hung up on and a second time shameekah the supervisor cursed me out, don't give them money i was even told to purchase a prepaid visa and give payment over the phone, bunch if scam artist and they aren't even accredited by the better business bureu, and please think before you give Abby one financial information over the phone, any one can get your address from public records don't be fooled

Called for the last three weeks six times a day. Sitting here on duty and finally called them they said that i have a collection on my name for a magazine that cost 1557.98?!? One magazine really? Would not really answer who they are just that they could settle everything if i gave them 400 today. the only thing that they got right was my first name.  WTF is wrong people anymore. I even told them that im on duty at a police department and they still tried to scam me. Get a life scumbags, Dont give this scam any of your money, its a bad idea.