These people were peppering my cell phone with calls for someone else. I called and they were all snooty about me being angry about getting a deluge of calls.

The continue to call me about someone with a similar name being delinquent on student loans, even though I have informed them that I worked my way through undergraduate and graduate schools with no government assistance.

It is Pioneer Credit Recovery and they are legit.

I have student loans and received a call from them.  They were looking for the person who lived in my townhouse/apartment before me.  They said that they have investigators who look for people who are in default and search for phone numbers associated with the addresses they have on file for them.  Since my address is the only address they have for him, the investigators gave them my number since it is associated with my address/his old address.  They said that they would remove the number and not call anymore.  They were very polite and I did not have any problems at all.  For those of you who say that they are calling and asking for people who do not live there, I would try this.  I hope this helps.

These people call me every Saturday morning
at 8 am sharp, they wake me up
They are looking for someone i've never
heard of and I tell them that and do
no call me anymore but yet they continue
to call me

This company has been calling me for over a year and I have tryed to have stop calling me regarding a collection on another woman by the same name, different birthdate, and address.  The continue to pepper my home phone and cell phone.  When I contacted the Attorney Generals Office about them and filled out paperwork to report them for the continued calling they told me that for each collection I had to fill out a grievenance report.  Also the companies that turn in the bills for collection have sold the bills to collect recovery services and they can continue to sell each collection until this is recovered or death of the person they are trying to collect from.  So the "No Call List" is also BS!  I have put my name and the continue to hound me.  IT'S NOT MY BILL!

I just called them back from the work phone, and they answered "Pioneer Credit Recovery."  They're an unpublished number when you try to look them up through the white pages, though.

Yep. It's a collection company.  I *67 and called and she said it was a recovery agency.  Don't know what I would owe and I'll wait for a letter.

Please do not intimidated by the illegal scare tactics employed by collection agencies. Collection agencies are not allowed to leave messages like you describe and these agencies have recently been sued in Federal Court for illegal collection tactics just like this. If you are receiving harassing calls from a collection agency or law firm, you are encouraged to contact a consumer attorney. Automated calls and messages and third party disclosure are major violations of FDCPA!!  For more information, you may contact Attorney Allison Polesky for a free consultation with no obligation.

Sincerely,

Allison Polesky, Esq.
Law Offices of Allison Polesky, P.C.
511 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 712
New York, NY 10011
Tel:  866-479-9500
Fax: 866-688-4300
consumerrightslawyer@gmail.com
http://www.poleskylaw.com/

called me in regards to ex. when i told them i m not in contact with him anymore they asked for someone else who might be in contact with him. i pay my bills and think folks should pay theirs, but why harass others? i told them i couldn't help them. i pretty sure they'll keep calling me though. too bad they are out of luck. i really love that when u are not the person they r calling for its a "private business matter" they r trying to resolve. u can harass me but can't give me any info?!

Why don't you loan us the money to pay them since several of us have probably fallen on hard times?

Fevans

Just got a call from a woman at this number asking me if my last 4 digits of SSN were 'XXXX.'  Pretty sure it is a collection agency, but she hung up quickly after I said that it wasn't me...

I agree...some tool named Peter Smith has really irritated me by not paying his debts.  I've had this number for OVER A DECADE and just in the last year I have started getting calls from collection agencies.  So if you know Peter Smith, you may also do what should be done to Christopher S Thornton.  UGH!

Under the TCPA, a consumer has a right to file a lawsuit and recover $500 for each call that violates the TCPA. The TCPA can also be used in conjunction with the Fair Debt CollectionPractices Act in some situations.  

Generally, the TCPA does not apply to debt collectors making collection calls to debtors. However, if you are subjected to calls from a debt collector and you are not the debtor, you may file a lawsuit against the debt collector under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the TCPA.

This right was recently recognized by Judge Legrome D. Davis in a case called Watson v. NCO Group, Inc.  NCO Group is a debt collector that uses automated prerecorded collection calls.  In this case, Mr. Watson alleged he was getting hundreds of calls from NCO Group after he got a new phone number. Mr. Watson claimed he owed no debt to NCO Group, Inc.  Mr. Watson filed suit under both the FDCPA and TCPA.

David Israel, defense lawyer for NCO, argued that the TCPA should not apply to debt collectors.  Judge Davis rejected the argument made by David Israel. The judge ruled that Mr. Watson had a right to sue NCO Group Inc under the TCPA for $500 for each call.  Judge Davis wrote;

[The] Court is convinced that a non-debtor's rights are in fact violated when he is subjected to repeated annoying and abusive debt collection calls that he remains powerless to stop.

Judge Davis' ruling was based upon his interpretation that collection calls to non-debtors violate the privacy rights provided by the TCPA.  

So what can you do if you receive "wrong number" calls from debt collectors?

1. Sign up for the Do-Not-Call registry.
2. Save the calls captured by your voice mail or answering machine.
3. Contact a consumer lawyer.

Again...this is a company that keeps calling even if they have the wrong number...my bills are paid!!!!! I'm about to sue for harassment! When are they going to learn? YOU HAVE THE WRONG F'N NUMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been getting calls from this company for about 6 years. I even had my number changed, AND IT WORKED! But it only worked for about a year and now the calls have resumed. They're looking for Christopher S. Thornton.

If you know anybody named Christopher S. Thornton please do not hesitate to punch him in the face! And you can punch out these IDIOTS who assume only credit deadbeats get these calls.

I'm not paying another $18.00 to have my number changed again. They can continue to leave blank messages on my machine until the end of the universe.

I spoke to one individual at length and convinced him I was not the person they were looking for. This did absolutely no good. I'm not going to waste my time suing anybody.

This problem can go away on its own or not. Never again will I spend another second trying to get my number off their list.

I've received calls from this company for almost 2 years - even after I've called the number they leave and told them I do not know the person they are calling. The fourth time I called I told the woman I'm sick and tired of getting calls and she asked me if I'd ever made a mistake! I told her to remove my number from the account of the woman she's looking for and she hung up on me. Now, almost a year after that, I'm starting to get the calls again - no message and then a message telling me my rights, if I'm the person they're asking for, and then telling me not to listen to the message if I'm not that person - if I don't listen I don't get the number to call them to tell them to quit calling??! This is a sorry company and I'd like the world to know it!

I am on the DO NOT CALL list ...............STOP calling

Everyone needs to wake up and see that no one cares about any of this or it would have subsided by now.  They may or may not care.  However, I do not see that anyone has stepped up to the plate and said that "there is no more of this absurdity".  I called the FCC obout two years ago and they never called me back, no volice mail was left or anything else.  Three calls from the same entity or more constitutes harassment.  Even tho the no call registry exists it does not matter to those who are breaking the law.  They are borderline people.  All calls that keep asking for people who had your present number before refuse to believe that you are not that person.  There is a lot of false information that has been put out there on everyone.  These people simply pass on your number and informaton to other debt collectors or telemarketers who refuse to believe anything you say anyway.  Think about it, harassment is rampart straight across the board and no one cares about it.  These people do not care who becomes injured in the process.  Scammers of some nature will always be around.  They have nothing else better to do.  Scammers prey on the innocent.  Innocent or not, it is still harassment and illegal.  Just because you get calls of this nature does not mean that you are not paying your own bills.  Its about what I have stated previously in this statement.  Think about it and do the math.  Your conclusion will be the same.

Does anyone have their address?

In the past they have called me and left no messages.  I have called them to tell them to take my number off their calling list, and was told "they can't look up my number."  I have no bills that are over due, and the only bill I do pay every month has never been late.  Today, I got a call and an automated call left on my voicemail telling me the call was for Joseph T. Smith, and if I wasn't Joseph T. Smith, I shouldn't be listening to this call. Is that the most asinine thing you have ever heard? They leave a voicemail message on MY phone and then tell me to not listen to it.  I have to play it all the way through in order to delete it.  They told me this person has a debt of $30,000 and needs to call them.  Somehow this is just wrong on so many levels. I'm reporting these idiots to the FTC.

what about those who DO NOT OWE ANYONE, like me, STILL getting those CALLS? I have been telling all of collect co. about my BUSINESS line not personal, and also that I am NOT the person they call (they often say a weird name I can't even pronunciate)

hey moron... dont come on here saying pay your bills and this wont happen. These scumbags are calling my house repeatedly for someone who doesnt even live here. Go brighten up you stupid peice of S _ _ _.

and for the record...I am not in debt to anyone...my bills are all paid and I am not associated with anything they are trying to collect, so this is just pure harrassment.

Calls late at night and only lets the phone ring about 3 times. If I don't answer it by then, they hang up. It's annoying.

Tell that to my mother who gets collection calls for my wife's ex-husband.  They have been divorced for 14 years and somehow my wife having been married to him went to us and then to my mother.

People get collection calls all the time that are not intended for the current "owner" of the number, and its less painful to have all your teeth pulled then to force some of these companies to remove the number from the call list.

I had calls at my house from Chrysler credit for someone who had the number something like 5 years before.  They were nice enough to remove the number, but other companies will tell you that its removed "until it shows up again as a contact number, then the system will call again."

Simply put, the "bad" collection companies make the news and these sites and the "good" ones don't.

Collection agencies do not have the right to call you, your relatives, your neighbors, but they do.  They do the relative and neighbor calls with the "we are trying to reach ______ about a job they applied for" type of thing, hoping your neighbor will give them a number.  They must stop all contact with you if you can find out who they are and a good mailing address, and can only contact you again if they intend to offer you a settlement, or to inform you that the account is being sold to another collection agency.

Know your rights, and know the law.  If collection agencies violate the law, they can be sued.  A court has already ruled that debt collectors have no right to violate the "do not call" registry when they have been informed that the person they seek is not at that number.

totally agree... if bills are paid on time, nobody would be calling you to collect $$ in the first place...

These people call even when you tell them they have the wrong number. I have actually managed to sue two collection agencies for not leaving me alone when they have been told to.  These are bottom feeders.  There are laws to protect consumers from people like this.  The mentality that you show with your statement indicates you are one of these bottom feeders.  Shame on you.

Hey "Pay your bills"  Do***ebag, don't assume just because were getting these calls we don't pay our bills.  You looked up a number for a collection agency to mouth off to strangers?  Go suck a sick dick.

Why don't you all stop complaining and pay your bills and then you won't receive all these calls.....HELLO!!!!