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Local paper says I owe them $70; I don't even receive it.
GameHat
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
OK, I'm pretty angry.
About 6 months ago, a college kid came to my door. Said he was participating in a fundraiser for a day camp for disabled kids. Said if I donated, I would get a free 4-month subscription to the Daily Herald. I told him - I'm happy to donate, but I'm just not interested in the Daily Herald. He said that he needed to do it, to have me fill out name and address to prove that he wasn't just pocketing the money. No problem, he says - the subscription only renews if I tell them to. Fine, I think, and I give the kid $20. I give him my name, address, phone number.
About a month later, I get a call from a Herald rep. "Are you receiving your paper?"
"No," I say. "But just cancel my subscription. I'm not really interested."
Fact is, I hadn't seen a single physical paper ever delivered. I didn't much care. I don't read the Herald.
The rep seemed a bit confused, but I thought we hung up with the understanding that I just didn't want the paper.
Over the months I got a fair amount of junk mail from the Herald - "subscribe now!", etc. I began just tossing any mail from the Herald without even opening the envelope.
I still never received a single physical newspaper.
Well, today I got a letter from a debt collection agency. They say I owe the Herald about $70.
The alleged bill pisses me off. But what I'm really worried about is the collection agency dinging my credit score, which up to now has been stellar.
I'm going to call the Herald tomorrow. I haven't decided if I should be polite or furious.
So - advice?
Should I be polite or angry?
Can a debt collector ding my credit rating if I never gave the Herald any credit information?
Anything else I should do to cover myself?
About 6 months ago, a college kid came to my door. Said he was participating in a fundraiser for a day camp for disabled kids. Said if I donated, I would get a free 4-month subscription to the Daily Herald. I told him - I'm happy to donate, but I'm just not interested in the Daily Herald. He said that he needed to do it, to have me fill out name and address to prove that he wasn't just pocketing the money. No problem, he says - the subscription only renews if I tell them to. Fine, I think, and I give the kid $20. I give him my name, address, phone number.
About a month later, I get a call from a Herald rep. "Are you receiving your paper?"
"No," I say. "But just cancel my subscription. I'm not really interested."
Fact is, I hadn't seen a single physical paper ever delivered. I didn't much care. I don't read the Herald.
The rep seemed a bit confused, but I thought we hung up with the understanding that I just didn't want the paper.
Over the months I got a fair amount of junk mail from the Herald - "subscribe now!", etc. I began just tossing any mail from the Herald without even opening the envelope.
I still never received a single physical newspaper.
Well, today I got a letter from a debt collection agency. They say I owe the Herald about $70.
The alleged bill pisses me off. But what I'm really worried about is the collection agency dinging my credit score, which up to now has been stellar.
I'm going to call the Herald tomorrow. I haven't decided if I should be polite or furious.
So - advice?
Should I be polite or angry?
Can a debt collector ding my credit rating if I never gave the Herald any credit information?
Anything else I should do to cover myself?
GameHat on
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The college kid who tried to sell newspapers was a quasi-scammer. They all have different ways of trying to get money, the one who tried to pull it with me was saying he was doing it so he can reach a quota to get a scholarship or something from the Austin American Statesman to get into college or something. He did the same thing, except he said I would get a free subscription, and that he was just to fill out paperwork. Fine, I thought. But then he said "Oh, by the way, I need 20 something bucks for a delivery fee." I stopped filling out the form and said that that's not free "Oh, its ok, I have other people from the campus apartments I deliver too, see, they've paid me (with checks, as he showed me)." That's great, but I told him that it wasn't free and I'm not paying for anything. Then he got really defensive, and I just took the card I was filling out from him just so he couldn't magically put me on a subscription list.
He was later arrested by campus police because a) no solicitors allowed and b) as it turns out, he was just scamming students out of their money, keeping the "delivery fee," and making the Statesman harass the people who signed up because they haven't paid for their subscriptions yet.
Call up the Daily Herald, and tell them your situation. Also ask if the paper knew about someone selling newspaper subscriptions to help kids. I have a feeling you may hear something along the lines of "we've had this situation before"
Yes, yes it is a horrible recommendation. Never be crazy angry at customer service reps. Be polite but firm. Polite...but firm.
Do not wait, do this immediately. Some of these collection agencies buy up these debts, they try to collect on it a few times, send you a final notice and then they push it through small claims court.
Anyways, first thing would definitely be to try and explain to them the entirety of the situation (aka that you got scammed). Try to acquire any evidence you may have... did the kid give you some kind of (bogus or valid) receipt? Anyways, I couldn't talk them out of it in my case, so if the attempt to talk them out of it fails I don't know what to do. I just paid it and then vowed to never give money/information to anyone who comes to my door for any reason, ever again.
I really don't know much about how credit ratings work, but I'd be willing to bet there must be some board or someone you can call to refute a claim against your credit rating. Like think of how much power that's putting in the hands of companies, even as small as a local paper, if you can't say "No, I had nothing to do with them"
If it is real, I can't imagine how they'd get you to pay or affect your score, as they don't have anything on you.
It's terrible, but true. We work with idiots all day long, and 90% of them are rude. We still help them, but we will not be nice about it.
Don't call the debt collection agency. They won't reason with you. All they want is their money. They are bad to talk to because they are rude.
When you get someone on the line, just be friendly and let them know that you need help and ask for it. DO NOT DEMAND that they help you. Even though it is their job to help you, don't make demands. Never get rude with them. If you get someone that is unhelpful, politely ask to speak with a manager or supervisor. When the manager or supervisor gets on the phone remain polite and calm.
It's so much easier to deal with someone that remains calm and polite. Chances are that if they can't help you right there on the phone, if you're polite and calm someone will go out of the way to ensure you are satisfied.
did you get the name/operator id/whatever of this rep?
steam | Dokkan: 868846562