Complaint Review: McCarthy Burgess & Wolfe

McCarthy, Burgess and Wolf is a collection agency in Cleveland, OH operating in violation of consumer protection laws and hurting its own clients by misrepresenting how the deal with the alleged debtors.

Stephen Wolf and Freida Burgess claims in their website that their agency does "collection without alienating" its targets. Nothing could be further from the truth for this agency engages in illegal practices and harassment. For example on 11/04/09 at 9:44 P.M., I was called by Freida Burgess who used the nickname of "Linda" to identify herself.

"Who is this?", I asked. "Linda", she replied, "for McCarthy, Burgess". Since these calls have been made repeatedly to my workplace and I had asked them to stop, I requested her full name, address and collection agency license number. She refused to provide them.

Under most state laws in US, collection agencies must be licensed wherever they do business and they must provide their license number upon request. It is illegal to call an alleged debtor to her workplace if her employer does not accept collection calls. Therefore, McCarthy, Burgess and Wolf are in violation of consumer protection laws.

The worst thing for this rogue agency is that indirectly it is hurting its own clients. In my particular case, for instance, Yellowpages.com (A.K.A AT& T) alleges  that I owe them $241.00 from a business account dating back to 3 years ago.

I have never received an invoice or detailed statement from Yellowpages.com or from McCarthy Burgess where they itemize the charges and explain what is owed and the service rendered (In legalese, "a demand for payment"). I have never received a hard copy or written communication from any of them demanding payment, yet they call me continuously asking for payment, sometimes offering a "60%" discount. I would never pay for something I don't owe and I believe with all my heart that they are mistaken.

Because of Yellowpages.com and AT & T using this unlicensed, harassing agency to collect this fictitious debt, I have permanently severed all my ties with AT & T and Yellowpages.com and I will never ever ever advertise with them.

So thousands of dollars they used to get from my doing business with them they can kiss them goodbye. No business for you if you use a rogue debt collector.And of course, I will challenge McCarthy, Burgess and Wolf in a Court of Law if they continue violating the law.