Complaint Review: stuart gould& associates

This company called me 10/20/09. He explained what his company did and wondered if I had any out standing accounts with anyone. When i said i did he then faxed over to my office the paperwork for me to fill out. I drug my feet for an extra day to get it filled out. I called the better buisness bureau of california to check up on the company. They gave stuart gould & associates an A- rating. The lady said that was as good as it got as far as ratings, thought to myself what about A+. But still was a good rating and figured they were legitimate. Right away after sending my paperwork over to them they called me to tell me they had found a substancial amount of money in a bank account from the debitor i was after. They then needed $967.00 dollars for upfront attorney fees to get the account frozen. I was really hesitant about sending money up front like this so i called another collection agency in california to ask if this practice of money upfront was normal or not. They told me it was from time to time. He figured i had nothing to worry about and cluld trust the company. So i  sent the money to them. Never received another phone call from them nor could i contact them anymore. The phone numbers still work, but just get recorded messages on them.