Viking Collection Service Southwest caught harassing wrong person. They love writing letters and making phone calls, ripoff. Phoenix Arizona
This is my first time reading through the rip-off report and i have yet to find anyone that is being harassed by a collection service that does not owe money to a company harassing them.
i am not a credit card customer but my brother is. i was given the responsibilty of power of attorney by my brother while he is overseas working for the next year to two years. being the sister that i am i make sure his house payment is made, child support and past due credit card debts are paid every month. but i made the mistake of calling viking collection service southwestt, inc., the letters they kept sending urged people to call and they would work with you on resolving your debt.not! i called and ended up having a yelling match, which i know i should not have lowered my standards, and they blocked my phone number so i could not call them back.
i ended up talking to three people that day; a kathryn king, shannon ross, and a tom powers, you would think that out of three people trained to take money from people we could have come to some sort of agreeable paymeny plan. the morons wanted me to overnight them three checks each for 1500.00, post dated and we call it even. i let them know that i was uncomfortable with that and they got extremely ticked off, imagine that?
then tom powers had a difficult time with the idea of putting it in writing that if i did send the checks that he would not cash all of them at the same time. he then resorted to letting me know that he was not comfortable taking a third party check to pay the debt owed by my brother, even though Viking had received a faxed copy of my power of attorney. not to mention accepted payments sent prior to the phone conversation.
now the morons are trying all kinds of ways to get me to call them. not happening! from now on everything is in writing, i just sent out seven letters to the different people involved with this situation, all registered mail. i don't get it! their job is to collect money from people that would rather be hit by a train than pay them anything. i am trying to pay them and i am having to fight to get it done.
does anyone know if the power of attorney gives the employees of Viking collection service southwest, inc. the right to harass me while they are receiving substanial payments each month? i am making copies of the phone messages that they leave and logging it in a journal.
a misty johnson from Viking called yesterday and got mad when i answered the phone; she called me by name, then said that she was returning my call. i very calmly replied that i did not call her and i hung up while she was saying something extremely important. the way i knew it was important, she called back two times after that, one minute apart. when the phone rang i simply picked it up and set it back down, it's tough when no one will listen to you and you are convienced that what you have to say the world should hear. reality check!
the letters i sent today for eveyone at Viking i stated that the harassment stops. no more phone calls or letters just statements of the accounts each month is all the correspondence i need. any suggestions on getting rid of the bull dogs, besides blowing them up?
Deborah
Allen, Texas
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Deborah
Allen,Texas,
U.S.A.
final payment
#4Author of original report
Tue, February 28, 2006
Since my last entry in September 2005 my battle to pay-off Viking Collection Service has continued to be like children starving for attention. They continue to send card applications to my brother while they are Supposedly wanting him to pay them off, then maybe that's not what they're after,what's they're going interest rate for collections?
At any rate I sent them a FINAL PAYMENT 15 days ago and the check has yet to clear the bank, what,I thought they were a BIG TIME COLLECTION service. When I sent in smaller payments they hit the bank in 3-7 days,I didn't mean to throw them a curve. They talk a mean game but can't seem to follow through. They maybe having problems deciding which account of the two to apply the money to pay-off the accounts. I had sent a payment in two seperate checks for the two accounts,they did NOT apply any of the payment to the account that was suppose to be paid off,leaving me with one account to pay on.
That should be something else an attorney would like to have knowledge of in taking these people to court.That would be interesting!hhhmmm!Collection is NOT Viking Collection Service's strong suit,come to think about it doesn't have SERVICE written anywhere on it either. It should be Viking HARRASSMENT Service, or more along the child like ways,Viking BULLING. Wasn't there a show on Bullies,I can't beleive these people weren't watching and pick up some tips. Oh,Well!
Deborah
Allen,Texas,
U.S.A.
thanks for the info john from california
#4Consumer Suggestion
Thu, September 15, 2005
since i submitted my report on viking collection service southwest, i think i have figured out how to take care of the unwanted phone calls; put all correspondence in writing. when you write them use very simple language that can not be misunderstood, tell them not to call or write to you, you need nothing from them but an account statement. do no call! i sent 7 registered letters on 9-10-05, it is 9-14-05 and they have not called in two days. yeah! john, i opened the door for communications with viking by faxing a requested copy of my power of attorney. they must have been burned by third parties, you think? i like writing them because they run from it, they can't afford to put any of their b.s. in writing. people would be able to hold their feet to the fire. i've thought of getting a capital one card, they're the ones that turned this account over to viking,just to jerk with them and put just my gasoline on it and pay it off each month. paperwork for little amount of money!
John
Burbank,California,
U.S.A.
Viking is Ignoring Third-Party Disclosure Laws
#4Consumer Suggestion
Wed, September 14, 2005
Deborah, you've accidentally falling into one of those situation that characterizes Viking Southwest as exactly what they are. As far as I can see, they must work overtime to hire very weak and insecure people, who try to take the edge off of being wussies over the safety and security of the phone. In an ideal world, a professional bill collector or a person paid on commission would be interested in closing the deal as quickly and equitably as possible. Not this collection of inferiority complexes at Viking.
I am in a similar situation. My wife and I went through an unfortunate, but temporary separation. During this period she fell behind on a credit card account. The company's figures did not match her own, she asked for debt verification (under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) and they never responded. She kept getting computer generated notices and even a videotape (for illiterates, I assume) and no one returned her calls or answered her verification requests.
Role forward in time. During our separation, I took up residence in a separate address and opened up a new phone line. I started getting calls from some wimp named Jason asking for me by name, and stating he needed a call back "TODAY." First, even if this debt were legitimate, I would never cooperate with some yo-yo talking to me like that regardless of consequence. Second, I have no idea how he got my name and number unless some invasion of privacy took place, so I consulted with my attorney.
I basically learned that by asking for me and identifying himself from Viking Southwest, Jason the wuss committed violation of the FDCP and Fair Credit Reporting Act and the new FACT, which prohibits third-party disclosure. Your situation is similar. Debt collectors cannot disclose information to any third party, or even infer that they are calling that person about a debt, without the creditors permission. My situation is compounded by the fact that the company who referred the account to Viking was out of compliance with the law.
What I've done, and what I recommend you do, is file a formal complaint with the FTC at ftc.gov. Also, for each violation of the various laws, you're entitled to a recovery of $1,000 to $1,500. I have an attorney filing suit for me, but you can file against them for invidual violations in small claims court.
The whole strategy baffles me. Instead of a polite call to discuss and resolve the matter, it's expected I jump when some pansy leaves a gruff and aggressive message on the machine? Let me laugh.