I was a commerical collections agent for 2 years. They threaten to fire people constantly and hold your job over your head like that is going to motivate you to do a better job. Most of the collections performed there are on the legit side, however, in some instances you would be told to attempt to collect on a debt that was either 1) A bankrupt company which was proved through the declaration in which case the debt was forgiven under state law. 2) A company out of business that you could not collect on since the statue had run out or 3) An insurance debt that had been satidifed but they wanted to collect on anyways to improve their numbers.
Most if not all the good collectors are gone while the ones who remain are nothing more than people who fit into the high school clique atmosphere. Middle Management are nothing more than a bunch of bullies with very little collections experience which is apparent when they loose a client which is blamed on the collections people to upper management. By the waay some of the bulling tactics will eventually get them sued.
I doubt Upper Management is aware of this or maybe its just that they don't care. In any case, I am at another collections agency doing very well and wanted to share this gem of knowledge for anyone looking to work here or do business with them. There are better companies.