Complaint Review: Commercial Investigations - Van Nuys California

CII or Commercial Investigations Inc. had called our company and wanted to know if we had any collections that we would want to turn over to them. They said just give them anything to give them a chance. The man we talked to was named Joe Striker. So we did, we turned over to them a company that owed us over $13,000. So we decided hey what can it hurt. Let this collection agency take a crack at it. If they do a good job, then maybe we can use them. They had it for a couple of weeks, and called to say that they would need to a lawyer and that they would bring litigation up against this company and get it all collected offered 18% for collection fees. It was going to cost us upfront $3,800 to get the ball rolling. That was all our upfront costs were going to be!! We thought great, that sounded about right. They had given us a lot of information on this company that owed us money. So we cut them a check and sent it to them we cut the check 2/26/09.

Well, we didn't hear from them for awhile 2 maybe 3 weeks. I called them because I was getting suspicious and they sent me over to the lawyer's office talked to Felicia, the attorney's rep there and she said that the lawyer was still reviewing the files. They would call us back when the lawyer was done reviewing everything. Sounded good. Well, about a week later they called and said that they wanted to do a Fast Track litigation because they said that company we had turned over to them had over $100,000 in their bank account, and they wanted to put a freeze on their account so that we could get our money, all said and down we would get $25,000. They lawyer was requesting an additional $4,400 to proceed with this. They were saying it had to be done that day, we had to act fast and immediately. Calling every 30 min..we finally told them No, we did not have the money. They said that we wouldn't get as much and it was going to take a lot longer to get our money. We said that was fine, we just wanted what was owed to us and it has been this long, we can wait longer. We decided to contact our lawyer and see if they were a legitimate collection agency and if they had actually brought litigation up against that company..he e-mailed us back and told us not to give them anymore money, they were in fact a collection agency, but warned us not to give them anymore money. He also said that they had not brought litigation up against that company that we had turned over to them.

As of Mar 31st they had not brought any litigation against that company. Then about a week to two weeks later, they called and said that the lawyers were requesting an additional $2,400 or $2,800, something like that, to continue with the litigation. I told them they needed to call back and talk to the owner. So they did. She said to them that she wanted to know exactly where all the $3,800 had gone to she wanted a breakdown and proof of what they had been doing. She also said that she wanted a receipt for the money that she sent to them. She explained to them that she worked for a lawyer and that the $3,800 was plenty of money to do what they needed to collect the money. He told her he would have his secretary get that to us right away. Well, they called again last night around 5 pm and said that the lawyer is requesting an additional $4,200. I told them no, and that the owner wanted to speak to them. The owner spoke to them again. She explained that she has never received a receipt and that she has never received a breakdown where all the money has gone to that she has sent them already. He said that he would have to look into that and call her back. She requested his name, he only gave her his first name. When she requested his last name, he hung up on her. She called back later, and requested to talk to someone. The receptionist said that everyone had left for the day. The owner said No they didn't, it is only 4 pm your time, and I know for a fact that they are still working. The receptionist said that she didn't know anything that she was just a receptionist and that she would leave a note for that person to call her.

Angela

Pekin, Illinois

U.S.A.