Complaint Review: ERC Collections - Internet Internet

ERC Collection agents including Mr. Love have been trying to badger my elderly mom into paying them money they claim they owe AT&T.  My mom knows she has been current on her AT&T bills for as long as she can remember and has the old bills and copies of her canceled checks to prove it, but ERC Collection doesn't care, they keep calling her anyway, even waking her up a lot during the day when she take naps.   When she asked them for a copy of the supposedly unpaid bill, Mr. Love said they don't have any copies or records of what she owes the money for, so my mom can't compare the unpaid bill to her records so she can prove she has already paid it.

My mom called AT&T and they told her that if they were forced to put her into collections, they would have given the collection company all the billing copies, and any reputable collection company would send her a copy.  Besides, they don't think she owes them anything.

I spoke to Mr Love and his manager Mr. Brown and it became pretty clear that thier accustomed to calling thousands of people a day who usually have refused to pay bills, even after several other previous collection agencies have tried to get them to pay up.

Their company, CR Collections, is a real collection company but they are not prepared to tell my mom or anyone else they call why they owe the money their company now wants to collect.  They are only interested in talking to people who will pay them without receiving any documentation in return.

My Love told me he calls "500 people a day".  He said an auto dialer dials the numbers for him and all he knows when the person gets on the line is how much the person is suppose to owe, and which company the bill was suppose to be from.

I told him I wanted to help him collect the money but first you would need a copy of the original bill so that my mom could look and see if she already had a cancled check proving she had already paid it on time.  Mr. Love told me he doesn't have that sort of access to paperwork, and besides, he said there is a 9 out of 10 chance you really do owe the money.  I suppose he doesn't care about the 1 in 10 who did pay the bill on time.

I tried a little logic, letting them know I had copies of recent AT&T invoices that all show my mom's account is paid in full and up to date, but he was undeterred.  He could not explain how she could owe 4 months worth of money and not have her service turned off, or have the outstanding amount reflected on the current billing.

About then I got his boss, Mr. Brown, on the line and he told me that wasn't going to discuss any more details with me unless I provided more information to him.  He wants more contact information for my parents, and asked me to fax them copies of her most recent billing.

I think they really make their money by intimidating old folks into paying them money they don't owe.  They know old folks are easily confused and many will simply send them a check to make them go away.