Monica
Waterford,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, May 27, 2013
Lawsuits concerning phone harrassment is nothing new to Sterling Inc. They have their own in-house credit (not an outside lender like GE Money) and therefore use excessive tactics to recover payments. The most important thing to remember if you are trying to file a complaint or lawsuit due to collection harrassment is to document, document, document. Every time and date they called, who you spoke with (by name), the nature of the call (language that was used, any perceivable threats, etc.), and if you feel like you are being abused as a comsumer, then pay off the account and close it. If you are dilligent in your documentation you can absolutely win a suit. There are laws protecting consumers for this very reason. The laws aren't put in place to protect the people who make credit purchases and never pay, they are made for people just like you and your situation. You do not have to put up with this. The "no interest" is very inticing, but keep in mind, many jewelry stores can offer this. I have personally worked for four jewelers (including Sterling) that offered "no interest", and there truly is none, but you have to play the game their way. If you aren't willing to put up with the calls then of course, the first thing is to make timely payments, but since this isn't a perfect world and things don't always go according to plan, consider layaway instead. You have to wait to wear the jewelry, but they won't harrass or penalize you if you are a few days late. And one benefit to layaway is, when they are coming up on a large event where they are expected to reach a certain sales goal, you can often negotiate a lower price to pay off your layaway because the money from the layaway sale doesn't count towards the store's sales goal until it is paid in full. This gives you negotiation leverage and can save you hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars.