Over the past year they have aggressively been pursuing our company for what they claim is a past due balance of $566.04 with Advantx.com.
We have never hired / done work with Advantx.com and pay all of our invoices net 32 days, if not sooner. We have a Dunn and Bradstreet rating of 3A1.
This company has a pattern when calling of refusing to provide back up documentation. Common excuses are a) that's not our job to provide b) we have sent this over a dozen times 3) we can't provide that to you, it was your responsibility to pay this on time.
We have been threatened that they will report us to Dunn and Bradstreet and ruin our credit. Again, we have never worked with the company they claim we owe.
In doing some searching on the internet, specifically /link removed/ (type "RPM collection" in the search line), I was able to find out that we are not the only company or individual that they are doing this to. This collection company sounds like a front to a company looking to make money off of companies and individuals who will pay up to stop the threats. During these hard economic times there could be many more victims of this fraudulent activity. They are very forceful and use very threatening tactics to intimidate people to "just pay up". In some cases, offering to "make a deal" to reduce the amount owed.
OK This is scaring me. I called them last week because they told me I had an old Verizon bill for $253.00. Basedon the confirmations that I had from Verizon, this bill was only 179.00. I called them to make a settlemtn of $140. They accepted that offer and charged me a 10.00 fee for processing my payment through my checking account. I asked for a receipt and she told me that she has no way to get me a receipt and that I should watch for it in the mail. Well, so far I have not received this recepit. After reading all of the comments posted about RPM, I am really concerned. Joni Fetty, you are correct. In hard times like these, companies who try and manipulate the little guy really need to be dealt with on a federal level. I have an attorney who has been helping me with my credit ove rthe past couple of months. If I do not receive my receipt by next week, I am passing this one over to him to go after RPM. Let's see how a lawsuit makes them behave.
they have been calling me pretending to be another company asking to reinstate a car warrenty of which I have never purchased in the first place. I am not even the guy they asking for. the other day they called because I owe sprint money, 150.00, and i told them to wait a few days and they have been ringing my phone off the hook. I am poor and on limited income and I told them I was going to pay them but they arent hearing it. Plus to make matters worse, the reason why call it RPM is because they are threatening to do something to you car. Its kind of a legal way to terrorize you. i dont think its really legal, especially for such a low amount that I owe, but either way you look at it, its illegal to stalk people.
I had outstanding bill from Sprint for 746.00. I get a call from RPM saying that I owe them over $900.00.
I don't even now where the extra amount came from. Even with that amount I offered to settle for $500.00.
They took the payment. A week later I get calls from them saying that I still owe them the rest of the balance.
When I told them that I had settled a week ago, they gave some nonsense that the payment was applied to the balance. Now I'm getting the run around from them. I'm trying to get the recording from the first call.
These people are killing me. They are threatening jail over 47.50. They are yelling at me. They are calling me everyday 3 times a day. Verizon was 4 years ago in my life and Verizon knows NOTHING about this amount owed. I just bought a house last week and there is nothing on my credit report. Verizon cannot give me any information because I do not know the phone number or account number from an apartment I lived in 4 years ago! Do I pay this? They are scaring me and I want to press charges. I cannot get away from them. I tell them that my statement is that I am refusing to pay it and that is when they start yelling about jail. Makes me shake with anger and helplessness. Can I do that?
I'm an accountant who does work in the client's offices. I had a client more than two years ago that had me do his accounts payable once a month, which took about half a day each time. If he received calls about bills he'd tell the caller my name and to call back on the day I'd be in the office.
The owner closed his business in May of 2007 (25 months ago at the time of this writing) and that was the end of our working relationship.
So I got a call from RPM on my cell, I'm told I owe a bill to Verizon in the name of my former client's defunct business, that I'm responsible because Verizon says I'm responsible, that I can't talk to Verizon about it because once an account goes to RPM the original vendor won't discuss it, and (my favorite part) that if I don't pay up RPM will see to it that this goes on my credit report.
Then he hung up on me.
I've already written this up on several websites just to make myself feel better. I've also got a paper copy already addressed to my Congressman that I'll be dropping in the mail on the way home. And for the record, I don't expect any of that to do any good. I'm sure RPM could care less, and that my Congressman won't even see the letter. But I want to send it anyway.
What's funny is that I could probably have located the owner of the business. I could let him know Verizon is trying to collect a bill and he would be happy to pay it. But now that RPM has put their pitbulls on me there is no way I'll ever help them get the money. So it'll be on my credit report that I owe Verizon a couple of hundred dollars? Oooooooooooh, that's really going to cost me a good night's sleep. Not.
I filed for B.R., notified my creditors over five years ago due to illness. I moved (downsized) and now have an unlisted number. Now they have started to call every am about 10:00am. I finally answered and informed them of the still pending B.R., which I never was a able to complete due to illness. Let's see if they go away.
Rossie
RPM now is calling actively relatives on a bill that I owed Verizon Wireless and they have zeroed out due to bankruptcy. I have notified my attorney and filed a Complaint with the FTC numerous times. I am shocked but not surprized that they are allowed to continue these illegal practices. Actually thinking about taking them to small claims or filing a lawsuit. This has gotten way out of hand and contacted family and friends is not legal at all or so the law says.
RPM called me last night. I had disputed a bill with a creditor, they sent it to a collection agency. I then disputed it with the agency and advised them to cease calling my house, which they did..fine...But now a year later and the file was re-activated and sent from the first agency to this RPM collection agency.
So I get a call last night, I talk to a guy who thought he knew more about the situation than I myself.
I thoroughly explained my dispute. The bill is for $290. He offered me to pay $90 and they'd credit $200 and we'd be done. I told him I was paying it based on my dispute. He didnt like this and started to raise his voice, but I talk loud so I raised mine too..:)
Then he says "I dont think you know who you are talking too, I have your home address"...
Big mistake. I have written a letter to their company, sending a copy to them, the original creditor and to the states attorney generals office in both my state and the state RPM is in (Oregon).
[EDIT] - Sorry, I made an error
I meant that I told the rep when he offered me to pay $90, that I WAS NOT paying the debt
These guys keep calling my business for an unpaid Verizon bill - approx $220. Of course, they can't give me a copy of the unpaid bill after repeated requests, and continual lies that they mailed it. I told them to *%$# off several times - and was abruptly hung up on for being offensive :). Good effective tactic. Another good tactic is to tell them that the individual no longer is employed at the company.
Verizon is just as much of a ### company since they apparently sell their old "shady" debt to some third party group for pennies on the dollar. Anyway, Verizon has no record of my firm's unpaid amount (it apparently related to their "committment deal" for a three year phone contract which was cancelled after two years). These verbal deals are not in any written contract form, and I would assume hold very little legal recourse - so verizon just sells it off since they figure it is a losing battle to collect from a pissed off customer.
Advice to everyone - never settle over the phone and give out a credit card # to any company that you are not comfortable with - especially if they are verbally abusive. Pay by a check through the mail with a copy of the bill. If the company can't give you a copy of an unpaid bill, don't pay.
RPM keeps calling me to settle a collection for $112.00 its not that much and I neeed to have it payed off so i can refi my truck. That was 2 months ago the bank needs a letter saying that it is payed off no big deal right they said they would mail it and it would be 30 days and if i did not recieve it then they would fax the confermationn letter to me. Well guess what it has been 2 months a letter was never sent they absolutley refuse to fax it to me i have spoken with at least 15 different people including supervisors and managers supposedly. I am still unable to refi my truck and they think that it is ok for me to wait another 30 days. But they were harassing me 3 to 5 times a day to collect this debt for 8 months they said it was for an electric bill that i owed from when i lived in AZ 6 years ago and now it is on my credit after 6 years of not being there.
I have been getting calls from RPM for a non-late Century Link bill that is now paid. They call my cell every day as well as the office phone number. Since Century Link would use such a service, I would recommend never using Centruy Link. This whole issue was initiated by Century Link because we switched to Cox Communication. Be carful who you do business with.
I just got a call from RPM falsely alleging that I owe them money. I dont. They were really nasty. I said I did Civil Litigation for a living and they should leave me alone - they didnt, and if they didnt listen to me and stop bothering me, we would go before a Superior Court judge downtown Sacramento and discuss it. They ignored me, I am going to file suit against them. If anyone wants some inexpensive help with legal action against RPM call me at [protected] or email me at hart@cwnet.com I would really be glad to help you
Kent
I received a call from RPM today. The rep on the phone told me I owe Verizon over $400. I was flabbergasted because I pay that bill - all my bills for that matter - online and I always pay on time. I told him that it was a mistake and that I would take it up with Verizon directly. I immediately checked my account status at verizon.com. Lo and behold, my account was in good standing and my upcoming bill is nowhere near $400. I called RPM back to let someone know that there was a mistake. In order to try to verify my account, he asked me if I had lived at a certain address in a town that I've never even been to. Then he asked me if the last four digits of my SSN were "XXXX" - not mine. I am concerned about this. How on earth, if Verizon had discharged an allegedly past due account in my name to RPM, could RPM turn around and get the name and telephone number right but not the SSN or address? Are they simply flipping through the phonebook looking up other people named Christopher Davis hoping they'll come across the one who actually owes money? This is a minor complaint by contrast, but when I received the phone call I was greeted by an automated greeting letting me know that I would have to hold for the next available rep. WTF.
I just got a letter from RPM stating that I owe $3499 to Sprint. WTF? I don't even have an account with Sprint. What do I do? Am I a victim of identity theft? How does one even get a Sprint bill that high? Any advice greatly appreciated.
I am flipping furious! When my daughter was 14 she had a leased PAGER from MCI. That was 16 years ago. The pager broke, it was returned, MCI kept billing me for it, $68.00, and then they more or less when out of business. Over the years I would get a bill from some collection agency, a different one each time. A few times I found it on my credit report and I filed a dispute with the credit bureaus who always determined that it was not a legitimate bill and took it off my credit report. Didn't hear anything for a couple of years, then last week I get a bill from RPM for the MCI bill again! I just threw it away because I heard that if you even acknowledge the bill with these collections agencies it can start the clock all over again on your credit. So today they called my home and got my husband, who is not well. and told them they needed to collect $68.00 on the "phone bill" or it w0uld be "sent to collection". So my husband paid them. I immediately called my bank and tried to stop the transaction, but since it was a debit card transaction, I have to wait for it to clear my account then dispute it. Plus they charged an extra $10! It's not the $78 that I care about, it's that I went to a lot of trouble to keep this off my credit and now it's there for another 7 years. That's a total of 32 years since we returned that stupid pager.
guys... i have an idea... if anyone ever finds out last name or phone number of people that work there (president or owner would be nice) post it here, we'll call them for some unpaid bills for our posting time here :)
update:
here are some of RPMs employees, have fun
Howard George - CEO, founder
Mike Frazee - high ranking IT guy, used to work for sprint
Sandeep Yenireddy - some high ranking geek
Andy Erpelding - sn. director, used to work for sprint
Mike Sohns - gen. manager Bothell, WA
Bob Polus - dir. of ops. in WA, telecom and utility guy
Keith Brammer - dir. of ops., denver?
My dad a call today 3/9/11 looking for my wife. Eddie Garcia (RPM Rep) left his number and so I called them (not knowing what RPM was) to get more information and/or handle it for her. They refused to give me any information beyond they "are accounts receivable" without proof of power of attorney.
Luckily I called them with my Google Voice number (and I recommend everyone that contacts them does this) because now any time they call back I can record the call easily. Also, it will allow me to flat out block their number(s) so I don't get their calls at all.
I'll let you know how things unfold after I fax them proof of power of attorney.
These [censor]s keep calling me for an overdue Sprint bill. They indicated the amount was $59+. The current balance that I had was $16 something. I paid the balance off and received a statement which indicated $0. I informed them of this and they continue to call and harass me. I tried to fax them the $0 balance statement but of course their fax did not work. They are idiots.
For the last few weeks, that above mentioned Company has called my house. Their Phone # is [protected]. They don't leave a message, and I have picked up the phone, but nobody says anything. I won't say anything also. But they call every day. It is getting real old.
disputes: they need to be a written letter of dispute, the reason you don't owe the balance. any supporting information helps and usually gets an immediate approval.
fraud: its possible to be a victim of i.d. theft. Usually signs are when the acct is of a high balance. The acct was paid once, and still has a high balance. Or it was immediately opened then closed. always ask collectors for dates and to confirm billing addresses to ensure its a fraud acct, if you have never used the service before. Then at that time they submitted it to the fraud dept. and the acct is then sent to the three Credit B.
the recording when they call is ridiculous and completely rude! don't call me then put me on hold period!
Oh and they say that if you want the calls to stop just send in a cease and desist letter stating you want all calls to stop from the company. I found the rules or guidelines they follow are that of the FDCPA... fair debt collection practicing act.
Some collectors are A$$holes, but then again there are a few nice ones, which I've learned from experience .
Example: I spoke to a rep who was probably the nicest rep in the office I had spoken with. I had a bill for t-mobile which was of $1000.00. where I lived I had no service and my phones never worked so I returned them in id say after a couple months with a bill that was proof of residence and informed the my phones weren't working in my area, so they said they would waive the ETF fee which was $200.00 a phone, and I had 4 phones so $800.00 was not something I was dishing out for ending service I never got! the rep had told me to send in a letter of dispute stating id pay the balance at which I stated I owed which was $200 and I was disputing the $800 due to no service, as well as I sent in a copy of a bill and a letter stating t-mobile would waive the fee's!. i then got a call from the same rep about three weeks later saying the dispute was approved and the balance due was $200.00 I then set up that payment like I said I would and I received an authorization # as well as a letter telling me I had a $0 balance. I have yet to receive any calls and it wasn't reported to my credit report which I was happy about!
I believe the rep handling my acct was from Oregon, I think her name was Kathy or Cassie
And out of the Tennessee office:
Lisa Kilgore
RPM Services
100 S 1st St # 208
PO BOX 931
Smithville, TN 37166
[protected]
I would suggest that everyone file a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre18.shtm
[protected], the phone number for complaints!
Dear friends: Send the offending company a Validity Dispute letter; these are available on the Internet. Also: write a letter to the FTC.
Good luck and God bless you.
Anonymooses
I talked to some person named Yassir. I CAN NOT express how rude this guy was. He was so unprofessional, and not only that, he was extremely disrespectful. They were trying to collect a debt just for a minimal amount, and I honestly had no reason not to pay it. We were both cooperating, until I asked him for a statement. Once I asked a statement from him, he was trying to argue with me, and tried hanging up on me while I was talking. If I was being respectful, I think he could have done the same. Oh and hear this, I told him to send me an email with the statement, and he agreed, I gave him my email. Guess what? NO EMAIL! This guy has no right to make phone calls or even have a job with a collection agency. These ###s need to learn some kind of respect for there company and employees.
RPM calls us 3 times a day, 7 days a week. It is harassment. I have already told them that I am not the person they are looking for. I never opened an account with the company that is seeking collection. But, they continue to harass me. They are rude and forceful. I looked up complaints about them online and there are multiple sites from other people who are experiencing the same harassment. Many people have erroneously paid them off thinking that would settle the harassing calls. RPM is an extortionist and a thief. RPM needs to stop its harassing and fraudulent collection activities. RPM has already paid $1.3 Million in Federal Trade Commission fines in 2007. Here is the link to see for yourself: http://rpmheadache.blogspot.com/.
I am filing this BBB complaint today, because if they don't stop, I would like BBB to help in reporting them to the FTC again, because obviously, RPM has not learned its lesson. They continue to harass their victims and extort money. Legal action needs to be taken against this company. I need all the help I can get. Please help!
People, PLEASE! Do not waste your breath, your time, your efforts scoping out these friggin clowns. RPM is simply another offshoot of Asset Acceptance. If you owe anyone in your life and don't pay, even after continuous phone calls, the bill is considered uncollected and is voided out of service, put in the dead files. Agencies with hard ball scam artisans on their roster buy up these defunct, uncollectable debts for almost nothing out of pocket, then they call, you answer, and they say you owe so and so, how do you want to settle this. So and so doesn't get a friggin penny of your check if you give these scrum muffins money. So please, please, please do not pay attention to these idiotic, phony shock jocks. They have no power over you and are getting rich off of people's lack of understanding how debt collection works.
I got a letter from RPM for a sprint bill about 3 years ago. I just paid it off because I thought it was going to go on my credit report. However, when I asked for a letter they said they sent it. Well I never got it I called 3 times and the guy over the phone got really rude saying it was my mistake for losing the letter (that was never sent). Long and behold my grandmother gets a letter from the same people asking for 140 dollars. The company is a scam, I still have the letter and I'm sure I can find somewhere in my pile of papers that I paid them over 325 dollars. I wish I would have done my research back then.
Contact this free attorney i did and was never charged a dime. They got rpm dealt with and the derogatory mark removed promptly and yes its 100 percent free.heres the number [protected]
They have called constantly with a recorded message. I finally got through to RPM and they claim I owed Dish money. I HAVE NEVER HAD DISH. Cable for over 35 years. They threatened escalation and even threatened my life! I contacted the state attorney general and filed a complaint because they still keep calling and threatening anyone who answers the phone now!
They justify the harassment with a penal definition of the word. That since they have cause and reason to call 5 times a day including Sundays and holidays...(yes memorial day as well.) they have easily bended the bar and standard to adamantly and conveniently ensure that they themselves are not viable to any scrutiny...How convenient the penal system is for them...They get to change definitions of words to ensure immunity...
What? You mentioned they call 5 times a day. Do you speak to them and they acknowledge who they are and why they are calling? or do you just monitor the Caller ID and not answer. That is not against the law, nor is it penal, whatever that is.
I got a call from this guys and I'm going to call them and ask them to post mail me the original bill, proof that i owe them money and offer me a deal in writing. Send all that to me in writing or I won't pay the offer of 50%. Or else they won't get a penny from me. I know I owe them $220 but I'm offering them 50% of that amount. If they don't take it, that's their loss. I was paying without problems to Verizon monthly and don't understand why they sent me to collections. Oh well that's what it is. There is no sense of arguing with those sharks, blood suckers collectors. Something must be done.