Collection Agencies - like F.H. Cann & Associates - attempt to collect unpaid/past bills on behalf of their business clients. At times, these collection agencies go after the wrong person, just because they have the same name.
In one actual case (see letter below with names removed), a
person was mailed a collection’s letter from F.H. Cann and Associates Inc.
indicating that they owed an outstanding debt.
The supervisor of collections (initials: T. W.) was called by that
person in order to straighten things out.
The person inquired about where F.H. Cann & Associatges Inc got
their mailing address. The collections
supervisor (Ms. W.) said that they get this from their client services
department. When asked to verify how
they could have retrieved the wrong address, Ms. W. promised to get back to
that person with that information.
Well, if you guessed that
Ms. W. never got back to the person, you would be correct. Apparently, F.H. Cann & Associates, Inc.
- like many of their peer organizations – seem to make a practice of using the
Internet to collect a number of addresses of “names” similar to the person's name who supposedly owes
money to their client. The problem with that practice - called,
“casting a wide net” – is that many unsuspecting people are erroneously contacted about
false debts that they don’t owe [nor ever did owe].
Unfortunately, these innocent
people are inconvenienced with straightening the matter out with the collection
agency – as though people aren’t busy enough today!
What’s interesting is that many of these collection agencies love to
post accolades about their company on their internet web-sites in order to make
a show of respectability to their prospective clients.
However, the truth is, most [if not all] collection agencies are a public nuisance to the many innocent people that they recklessly target in order to collect overdue bills for their clients. Their practice of “casting a wide net” is done shamelessly, with no apologies to the innocent individuals that they inconvenience and unnecessarily upset.
However, the truth is, most [if not all] collection agencies are a public nuisance to the many innocent people that they recklessly target in order to collect overdue bills for their clients. Their practice of “casting a wide net” is done shamelessly, with no apologies to the innocent individuals that they inconvenience and unnecessarily upset.
Warning: Never provide
personal information to these collection agencies if you have received one of
their collection letters and are 100% positive that you don’t have an unpaid
debt with their client.
Can a debt collector keep contacting me if I don’t think I owe any money?
"If you send the debt collector a letter stating that you don’t owe any or all of the money, or asking for verification of the debt, that collector must stop contacting you. You have to send that letter within 30 days after you receive the validation notice. But a collector can begin contacting you again if it sends you written verification of the debt, like a copy of a bill for the amount you owe." - United States Federal Trade Commission
