Consumer Fraud small business owner

[sallysarah]

we were contacted by phone offering "free" online yellow page listing....since rec'd a bill for $600 plus interest saying we agreed to pay and now a collection agency is calling. if we never gave them a credit card number, can they report us and damage our credit if we don't pay?

 

[mightymoose]

They can report it, but when you dispute it they will have to justify it.

Contact the collection agency and dispute the debt. If this is showing on your personal credit report then dispute the debt through the credit agency as well.

The originating company will have to provide some kind of evidence of your promise to pay.

I suspect what happened is that you were offered a free introductory period after which normal rates applied... though they may have neglected to tell you about that over the phone.

 

[sallysarah]

Hi and thanks for the reply. I pretty much figured out that there is no real listing and it is a scam...and i never gave them any info. about us so, without a social or credit card number...can they even report anything? thanks again for your time.

 

[mightymoose]

If you have not done so already, I suggest you check your credit report to make sure there is nothing there that doesn't belong.

If there isn't then simply ignore them. You apparently gave a name and an address. With that information they could potentially get onto your credit report. If it is truly a scam you won't likely find anything. Their intent is to scare you into paying. Don't offer to pay anything and don't communicate with them in any way- doing so will only cause them to contact you and threaten you more.

What is the name of the collection agency? Try googling it and wee what you get.

 

[sallysarah]

hi and thanks again....they contacted us because our name and address are out there in the public, being a business, but what you say makes sense...they're not out to ruin credit, just to scare people. I was trying to figure out if your suggestion to "wee" what i get when i google them was some legal term i wasn't familiar with..HA! i do feel better now, and had a good laugh too! thanks

 

[mightymoose]

Typo..... "see" what you get