866-853-1385

collection agency calling for someone else using automated dialer with recorded message

masks caller id as 'not provided' just displays number

states call is for (name) and makes announcement that by staying on the line you are acknowledging you are the person being called (can't recognize an answering machine) and leaves information about debt/account in violation of privacy laws

if you pick up phone the recording doesn't stop and you can't talk to anyone

if you call back ( to contact number) you can't get through to anyone or find out company name

If you hang up as per instructions to confirm you are not the person being called they call back later anyway

If anyone else has been contacted by this number and actually talked to a person please post their name and any information about them to go with this number

i have been getting this too for the past week or so and don't know what to do about it

yea, i got this too. i think it's a scam. some company got a hold of some numbers and they ramble on trying to get you to stay on the line as long as they can and charge you a lot for it. just hang up or dont pick up. the area code means that it's not toll free

from the voicemail i got left from them, they claim to be the following.

may weiller
escalated
5200 stoner road,suite 200
north Canton, OH 44720

they had the wrong name,  wrong phone number, and called me bout half an hour ago. i don't answer calls i don't know the numbers to. they have called me before saying i am someone else. i am on the do not call list.

same but it said business proposition .to a cell phone

This is a debt collector. Escallate, LLC., 5200 Stoneham Road, Suite 200, N. Canton, OH 44720. Email: info@paypastdue.com   www.payonmyacct.com    www.paypastdue.com    Also known as: Consumer Debt Services. Phone (877) 237-7787. The www.PayPastDue.com website and it's E-commerce affiliate site www.payonmyacct.com (heretofore known as The Web-Pay Sites), are owned and operated by ESCALLATE, LLC., formerly known as Consumer Debt Services, Ltd. ESCALLATE provides debt collection services to clients throughout the United States.

i keep getting these call for the pass month,(866.853.1385) and they have my ex husbands last name right and name completly wrong. is there a way we can stop these calls?

These asshats call daily for someone that I am not.  Daily they assure me that they will take my name off their list.  It keeps not happening.  There's just a dead silence.  When I call back and ask who they want it's not my name.  When I ask what their company does they don't answer.  I've filed daily complaints with the national do not call registry.

Call them and give them the account number they mention in the recording and tell them you do not know the person.  They will take your name off THAT item.  Otherwise, you will continue to recieve calls.  It doesn't matter whether you pick up or not during the message...you will continue to receive the call if you do not contact them.

I am goinng to contace about this and you can do the same

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Debt Collectors calling your Cell? TCPA Telephone Consumer Protection Act
A lot of people think it OK for a bill collector to call you on your cell. Well, a lot of times it’s not.

We interviewed attorney Patric Lester attorney licensed in California, New York and Missouri who explains why bill collector calls you get on your cell phone may be illegal.

Q. What is this  TCPA law? Is it new?

PL  Few people including attorneys know about the TCPA   The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) was passed by the United States Congress in 1991. The current version is  at 47 U.S.C. 227.

The focus is in this section of the act 47 USC § 227(b)(1) Restrictions on use of automated telephone equipment.

It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States – (A) to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party)

using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice -

(iii) to any … cellular telephone service.

The fines are FOR EACH CALL

47 USC § 227(b)(1) (B) an action to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive

$500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater, If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated this subsection or the regulations prescribed under this subsection, the court may, in its discretion,

increase the amount of the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times ($1,500) the amount available under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.

But few people even most lawyers don’t know about it. Regardless it’s a powerful weapon that can be used in state or federal court against those annoying, intrusive debt collection calls on your cell phone.

Congress passed the TCPA to to govern telemarketing. It covers many things including faxes but we’re just going to cover the rule against these people calling your cell phone right now.

The law says in a nutshell companies including debt collectors and your creditors can’t call your cell with an autodialer and if they do its $500- $1500 .. And that’s for each call!

PL But they’re 2 small catch’s
1. The calls its got to be from an auto dialer I’ll talk about that more in a minute and
here’s the important one

2. You can’t have given them express consent.

How do they get express permission?

PL: Here’s how. Often when you got the credit card or bought the thing they are now going after you to pay for, you put a phone number on the application. If you put your cell number, the one they’re calling you on, then you gave express permission and they are not breaking the law by calling you.

Q. What about if you call them back with your cell?
PL. No that’s not prior  express permission.

Q.  Lets get back to the term you used automatic dialing system. What’s that and how do you know they’re calling you with one of those?

PL Short answer you don’t absolutely know. But most of the industry uses them and usually you can tell when you phone rings and you answer it and there’s a short delay before your hear anything, that probably an automatic telephone dialing system or auto dialer, for short. Odds are if you are getting one of these calls on your cell it’s a company using an auto dialer.

Q.   Well I know lots of consumers who get debt collector calls at home are those all these $500-$1500 calls?

PL No what we are talking about is calls to a cell phone. If the call at home is a cell phone that’s the violation. If it’s a land line, while it may also violate the federal law, it doesn’t violate this one.

Other laws like the FDCPA or Fair Debt Collection practices Act apply to what most people would consider harassing calls to land lines by debt collectors.

But here’s the great part of this law we’re talking about now, TCPA.

It doesn’t have to be harassing. Any call they make is against the law. It can be civil and friendly and even helpful, but if its to your cell phone and you didn’t give express written consent for them to call that cell phone they are liable end of story and secondly  it doesn’t even have to be a debt collector. It can be the creditor that you owed the money to, to begin with.

All they have to do is call your cell with an auto dialer.


Q.  Well how would these people get my cell number?

PL There are a lot of places on the internet where you can look up someone’s cell phone number if you have their name and general area where they live

But more commonly the way they get your cell number is when you call them back on your cell phone when you get a dunning letter or a collection call at home or work and they then “trap” your cell phone number. After that they’ve got it.

Q. So what should they do?

PL A couple of things.

1.      Save the calls showing to your cell.
Can save those on your cell phone and if you know how you should download the messages with a date and time stamp to a digital recorder
so much the better

2.      Also if they leave messages you need to save those.

They ‘re valuable for 2 reasons
- They show obviously who made the call and when

-Sometimes the messages themselves will violate other laws against      harassing phone calls.

3.         Save your cell phone bills that have the numbers that called.

4.        Finally  call a lawyer who handles these type of cases like me.

To wrap up,  even though we’ve been talking about cell phone calls and the TCPA, any calls made to any phone can violate the FDCPA. There are so many ways to violate that law ( See article on this website 17 ways debt collectors break the law when they call you )

You should also contact a me if you think a debt collector is harassing you, your family, or calling your neighbors or at work about a debt you owe.

Hope you found this interesting. Take care.

ESCALLATE Co., calling as a DEBT COLLECTOR, extremely rude on the phone, I hung up several times, but they kept calling me back. I don't have debt, so I told them to ... a monkey.