651-209-1825

i just got one as well, said i had outstanding checks and that i needed to send them 400 dollars to clear the debt, asked them to send me something and the lady and man threatened me.  said they would put it down that i am refusing to pay, i said i'm not refusing to send me something in the mail and they said no, i am refusing payment and they will take me to court and they hung up.

Omg I got one today. The lady said I owed 155. I asked for what, she said I received a letter (no I did not) so I asked her to resend the letter. She freaked out, told me I was refusing to pay, and since they sent the original letter on 2/21 the $ was due by tomorrow...and then she hung up on me midsentence. I left a vmail with the supervisor and received no call back.

I have been getting about 4 calls a day from them and all they do is bug me and are very rude is there a place where you can turn them in ? please help!!!

How do they get all your right information. like ur street address and the bank you go to and even the place were you wrote a bad check!

Talk with your attorney first and foremost.  Then send them a cease and desist letter that also ask for confirmation of debt.  If they don't respond in 30 days they most remove the debt and if they call you again sue them for harassment.  Your attorney should advise you something along those lines as well.

They keep calling but I don't/won't answer. Especially after my cousin got one of the same threatening phone calls.

I received a call and message from Groggins & Lavintman today on my home phone and my cell phone.  Called from 651-209-1825.  I found all the posts on here before I called.  Everyone is correct.  The woman was very rude and kept talking and threatening. I remained calm and at one point kept saying Ma'am, could you please calm down and allow me to talk to you. That fell on deaf ears and a loud rude mouth. I asked for the Verification of debt be sent to me, which (of course) she said I had received in January of 2011.  She said I owed my local hospital for medical bills from Dec 2010 and Jan 2011.  I told her that I had not received such a letter, that by law I was entitled to one and that I did not owe the money. She screamed that I owed $2000 and she was going to record it that I refused to pay the debt (which I said nothing of the sort) and said I wish you well and hung up on me.  

So I calmly called back. I had the intention of asking if they had any one nice to talk to that would let me speak.  They must have caller ID. It went to a message to enter and extention number or dial 0 to leave a message.  

I KNOW I do not owe the money.  My husband passed away and I had no income for 10 months until my Social Security Disability started.  Between his illness and my heart procedure right before he became sick, there was almost $400,000.00 of medical bills. Insurance payed all but $4000.00.  I asked for a financial help application, filled it out and the hospital wrote off the balance.  IN FULL  This morning I had received a bill from the hospital from a surgury last month.  I called them and they told me my supplement had paid since they had generated the bill and I had 0 balance with their facility.  Of course I kept the write off letter and have proof that I owe this place nothing.  This rude woman refused to let me talk and tell her this.  

Please follow the leads of the pople on here and report these people.  The more of us that don't stand for it and do something about may stop this kind of collection behavior.  I amsending the cease communication letter out tomorrow, return receipt requested and will report them to Attorney General's office, and my attorney.

Funny thing is, the SSD is my only income and they can't garnish that.

This lady calls me everyday about 5 times.  I have a her on a special ringtone so I don't even have to look at the phone.  She is rude, and obnoxious.  Thank you for letting me know she's scamming people.  She rattles off some law firm name, but I havn't seen a bill yet from them.  DON'T PAY.  DON'T PAY.

I just received a call from this number they were asking for my ex only by his first name. When I told them he was no longer at this number but that I still talk to him and asked if there was any message, the "lady" said "well this is the number we have on file and this is the first time we've tried to call" and hung up without giving me any information.

I agree with this caller. If you call them back enough and tie up their lines, they will either become rude and hang up on you everytime you call. I like the 67 idea.

These people are rude and obnoxious. When they threatened me I threatened right back... should not threaten a biker. Next time I am in St Paul, I am looking them up and kicking someone's ass. That is a promise, not a threat.

Never write a check with your mouth, that your [***] can't cash

Go get them biker

Telephone:(651) 209-1825
FAX:(651) 209-1830

Address
1295 Northland Drive
Suite 270
Mendota Heights, MN 55120


Email
General Information: goggins@gogginslegal.com  
Customer Support: sgravem@gogginslegal.com

So I have been getting calls from this company. I let it go to voice-mail because I do not recognize the number. A man named "Pat" keeps requesting me to call them. So today 6/6/2012, I call them back. I had wrote a check to Wal-Mart over a year ago and it was NSF. I had thought I paid it off. I asked to call them back to research the check. The female named "Judy" was rude about this saying I needed to pay it now or go to jail. So I know the law here in Florida, and I knew that wasn't true. So I researched it, found I did owe the check. I called them back and spoke with "mike" and made the payment for this check.

I suggest each of you do this. Research the worthless check laws in your state and have it handy when these companies call you. Call your state attorney's office and ask about the laws. Don't give into these companies. They do this as intimidation to get you to pay up. When you start quoting the law to them, they know that they can't do anything but be rude. If you do owe it, after you do your research, then try to pay it if you can. If you do not owe it, or they are calling you for someone else like a wrong number, send a cease and desist letter to them. I know it takes a few minutes and a few dollars to do so, but then you can sue them. So if we all do this, then we can take back what belongs to us.

Oh and they do not have your SS#, or bank name, they just say they do for INTIMIDATION. They do have your routing number and checking account number. So if your using the same account they read off to you, well then you know it is yours. If the account used to be yours and it is closed, research it to be sure.

Good luck to you all.

i have received several calls from this number possing as a major attorneys office. every time they call its a tammie king calling as the secretary from this office. she states that i owe 300 dollars on a bounced check that i never wrote. i told her i would need a statement in the mail before doing anything. she then told me that they have sent me several and said that they will not me another. i then asked for a acount or refererence number and she would not provide that either. she said she would put it down as refuse to pay, i then stated im not going to pay on anything that i know it not true. matter of fact i just got a call from them again today! im sooo tired of this damn number calling me it is a scam from hell. i hope these people that are doing this burn in hell. they will never get any money from me and can try all they want. do not buy into this, i googled the numbers they have called me from and it said SCAM,SCAM,SCAM on all pages. they need to be stopped!!

They have also been calling my husband and I and WILL NOT send you anything! If someone or some place will not send you a statement do not send them money, I have already lost over 200 dollars with them, had to change banks because we made the mistake of setting up auto payments! Agree! Do not pay these people any money!

Call the FTC at 877-382-4357

They have been calling two to three times on the hour today.  If I don't know who you are, I don't answer the call.  And who I owe I am in touch with.

I hear all the bitching and griping going on about these numbers and I get how frustrating it can be to deal with any collection agency.  There is one key thing you need to do once the collection agency contacts you by telephone and that is to announce that the call is being recorded (make sure you start the recording before you say one word!!!) to keep a valid record of each and every call (make sure you make this statement and start the recording of the call prior to saying a word).  They might hang up on the spot but if they dont and start going into their collection dialogue (let them finish) and then say do you understand this call is being recorded and do you wish to continue with the call, keep repeating if they do not answer)  They may hang up again and call you back.  Keep repeating this and say nothing else until they agree to the recorded phone call.  If they do not agree, then simply ask for their company name and mailing address and account reference number so that you can send a cease and desist and validation of debt letter. And here is the kicker on this, if they try and say they sent you a letter months ago ask them for the proof of service of the letter such as cert. return receipt, ups, fedex etc. confimation.  If they do not have it then tell them to send it again ans suggest return receipt by U.S. mail. Refusing to resend a letter of validation because you did not receive is not an unreasonable request and you should ask them to get proof of delivery to insure receipt.

If they refuse you have them by the balls, the debt can be voidable if you owe, speak to an attorney but pretty much they lose their right to collect or sue if they refuse to act in good faith and in the realm of public policy.  The point here is to get their address, account reference number so you can send them a certified return receipt letter of debt validation and cease and desist on all phone calls at home and work.

f they do not wish to be recorded they should hang up or say they agree to have the conversation recorded and state their true and legal name or company id number.  IMPORTANT: You need to check your state's laws with regards to wire tapping, recording conversations etc. to ensure you are not breaking any laws. DO NOT RECORD A CALL until you know your states laws period.  These recording laws very from state to state.

This announcement effectively puts the collection agency and collection agent you are speaking with on notice they are not dealing with someone who is willing to put up with nonsense.

Make sure you tell them you are aware of the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Acts (you should look these up an dread them, they are Federal and unless your state gives you a better position than the Federal Acts mentioned above they cover the entire United States), thus anything less than respectful calm conversation from them will result in a clear violation of the acts mentioned.

Do not ever in the conversation state that you do owe the debt or agree to pay any amount, any talk along these lines can reset the statue of limitation otherwise known as laches in legal terms for their ability to sue (check your state laws for statue of limitations to sue on debts, usually they differ between open book accounts (credit cards, revolving cards etc.) and contracts such as gym memberships, real estate, etc.  So its good to do you research long before you make the call to the collection agency.  If you know they are out of statue of limitation you can speak in terms of settlement but be very careful how you phrase it.  You should consult an attorney in your state for legal advise when it comes to negotiating in terms of settlement without admitting liability.  How I usually handle it, is that state without agreeing to pay or accepting liability for this account to amicably settle the matter I would offer X amount of dollars again for settlement purposes only (they cannot admit anything in a courtroom when phrased for settle purposes again check with your local attorney for clear legal advice). See if they agree to the amount, if they come back with a higher number which they will (so you might want to start at 10 cents on the dollar usually, but most collection agencies generally wont go for less than half the amount but perseverance he key here)  counter again maybe at .15 cents on the dollar (again make sure you calculating all these numbers up front and do not come back immediately give is few seconds as you are mulling it over then say Im really stretched and think that I really cant go over x amount of dollars.  Make sure prior to negotiating you have your hard number you wont go past right that down and stick to it especially if they cannot sue you.  They will either agree or not over the telephone, either way you follow it up with a letter certified return receipt.  If they agree and accept your dollar amount ask for them to send you a letter confirming the agreement of the payment amount will settle the account in full and that they agree to remove the account from any credit reporting agency.  At this point they may balk at the idea because it costs them money to remove the item (usually between 12-25 bucks) see if they bite at that if they refuse to move ask for paid in full remark instead of paid for less than the amount owed you can usually at least to get them to do this.  Their are many factors which may determine how you handle the credit reporting, if you are buying a house and need this paid ask if a paid in settlement will do it, if the time of the reporting is about to expire say you are in 5 years plus I do not know if I would pay them at all, making settlement can reset the time back to 7 years as opposed to two years... so if you dont have a loan depending on this in my opinion unless they agree to remove the item from your credit report (in writing and prior to payment) they are probably past statue of limitations and then just send them a cease and desist letter and wait out the two years, up to you and seek competent legal advice always before you act.

In your negotiations if they have violated any of the Acts mentioned above you can use that as leverage though they may just laugh at you until they receive a certified return receipt letter of intent to sue based on the Acts and to ask a judge to void the debt and order its removal from your credit report if they do not response within 10 business days after receipt (or depending on the response time in your state).

Until such time you receive a verification of debt with account numbers, your signature etc. I personally would treat the situation that the debt is not yours because it has not been properly verified and if they refuse to verify it they can lose their right to sue for that failure.  Make sure you respond to any verification they send, even if they do not include documents with your signature.  Make sure you point out that the verification was not proper because they did not include documents with your signature i.e contracts, receipts etc. thus verification was not made and you look forward to them provided such information or a letter confirming they are removing your name from the account and from all credit bureau's they report to.

make sure you verification letter includes some of the following ( I would google examples of such letters and get legal counsel on how to write one up):

demand proper verification by providing copies of receipts, contracts or anything with your valid signature, anything less will be considered an unvalidated debt and that they must remove your name from the account and remove you from credit bureaus they report to

documents showing they have a license to collect in your state (people usually miss this one and its a biggie).  If they dont have a license to collect in your state (check with your attorney general) they must stop immediately and remove it from the credit bureaus immediately.  In fact if they continue you can file a complain with your attorney general and the attorney general's office they will send letters themselves on a cease and desist in collecting money from anyone in the state in which they are not licensed.  They may laugh at you (the collection agency) but states are desperate for money right now and do not think for one moment and Attorney General won't investigate this.

a cease and desist on all telephone calls to any number you can be reached at including work, home, family members etc.  That only written correspondence will be accepted and any further telephone contact will be considered a violation of the Acts mentioned above and that you will sue for each violation they make.  By the way they can only call once per day between certain hours, check the F.D.C.P.A. on the specifics of this and for verification.  This is true if they reach you or you voice mail message... So keep track of their call activity.  They only get one call per day period, regardless if they reach you or your voice mail.

make sure you put in the letter that this is not a refusal to pay a debt but merely a request for validation of said debt so you can determine by factual evidence that the account belongs to you and that you owe the debt.  Keep in mind that these two items are not one in the same, the account could be yours but their may be fraudulent use so receipts with your signature are important.  Also, you need to certify return receipt your letter.  What I do is put certified return receipt number in the upper right hand corner of the letter and in the body of the letter (this to insure they do not copy the letter with that number white outed.  So after your opening of the line this letter is not a refusal to pay but a request for verification of debt... the net sentence should be something along the lines of "This letter has been sent to via Certified Return Receipt U.S. Mail and certified number is xxxxxxxx.  This way it makes it difficult to white it out as it would look suspicious to a judge seeing your copy with in between sentences and theirs showing a blank line (if they do that in court you will probably get a dismissal with prejudice, meaning they can never sue you again, they will get fined and ordered to pay you damages probably). Again seek competent legal advice and representation when going after a collection agency for violations.

Anyway, you get the idea of what you can do to stop them in their tracks and stop the phone calls, and without producing validation its unlikely they will sue unless its huge amount of money, unlikely though not impossible.

Sorry for the long message but hope this helps people in doing research, seeking legal advice from a competent attorney and fighting back to unscrupulous collection agencies.  The key here is no matter what keep your calm and speak in slow clear even tone and smile on the inside if they call you names etc. because once they have done that they are screwed.

Cheers.
J.G.


If they say the dont care if you record the call or not

I got a call from this number, when I called back they could only look up who I talked to by phone number, and then when I asked for some written confirmation etc. they got snippy and said that they "already sent one and don't have to send another".

Yes, they do. And they have five days to comply with your request or the debt is null and void. It's that simple. No debt validation, no debt.

The name of the firm can be checked to see if legally practicing law in Minnesota.  They are not, because on of the two names on the firm is not a Lawyer.  Look them up here:
http://lprb.mncourts.gov/LawyerSearch/Pages/default.aspx

They have two principals listed, Goggins & Lavintman.  The first one - to quote the legal site in Minnesota at:  http://lprb.mncourts.gov/LawyerSearch/pages/L ... .aspx?k=0035695

states that Mr. Goggins under Lawyer License No. 0035695  "is - and it is in BOLD and RED - "NOT AUTHORIZED" to Practice.  The Reason(s):?

Get this - "SUSPENDED FOR NON-PYMT OF FEES"  then "CLE:  RESTRICTED-VOLUNTARY".  

And it was a "PUBLIC DECISION".

Mr. Lavintman is allowed to practice, he paid his fees.  His license no. is 0061220   See:
http://lprb.mncourts.gov/LawyerSearch/pages/L ... .aspx?k=0061220

So they aren't paying their bills - and illegally practicing law - with one not a lawyer listed as the principal when you can't do that - that's not good!  

Someone report them to the Minnesota Bar, at:  http://lprb.mncourts.gov/complaints/Pages/default.aspx