800-862-4187

I got a phone call from 1-800-862-4187....at a time when I was sleeping. Of course, working third shift means having a "slightly" different sleep schedule from most others. However,......
They made their call during what...on the east coast...would be dinner time (just after 6PM)! That is patently illegal!
They also left the same taped message that everyone else has reported here, namely, to call "Janice Roberts", that it was neither a sales nor telemarketing call....yada yada yada.
Fortunately, I've got their taped message saved, and will gladly provide it to any Federal or other competent authority who decides to take this outfit to task for their misdoings.
Oh, I did try to call them back, but never got anything other than 13 seconds of dead air time on each occasion.
Not for anything, but it seems they are about as legit as Barack and Hillary: in other words, they'll never get my vote!

Well, they have called twice more today. I ignored their first call, but told them on the second (on what may have been a recording device) that their next attempt to phone me will result in my bringing legal action against them. After all, I've got their message saved on my cell phone, and will provide it to whoever goes after them.

Good luck to all of you!

They keep calling me at 10 in the morning.  Today was the first time i spoke with them on the phone.  They asked if i was who i was i said sure.  They told me that i owed money for something medically related costing $124.  I couldn't help but think my PPO covers just about everything i do medically, i knew they were full of it!  Just told them to send anything through the mail.

ya who is this jamie roberts?! i get a call from my inlaws telling me they keep calling their house. and when i called them back they said it was over a medical bill from two years ago that was already written off by my insurance!!! they claim i owe  them $1600.00, and wheni told them i was unable to pay the money they wanted upfront, and explained that i knew the collection process(being a collector myself), the lady told me "well since you seem to think you know everything, then why dont you take another look at your state laws." of all the nerve!! then i said i would mail a written request for payment arrangements for my insurance company, she said "do what you want it wont help you." someone needs to turn these people in for their continual harassment.

This number keeps calling my cell phone but when I call the number back, they say they don't have my number on file.

It is a credit agency.  I have had a zillion calls from these folks and West Asset Management because I was hospitalized while working as a temp and had no insurance.  If they had worked with me, I would have started a payment plan...but they wanted their money before I was even out of the hospital a week and I hadn't been working in 5 weeks.  So, yes, they are ruthless.  But they will get theirs...and I don't mean financial remuneration either.

I have talked to that "Sista wid an attitude" three times today about their machine calling me.  I talked to this same "sista wid an attitude" several times in the past.  I don't owe them anything.  I don't know anyone that they ask for.  I am paying for them to harass me.  All I got for my trouble was more attitude.  It left me no choice but to call the police about this.  Harassment is a crime.

Yeah, they call multiple times a day, for months now. They even called my cell phone. Which by the way... ISNT IN MY OR MY HUSBANDS NAME.  I called them back. A rude lady answered and asked for my husband i said that I was his wife what can i do for her. She gave me all this information. the 'debt' that the call was about happend before I ever met my husband. And it wasn't any of my business, If it was a debt I had nothing to do with it. She called my HOME phone directly after my cell. Got my husband on the phone, told him I had confirmed he took the ambulance ride, that infact *I* was in the ambulance with him and yada yada yada. He told her she was a liar and it was illegal to give out any information pertaining to acts that were before he had gotten married, even to his wife.  We've ignored the phone calls since. A creditor calls to collect a "debt" and make you hold the second you answer the phone?.. STUPID and LIARS. Let yer lawyer deal with them, they're evil.

For over a month I have been receiving calls from this number looking for Michael Perez.  I have called twice to have my number removed.  They are calling my cell phone and I've had the same number for over 8 years.  Upon good advice, I am going to once again ask them to remove my number or I will report them to the FTC.  I've never had a collection call in my life so I am sick & tired of it.

This number keeps calling my cell phone. I don't answer a call if I don't recognize the caller, but they did leave a message, possibly for someone by another name (not me), something about "Bay Area Collections", and said I should call back, left an 800 number. Sounded like a scam so I deleted -- I'm guessing they're phishing.

Computer generated message:

"If you are...[name of someone I've never heard of], please press the 9 key now to speak to a representative or continue to listen to this message.  This is Janice Roberts with Bay Area Credit Service. This is an attempt to collect a debt.  Any information obtained will be used for that purpose.  Please contant me regarding an important business matter at 800-862-4187.  Again, this is Janice Roberts [garbled].  To speak to a representative, press the 9 key now.  To repeat this message, press 3."

Several other posters above mention similar stories: a computer generated call, mentioning a name they do not recognize.  I have received numerous calls over the past several months which appear to comprise some rather transparent "pretexting".  In each case, the message mentions the name of an apparently fictitious employee of an apparently fictitious company.

It is possible that calls from this number actually originate with some collection agency.  If so, its name is apparently not "Bay Area Credit Services", which would apparently make the call illegal. However, another poster at this website suggests that the true purpose of these and similar calls is to trick the recipient into calling the given number, which is actually an (illegal?) "trap" which records the account information (name and number) of the person calling.  If so, that would explain why people who call the given number report that their call is either unanswered or that the person at the other end simply hangs up.  Allegedly, the only purpose of these robot-generated calls is to compile a reverse directory of every cell phone and every unlisted number in North America.  If this is true (and it seems the likeliest explanation I have yet heard), the one thing no-one should ever do is to call the given number in this type of call, which seem to be the telephonic analog of Nigerian email scams, which as we all know, should never be replied to!  Rather, report the calls here, as time permits, and contact the FTC and your state Attorney General if they continue.

Let's shut down these sleazy operations!  They are surely fraudulent and thus illegal.

They've called my cell # 3 times today, at least so far. The number shows up on the caller ID but they never leave a message. I think I did actually talk with them a year or more ago. The call at the time was about a bill with a company I don't remember ever hearing of, much less doing business with.

I get messages from this number 1 - 5 times EVERY day! Worse yet, it's my cell phone and they come in Infrared and/or Packet Data mode. The recording says they want to talk to "Anthony Martinez".    

Since it comes by Infrared/Packet Data, my cell phone simply buzzes. That isn't as bad as being woke up at 5 or 5:30 AM, but it's frustrating in the sense that I often don't hear it. Therefore, they frequently "call" and leave a message without my knowing it!

I've called the number back three times. The first time and second time, they told me that nothing could be done, because their records did NOT show my phone number.  The last time (earlier today), I asked for "Janet/Janice Roberts." The lady that answered told me that Roberts wasn't there today, but she did listen to my complaint and agreed to look up the account by name.

I also plan to report this to the Better Business Bureau and/or Federal Trade Commission. If the calls still don't stop, I may change my cell phone number, even though I have almost 500 business cards with my current number on them! A representative has told me that changing my number would be free because of the "harassing calls".

This company sends messages by Infrared and/or Packet Data wanting another person. Worse yet, I often don't hear the buzz which allows them to "call" and leave messages without my even knowing it. It is definitely harassment -- they call EVERY day, sometimes as much as FIVE times in a day!

It's also extremely frustrating because when I call them, they tell me that my number isn't even on their list!

I received a call from this number this afternoon while I was looking for work. They were asking for my name, then gave what I interpreted as a threat or intimidating tone: "By listening to this message you are acknowleding that you are (name)..." The name they left was Jodi Roberts instead of Jamie or Janice Roberts.

The problem is, I already am paying on time a debt to Bay Area Credit for a medical bill and the final payment is next month! If they do not have enough courtesy to leave in the message the creditor and account number, which I have from my last statement, I see no reason to call them back. After next month I'm done with them and any further communication will have to be in writing, or I will write them asking not to contact me anymore.

After six months of recieveing these harassing phone calls on my minor son's cell phone I am fed up.  I call the number back to inform them they are contacting the wrong person.  They are calling for a John Richardson.  My son has had his cell phone for over a year and these people just won't stop - I have called this company over 6 times in the last 6 months and they contiune to say they will delete the number!  Well they are still calling.... I will take the above advice and send a letter to the FTC and a cease letter to the company!

Calls several times a week.  Sometimes no message left, sometimes message left but only sounds like someone breathing or noise in the background, like when you put a sea shell up to your ear.

illegal! Report them!

This number calls my house every day, specially at 8 or 8:30 in the morning. Is very annoying. I don't know who they are and once when I did answered they were looking for the wrong person. Please would someone do something to take me off their calling list? Thank you.

i had gotten this new number in december.  i have been bothered several times over the past five months.  i do not even own a credit card! a women by the name of julia roberts is asking for a marikitta. the name sounds indian and i could not understand her last name.  and to top it off i am not from the bay area (i am from hawaii)!!! i have answered their calls to tell them to take me off their list but they always hang up on me.  what do i do???