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Afni Collections Complaints - These rip-offs must be punished for what they are doing!

Review all Afni Collections complaints

Afni Collections

Posted: 2007-01-10 by Vicki [send email]

These rip-offs must be punished for what they are doing!

Complaint Rating:

I received a collections notice from Afni, Inc., also Afni Collections stating that I owed Verizon Communications a bill for an outrageous amount of $637.25. I only owe Verizon for my current phone service.

Verizon stated that I only owe for my current bill. I have never at anytime ever owed Verizon this amount. If I ever did, I seriously doubt if I would have any type of phone service available to me today.

When I went to their website, it is a fake too! These ripoff con artists need to be stopped and prevented from pulling this with anyone else. Also from causing Verizon a needless bad reputation.

The phone number they are using on the bill they sent to me is not even my correct phone number. These rip-offs need stopped and punished for what they are doing and trying to do!

Comments

United States

Collections Agencies

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Afni Collections - COMPLAINING ABOUT BILL THAT YOU DID NOT RUN UP THE BILL FILE INDENTITY THEFT INSTEAD OF BLAMING PEOPLE THAT ARE JUST DOING THERE JOBS

Afni Collections - Fraud & cheating!

Afni Collections - Crappy business

Afni Collections - Phone scam!

Comments

418 days ago by Mike [send email]
They are bad business

417 days ago by Afni Employee [send email]

Sorry... I laugh... I wish you would read what i write, because there is true saying as to; you can listen, but can you hear. You folks are reading what i write but not actually paying attention to what it says.

To dondie gorski who wrote on here just previously, you wrote a portion, that had to do with me because i am an employee with afni. You made a statement that i would really like all of you people to pay close attention and to really read my remark. Your remark... "people wouldn't be wasting this much time in mailing out certified letters and contacing the state attorney general, federal trade commission and bbb, if afni was sending a true debit to them"

Please hear me... If so many of you have contacted these "peoples rights" places and such... Per what i have read, there has probably been over 100 complaints to the bbb, contacted radio and news reporters and so on...

Have any of you stopped to think that if these were legit complaints... My company would not be alive... I wouldn't have had a job for almost 4 years, because all the law suits would put my company out of business!!!

I mean really you guys... If all of you who have said that this is a fraudulent company and you've done everything to report this to who needs to know this. My company wouldn't be contacting you any more because we would be out of business or arrested. But if all of you have reported this "fraud", and nothing has been done... Doesn't your brain start to think... Hmmm... Maybe its real.

If someone stole your identity, i apologize and wish you the best in fixing the situation, but if someone stole your credit and opened an account in your name and now my company is trying to collect on it, this doesn't make my company a thief, my company had to purchase the debt from somewhere... We dont just pull it out of our...

If your identity has been stolen. Get that taken care of, but stop "waisting" ( how you put it ) your time trying to blame it on afni... We are just the collectors, we dont know you from adam... If you dont owe us... Prove it, and we will leave you alone. Its that simple. All we know is we bought it and we have your name and ssn, who actually opened the acct??? We know that question as well as you do... So make a police report and have it proven it was never yours, until then, you are and will be held liable unfortunately.

But we are real... And we do collect on real debts.

416 days ago by Don [send email]

Got my notice for $800. Guess inflation works for these guys too. Didn't even have my name right on the letter. Phone # never owned. Po box I allegedly signed up for the service with. At a time I didn't even live in the state in question.

However, they have my SS#. How the hell did they get that?

Means to me something happened somewhere along the line. The date in question was when I was in college, so I can see some schmuck stealing my info and setting up a po box and running up a bill with my #, but 7 years ago? Nothing since then.

I called and had my name changed before deciding to check them out online... I stopped all info since then, but it bugs me they already have my SS#.

Should I fill out their fraud thing and hope to get it cleared up?

Crap

414 days ago by Red [send email]

Afni.Inc sent me 2 separate notices on May 12, 2007. It says the original creditor is Verizon New York Inc for disconnected phone numbers 718-847-8797 and 718-847-8849 with dues of 713.10$ and 669.364 respectively.

I called Afni the following day to dispute the charges and further investigated. I spoke to a girl named Amber. She gave me information that the address of this number is 9524 114th St Richmond Hill, NY 14119. The disconnected numbers were in the same residence with 2 telephone lines and was activated in January of 1998. She offered to help me dispute this provided that I log on to the www.afnicollections.com and enter my complaint. I asked her, how is this going to be different from complaining to the FTC? She didn't have an answer for it and returned to promoting their website. I asked her that after my call and notification that these were false charges, what is going to happen to my account in their database? She said, they are going to note that I made a call but still should go to the website to file a formal complaint.

I have never lived in a 718 area code but I am curious how they got my old name and current address.

I filed a complaint to the www.ftc.gov and also sent the story to our local news station as they have segments on scams and frauds. They have both confirmed receipt of my message. I hope tracking down these people won't fizzle out.

I'll bug afni again with and see if I can get their business license and record my call.

Here's the information on my letter:
Afni Inc
POB 3427
Bloomington, IL 61702-3427
888-257-1585
www.afnicollections.com

410 days ago by James Costigan [send email]

Silly people. The truth is if you honestly don't believe you opened the account, then someone else used your information to do it. As a collector I know for a fact that in most of those cases after investigation it ends up being a family member, friend, ex bf/gf who had the service, and about half of those cases you knew about it at that time and forgot. I had a lady swear up and down she didn't have the phone and didn't know the address where it was, and it wasn't even in the state she lived. Honest to God, we investigated and found the telephone was at her mothers old house, we called the mother and she admitted the bill was hers and reminded the daughter that she did in fact help her to get the service and guess what, she remembered. Bills from the service even showed she was calling the daughter frequently. And believe me, this isn't a rarely. Before you go off on a collector, think about what they told you and where it was. They are given accounts from companies who provide them with the information they are giving you. They aren't making it up themselves, if someone used your information to open an account w/o your permission, why are you made the AFNI or whoever is collecting on the debt and wasting your time trying to combat them, it's almost useless. What you need to be doing is assisting them in catching the real "bad guy"- Your own acquaintances.

As for the person w/ the current service, I'm almost positive you are in what is considered and "minimum-pay state." most telephone companies write these balances off when placed w/ outside collection agencies so when you call in to the customer service they wouldn't see it anyways, you may have to dig deep into the collections dept to get that info. And in the 13 or so "minimum-pay states" you are actually required to have telephone service. So even though you have a bill collections (as long as you are at least making an effort to pay your monthly bill) they will keep your phone on. Instead they would write off (after 3mos of delinquency usually) that balance into collections and you would never see it on your monthly bill again. You may even have several accounts in collection for the same telephone number in that case if you continue to pay portions of your bill. Cell phones on the other hand will just disconnect you so there's no mistaking what happened. My suggestion: Get to know the laws of the FDCPA (Fair Debt & Collections Practices Act) and then you may have a better understanding of what collections agencies can and can't do and see if what AFNI is doing is considered illegal or immoral.

Also, collection agencies, though everyone hates them keep costs down. The reason why everything seems to be getting more and more expensive is because people aren't paying their debt. And guess what, that means prices are higher in order to soften the blow of unpaid accounts. Though you all in this forum seem to hate collection agencies, there are many more people who would agree; it's a "necessary evil."

p.s. In case anyone didn't know, ID Theft was the biggest complaint by consumers in 2006.

409 days ago by Catherine Mayo [send email]

I have gotten to the bottom of my Afni collection notification! They are sending this after I have filed bankruptcy years ago! I should not even have this charge... my bankruptcy has been discharged! I think they waited for a way to get around it to now say... OH LOOK AT WHAT YOU OWE US! YES YOU ARE SCAMMERS! FRAUDS! I have filed and have been cleared by bankruptcy many many years ago, which means whatever I owed the company should have been discharged! YOU PEOPLE ARE THE TRUE THIEVES!!!

408 days ago by James Costigan [send email]

You're probably right. that makes perfect nonsense. you think a company is going to sit around and wait for you to file bankruptcy on your bill? how stupid are you? another fact for you people. if you filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and the charge was originally before you filed than you can still include it in the bankruptcy, so it wouldn't even make sense for any collection agency to twiddle there thumbs hoping your going to file bankruptcy. if you filed chapter 13 and it wasn't in the papers THEN you are out of luck. you all should read up on your rights as consumers, it would save you all a bunch of grief. also, it was your attorney's job to make sure EVERYTHING was included, so why don't you yell at him/her.

Any other questions???

408 days ago by James Costigan [send email]

Wowzers! I just read some of Dondie's entries. She is one tough cookie. She finally caughter AFNI after 70 years YOU are the one to take em down. I'm not sure if you watch Dateline NBC regularly or if it just came to mind when you found out you owed money. But they recently did an episode where they were exposing collection agencies. AFNI being one of the biggest, don't you think they would have been included since they are a "fraudulent" company? At last, they weren't. AFNI sloppy? I don't think so. I think the sloppy ones are the people who forget to or intentionally don't pay their bills. Unfortunately for you and your husband, or should I say coincidentally, you both got sloppy. Why is it when people feel they don't owe a bill they expect AFNI to clear it up immediately, yet when they find out they DO in fact owe it they try to find a way out of paying it? Why don't you jump to pay it when you owe? People call me all the time yelling the bill must be wrong and ID theft and once the info is given and they ADMIT the charges are correct, all of a sudden they think they are experts or attorney's who specialize in debts & collections. Stating there's a statute on how long to collect (which there isn't but in WI & MS) and all this other jargon in order to squeeze out of paying. Next time, just ignore the letter or just be honest & say you don't want to pay your debt, we don't want to hear your lies and excuses. We aren't out for blood, we can work with you to get the account resolved. It's like quicksand, the harder you fight the worse it gets, then your in over your head. Don't you think, since we already have your information, that if AFNI isn't legit they would just use your information to open random accounts & just never contact you? But that would be to simple, no, AFNI must have some elaborate scheme to smile in your face & take your money. It doesn't even make sense. You have their address, you have their telephone #'s, you sound like you have some knowledge of the FDCPA, at least what pertains to your current situation. With all the "evidence" you alone have against AFNI, and the countless others like you and some much more educated in the FDCPA you would think by now AFNI would have been stopped. Face it, you owe the bill.

404 days ago by Contesting It Also [send email]
Statute of Limitations must really bum you out. Have fun Jimmy.

404 days ago by Snore [send email]
Whats interesting is that there are a bunch of thugs from this so called 'reputable' company canvasing complaint sights just to badmouth people. Hats off to you, you are doing a great job representing your company.

404 days ago by Carol Murray [send email]
I just got one from ANFI for over $1,000. Never used Verizon. I called the Public Service Commission and Attorney General's office... Then found this site...

404 days ago by Carol Murray [send email]
I too was scammed by ANFI. Never had Verizon and they are trying to collect over $1,000.00. I called the Public Service Commission, Verizon, and the Attorney General's office. They are rude on the phone and threaten you.

403 days ago by Rui M Melo [send email]
They tried to rob me too! But i think i might take legal action!

403 days ago by Coral [send email]
These people are thieves, I got a phony letter also saying I owed $345.00 to them in unpaid bills.

403 days ago by Tels [send email]
I got a fake bill also.

402 days ago by Larry David [send email]

I agree with "Contesting It Also". That Jimmy guy is a serious douchebag.
Whether you actually owe the debit is a moot point. Here's what's really important:

1) Do they have the accurate personal information, or just a partial SS# and some address you've never lived at?
2) Do they have any verifying documents to prove you owe the debt, other than a callcenter rep threatening you over the phone?
3) Has this debt expired past the Statute of Limitations?

This is real life, not morality court. So don't get bullied around by some overzealous employee who takes his job personally and cries about deadbeats. Especially one who's probably barely clearing $30k/yr by himself. Listen to the rep, read the letter, then educate yourself on the Fair Debt Collection Laws. Debt collection is all about bullying, not hard, factual evidence.

Should you pay your debts in the future? Absolutely. Should you pay on debts that cannot be proven and/or expired? Never.

400 days ago by Summer [send email]

ANYONE LOGGING IN ..NEEDS TO READ THIS BEFORE PAYING AFNI ANYTHING.

Afni must not be doing too well like james has claimed. I find it hilarious how this low paying fool spends his time either at work or comes home and logs into this website to argue with people over afni collections. If you're logging in from your job, you obviously are not working, or would you say, you're on your break... pathetic, this must be your LIFE. Do you actually admit to people that your job is a debt collector? I feel more sorry for you. Oh, and by the way, afni couldn't prove that I owed this debt... maybe this letter might come to your attention James... "This letter is to inform you that we investigated your dispute related to the referenced account. Based on the investigation this account has been closed. Afni, Inc. will take no further collection action. " SAME EXACT LETTER THEY HAD TO SEND TO MY HUSBAND BACK IN FEBRUARY... NOW, SAME EXACT LETTER THEY HAD TO SEND TO ME. Everyone needs to send a letter of dispute... DO NOT LOG INTO THEIR WEBSITE... Do it on your own. Send a letter of dispute. Make them send a copy of the original bill stating that you owe that amount. Send it certified. You can download a letter of dispute, by searching on google. Have a nice day James =)

397 days ago by Alex Walker [send email]
I too have a supposed outstanding bill dating 3 years prior with Cingular Wireless. The bill is for $567.00. I am interested in a class action lawsuit, and will pursue it actively. Their false claims have prevented me from receiving necessary student ID. I will be in contact with everyone. I am seeking representation.