RPS Worldwide review: Bad Employer 17

We hired these people for a collection they collected $400 and I write this months later - no returned phone calls - no returned e mails.
No money!

It would not let me post the copy of the script.

I have been doing some research on to this company and it's practices are no where near professional. Their CEO and his partner instructs employees to get violently verbally aggressive against the debtors in order to force payment of debt. They were also located in Daytona under the name of Legal Recovery services. While there, they collected thousands of dollars which their clients suggest they never received their appropriate share. When they called to address the matter they get told the president of the company Mr.Haywood Merritt has ceased doing business and the company has closed. That he is the only one who would have access to the accounts. Which, if you do your proper research you find that the Haywood Merritt, president of Legal Recovery and Charles Merritt, president of Dynamic Recovery both worked together at Legal Recovery. When asked why the company ceased doing business, you are met with a scripted response. This is the scripted response you receive:

On September 12, 2012, Legal Recovery Systems ceased doing business. All employees were discharged for lack of funding. Mr. H. ****** ****** is the CEO and sole shareholder of said company. All banking accounts are in his and/or the company name, wherein he is the sole signatory.
Your contract, is with Legal Recovery Systems, Inc. All payments by debtors were made to Legal Recovery Systems, Inc. and deposited into the aforementioned accounts by H. ****** ******. All funds earmarked for litigation cost were made and deposited in the same manner by the same person.
Legal Recovery Service, Inc., regretfully, cannot assist or facilitate in whatever action you deem necessary against H. ****** ****** and/or Legal Recovery Systems, Inc. We did not assume any of the debt or outstanding obligations as we are a new entity with no ties to H. ****** ****** or his company. No one but the President and CEO of Legal Recovery Systems, Inc., has access to or knowledge of the status of his finances or client base.
We suggest you direct all your inquires directly to Mr. H. ****** ****** through the following:
Mr. H. ****** ******
************************************ XXXXX
(Cell) XXX-XXX-XXXX
******gmail.com

I will include links to the Better Business Bureau that have some complaints on there. With further research you will see that this is not just an isolated case and seems to be rapidly growing. Their practices are illegal. It is called collections harassment. Their in ability to give clients their share is theft and is a felony offense. Possible money laundering which is a Federal offense. If you are offered a position by this company, it is imperative that you turn it down. I am including a verbatim copy of their "basic" script which they tell you to you use until that they are making excuses. Then they want you to talk over, get loud, take complete charge of the call by threatening consumer with court, liens, arrest, etc. If you are asked for a supervisor, you are supposed to tell them "I am the supervisor". If they ask for the Lawyer on Site, you are supposed to say "I am one of the Lawyers on Site". There are reports of them posing as law and government officials and even appearing at debtors house and threatening them. Here is the verbatim copy of the script which I will add a scanned copy of as well.

IF ANSWERING MACHINE:

Hello (You are told to not say hello, so you will see it scratched out on copy) this message is for (debtor's name), this is (your name) with the offices of DRI. IT IS IMPERATIVE that you cantact my office IMMEDIATELY regarding a serious issue involving yourself. You can contact me directly at show contact info When calling reference case number (give case #). HANG UP! (You are told not to say thank you or have a nice day.)

IF DEBTOR GETS ON PHONE:

Mr./Mrs. (debtor's name), my name is (your name) and I am with the offices of DRI, we have been retained by: (client's name) regarding an outstanding obligation owed by you in the amount of :(give amount) and what our client has instructed us to do is to proceed immediately with the filing of litigation against you UNLESS you and I can come to some sort of out of court resolution TODAY and that is the purpose of my call.

AT THIS TIME THE DEBTOR WILL START TALKING LISTEN TO THEM. IF THE DEBTOR STARTS DISCUSSING THINGS YOU DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THEN SAY THIS:

Look, (debtor's name) without discussing the merits of the case right here and now, really all I need to know is if you want to resolve this obligation TODAY IN FULL and if so we can do a check over the phone RIGHT NOW.

IF DEBTOR SAYS YES THEN GET THE CHECK INFORMATION (ROUTING #, ACCOUNT #, CHECK #) AND LET THEM KNOW YOU WIL DRAFTING PAYMENT TODAY AND THEN END CALL.

IF DEBTOR SAYS NO AND IS DISPUTING THEN SAY THIS:

Well I am sure that my client did not pull this debt out of thin air, and having said this, how much do you think you owe?

IF DEBTOR SAYS NOTHING THEN SAY: Ok we will see you in court! HANG UP!

IF DEBTOR GIVES YOU AND AMOUNT LESS THAN WHAT THE CLIENT WANTS, THEN YOU SAY:

Ok I will call my client right now to see if they will accept that amount and if they do I'll call you back to close the case with a check over the phone. IF THE DEBTOR SAYS OK THEN DO AS YOU SAY! (Yet no attempt to call the client is actually made).

IF DEBTOR SAYS I DON'T HAVE THE MONEY, THEN GO FOR PAYMENT TERMS SUCH AS: HALF NOW AND HALF IN A WEEK, 2 WEEKS, OR A MONTH, 1/2 NOW AND SO ON...

What the script doesn't say, but what they tell you to do is this: If the debtor is deceased, ask about
the Executor of the Estate. Get information and call them. If no EoE then mark as deceased and move to the next. If they claim wrong number, ask how long they have had the phone, if they know the debtor, if they are friend or family of the debtor. They tell you not to be polite, but be forceful and over bearing. Never let the debtor get control of the call. Their address is 218 B E. New York Ave. DeLand, FL 32724. I beg you all to do your research on this company and help me bring a stop to it. This is getting out of control.

Here are the better business bureau links:

http://www.bbb.org/central-florida/business-reviews/collection-agencies/dynamic-recovery-in-deland-fl-90198652

http://www.bbb.org/central-florida/business-reviews/collection-agencies/legal-recovery-systems-in-daytona-beach-fl-90137378

Tons of information can be found elsewhere, but this is the one that I felt were pertinent.

New Information as of 7/17/2014:

Haywood and Charles Merritt could possibly be the same person. Haywood Charles Merritt. He is 35 years old was in the United States Marine Corps. and has been apart of these companies.

Dynamic Recovery Systems, Inc.
Legal Recovery Systems, Inc.

RPS Companies, Inc (http://www.bbb.org/central-florida/business-reviews/collection-agencies/rps-companies-in-orlando-fl-184352850)

Sterling Collections Ltd.
Joseph, Anderson and Associates
Coleman Technologies Inc
Constar International Inc

I will keep posting more information as I find it and it arrives.

NEW INFO AS OF 7/17/2014:

It happened to my husband and I as well. We had two accounts both near $40, 000 each. Paid for legal fees upfront over $4, 500. One account settled and when payments came in we never received anything. I talked to the attorneys today and they were only paid $604 out of the $2, 750 we paid RPS for legal fees and now we cannot contact them and their website is down. The other account finally received a judgment but attorney said there are no assets. RPS assured us there were assets when we paid legal upfront fee - now what? I'm not sure what the next step should be, but would like to have them pay us back one way or another. Very bad business!

RPS Worldwide is a fraudulent company. Don't do any business with these low lives and contact your local BBB to report both their unprofessional client services and unethical collection practices. They are horrible to work with, don't provide any return on your collection investment and based on individuals who I spoke with after they tried to collect, they have no clue what they are doing. Do yourself a favor and contract with a reputable collection company and steer clear of these fraudsters.

I used to work there for 2 months so let me give you all a scoop. They have recently changed their name to HF holdings. The owner Bill Ficka is a major drug addict that everybody calls "boss" he comes into the office coked out of his mind. He curses at and treats everybody like crap. He encourages employees to basically steal from the customers. for example I once collected for a doctors office where we "forgot" to tell the doctor how much we collected. We eventually collected about $10k and only told him about $1k. If you hire them, you're going to be working with the manager Basil Hamden. He is an absolute ### who would steal from his own grandmothers grave if you turned your back on him. They may have you working with D. who will basically just harass someone until they pay. the bottom line. DO NOT HIRE RPS WORLDWIDE OR HF HOLDINGS OR WHATEVER THEY CHANGE THEIR NAME TO. THEY WILL STEAL ANYTHING THEY COLLECT!

We recently hired RPS to collect on an $8000.00 debt. They seemed very professional, until they got our money for retainer fees. They then made the calls I expected and actually received a response from the debtor. However, Anthony collected a much lower amount than agreed too, and didn't even call us to let us know what had happened. I was promised a refund of the $2000.00 difference he collected on so I waited for over a month and never got the payment. This happened several times over the next 4 months and now the owner of the company has promised us the balance due to us, only to get the same line. "The check is in the mail."
They were not a good experience at all and I still don't have the check from them today.
They actually pretended to make an offer to us from the customer that was much lower than the amount due, and then the debtor contacted me and told me Anthony had made that ridiculous offer and told her we would accept it! I have been lied to by everyone in that office from the receptionist to the owner's wife to the owner himself.
PLEASE don't make the same mistake we did. RPS Collections is a huge fraud and a waste of time and money.

I have used RPS Worldwide to collect on my debt Andrew Marrero was the only one who was able to get my money back within 30 days and he collected on a balance of 30k for me. I see several bad experiences from other's in which I didn't have any. My debt was collected quickly and Andrew got me my money as promised within 30 days. If you work with anyone in RPS call Andrew he was the only person that got results on my claims. GOD BLESS!

There are many horrible people at this company. Jeff Retterer is the Owner/CEO and he should personally be sued for crimes against humanity. He is a total ###.

I hired this company Jan 2011 to collect a debt from an individule. They asked me for $2800, I sent it in February plus 30% of the $25, 000 recovery. It is now Nov 2011 and after 20 + phone calls and promises to return my call they never have. I have received no updates, no receipts for my money. I have an attorney working on the case they should of received the $2800 to work the case they have called and requested money and they won't release the money to attorney so he can file against the individule. I don't know what to do I am a single mother that has no more money to fight this. They are un professional and rude. I wish I had checked there reviews before I parted with my money...

So far I am having a good experience working with Chris Brown who is securing a good faith payment from a "friend" I loaned money to and never paid me back. He has been working hard for me and eventhough I have to pay the fee to retain the balance of what is owed it is worth it to me not to have to fight trying to get back my money that she was intending on keeping. Even if I am broke and can't pay my bills I always call my creditors and am nice and tell them what I am doing even sending in a little amount is better then nothing.

I was fortunate I chose the 40% goes to them option and it hasn't cost me any of my own money but I experienced the same stalling and out right lying. They told me they collected the money and my share was in the mail. I was leaving and planned to be gone for a month so I told them I could not sign a release for at least 30 days for them to get their share. I was concerned because they said they had a check from the debtor and I could not see how they could cash it without my authorization. If anyone knows where this D. is located I would appreciate a note to rayy456@yahoo.com. Not sure if this is a scam or some very poor business practices, possibly a identity theft. I have to admit the website was disarming and buyer beware is never out of fashion. I feel for those who put up money to try and collect. And those, like myself, who were told they collected the money and never did.

You used the wrong "their"...ha, you're smart.

I agree, when a client finally does pay RPS sits on your money, tells you a check is in the mail, a month goes by and still no money. Defineately will be looking elsewhere for another collection company.

Anyone who has hired them should take some solace in knowing that they call, harass, threaten and annoy the "debtor" on a daily basis. I had a business dispute with someone, they must have contacted RPS to try and collect the debt. The first 14 times & 14 different people from RPS who had called, I told I do not owe the money you claim and will gladly resolve this in court. Yet every single day they continue to call trying to settle out of court, telling me I owe money.

I started getting pissed after the first week, now that i have realized they're basically just telemarketers completely unaware of individual situations who refuse to stop calling. Now when they call I figure I might as well have some fun with them... So if you have hired them to do anything don't worry, I'm sure my case is unique and they usually handle things better and find a way to get your money.

The only money these people collected for me was the $800 they got from me that supposedly went to a local attorney-after a year-I could not get the name of the local attorney-do you think RPS might have kept my $800 - STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE-they treat you like dirt

I have also delt with Basil Hamdan, who basically tells you (a client) he'll "...research the file and call back..."; but never does. He does not return phone calls. He asked me to fax him the signed agreement we had with RPS where they agreed to send us copies of letters they sent to the debtor and to provide us a copy of the debtor's credit report reflecting the debt to us - we never got a reply to the fax. A month later I called and was told by Basil that the person who signed the agreement was no longer with the company and he still could not find the file (he had the case number) and would call back "...by the end of the week' - he never did! The newest employee - D. - found the file in early October and was "... going down to the collectors to get an update and will call right back" - that was five weeks ago and even after a message left with his receptionist, Leslie, four days ago for D. to call us with an update he has yet to call!
It has now been six months since RPS cashed our retainer check and we have yet to receive an oral report, or copies of their letters to the debtor or a copy of the debor's credit report as delineated in their agreement. It appears this company is nothing but a sham and basically signs an agreement that it does not follow then charges an upfront fee and has its employees make false or misleading statements to its clients.
After six months of receiving false promises and no proof that RPS is performing its agreed upon services, we are turning this matter over to Florida's Attorney General.

This morning I spoke with Basil. As a client, the lack of professionalism with which I was treated was unacceptable. He was argumentative and full of excuses on various topics.

Besides telling me I was basically out of line, he interrupted numerous times. He called me by my last name without proper title - simply "Gibbs." He also stated that I was, essentially, one of over 5, 000 clients. In business, when you're speaking with a client, there is only one.

Because of this lack of respect, I have decided to discontinue my use of this company.