Debt Collectors

Collection telephone calls, and the handling thereof, is explained by Law Dog.

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2012/09/this-isnt-my-first-rodeo.html 

The man is one of the best blog writers you will every read if you enjoy dry humor.

Telephone bill collectors operate from carefully crafted scripts written and in front of them. You say “A”, they go to their response “D”, etc.

Back in 1984, President Teflon decided to fix certain economic problems by having the US Government stop paying their bills for 6-9 months. Put me into personal bankruptcy. I had neglected to include some minor debt that got passed around and ended up with a persistent telephone troll.  One day he was giving me grief and I was able to change the course of the conversation thusly.

Me, “Hey, put down your scripts and just listen to me for a moment”. After a few back and forth’s, he agreed. Me, “I’m fat, forty, unemployed, bankrupt, getting divorced, and impotent. Just what do you  think you are going to do to me”?  There was a long silence, then a “click”, and no more phone calls.

Won’t ever forget the bankruptcy hearing. Should you have called a meeting, there was a quorum of the Associated Sub Contractors in that room that day.

I’ve been on the other side too. Be in sales, be in management, in smaller companies,  and it is part of the job. Operate your own business and it becomes business life or death. Seldom an easy answer or easy solution.