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Got a letter about a cancelled account

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qwer9182

Member
What is the name of your state? OH

Hi,

I just received a letter claiming to be from a law office associated with a company that bought out a company I used to have host my website. When the company was bought out and service quality degraded, I cancelled the account and haven't used it for over a year. I had been pre-paying for my account every year per their agreement. Now, according to the letter they want me to pay an amount that I have no idea what it is for. I had already paid this company $306 for another year of service before I had cancelled, and that kind of felt like a waste. Now I am in disbelief that they are asking another $409.97 (where that number even came from I don't know). The letter states:

This is to advise you that this office now represents your creditor, Interland, Inc. , and is prepared to review this matter with you before brining you to court.

However, if it is not your intent to make satisfactor arrangements regarding payment, then you need not contact us.

We are preparing to have our associates in [town] bring this matter into lawsuit. It shall be our intent to enforce collection through judgment...and a writ of execution thereafter.

Unless you call me by June 15, 2004 to settle this debt, I will have no alternative but to have our associates file the complaint and have you served with summons. Be advised that this complaint would include allowable court costs, interest and attorney's fees."


Funny thing about this letter is, while it does have a correct address, there is no name on it. The only thing is has with the address is a "company name," which is a name I used for my website and is not a real company. Before cancelling the account, I had cleared out my personal information on the website (a practice I usually follow before cancelling any account is to delete or overwrite the personal information). If they knew my name why wouldn't they include it?

The letter seems very impersonal and almost like a junk letter, and I feel it may have been sent automatically. I specifically recall, however, being completely paid off with this compnay before I left (especially considering that they required pre-payment of everything). What should I do at this point? Should I talk to the company, the number on the letter, or ignore it?

This letter means very little to me because I have no idea what the terms like "judgment" "writ of execution" and "summons" mean. This was simply a virtual hosting account I had gotten permission from my parents to set up in high school for my work with websites, and not a thing went wrong with it until now. I extremely disliked the company that bought out the old one (even moreso now) and do not feel that this is a legitimate request.

Thanks
 
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Ladynred

Senior Member
It may NOT be legitimate and given that the letter is from a collection agency and they're making threats and not giving you the 30-days to dispute or including the mini-miranda, at the very least they are violating the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) several times in this one letter alone.

You say you cancelled the hosting account, did you cancel it IN WRITING ?
Do you have any records ?
You say you were in high school when you opened this account, how old were you when you started this ?

How long has it been since you cancelled the account ?

I wouldn't ignore it, I'd make them PROVE their claims that you owe them money, make them validate the debt.

You can find plenty of information on debt validation at www.creditinfocenter.com along with sample letters that you can use.

You also need to read the FDCPA, learn your rights under this law and their restrictions under it.

Who is this 'lawfirm' ? I'd be willing to bet its just a 3rd party debt collector.

As for the things they're threateing, it all has to do with suing you.
This letter means very little to me because I have no idea what the terms like "judgment" "writ of execution" and "summons" mean.
When you are sued, they file a lawsuit in a court in your area. This lawsuit is then delivered to you either by the sheriff's office or by a process server, possibly even by certified mail. The court issues a summons, which means you are 'summoned to court' to answer the allegations in the lawsuit, also referred to as a 'complaint'. If you don't go to court to defend yourself, the court will award the creditor a judgment against you saying that you owe the creditor $xxx.xx plus court costs and attorney's fees. With that judgment, they can garnish your wages, empty your bank account, and come and take away any of of your non-exempt assets so they can be sold to pay your debt. When they attempt to collect money or assets like that, its called 'executing' the judgment and the 'writ of execution' is what allows them to take your pay, your money and your things. The judgment will also end up on your credit report and will ruin your credit.

I wouldn't call them, all they'll do is press you for payment, you need to make them cough up proof that you owe anybody anything. You should also pull your credit reports to see if this is on them, by whom, and the details.
 
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qwer9182

Member
What do I do about this?

I cancelled this account last summer with a balance of $0.00. In fact, I had my service paid through November of that year. The way I cancelled it was via their online cancellation form. I didn't think much of it since I never would have guessed the account would go "in debt" considering how pre-payment was required on everything. I do not have any paper records of any dealings with this company, and in fact everything went fine with it (until now). I was under 18 when the account was created, if that means anything. The 'law firm' that the letter was from was called "Barry Serota and Associates" but they said they haid "associates" in my town. The letter was sent from Illinois on June 10 and they want a call by June 15th.

I don't want to have to spend a lot of time dealing with this, because I am an Information Technology student, NOT a law student. Then again, I don't want to be sued or anything like that. Which is another question I have...who EXACTLY would be sued in this case? My dog Annie? My parents, who are the legal owners of this address? I question whether or not they actually know my name since for some odd reason they went as far as to include my town name in the body of the letter but didn't include my name anywhere. I think it's possible they don't even know it? I tried to access the account online to find out but it is indeed cancelled.

A side question about the 'grits' or whatever...how is it that anyone can claim you owe money and then take your things unless they prove themselves innocent? How do they even determine what is 'yours'? Unless you mean major possessions like houses and cars, I don't see how this could be determined. I don't have either of those things in my name, by the way, only some personal belongings at my other parent's house. Things that are so precious to me that I would probably end up fighting to the death over them. So, how can I avoid this kind of thing in the future?

Recently I got in the habit of witholding my real name and address from any company that offers a non-tangible service, like Internet providers. In this case I would pay using pre-paid stored-value "gift" cards, which had no phone number or address to be authenticated against. This way, billing would still go through using a non-existant name and address. Should a company decide to pull something on me, I have control over it. Nobody understood, including myself, why I went through the trouble to create aliases and actually use them, in an effort to protect myself. I have had no problems with any accounts doing this, and it makes me wish I did it earlier for this particular account. It is things like these that validate my fears.
 
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Ladynred

Senior Member
I cancelled this account last summer with a balance of $0.00. In fact, I had my service paid through November of that year. The way I cancelled it was via their online cancellation form.
Sorry, but this was a bad move. If its not in writing, you have NO proof of anything. I'd be willing to bet that they tried an automatic billing to whatever credit card you used and it bounced - hence the charge and the collection efforts. But, you have no records to back up your claims of cancellation.

I was under 18 when the account was created, if that means anything.
It DOES mean something, minors are usually not able to legally enter into contracts. However, since you continued after age 18, you could be stuck with it.

"Barry Serota and Associates" but they said they haid "associates" in my town. The letter was sent from Illinois on June 10 and they want a call by June 15th.
Its a threat and a typical scare/pressure tactic to make you pay up. Their 'associates' MAY be lawyers in your town as they could not sue you themselves from IL, a local attorney would have to do it for them.


I don't want to have to spend a lot of time dealing with this, because I am an Information Technology student, NOT a law student.
Wake up call time ! Most people who have to deal with this sort of thing aren't lawyers either and a lawyer isn't always necessary to represent you in this sort of thing. IT or not, you need to learn a bit about the way the credit and legal systems work, since credit permeates everything you do.

.who EXACTLY would be sued in this case? My dog Annie? My parents, who are the legal owners of this address?
YOU, the would sue YOU because presumably YOUR name was on the account. The owners of the physical address means squat unless its YOURS.

I question whether or not they actually know my name since for some odd reason they went as far as to include my town name in the body of the letter but didn't include my name anywhere.
They may, in fact, NOT know your name, that's why it is VERY important that you follow thru and request the debt validation that I mentioned previously. Including your town name is child's play, its a bit of information they do have to make their claims sound more threatening.

how is it that anyone can claim you owe money and then take your things unless they prove themselves innocent? How do they even determine what is 'yours'? Unless you mean major possessions like houses and cars, I don't see how this could be determined. I don't have either of those things in my name, by the way, only some personal belongings at my other parent's house. Things that are so precious to me that I would probably end up fighting to the death over them. So, how can I avoid this kind of thing in the future?
Like I said, wake up time, time to enter the REAL world. You obviously didn't understand or did not read what I told you before. No one can just claim you owe money then take your things. They serve you with a lawsuit first, then you go to court to DEFEND yourself and make YOUR case. If you cannot make your case or cast enough doubt on theirs to win, well.. you lose. Happens every day to thousands of people - so don't become one of them !! LEARN a little bit about the laws in your favor and your rights when it comes to debt collections !

How they determine what you have ?? Piece of cake. You're in IT,surely you are aware of the massive amounts of data sitting around in various databases. Well, collection agencies and lawfirms have access to those sources. If you own anything of any value, they will be able to do an asset search. If they can't find anything that way, when they win a judgment against you, they can FORCE you to reveal all of your assets thru a court ordered debtor's exam or interrrogatories. If you blow them off, they can have you arrested.

However, there are exemptions available that protect most personal property from siezure by a judgment creditor. So, again, we come back to learning your rights and not pretending you will never need to know the laws. Ignorance of the law is NEVER a defense.

Nobody understood, including myself, why I went through the trouble to create aliases and actually use them, in an effort to protect myself.
Interesting idea, but could ultimately cause you more trouble than you might think. You think of it as protection, a creditor or other entity you deal may try to charge you with FRAUD for this practice. While I understand your basic idea, this is something you may need to reconsider. Criminals and people in witness protection programs go thru life using aliases - NOT law-abiding citizens (except maybe some celebrities).

You need to deal with this and in the right way. Use the laws that exist that are meant to protect consumers against illegal debt collection practices, scams and frauds and you must take the time to deal with this or you could end up with far more trouble than its worth. Use the information I've given you and MAKE THEM PROVE THE DEBT IS YOURS.

It appears that Barry Serota IS an attorney - no big surprise there, he's probably still just a debt collector:
Barry Serota
3012 Jarvis
Chicago, Illinois
 

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