North Shore Agency

Our Reference #: [redacted] October 13, 2017Account#: [redacted] Your Reference #: [redacted] Dear [redacted] :Thank you for contacting us on behalf of [redacted] .In light of the information provided, we are stopping further collection activity and closing the account in our office.Please Note: We do not report to consumer reporting agencies (credit bureaus).Our records are updated on a regular basisAn additional collection notice may have been sent to the consumer prior to the account being closed on our systemIf this occurs, please arrange to have it returned to us.We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your office.Sincerely,Customer Service Departmentcc: [redacted] ***

They are a scam company and it is impossible to speak to a person.

Review: I received two debt collection dunning letters from North Shore Agency (NCO Group, Inc., et al.).

The collection dunning letters were dated July **, 2013, and August *, 2013.

The letters violate several Sections of the FDCPA - and consumers’ rights under the same.

The first dunning letter is dated July **, 2013; the second dunning letter is dated August *, 2013 – or 14 days apart.

A subsequent telephone communication (as discussed below) with North Shore Agency contradicts both the July **, 2013, and August *, 2013, collection dunning letters.

The July **, 2013, dunning letter states:

“NOTICE-SEE REVERSE SIDE FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION”

On the reverse side it states:

“Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid.”

However (as discussed below) when the consumer contacts “this office” (North Shore Agency) he is told that he is not allowed to dispute the debt with “this office” (North Shore Agency) – and can only dispute the alleged debt directly with the original creditor – Sprint.

The August *, 2013, dunning letter has a heading that clearly states in much larger type, bold, print:

“PROTECT YOUR CREDIT”

And then:

“The 30-day dispute period commenced when you received our first letter. Our demand for payment does not affect your right to dispute this debt as described in our first letter.”

However, the statement on the reverse side of the July **, 2103, letter of:

“Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid.”

And the statement on the August *, 2013, letter of:

“The 30-day dispute period commenced when you received our first letter. Our demand for payment does not affect your right to dispute this debt as described in our first letter.”

Not only overshadow each other, and are contradicted by the subsequent telephone communication (as discussed below) - but are both false, and therefore misleading, by stating that the consumer has 30 days, and still has the remainder of the 30 days after receiving the second dunning letter, respectively, to dispute the alleged debt with “this office” (North Shore Agency) – when in fact – neither is true – North Shore Agency will not let you dispute the alleged debt with “this office” – and states that you can only dispute the debt with the original creditor – Sprint.

The letter then goes on to threaten the consumers’ credit and ability to secure future credit and states:

“Sprint may request this delinquency be reported to one or more national credit bureaus in the future.”

And then:

“This could affect your ability to secure credit”.

And then:

“Respond to this collection letter.”

And then in bold:

“Mail full payment…”

The above also violates the FDCPA – because according to North Shore Agency’s debt collector (as discussed below) – North Shore Agency does not have access to Sprint’s records and does not report the dunned Sprint accounts to any credit reporting agencies.

The collection dunning letter further states in the largest font in the entire collection letter, in bold:

"IF NECESSARY, YOU MAY CALL SPRINT AT ###-###-####."

That is the only “reachable” phone number provided in the entire collection dunning letter – the telephone number of the original creditor.

The only other telephone number provided in the collection dunning letter is in much smaller, non-bold, font, under the “address” for North Shore Agency – of ###-###-####.

However, when a consumer calls that number you are connected to an automated computer system that will not let you get through without what it calls a “five digit extension number” that is supposedly located “at the top of the letter we sent you”.

However, there is no extension number anywhere to be found on the collection dunning letters – which is on purpose.

So when a consumer calls the only number listed for North Shore Agency on the collection dunning letter, they are asked to input the “five digit extension number” – of which there is none – and as a result - the consumer is just disconnected - and left with the only reachable number left on the collection dunning letter – that of the original creditor.

Furthermore (as stated earlier):

A call was made to North Shore Agency and the debt collector who answered the call was named “[redacted]”

During the entire communication, [redacted] never gave the federally required debt collection warning.

During the communication, [redacted] stated that North Shore Agency does not have access to any of the original creditor’s (Sprint) records – and “we just send out their collection letters”.

The debt collector stated, contrary to the misleading statements in their dunning letter, “We don’t report to credit bureaus…”.

The debt collector then stated: “So, you will need to contact Sprint directly to either pay or dispute your account.” It was then stated: “So, I can’t dispute the account with you, I have to contact Sprint in order to dispute it?” The debt collector’s answer was: “Yes.”

North Shore Agency aka Transworld Systems has been sued before:

Referring the consumer to contact the original creditor violates §1692g. [redacted].

You will notice, from the above case cites, that North Shore Agency aka Transworld Systems, was put on notice several years ago that their debt collection practices violated the FDCPA by referring the consumer to contact the original creditor in [redacted] – however they still use the same practice today – these many years later.

Also, the fact that North Shore Agency’s debt collector refused to let the consumer dispute the debt with the debt collection agency (as their collection dunning letter states to do) and told the consumer that he could only dispute the debt with the original credit also violates the FDCPA.

A number of the forgoing are also in violation of the State of Wisconsin Consumer Act (“WCA”).

It also appears that North Shore Agency’s Certificate of Authority was revoked by the state of Wisconsin.

Most importantly, North Shore Agency and its sister subsidiaries, signed and agreed to a Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction on March **, 2013, in which they agreed to not violate any provision of the FDCPA – and have been under a Court Order and Permanent Injunction not to violate any single provision of the FDCPA since early July, 2013 – but continues to do so. See [redacted].

Moreover, North Shore Agency’s website touts the fact that it is very “creative” in finding ways to make alleged consumer debtors pay the alleged accounts North Shore Agency duns “promptly” and “early in the billing cycle”.

According to North Shore Agency’s Website – [redacted]

“NSA vigorously tests its through-the-mail billing program to be sure it generates prompt customer payment, early in the billing cycle. The program improves payment rates and reduces the high costs of time consuming follow-up within your company.”

“What makes a late-pay respond…? NSA’s team of designers and writers have developed a winning strategy for letters that get opened with payment results. NSA… deploys constantly changing formats and letter creatives. This ensures “open rates” that achieve messaging for payment recovery.”Desired Settlement: Take responsibility for violating several sections of both federal and state debt collection laws; issue an apology; and an agreement to review all of their debt collection practices and procedures to insure that they are in full compliance with all federal and state laws.

Consumer

Response:

I have resolved all issues in this matter with North Shore Agency's General Counsel.

Review: I keep getting letters demanding payment to Handguns Magazine. I do not owe any money to Handguns as I never received any magazines and I never renewed the subscription. I contacted Handguns Magazine and they verified the subscription was canceled and said they notified the collection agency yet the letters demanding payment continue. The North Shore Agency does not have a phone number to talk to anyone. If you call the published number it only connects you to an automated payment prompt but I do not owe anything.Desired Settlement: The NSA needs to contact the magazine company to correct their information and stop sending me these threatening letters demanding payment to settle a debt that does not exist and never did exist. It was an error on the part of the magazine.

Consumer

Response:

complaint ID [redacted]Please add this information from the company that made the error that caused the collection agency to send me the letters demanding payment. It is proof this was an error. I have been promised it is handled but I was promised that before. [redacted]

Sincerely,

Review: I have not subscribed to SKI magazine. Never received the publication either.

I also contacted SKI magazine subscription dept and they said there was no record of any order ever placed.

Tried to resolve issue by calling NSA. The only option allowed was to pay and if not prepared to do so, the call was terminated.

NSA acct # [redacted] or also #[redacted]Desired Settlement: Remove collection request for any payment from NSA .

I do not want any notification on my credit report that there was a collection issue since this is an error on NSA's part.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

Review: North Shore Agency sent "Collection" notices to me threatening to report me to the credit bureau over a magazine subscription that I had not renewed. I paid the collection agency because I did not want my credit to be negatively affected. I wrote a letter with the payment to be sure that the subscription did not get renewed. North Shore Agency actually sends these notices out to SOLICIT sales. I called North Shore Agency on 6/**/2015, who agreed to refund me within 10 business days. The refund never came and they are unreachable by phone today. They are the most unethical company I have dealt with thus far. [redacted]Desired Settlement: Refund to me as well as to warn others of their deceptive and unethical business practices.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

Review: I keep getting a notice from this "agency" (clearly an illegal notice) for an amount due in the amount of $10 - for a subscription to Men's Fitness, which I never subscribed to. They keep sending notices, but I never subscribed to this magazine and am not responsible for the amount due.Desired Settlement: Stop contacting me.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted]:

Thank you for contacting us on behalf of [redacted].

In light of the information provided, we are stopping further collection activity and closing the account in our office.

Our records are updated on a regular basis, however additional collection notice may have been sent to the consumer prior to the account being closed on our system. If this occurs, please arrange to have it returned to us.

We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your office.

Sincerely,

Customer Service Department

Review: NORTH SHORE AGENCY is claiming I owe for a magazine I think called GUN TESTS in the amount of $20.00 I never ordered or receive anything from GUN TESTS. Alleged account # [redacted] I see by the complaints 146 of them I'm not alone. ID# [redacted], TYPE-NGODesired Settlement: I would hope that you can resolve this matter for me so it won't hurt my credit.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, my complaint, ID [redacted] regarding North Shore Agency has been resolved.

(By clicking "OK", your complaint will be closed as Resolved.)

Sincerely,[redacted]

Review: On 06/**/14 I received an "Early Warning Notice" from North Shore Agency (NSA) that their client "Natural Health" requires NSA to send me a notice to verify that payment has not been received. In the past I had subscribed to Natural Health magazine but once my subscription, which I did pay for, expired I opted not to renew the subscription. I did receive renewal notices from Natural Health which I disregarded since I no longer wanted to subscribe to their magazine. Also, I have not received Natural Health magazines in quite some time so I am mystified as to why NSA sent me the letter given that my subscription expired with Natural Health. I will not pay NSA the requested amount of $19.97. I did try to call them but once I indicated in their automated system that I was not going to make a payment, their automated system told me to call back when I was prepared to make payment. In addition to this complaint, I will also contact the FTC and send a response to NSA reiterating the information I have provided above. ID# [redacted], TYPE NAIDesired Settlement: I believe that NSA needs to stop sending bogus collection letters to people regarding expired magazine subscriptions. I would hope that NSA would send me a follow up letter indicating that the $19.97 payment amount does not need to be paid and inform me and others how this may potential impact our credit ratings.

Consumer

Response:

I received a poorly constructed form letter from North Shore Agency (NSA) recently. It was written to a company not an individual person as it indicated that NSA "appreciated the opportunity to respond to your office". Further, it stated that in "light of the information provided, we are stopping further collection activity and closing the account in our office". A copy of the letter was to have been sent to [redacted], [redacted] of the NY Revdex.com.

At the bottom of the letter, it indicates the following: "This is a communication from a debt collector. This is an attempt to collect a debt." So if further collection activities have been stopped, why is this statement on the letter? I would like to assume it is due to the fact that the form letter is poorly written but time will tell.

I appreciate the efforts of [redacted] and the NY Revdex.com. I am still very bothered by the fact that a magazine that I no longer subscribe to would engage the services of a collection agency to coerce former subscribers into renewing subscriptions. Both the magazine and NSA are conducting unethical practices.

Sincerely,

I have a subscription to Guns & Ammo that does not expire until April 2016. Today (9-**-15) I received a notice that NSA is billing me for $16.97 that is unpaid. My account was for 3 years and paid up front in March or April 2013. This is incorrect information and it seems that I am not alone in receiving these as I read their complaints.

I am not certain where to begin in disputing this. But I am certainly not paying THEM money I do not even owe G&A.

Review: Collecting for outdoor life magazine, I did not renew and if I did I will be glad to pay. Asked outdoor life to send me a copy of nerewal slip which they did not and I don't think I send one into to them for renewal. Either replace or send all copies because I have not received any of them except for the first time I ordered which was not a renewal.Desired Settlement: take away charges, fix credits, send all copies of mag's or copy of renewal slip to you and my e-mail. I think they just do this if you don't send slip back and they say you renewed.

Review: I paid a 2 year subscription to Archaeology Magazine that expires in June, 2016. I received a notice from a collection agency that I owe $39.95. Otherwise they will pursue further collection activity. [redacted]Desired Settlement: Do not want t o pay for something I already paid for. Also Archaeology Magazine always has notices in their magazine, about unauthorized companies trying to collect on the subscribers, This company is one of them.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

Review: I have received three notices from North Shore Agency, claiming we ordered a subscription to "[redacted]." Neither my husband nor I ordered this magazine. North Shore is bascially threatening to damage our credit unless we pay them $39.97 for a magazine which goes straight to the recycling bin. This is basically an extortion scheme. The FTC in July 2013 levied a $3.2 million fine against North Shore Agency and its parent company for violating the Fair Consumer Debt Collection Practices Act. Clearly the North Shore Agency believes that the fine is just the cost of doing business.Desired Settlement: I would like North Shore Agency to issue a letter in which they acknowledge their mistake, apologize for their conduct, and rectify any damage, monetarily if necessary, to our credit rating.

Business

Response:

November 14, 2014Dear [redacted]. Thank you for contacting us on behalf of [redacted].In light of the information provided, we are stopping further collection activity and closing the account in Our Office.Our records are updated on a regular basis. An additional collection notice may have been sent to the consumer prior to the account being closed on our system. If this occurs, please arrange to have it returned to us.We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your office.Sincerely,Customer Service Department

Review: North Shore Agency on behalf of [redacted] Account #[redacted]

In Oct. 2013 I ordered [redacted] Internet connection simultaneously with ordering [redacted]. It was never connected and never set up. I returned the [redacted] equipment and have documentation to prove this. I received a bill for $28.75. I received only one billl ever. I owe [redacted] nothing as the service was never turned on. They owe me money. I have tried numerous times to contact [redacted] and all I get is a recording and huge wait times. I finally got through to the Inhouse Recovery Dept. who referred my name to North Shore Agency. My name has been sent to the credit rating agencies. The Inhouse Recover Dept. acknowledged the $28.75 is a mistake but refused to fix it and transferred me to more recordings and more wait time. The person I spoke to (who refused to give me his name) made it quite clear that filing a claim with the Small Claims Court was a good option and openly welcomed my doing so. I intend to do this to both [redacted] and North Shore Agency. North Shore Agency and [redacted] have no concern regarding ruining a person's credit. Abuse of power cannot be tolerated.Desired Settlement: Adjust my bill. Provide an apology. Report my good credit to the credit rating agencies.

Business

Response:

March 19, 2014Dear [redacted]:Thank you for contacting us on behalf of [redacted]. We have suspended our collection efforts pending further review of this matter.To help us better understand this situation, we have forwarded the information you provided to the creditor. We will forward all pertinent information to your attention as it becomes available to us, Alternatively, correspondence may be forwarded to you from the creditor directly.On behalf of both this company and the creditor, we would like to thank you for your patience and continued cooperation.Sincerely,Customer Service Department

Review: This agency sends bills for a subscription to [redacted] Magazine that are false. They do not represent the magazine. They assert that I have a past due balance, which is untrue. I pay for my subscription directly to the magazine. The magazine carries an advertisement warning its members of this practice. When I receive these false bills, I usually ignore them. However, lately the notices have become threatening and refer to a "past due matter," "this delinquent account," and "They may continue to authorize these appropriate measures provided under the law to further implement the collection of your seriously past due account." The amount they say is in question is $21.95. These people are harrassing people who have subscriptions to magazines, requesting payments that do not represent or go to the magazine, and now they are issuing threats. They must be stopped. For additional information, contact [redacted] Magazine at www.[redacted].com or at [redacted]). I have received fraudulent bills for other magazines as well but I don't know if they were sent by the same agency.Desired Settlement: These people must be stopped. I can't imagine how many unwary individuals have sent payments in response to these fraudulent attempts.

Business

Response:

October 28, 2014Dear [redacted].Thank you for contacting us on behalf of [redacted].In light of the information provided, we are stopping further collection activity and closing the account in our office.Our records are updated on a regular basis. An additional collection notice may have been sent to the consumer prior to the account being closed on our system. If this occurs, please arrange to have it returned to us.We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your office.Sincerely,Customer Service Department

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,