Thomas E. Hardee & Associates

Dear *** *** and the Revdex.com: This letter is being sent in response to *** ***’s complaint, ID My
name is John D*** and I’m in-house counsel and compliance director for Capital Recovery Systems, Inc(CRS)CRS is a third party government debt collection and customer service organizationThe vast majority of our clients are local government and municipal and county courts located primarily throughout the MidwestThe accounts placed with our office are primarily non-consumer debtThe cases typically involve unpaid fines and court costs associated with traffic violations and misdemeanor criminal offensesWe currently represent over local governments and courtsWe have been in business for years and have been a Revdex.com Accredited Business since July 21, and currently have an A+ rating We take great pride in doing our best to comply with all laws and because of that we very rarely receive a complaintWith over million written and verbal contacts with customers compared to the number of “complaints” we’ve received and responded to, our complaint rate is so low that it’s basically zeroTo that end, when we do receive a complaint, we look at it as an opportunity to review our operations and when necessary, revise or implement policies and procedures to improve themWe also strive to assist all of our customers, including those who may have complaints, by helping them understand the facts of their circumstances and discussing with them options for reaching a mutually agreeable arrangement that will resolve the matter I've reviewed *** ***’s complaint and have investigated the sameThe City of Binghamton is a longtime client of oursThe cases it sends to us to collect involve outstanding parking violationsThis particular violation was sent to us on 11/20/The violation occurred on 12/20/According to the limited information provided us, the automobile license plate number was New York *** belonging to *** *** whose last known address was ** *** **, Owego, NY We mailed a letter to this address on 11/27/The letter informs the addressee of her right to dispute the debtIt was returned to us by the post office with a new addressThe new address was *** *** *** **, Westfield, NJ We mailed a letter to this address on 10/4/This must be the letter that *** receivedThis second letter was the same as the firstOn 10/11/at approximately 9:am she called our office and spoke with Annette, one of our representativesCaller was upset and said she didn’t know where Binghamton was and demanded we remove this account from collectionsCaller was informed by Annette that we can’t just remove the account from collections simply because someone made that requestThe caller said she would contact our client and terminated the callThe account was updated to indicate a “Dispute” and a “Hold” was placed on the account to prevent future communication attemptsOn 10/16/our client sent us an email consisting of an email from Ms*** to the client dated 10/13/wherein Ms*** made her argument for not owing this debt and an email from the client to Ms*** informing her that Ms*** was not liable for the citationAs a result, on that same day, 10/16/2017, we closed the account and returned it to our client, the City of Binghamton Ms*** needs to know that our company is not “a scam”; that we don’t “prey on unsuspecting parties”; and that we don’t “strong arm small amounts of payment from duped victims” I believe all of this would have been avoided if the phone conversation on 10/11/between Ms*** and Annette wasn’t terminated so abruptlyAnother minute of communication would have likely resulted in a resolution *** *** can feel confident knowing that our company will no longer attempt to contact her about this parking violation and that we have not reported the associated obligation to any credit reporting agencies as our company does not credit report for any of our accounts I am here to helpOur company is here to help*** *** is welcome to reach out to me if she thinks I can be of further assistanceMy phone number is ###-###-####, extension 350; my email address is jd***@caprecsys.com; and my mailing address is Capital Recovery Systems, Inc., Market St., Steubenville, OH On behalf of Capital Recovery Systems, Incof Ohio

My name is *** *** and I’m in-house counsel and compliance director for Capital Recovery Systems, Inc(CRS)CRS is a third party government debt collection and customer service organizationOur
clients are local government and municipal and county courts located primarily throughout the MidwestThe accounts placed with our office are non-consumer debtThe cases involve unpaid fines and court costs associated with traffic violations and misdemeanor criminal offensesWe currently represent over local governments and courtsWe have been in business for over years and have been a Revdex.com Accredited Business since July 21, and currently have an A+ rating. We take great pride in doing our best to comply with all laws and because of that we very rarely receive a complaintWith over million written and verbal contacts with customers compared to the number of “complaints” we’ve received and responded to, our complaint rate is so low that it’s basically zeroTo that end, when we do receive a complaint, we look at it as an opportunity to review our operations and when necessary, revise or implement policies and procedures to improve themWe also strive to assist all of our customers, including those who may have complaints, by helping them understand the facts of their circumstances and discussing with them options for reaching a mutually agreeable arrangement that will resolve the matter I first became aware of this situation yesterday evening and immediately investigated the situation and telephoned and spoke with *** ***During our discussion I informed her that the situation she complains of is likely the result of communicating with a different Capital Recovery Systems companyShe told me that the automated messages left for here were 3-minutes longI told her we don’t leave messages like thatOur automated messages are approximately seconds in lengthShe complained of rude service as wellWe do not tolerate that type behavior at our companyWe consider ourselves a customer service companyOur representatives are trained to put the consumer first by recognizing their worth and treating them with respect and dignityIf one of our reps behaved the way *** *** described that person would be terminated forthwith I also told *** *** that I searched our data base for the telephone number that she said she received the calls on (###-###-####)That number is nowhere in our database and in addition, I searched our Dialer and found no record of our Dialer calling that number. I certainly don’t want to speak for *** *** but I think she agreed with me that it likely was not our company who upset her with the phone calls and disrespectful behavior she rightfully complained of. *** *** can feel confident knowing that our company did not place the calls she complained of and it was not our representatives who disrespected her. I am here to helpOur company is here to help*** is welcome to reach out to me if she thinks I can be of further assistanceMy phone number is ###-###-####, extension 350; my email address is ***; and my mailing address is Capital Recovery Systems, Inc., *** *** *** *** ** ***
Regards, John ED***, in-house counsel and compliance directorOn behalf of Capital Recovery Systems, Incof Ohio

I RESPONED TO MR***'S BY SENDING HIM THE FOLLOWING EMAIL PER HIS REQUEST:Good morning Mr***:
Your
concern has been brought to my attentionRest assured that your contact
information has been removed from our data base and there no longer exists any
reason for our office to contact
you regarding this account. This
account was never reported to a credit reporting agency by our officeI hope
that brings you some level of comfort. I
appreciate that your concerns were brought to our attentionWe treat these
situations as an opportunity to review and improve our business operationsIf
I can be of further assistance don’t hesitate to contact me.
Regards,

Dear Mr. [redacted] and the Revdex.com:
This letter is
being sent in response to Mr. [redacted]'s complaint, ID [redacted].
My name is John
D[redacted] and I’m in-house counsel and compliance director for Capital Recovery
Systems, Inc. (CRS). CRS is a third party government debt collection...

and
customer service organization. The vast majority of our clients are local
government and municipal and county courts located primarily throughout the
Midwest. The accounts placed with our office are primarily non consumer debt.
The cases typically involve unpaid fines and court costs associated with
traffic violations and misdemeanor criminal offenses. We currently represent
over 350 local governments and courts. We have been in business for 16+ years
and have been a Revdex.com Accredited Business since July 21, 1998 and currently have
an A+ rating.
We take great
pride in doing our best to comply with all laws and because of that we very
rarely receive a complaint. With over 35 million written and verbal contacts
with customers compared to the number of “complaints” we’ve received and
responded to, our complaint rate is so low that it’s basically zero. To that
end, when we do receive a complaint, we look at it as an opportunity to review
our operations and when necessary, revise or implement policies and procedures
to improve them. We also strive to assist all of our customers, including those
who may have complaints, by helping them understand the facts of their
circumstances and discussing with them options for reaching a mutually
agreeable arrangement that will resolve the matter.
I've reviewed
Mr. [redacted]'s complaint and have investigated the same.
Mr. [redacted]
indicates in his complaint that he received a letter saying he owed almost
$4000.00, which he doesn't believe he owes. He's wondering if he's being
scammed.
First and
foremost I can assure Mr. [redacted] that if he received a letter from our office it
is not a scam. It may be a mistake but not a scam. I used the information
provided by Mr. [redacted] in his complaint to search our data base to see if we have
an account or accounts that could be related to his situation. I think I found
one. It's an account referenced as Master # [redacted]. The creditor in this
account is our client, the [redacted] Municipal Court. According to
information provided us by the Court, the obligation in this account involves
unpaid fines and court costs for 5 different cases, 1 criminal case and 4
traffic cases from years 2011 and 2012.
When reviewing
this account I found both consistencies and inconsistencies when comparing the
information in this account to the information Mr. [redacted] provided in his
complaint.
Here's the
consistencies: Our reference number of [redacted] is consistent with the account
number Mr. [redacted] mentioned in his complaint. The name in our account happens to
be the same name of Mr. [redacted]. Mr. [redacted] indicates the disputed amount is
$3,894.20 which is the same amount owed to the Court. Our account notes
indicate that a letter was mailed on 12/11/2015 which could be the letter Mr.
[redacted] is referring to since he indicated that the problem occurred on
12/11/2015.
Here's the
inconsistencies: Mr. [redacted] lists his address as [redacted] We have never had that address in this account. The letter we mailed to
"a" Mr. [redacted] was mailed to a [redacted] address. As a matter
of fact, Mr. [redacted]'s [redacted] address could not be located anywhere in our
entire data base. I have no reason to believe that our office has ever mailed a
letter to the address Mr. [redacted] in his complaint. Maybe, Mr. [redacted] can provide
some additional information to help us explain this? Maybe he used to live in
[redacted] and recently moved to this [redacted] address and the letter we mailed to
[redacted] was forwarded to him at his [redacted] address; maybe not? Mr. [redacted]
indicated that his phone number is ###-###-#### and that he talked to our
company on 12/31/2015, 1/1/2016 and on 1/3/2016. The dilemma here is that we
could not locate this phone number anywhere in our entire data base let alone
in this particular account. We have no records of any telephone conversations
between Mr. [redacted] and our company on any of the dates he mentioned. We have no
records in our system of any calls, incoming or outgoing, between our office
and that ####-... number. Is it possible we could have spoken with Mr. [redacted] on a
phone he used that has a different number?
Before writing
in response to this complaint I was hoping to have answers to explain the
inconsistencies. To that end, I attempted to speak with Mr. [redacted] by telephoning
him at the number he provided to discuss these inconsistencies. I was hopeful
that we could determine if he was the same Mr. [redacted] identified in our account
or in the alternative, determine that he's not the person we're attempting to
communicate with. I called him 2 times earlier today but each time I received a
voice mail message saying "the voice mailbox has not been set up-try your
call again later".
Mr. [redacted]'s
desired settlement in his words is that he "would like this matter
explained, as to how he was brought to this, and the threat of his vehicle
registration resolved".
I appreciate Mr.
[redacted]'s concerns and would love to have the opportunity to explain everything to
him; answer any and all questions he has. He should be advised that when Courts
are owed fines and court costs it's not unusual for the Court to suspend
registration privileges until the obligation is satisfied. However, I think the
first thing that needs done is to confirm whether he's the same person as the
person named in the 5 Court cases. To accomplish this he would probably need to
admit that he is or, if he's reluctant to do so, he would probably need to
share with me some additional information about himself so that I can rule him
out.
I am here to
help. Our company is here to help. I would love for Mr. [redacted] to reach out to me
so that together we can get this resolved. My phone number is ###-###-####,
extension [redacted]; my email address is [redacted]; and my mailing
address is [redacted]
Regards,
John E.
D[redacted]

Dear Ms. [redacted] and the Revdex.com:            This letter is being sent in response to Ms. [redacted]’s complaint, ID [redacted].            My name is John D[redacted] and I’m in-house...

counsel and compliance director for Capital Recovery Systems, Inc. (CRS). CRS is a third party government debt collection and customer service organization. The vast majority of our clients are local municipal and county courts located primarily throughout the Midwest. The accounts placed with our office are non-consumer debt. The cases typically involve unpaid fines and court costs imposed by the court for convictions associated with traffic violations and misdemeanor criminal offenses. We currently represent over 350 courts. We have been in business for 18 years and have been a Revdex.com Accredited Business since July 21, 1998 and currently have an A+ rating.            We take great pride in doing our best to comply with all laws and because of that we very rarely receive a complaint. With over 35 million written and verbal contacts with customers compared to the number of “complaints” we’ve received and responded to, our complaint rate is so low that it’s basically zero. To that end, when we do receive a complaint, we look at it as an opportunity to review our operations and when necessary, revise or implement policies and procedures to improve them. We also strive to assist all of our customers, including those who may have complaints, by helping them understand the facts of their circumstances and discussing with them options for reaching a mutually agreeable arrangement that will resolve the matter.             I've reviewed Ms. [redacted]’s complaint and have investigated the same. Respectfully, I submit that the complaint is without merit. The following is an abbreviated history of her situation based upon the facts I’ve discovered through my investigation.            The [redacted] Municipal Court is a longtime client of CRS. On 10/25/2006 the Court placed 1 case involving Ms. [redacted] with our office for collection of unpaid fines and court costs imposed by the Court in the case no. [redacted]. Our reference number for this case is account #[redacted]. The case involving Ms. [redacted] involves a charge of failing to properly display license plates in violation of Ohio Revised Code (ORC) section 4503.21 and a seat belt charge in violation of ORC section 4513.26(B)(1). The Court records involving Ms. [redacted]’s case, which are available to view on the Court’s website, indicate that she plead no contest, was found guilty, and was ordered to pay fines and court costs on or before 4/21/2000. Ms. [redacted] failed to pay. On 5/20/2000 the Court mailed Ms. [redacted] a late notice and she continued to not pay the Court. Thereafter on 6/29/2000 the Court directed the BMV to forfeit her license. She still hasn’t paid according to the Court records. Finally the Court placed the case with our office for collections. The Court records indicate a current balance due of $284.70.            Ms. [redacted] has a financial obligation with the [redacted] Municipal Court as described above. Since this obligation has not been reported to a credit reporting agency it will not reflect on her credit record, at least to my knowledge.            Ms. [redacted] indicates in her statement of the problem that she has never received anything in writing from our office. Although I cannot prove that her statement is not accurate I can say that our records indicate that between 10/26/2006 and 4/27/2007 our office mailed 5 letters to her at [redacted] and between 10/19/07 and 3/24/2016 our office mailed 9 letters to her at [redacted]. It’s worth noting that none of these letters were returned to us as undeliverable.            Ms. [redacted] states that she does not know the nature of or reason for our calls. Maybe she’s forgotten. Our records indicate that she called our office back on 12/12/2008. I’m assuming she called us in response to having received a letter from us that was mailed to her on 12/3/2008. Anyway, during that call she said that she would pay this obligation in 30 days. Obviously, that didn’t happen.            Finally, Ms. [redacted] states that she continues to receive calls from this agency and we do not leave a message. Per our notes we have attempted to telephone Ms. [redacted] dozens of times over the years. Most recently though, our records indicate that we telephoned her 9 times - once a week starting 5/18/2016 through 7/12/2016. I’m assuming these are the calls she’s referring to. Contrary to what she says about not leaving a message, our records indicate otherwise. Regarding these 9 recent telephone calls, our records per our IT Director indicate the following: Left Live Message – 5/18/16; Left Live Message – 5/31/16; Left Live Message – 6/7/16; Left Live Message – 6/14/16; Left AM Message – 6/28/16; Left Live message – 7/5/16; and, Left AM Message – 7/12/16.            The relevant records indicate that Ms. [redacted] owes an obligation to the [redacted] Municipal Court. The question now is whether or not she wants to communicate with our office in an attempt to make arrangements to get it resolved. If she wants to discuss a resolution then great. She can give us a call. If on the other hand she does not want to communicate with us about this obligation then that’s fine as well. Whatever she wants to do.             Without speaking for the Court I can tell you that I am here to help. Our company is here to help. Ms. [redacted], you are welcome to and encouraged to reach out to me if you think I can be of further assistance. The Court and CRS would love to review and consider any information you have that might assist us with reevaluating your situation and/or making arrangements to get this obligation resolved. My phone number is ###-###-####, extension [redacted] my email address is [redacted]; and my mailing address is Capital Recovery Systems, Inc., [redacted] Regards,  John E. D[redacted],On behalf of Capital Recovery Systems, Inc. of Ohio