I've been hearing so may Rogers/Iqor problems as I try and solve mine.

Perhaps its time people stop giving Rogers their monopoly.

I had a big ordeal in July with Rogers who put an old home phone into collection. We are talking old here as in 2003.

No calls, no staements, despite me being a rogers customer up to this point. In July 2010 I discovered Iqor collection on my credit report. I called Rogers and they claimed this old phone was never paid to the tune of about $90.

Odd but I gave them teh benifit of the doubt and offered to settle it right now. The amount then became $192.

Hmmmm..... again I gave them the doubt and paid by VISA.

Guess what - Iqor still has the collection. I am now dealing with Rogers again to process this and take that black mark off.

How did I discover they didnt do it in July? They wanted to sell me another contract (I've been there 10 years). I had discoverd they were charging me roaming for local calls and they took that off then tried to sell me a new phone. I decided to check my credit first. Sure enough Iqor collection still there.

So will Rogers sell me a new phone? No. I know have them chasing their own tail once again and this time if it isnt done pronto we'll be in court. Hello Telus, you just got a customer.

The last excuse Rogers gave me was they didnt know my last name to take the Iqor record off. .... You mean that name on my current Rogers phone statement? The number you are calling me on? That last name?

Not once has they stopped to think .. "gee, why are we kicking this guy in the teeth over what is probably our 7 year old clerical error?"

I discovered the collection in July only as my bank isued me a new CC and it caused an issue. When my banker looked into it it came about that this has been a carbon copy issue with many customers and an employee at the bank. They dismissed the collection on record as if it doesnt exist due to this. That says everything. When a bank starts ignoring Rogers Claims due to rampant abuse.

good point...maybe i'll do a money order then...gah this is way too complicated....

I am not sure of the best way to pay them but i wouldnt use a cheque.By giving them a cheque they would know who you bank with and have your account number,not a good idea with collection agencies as the less they know the better.

sorry to bug again, just thinking about this. which is the best way to actually pay the collections agency? I would think going in with a money order and getting an actual receipt from them. But would a cheque be better because then you can actually see the image of the cleared cheque? or does the bank get the image of a cashed money order as well???

Any last advice?

Yeah, never let your sister go out with a collection agent!

Ray

good stuff, i already have Rogers emailing me a statement/invoice of account with the updated amount owing. I know it will show at least one of the credits to the account on it. Should that be good enough, the actual statement from Rogers?

And i will definitely follow your advice regarding over the phone stuff first, getting a signed agreement from the collection agency and then sending a money order the bank itself can track for payment.

Thanks so much for all your help.
any last minute words of advice???

I don't know if Rogers actually needs to sign anything but you should have some kind of updated statement regarding the final amount claimed with a breakdown of costs. That could be from either iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency or Rogers. But the trouble with statements from collection agencies is they only list a summary amount and never include details of charges that a proper invoice would.

In fact, collection agencies like Total Credit Recovery and many others may deliberately avoid giving out proper invoices and accounting statements so they can pad the bill with bogus interest and surcharges. Read Frannie2003's posts as a perfect case in point.

The point is you need to have an up to date document outlining what charges exist on the account. That serves as a reference point for negotiating a settlement. I don't know what the percentage would be in this case but it's almost always possible to get some discount. The end of the month is always the most propitious time because that's when collectors get jittery about meeting their targets.

It's always best to conduct negotiations over the telephone and let them mail you a copy of the signed agreement if you can come to an arrangement.

Make sure you have a SIGNED agreement in your hands that says something to the effect of "in final settlement" before you give them anything - even if it's a monthly payment plan. A collection agency, otherwise, will usually find a way to renege and ask for more down the road. Money orders or cancelled cheques with annotations on them suffice for proof of payment.

thats a good point, so get them to mail the settlement offer and get someone at Rogers to sign it as well or something?? Then go in with the settlement paper so its all ready to go, pay it and make sure I get a recepit correct?? (can you tell i have never ever had this problem before?)

Well, I guess. As for me, visiting iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency collection agents would be too much to take, espcially when I recall the case of the 407ETR and how they helped drive John E. Dowling to suicide, so well described by Mark Bonokoski in the Toronto Sun.

I'd actually prefer for them to mail me the settlement offer first so I could then check it out with Rogers before paying. That's just so Rogers doesn't later add back the equipment charge they agreed to drop and later send that added amount to collections. But I guess what you're doing will likely be ok.

Ray

Thank you so much! The office is actually right where he works. So i plan on calling them, finding out how much is owing from the agency (which should relatively match what rogers has right? i mean i know they sometimes charge interest, however i will have an invoice from rogers showing the amounts credited back for the equipment with the new real amount owing), offering to pay it in full. And have him go in with a money order for the amount, but prior to handing it to them, getting a written notice that this settles the account in full and final, plus a receipt for the amount owing paid. And also get him to request the credit bureaus are informed that it was paid. Of course, that recipt and settlement paper will always be kept on hand in case they dont...and we will also notify rogers and fax them a copy of it so they can request the bureaus notified...

is that a good plan???