It was $150 plus GST originally... the "bill" I got from ARO said $111... beats me why or when it got reduced. I don't really care.

I phoned them and got "Susan" who was a complete $*@#%. She kept interrupting me and talking over me and wouldn't listen to a thing. I told her every time she calls me to waste my time, I'm calling her 5 times back to "chat". She eventually hung up on m. I called back and got "Andrew". MUCH more reasonable. He actually listened to my story and in the end said he understood and accepted when I said "I'll never pay it" that there's no much reason for them to call back. Afterall, he said, they're doing a volume business and they aren't going to bother chasing after a few unlikely dollars. Fair enough. He did suggest I call Bell to get it settled though. So maybe after half a dozen years I'll get someone reasonable at Bell? HA... nothing's changed. I called and stayed on hold for 20 minutes. Asked to talk to a supervisor and waited on hold 20 more minutes before giving up. I found a "complaints" form on their website and typed my whole story out in detail... > 2000 characters. Hit submit... "error". Pfftt. Screw it, I'm done. I tried.

I'm not going to worry about it. I've got their number off my call block list just to see if Andrew's telling the truth.

Under BC law the debt is extinguished after 6 yrs.

So it turns out its that silly Bell bill. I guess Bell turned it over to the first collection agency who got tired of me telling them to take it to court so they either re-sold the "debt" to ARO (you've got to be pretty desperate to buy 2nd order debt) or they put it back to Bell, who tried finding another sucker to take it.

The Supreme Court of Canada could order me to pay that one and I wouldn't do it. Its a 100% fake charge and Bell's insanely inept call center employees just couldn't put two and two together.

Whatever, I'll call ARO and tell them they're wasting their time. Hopefully it ends there, but like the last bunch of blood suckers, it probably won't... good thing call blocking is so easy.

Alright, thanks. And sorry that my response sounded a bit... I don't know, crabby. I know you guys are trying to help. Its just annoying by nature.

Regardless whether these debts are valid or not, they could still obtain default judgments on them then it would cost you more time and money to have them set aside so you could offer up your defence.
What Hank is trying to say is it is better they know where you live so you could be served with Statement of claim in the event they do choose to sue....which is veryyyyyy unlikely.

For now they will just continue to hound you and try to intimidate you over the phone.

Yeah, thanks. I wouldn't exactly use the term "run away from my debts". A "debt" is money owed. Just because some company sends me an invoice does not a debt make. If it were that easy, I'd make a living sending random invoices to collection agencies and then suing them when they don't pay them.

I'm unclear why, exactly, I should call them back at all. It seems to me that by giving them that confirmation they're legally required to obtain, that I'm opening the door.

I didn't owe Bell the money they mistakenly asked me for. I also do not owe FedEx for the mistaken processing (my business does owe them a very small amount for the taxes, but they sent the invoice to me personally with an invalid fee attached that wouldn't be there if they did it properly). If those companies didn't feel like resolving it with me, then am I now suddenly having a greater obligation to these blood suckers?

For Bell... I invited them to take me to court. I'd love the opportunity to make a fool out of them as I have proof (the work order copy the installer left with me) that they didn't do the work they billed for. But nobody wants to hear it. I'm only willing to call and waste my time on the phone for so long.

For FedEx... I'm not even their customer. Some company in China or Germany or wherever chose to contract with FedEx to deliver something to my house. FedEx chose to give me the parcel without asking for any payment at the time. Then weeks later, long after my ability to say "no thanks, keep the parcel", they send me an invoice for a service I never contracted for. So yeah, they can continue to stuff it.

For this acronymed collection agency... if they aren't sure who I am, I'm not sure I want to give them any inches they can attempt to turn into miles.

If I'm missing something... do tell.

Hi. First time poster here.

This morning I got a strange call. A woman asked to talk to [my name] and I said it was me. She sounded surprised and asked me to hold for a call. I then heard music for around 30 seconds. I was about to hang up when another woman answered and again asked me to confirm my name. I asked what the call was about and she said she couldn't tell me anything until I confirmed my address. I refused and she went a bit off the wall! She raised her voice and said the calls would continue. I hung up.

Unlike most telemarketers though, I saw from the caller ID that the number was local (kelowna, BC) and it said "ARO Inc". I called back and asked the receptionist if it was a telemarketing or survey company and she told me it was a collection agency. I asked to be put back through to "Susan" who was again very agitated and said I was wasting her time unless I confirmed my address. At that point, I could care less about her time!

So anyway... they won't give me any details of what its about unless I confirm my info, which I'm not going to do. I'm not sure what this is about, but I have two ideas:

1) YEARS ago, Bell Canada sent me a 100% b.s. bill about installation charges for $150 when I moved houses. They said switchover was free for 1 satellite TV receiver and I had four. Extras were $50 each (hence the $150). I said I only needed one installed AND THATS ALL THEY DID. But the installer for whatever reason put down that 4 were installed. I spent a total of probably > 6 hours on the phone with morons trying to get it sorted. Eventually I switched providers, told them to stuff their nonsense bill, and I ignored dozens of calls from some other collection agency (it was 3 letters too but not ARO... NCR or something like that?). I still get a call a couple times a year and I still tell them to stuff it. Did they pass it on to a 2nd agency?

2) I have an ongoing hassle with FedEX. I run a business out of my home and I have an account with FedEX. Once in awhile, they screw up and process it incorrectly and don't put it through on my account. In that case, they add their stupid "processing fee" (or whatever they call it these days) and I have to spend 20+ minutes of my time getting it reversed. Eventually I told them they'd have to call me if it happens again... I'm not spending my time on hold to solve their issues. So over the past year or so, I've ignored a couple of the incorrect bills, waiting for them to call me. They haven't. Did they instead just send it to collections?

My credit rating is pretty sparkly clean. I don't know my score, but my bank manager is happy giving me and my business loans whenever I ask. I've never missed a credit card or any REAL debt payment. But I refuse to pay "invoices" that aren't correct.

I just now ordered my Equifax report (odd, but transunion's system doesn't recognize my inputs) so I'll see if there's anything new on there.... but that leads me to my next point. Do I really care? My bank manager knows me. We have a fantastic history. Any time I've asked for anything he's remotely nervous about, I just tell him to secure it with my home and he's good with that. I have all the credit I need. Frankly, I don't care at all what some reporting agency says my "score" is. So if it really just comes down to annoying calls... then I'm fine just blocking their numbers and/or telling them to stuff it. Or am I kidding myself? Am I going to have someone knocking on my door some day and walking away with my TV calling it a 'repo'? I really think not... there's no chance I have any secured loans that I've defaulted on. I have no consumer credit outstanding. My only suspect "black marks", so to speak, are Bell and FedEx (well, OK there was a speeding ticket in the US that I skipped out on 19 years ago) and they are truly nonsense that I'd be happy to discuss with a manager if they ever feel like CALLING ME and talking reasonably about it.

sorry about the rant :) Thanks for any advice.