hi..

just curious of the topic cause maybe soon i will get to encounter such case.. if ever it is proven that the lawyer that calls up to ask the creditor to pay off the balance they owe is just a recorded thing.. can you sue the collection agency or any sanction i may charge them?

thanks..

Ranzzz, its pretty unlikely Total Credit Recovery would use someone impersonating a lawyer. They are very "by the book".

You are probably spelling his name wrong in the search field. I'm not in the office right now so I can't cross check with my debt negotiation team but I am pretty sure I've heard his name a few times.

BTW you wont get the lawyer on the phone when you call back, he is used as a scare tactic and figurehead for the collection calls. its also a useful technique to get you to call in.

As you experienced you will get an assistant (read bill collector) with some story about him being away from his desk. Then they will proceed to demand full payment and suggest there will be legal consequences if you dont pay.

Brush up on these two articles I published a few years ago for some insight on whats likely happening to you right now:

Collection Agency legal Action - Truth Exposed

Bill Collector Lies

why can i click on your link and find him, but when i do my own search, nothing comes up orestes04 ? i've searched him a million times through that database and nothing comes up!
am i doing something wrong??

I did a search on Bernie on Upper Canada Law Society and it only came out of 1 hit.

Full Name Bernie John Olanski

Licence Type Lawyer

Real Estate Insured † Yes

Status Status definitions In Private Practice

Business Name Lexcor Business Lawyers LLP

Business Address 629 Wellington St
London Ontario
N6A 3R8

Phone 519 858 2222 Ext. 226

Fax 519 858 2323

So I can assure you 100% that Bernie is a fake lawyer. Feel free to threaten to report them to the police for fraud.

he is what? a lawyer? i couldn't find him on the site you linked to (the link had expired), but i found him here - http://www.scalzilaw.com/affiliates.cfm

and here - http://www.gcylaw.com/

sooooo... i wouldn't think they would pay a lawyer to call out, but i'm slightly concerned now that he really does exist. he's also quite a high-profile one at that, so i'm left confused as well...

on another note, i called back after the message was left this morning and basically was given the run-around when i asked to speak directly to him. i said that he called and i would like to speak with him, the person asked for an extension, none was given so she didn't know where to send me. she came back after a couple of minutes, said he was "away from his desk" and that she was handling his accounts...

how worried should i be? i'm not even sure who they're collecting on behalf of.

he is.

http://tinyurl.com/25xghu6

Yes it would be.

If its a voice mail then they probably prerecorded his voice and put it on an automatic dialer to leave you a message. Thousands of people would have got the same message.

Don't think for a minute a collection agency will pay a lawyer to pick up the phone and do this manually.

so i finally received another call from the man claiming to be the collection lawyer for TCR -

"hello. my name is bernie gassey. i am a lawyer for tcr. it is extremely important for you to call me back..."
he specifically stated he was a lawyer, which i'm assuming isn't a fact.

so, my question is - is illegal to represent yourselfas a lawyer when you indeed are not?