Collection agency for bankrupt Hollywood Video using questionable tactics

[Liberal_in_LA]

Video late fee? Forget about that mortgage
Collection agency for bankrupt Hollywood Video using questionable tactics

Is it a scam? Is it just a big misunderstanding? Or has a collection agency in Oklahoma broken the law?

Hundreds of thousands of people who rented movies from Hollywood Video or Movie Gallery had collection notices put in their credit files without any notice or chance to contest the charges.

Both companies filed for bankruptcy last year and their outstanding debts were turned over to National Credit Solutions (NCS) in Oklahoma City.

Many of those people who found collection notices in their files claim they don’t owe money to either company.

A few weeks ago, Seattle teacher Martin Piccoli had the credit limit on his Discover Card slashed from $8,700 to just $600 because of an NCS collection notice he didn’t know about. The bill was $166 for “overdue videos and late fees.”

“I was just blown away,” he says. “I can firmly state that I owed them nothing and that I never received any communication from them: no phone calls, no mail, absolutely nothing.”

When Piccoli contacted NCS, the representative was able to recite the videos he had rented in 2009 and 2010. He recognized the titles, but disputed the late fees.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41390483/ns/business-retail...

[Dawson Leery]

1. I do not have the words to describe collections agencies.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. Collection agency business model = by any means necessary

[hunter]

3. Wow. How can these late fees possibly be legitimate?

Some of the shutdowns at Hollywood Video were not well organized. Seriously, how many returns were bungled by people who knew they were losing their already crappy jobs?

[Drale]

4. I worked for Hollywood for 4 years right up to the end

They cared nothing about ethics or fairness, all they cared about was making as much money as possible before the company went under. They treated both their employees and their costumers like idiots and tried to force us to force costumers to buy things no one would ever want to buy. They where one of the most horrible corporations, and every single one of their "executives" should be in prison.

[DainBramaged]

5. I was gonna add they were a scum company, but you did a great job

Having been down the video store road in the very early days (LATE 70's) I remember them trying to become the biggest video store on the planet when they announced at the '81 CES that they would put every Mom and Pop near them under. We didn't go under till '84........


It's good to know they failed, but at the expense of their customers.

Scum till the end.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. So the last one closed? They were still around but on life support up until a year ago