Spent $200 on a collections agency and it backfired hard

Had a client ghost me on a $1,200 landscaping job last summer. After four months of polite emails I paid a local agency $200 to chase him. They sent one nasty letter and he filed a complaint with the BBB, which torpedoed my rating. Anyone else get burned by a collections service instead of helped?

3 comments

3 Comments

alex8205d ago

@emma_lee22 you hit the nail on the head there. The real trick is going through your bank or credit card company like blairm77 said. I did that once for a smaller amount and got my money back in a week with no drama. The collections agency only made things worse by putting everything in writing and giving the client something to fight back with. Banks have actual leverage and they don't mess around the way a third party letter does. Next time I get stiffed I'm skipping the agency and going straight to the source, even if it takes a little more time upfront.

emma_lee225d ago

$200 to get a nasty letter instead of my money" sounds about right for my luck too.

blairm775d ago

and honestly, people just let stuff like this slide way too much. you gotta hit them with a chargeback through your bank, that's the only language these companies understand. i did that once after getting nothing but automated responses for three weeks and suddenly they had a "specialist" reaching out to me within 24 hours. they bank on you getting frustrated and giving up so definitely don't do that. keep every email and screenshot too so you can show your bank the whole chain of nonsense.