Consumer complaint received 2017-12-24
Company: Forster & Garbus LLP
State: NY
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: I do not know
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit

Complaint:
I was on the way out from my office a month ago when a guy hand-delivered me a envelope forcing me to take it when I did not want to take things from people I do not know I never dealt with. However the person threw it into my hands and walked away and I did n't know if I should open the letter or not because maybe those me long me Maybe it 's information about a neighbor or perhaps a lot of things which came to mind as why not to open it. Because I could not think of a single idea or reason for opening the envelope. 

However, when I came home I told my wife what occurred to me at work and she told me I should open the envelope and see what it is. And if it does not relate to me I should just write a letter that it 's not related to me and send it back from the address from where it came from. 

Fast forward I opened the envelope and I will attach to this complain every paper that was in the envelope, I just was n't able to make sense of what it 's about. 

On Friday XX/XX/XXXX I meet a good friend which is a criminal defense attorney for 38 years in XXXX XXXX his name is XXXX XXXX and I took out from my purse this envelope and asked him if it 's something to be concerned about or it 's something like a marketing material? because I showed him that I 've never seen something that looks like a marketing material and has my social security number on it and I asked him if he can use his expertise to explain me what this letter is about. 

He carefully look and read word by word, and then he ask me if I am aware about XXXX XXXX? I said not at all and ask them what about XXXX XXXX? He replied that this is basically what 's called a default judgement and explain me that it means that if somebody has a debt and he does not pay the debts and then when he 's being called to come to court he does n't show up it will result in a default judgement. I further asked him but what is this default judgment about so he said it 's about a claim that you had some sort of a relationship with a financial institution called discover and they claim that you owe them money for some reason it 's possible that you have a loan from them or a bank account or whatever. 

I told him that I have no idea what XXXX is and I have no debts, andn above all who says this is even a true letter? because after all when something is not true like in this case that I have nothing with discover nor did I ever have something with them it is very likely that this letter is also something false. 

So we 're he explained me that you will be back in his office and you will check based on the docket number in the court system if it 's real and he called me up telling me that it actually is real and it 's on my name. 

So I asked him if he can help me with this. First he calmed me down and told me that nothing can happen to me because I do n't earn enough money, meaning nothing can be taken from me, he then continues by asking me if I ever received letters from I forgot the name he mentioned from a certain collection agency about this XXXX thing. So I told him the truth that I constantly get phone calls every phone call is another marketing called and I simply do not answer phone calls if I do not know who is calling. 
He then asked me if I got the letters and the answer is no I did not and the truth is I did n't. 
You then asked me if I was served and I responded to him that I have no idea what that means, then he explained me, then I told them that absolutely never happened. 

Then he told me here is a few things I can do about it. Number one is to call the phone number on the second page of the attorney which is attempting to collect this fraudulent or alleged debt and make a settlement to pay much less and since you do n't have money explain them that you will need a 20 30 year payment plan and if possible no interest. So I was completely confused and I ask them why should I even pay one penny if this is not my debt so he explained me that at this point it 's a problem because if I would need to hire an attorney to fight this it would cost me {$1500.00} and he then said he would be willing to do it for {$700.00} however he said sometimes I can have more success to settle for less than that amount so he advised me to first try calling and if no success I will have to fight this which he can do for {$700.00}. 

I was extremely hurt and I am still very frustrated about the fact that something that is not related to me in any form of way not directly and not in indirectly should lead to something like this we are I simply have no choice but to have some sort of monetary loss. I do understand as he explained me that the process usually works that I get served and then I have to respond and I have to respond and by law I have one year to respond and this is more than one year. Bought the problem begins with the fact which can not be denied that I was not served and because I was not served how in the  world am I supposed to know I am being alleged of a fraudulent XXXX whatever it is? And why should I need to pay even one penny from my pocket now when this was definitely a tactic they did on purpose in order to get naive people like me not having an idea what this is to pay because they do not know what the XXXX is going on. 

I have no choice and I have to accept the fact that because we live in United States and the financial field dominates the country and they are in control I will have to be among the millions of people that are suffering and I will have to suffer either way. Although I will definitely by no means have to pay you whatever amount they allege that I owe them bought I still have to get rid of this problem which I 'm referring to this letter and the only way to do that is by having an attorney respond to it because I respond to it they will use my naiveness to collect even more money but when an attorney response and they see that someone on the other side knows what 's going on they are very careful and they do n't make these falls allegations. 

So I 've decided to try to save myself the {$700.00} to pay an attorney to get rid of this letter by filing a claim here with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which is in Miracle for the American citizens with hope that it will end up with the truth which I always say to my children the truth prevails and therefore this nightmare will diminish and disappear and the were wo n't even be a bed to water {$700.00}.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation