Consumer complaint received 2017-10-15
Company: CAINE & WEINER COMPANY, INC.
State: NY
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Communication tactics
Sub-issue: Used obscene, profane, or other abusive language

Complaint:
This situation originally started due to me contacting Caine & Weiner to resolve an unpaid debt for commercial auto insurance through XXXX XXXX company that was taken out by my father, however ; the insurance was in my name but not my social security number attached to it. Due to the coverage not being set up correctly through XXXX, technically this debt would not affect me as they did not have the proper information. I wanted to clear up this debt as an act of good faith due to my father 's failure to satisfy the bill. The first date of contact initiated by me was on XX/XX/XXXX to offer a settlement of less than the full balance. The full balance was {$1300.00} and I offered {$200.00} to take care of it. The woman who answered the phone said she would have someone contact me the following day in regards to the offer. OnXX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX called me to offer a settlement of half of the full balance ( {$670.00} ) but at that time, I offered {$400.00} to clear it up. He immediately rejected the offer and stated that was the best settlement he could do and I asked if there was anything else he could do to help me and he said No that is the best we can do and hung up the phone on me. I immediately called back and asked to speak to a supervisor. I do not recall his name, however ; he was professional on the phone when speaking to me but said there was nothing he could do and that settlement was the bottom line. He then stated that Caine & Weiner reviews the accounts for potential legal action every 90 days. I am not sure if XXXX does review this but the manner i which he stated the accounts are reviewed for legal action, led me to believe that my account would be reviewed within 90 days for legal action. I still wanted to get a lower settlement amount so on XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX customer service line to explain how their 3rd party vendor, Caine & Weiner was treating me and how I wanted to deal with  XXXX directly to resolve this debt. After spending well over an hour on the phone getting transferred several times and having to explain my situation to each customer service representative, XXXX stated that in order for me to get a settlement worked out, I would have to work with Caine & Weiner directly and they could not help me any further. I tried explaining several times my dissatisfaction with the company they hired to collect the debt and no one seemed to be concerned with the poor customer service and rude collection tactics by Caine & Weiner. My wife and I decided we will just pay the {$670.00} settlement offered so that we can avoid any additional collection efforts or legal action. So on XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted XXXX XXXX again and during the conversation, he had issues finding my account and he was very frustrated and became extremely unprofessional and it got to the point that he just wanted to hang up. He asked me for a reference number to look up my account, which I did not have and then told me to call back when I had the right information. Before hanging up, I asked him to transfer me to a manager and at that time, XXXX XXXX got on the phone with me and he was extremely rude and unprofessional with me from the start. After they finally were able to locate the account, he was not willing to offer the settlement amount to me anymore and stated the full balance of {$1300.00} was due. After going back and forth regarding the amount, he agreed to accept the settlement amount of {$670.00} that was originally offered to me. I explained to him that before I make the payment, I would like this in writing so I can have my attorney read over it and he told me that is not how it works and I had to make the payment first and then he would send something saying it was paid. We argued back and forth and I asked to speak to his manager and he told me there was no one else there to speak with and then he eventually hung up on me, telling me before hanging up that " He did n't have time to deal with this. '' I immediately called back in to obtain a letter or some kind of statement for my records and attorney and spoke to XXXX XXXX again. During the call, I referred to him as " XXXX '' and he advised that I needed to address him as " XXXX XXXX. '' I felt that he was belittling me by telling me I needed to address him that way and he refused to assist me in getting some kind of correspondence regarding the settlement so we ended the call. I conducted some due diligence on the company through internet searches and found the name of the Vie President. I called the general number for Caine & Weiner and asked to speak with the VP, XXXX XXXX, as I felt that he should be aware of how his collection representative and manager were treating customers of their clients. After being transferred twice, I finally was sent over to the other manager, I can not remember his name but he was a peer of XXXX XXXX He conducted in a professional manner and helped me towards getting this bill resolved. I did try to explain my dissatisfaction with the other representatives but it seemed that I was just wasting my breath. He did have XXXX send me an email prior to making the payment. When I finally called back in, at that point XXXX was talking to me in a professional manner, after receiving the payment of {$670.00}, which I was never obligated to pay originally due to XXXX not having my social security number. Throughout this entire frustrating process of trying to resolve this debt as an act of good faith, Caine & Weiner turned this into a very hostile and uncomfortable situation. I understand that this is a commercial debt and they do not have to adhere to the laws of the FDCPA, but they are still speaking to consumers, who deserve to be spoken to and treated with respect, as I did not initiate a hostile situation and was conducting myself in a professional manner, until I was treated extremely poorly by Caine & Weiner, as well as XXXX 's customer service.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation