Strange

$142 Collection Bill Sent To Couple's Dog

by master_jim2008 | July 10, 2008 at 08:04 am

1065 views | 2 Recommendations | 6 comments

I know how they feel, I have had problems with AFNI too

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- More than 70,000 consumers complained about third-party debt collectors in 2007, but one Sacramento couple said they have good reason to bark about the bill they received.Steve Fanelli received a bill from AFNI collections claiming an Andy Fanelli owes Verizon Online $142.34.And although Steve Fanelli does indeed live with an Andy Fanelli, there is a small, furry problem with the bill.

Andy Fanelli is Steve Fanelli's dog."The point is that Andy has never had a Verizon account. We were just curious why this showed up," Steve Fanelli said.After some "dogged" detective work by Call 3 Problem Solvers, Verizon said the debt is owed by a guy on the East Coast named Andy Fanelli."Just because there's an Andy Fanelli back east doesn't mean you send a letter to an Andy Fanelli in California," dog owner Shawn Donovan said. "There has to be something else to connect it."Andy Fanelli, who is Steve Fanelli's and Donovan's Lhasa Apso, has its own American Express card that Donovan got when it was offered for "family members.""It's an active card. From time to time I take my girlfriend's to lunch on Andy," Donovan said.Consumers have complained about AFNI online and to the Illinois Attorney General, claiming AFNI tries to collect outdated or incorrect billing.AFNI told Problem Solvers that it is a large company and diligent about debt verification.The company said it thinks the problem with the Fanelli's happened because of the American Express Card.Verizon Online cancelled Andy's debt, which he just shook off.

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Anonymous (not verified)

at 14:33 on July 10th, 2008

These dorks got a collection bill because their dog has an American Express card that they applied for. That put his name in the credit company's databases. Then the address for their dog got confused with the address for a guy on the East Coast with the same name who really owes the money. Simple clerical error. No big deal except for the way the media presented it, and failed to blame the dumbass couple for getting a credit card in the name of the dog. The DS woman even joked that they like to go out to dinner once in a while on the dog's credit card.

Andy Fanelli (not verified)

at 16:17 on July 23rd, 2008

Hi, I'm Andy Fanelli and yes I did get a letter from AFNI - how silly is that, I can be reached for comments at "letsgoandy@comcast.net"

Anonymous2 (not verified)

at 12:18 on January 21st, 2009

This was NOT a "clerical error".

Instead it reveals that AFNI is sending out their collection letters to anyone with a similar name, not checking SSNs, DOBs, addresses, or anything, just as many people have complained.

Adding an authorized user card to an Amex account would NOT make the SSN or current and past addresses of "Andy Fanelli" the dog match Andy Fanelli the person. The dog would still have no SSN on record with Amex, as it is not necessary to provide an SSN to issue an AU card in someone's name. The dog has NOTHING in common with the person but the same name.

The only difference between this "clerical error" and the thousands of complaints from people who have been sent bills by AFNI for debts they don't owe, is that in this case the bill is so obviously false.

Solon (not verified)

at 15:41 on May 29th, 2009

AFNI's Hess now implies they were collecting a credit card debt owed by the dog's owner.

How does a "Verizon account" become a "credit card account", or vise versa, and how could AFNI credibly not know which it thought it was collecting on?

http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/15/debt-collector-rights-personal-finance-debt.html

"...Last year Minnesota's attorney general sued an Illinois debt collections agency, AFNI, for similar overreaching. AFNI allegedly kept trying to collect debts without adequately verifying whether they were actually owed and in the meantime reported the suspect debts to credit bureaus. In a separate incident in Sacramento, AFNI reportedly tried to collect $142 from a dog.

"We have had an extremely productive working relationship with the state of Minnesota," says James Hess, AFNI's vice president of operations for receivables management. He says in the case of the dog, the money was actually owed by the dog's owner, who had set up a credit card account in the dog's name.

From Hess' point of view, such tactics among consumers are all too common. Many people ANFI deals with owe delinquent debt that they can afford to pay back but that they "just don't take responsibility for things." Responsible consumers should be outraged by such behavior as much as they are by abusive collections practices, he argues...."