On behalf of our clients, Lemberg & Associates recently filed a complaint in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia, against Bureau of Recovery. Our client bought a cell phone from Sprint, but took advantage of Sprint’s 14-day return policy and returned the phone. Later, she received a $100 bill from Sprint, which she disputed since she had returned the phone within the company’s 14-day grace period. She was told that the problem would be corrected and her account would have a zero balance.

Not long after, Bureau of Recovery began robocalling our client on her cell phone, even though our client did not give consent for these calls. She later received a call from a live collector from Bureau of Recovery, who said the call was about her alleged debt to Sprint and that Bureau of Recovery would notify the credit bureaus about the debt if she didn’t pay immediately. Our client told Bureau of Recovery that she didn’t owe the debt, and explained her dealings with Sprint. The debt collector said he would take care of it. Nevertheless, the debt was reported on her credit report, and Bureau of Recovery didn’t mark the account as disputed. In addition, her credit report said that the balance was $759.

The lawsuit charges that Bureau of Recovery violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by engaging in harassing behavior; by not disclosing the identity of the debt collection agency during a call; by misrepresenting the character, amount, and legal status of a debt; by threatening to communicate false credit information; by failing to report to the credit bureaus that the debt was disputed; by failing to inform our client that the phone call was an attempt to collect a debt; and by failing to send a validation notice. The lawsuit also charges that Bureau of Recovery violated the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. In addition, the lawsuit charges that Bureau of Recovery violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by robocalling her cell phone with her prior express consent, and that Bureau of Recovery violated our client’s privacy.

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