Posted on Friday, 11th December 2009 by admin
Simms Associates, Inc. is a Delaware Corporation founded by Greg, Jeff, and Brad Simendinger in July 1, 1991. Their business address is 800 Pencader Drive, Newark, DE 19702. Gregory L. Simendinger, President is listed with the Delaware Better Business Bureau as the principal. They are registered as a Collection Agency.
Better Business Bureau Rating
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has a rating system that rates businesses from A+ to F. Simms Associates, Inc. received a C. Simms is not accredited by the BBB. They received 101 complaints listed as follows:
84 regarding billing or collection issues
2 regarding contract disputes
6 regarding customer service issues
1 regarding delivery issues
1 regarding refund or exchange issues
1 regarding selling practices
6 regarding service issues
All 101 complaints are shown as resolved.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) to govern collection agencies. This act prohibits collection agencies from contacting people before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. and other improper collection practices. A collection agency cannot call you at your place of business if you tell them to stop. They must also cease calling you at home if you tell them to stop. In addition to the restrictions regarding contact, a collection agency is also restricted from unfair practices such as threatening to cause harm, harassing, or using profane language when speaking with you. They are not permitted to tell you that you will be arrested if you don’t pay your debt, or misrepresent themselves in any way. They cannot tell you that they will garnish your wages or file a lawsuit against you unless the law permits them to so.
The Internet is filled with complaints on various boards where Simms Associates is in violation of the FDCPA. Some examples of these violations are as follows:
- Simms called people at work.
- They called one person at all hours of the day.
- Simms Associates called a debtor’s neighbor, gave out confidential information, and asked the neighbor to give the message to the debtor.
- Simms continued to contact a person regarding her sister’s debt even though Simms was asked not to contact them anymore.
- They threatened debtors with lawsuits and wage garnishment.
- A Simms’ employee threatened to come to the debtor’s house to collect in person.
- They harassed, threatened, and hung up on an individual who Simms mistakenly believed to be a debtor.
- A Simms employee called a relative of a debtor falsely claiming to be a lawyer working on a case involving the debtor.
- Claimed to be working on a “project” or job with the debtor.
- Simms did not send a validation letter when requested by debtor.
It is unclear whether any complaints have been reported to the Delaware Attorney General’s Office as they do not disclose complaints filed against companies.
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