Stopping Heather Archives

Another comment by John B brings us some more info:

Follow up: I’ve been on the phone this morning with the FL AG’s office, who despite having received a number of calls concerning ADN, don’t manage those particular cases. The woman referred me to the Division of Consumer Services. The woman I spoke with was very sympathetic, and asked me to fill out an official complaint. She actually found out for me that neither ADN or PHL International are licensed telemarketers, but that Burton at PHL was reported to the agency as far back as 2003.

I called ADN this morning and demanded to speak to Burton. The gentleman, Marshall, was a bit surprised, and asked me to identify myself. I refused to do so. He said they don’t just transfer any old call over. I explained why I was calling, and was given some BS that there was a problem with their calls being rerouted and they were getting a lot of complaints. I asked him to stop BSing me as my next call was the Fl. State AG’s office. He put me on hold, came back, said if I wasn’t going to ID myself then nothing was going to happen and hung up on me. Needless to say, my next call WAS to the State AG.

You can find the FL Deepartment of Agriculture and Consumer Services that John mentions here. I’m not shocked to here that Mark Burton has had complaints filed on him for years.

Reader TM also sent me this today:

This post from http://whocalled.us/lookup/8504331850

Steele

This company is: IXE ACCELERATED FINANCIAL CENTERS and/or IXE ACCELERATED
SERVICES INC.

Their number is 1-888-226-5185.
Their website is: http://ixeacceleratedfinancialservices.com/
Their email address is: ixeacceleratedfinancialcenters@gmail.com

Their mailing addresses are:
927 FERN STREET
STE 2300 OR STE 3200 (the business license has both addresses)
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS FL 32701

Currently they are being investigated by the FL State Attorney General’s Office,
the Altamonte Springs FL police department, and the FCC. They do need more
complaints about this company to file stronger cases. This company is in
violation of several Federal and FL State telemarketing laws by calling DNC
numbers, not removing numbers from their list upon request, not correctly
identifying their company name in the recording, and not providing a company
number in the recording, calling via a recorded message, using an auto dialer,
and sending a bogus caller ID.

File a complaint with the Florida State Attorney General’s Office, even if you
are are not a FL resident. File a 1088 complaint with the FCC if you are on the
DNC list and/or they continue to call you after telling them to not call you
anymore. https://esupport.fcc.gov/form1088/consumer.do Also call them and ask
them for their attorney’s information and contact their attorney, if they even
have one.

They call from multiple bogus caller ID numbers, and call offering to lower your
credit card interest rates, car warranties, and that you have won a cruise.

I’ve already mentioned IXE before, and we know that there is more than one company doing this.
I’ve heard rumors that there is a company that creates and sells all the Heather/Rachael robo-call scripts for these companies and I am actively trying to find them. If you know who they are please email me admin at heatherwithaccountservices dot com

Received a comment today from reader John B. which reads in part

I just got off the phone with TouchStar. The person I spoke to - I’ll withhold his name to protect his privacy - did verify to me that PHL is no longer a client of theirs, and that their account was terminated a year and a half ago. I asked, “if a court order to produce your information concerning them was issued, you would have information on them?”, and he replied that all information on clients is purged once the account is terminated.

So it appears that TouchStar is no longer providing ADN with the software to run their dialer. That’s a good thing for TouchStar, they don’t want to be swept up in this.

Next step is to find out who is now providing these companies with dialing software.

The move to the new host went pretty smoothly, hopefully there wasn’t too much downtime for any of you.

I’ve been getting a lot more visitors a day which is great, but also means we have a ways to go until these scum bags are out of business.

Speaking of scum bags; Someone got a hold of my personal information and has been posting it in a few places telling people to call me to complain about the Heather calls…How fun, I have to get a new phone number, and be afraid everytime someone comes to my door.

I’m not stopping though, and I’ll still be doing what I do.

Just wanted to let you all know that there may be some intermittent downtime (possibly even a day or two). I am moving this site to a new webhost. Don’t worry though, we will be back. Nothing will change for you, the address will be the same, all your comments will be here, all my posts will be here. Just be patient if it’s inaccessible.

Reader and friend TM sent me this posting on 800notes.com regarding someones dealings with ADN, just thought I’d pass it along.

*Anonymous* - 2 hours 44 minutes ago
Chicago Testimonial:

I received a telephone call in late February 2007 from ‘Cardholder Services’
claiming to be a courtesy call about my credit card balances. I am on the
National Do Not Call List so I was initially not suspicious. I believed they
were legitimately checking on existing accounts. As the phone call progressed I
learned that it was actually a phone solicitation from American Debt Negotiators
(ADN) in Florida, and they were not affiliated with any of my credit cards. By
then I had already provided some credit-sensitive information.

Despite their less-than-forthright approach, I went through a series of phone
calls with ADN representatives during which I provided additional credit card
and bank account information with the intention of using their debt elimination
services. They told me there would be a non-refundable deposit of $478, and I
told them that it sounded like a good offer but I wanted to check some things
out before I ’signed on the dotted line.’

Before signing the agreements, I took the opportunity to do some ‘homework’ by
collecting information about ADN and Richard Brennan from the BBB of Southeast
Florida, the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations, the Florida
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Florida Bar, the American
Bar Association, and the Federal Trade Commission. The information I gathered
caused me to be very worried about doing any business with them. I learned that
in addition to a class-action suit in Georgia, the Better Business Bureau listed
LOTS of complaints, and I found a bunch of horror stories about these people
online!

As a result of the information I received, I decided against using ADN services.
I did not sign any of the Agreements. Instead, I typed and faxed a letter to
Brennan/ADN on March 12th requesting that they ‘not contact my creditors, not
process debit entries from my bank account, and not provide services specified
in [their] Agreement.’ I received an email confirmation from a representative at
ADN. I believed that our business was done.

However, on March 13th $478 was debited from my checking account. ADN did not
refund the money in April. When the problem was not corrected by May 4th I
phoned ADN and the Brennan law firm again. I was told by ADN staff that the
electronic debiting process was automated and could not be stopped in time
despite their receipt of my March 12th correspondence. ADN Floor Supervisor
Venetra promised a refund (once approved by Operations Manager Mark). Mike
Reynolds at ADN told me that Brennan has the $478. Meanwhile, Brennan’s staff
member Sarah told me that ADN has the $478. Bottom line: two months had passed
since the money was taken. I had not received services for the money, and I
didn’t want any services. I just wanted the $478 refund that I am due.

After repeated phone calls I was told by Bonnie at ADN that she had a ‘taped
verification’ on file of my agreeing to the ‘non-refundable $478 fee’ which had
been scheduled to be withdrawn from my bank account on March 13th. I told Bonnie
that I understood the $478 was non-refundable but only after I signed up for
their service. Furthermore, several times during the course of those early phone
calls I had requested information in writing before moving forward. Frankly,
even if they couldn’t stop the withdrawal, they should have refunded the $478
once they noticed the mistake.
Caller ID: 774-664-4005
Caller: American Debt Negotiators

Thanks TM!

Talking to my source over the weekend I learned a little more info on how this works.

A "fronter" answers the phone and explains a little
about the program and if the customer shows some
interest the call is forwarded to a "closer". The
closer is in the same room. The closer sells the deal
and tape records the customer agreeing. At that point
the call is transfered to the law firm, not onsite.

According to the source the name of the law firm is Consumer Law Group. There is a Consumer Law Group in Richmond, VA (website). Looking over their site they seem to handle VA only, so it seems unlikely they’re involved. Another possibilty is American Consumer Advocates Law Group owned by our old friend Ran Barnea. If that’s the case than another of his companies are connected to this.

I also received an email from a reader saying that when he got his latest Heather call he strung the caller on for a while before he hung up. They immediately called him back from the number 407-228-4148. I called that number and it just rang and went to a generic voicemail.

I Googled the number and found it associated with a few companies:

Castle Funding LLC
FL Home Mortgage and Realty LLC
Jen Schneider LLC

I don’t know why or how realty and mortgage companies would be involved in this. Time will tell I guess.

Received a comment from Matt today pointing me to an article in the Sun-Sentinel. Apparently FL has passed a bill making Call-ID spoofing illegal. It’s waiting for the Governors signature.

Click here to read the article.

We’ve known for a while now that Ran David Barnea owns quite a few companies, see this post for details. How, or even if they’re related to one another is a little more unclear. We also know that more than one company is doing the Heather/Rachael calls. It seems unlikely that different companies are using the exact same pitch, recording and techniques, but are in competion with one another. So it’s likely they are all connected somehow. Now we have to connect the dots together.

Before we get into the main course lets start with an appetizer:

Ran David Barnea has had a run in with the law before.  In 2006 his American Debt Negotiators company was fined by the Georgia Governors Office of Consumer Affairs.

From their site:

American Debt Negotiators, Inc.­ – An investigation conducted into the practices of this debt adjustment company revealed that American Debt Negotiators, Inc. accepted fees in exchange for debt adjustment services but failed to provide said services or refunds; accepted fees from customers above the legally allowable rate of 7.5% of the monthly amount paid for distribution to the consumer’s creditors; failed to disburse funds to creditors within 30 days of receipt of such funds; failed to obtain an annual audit of its accounts; failed to maintain the required insurance coverage; failed to file copies of annual audits and insurance policies with the State; and made misleading statement on its website. In settlement of this matter, American Debt Negotiators agreed to continue to provide adjustment services for certain Georgia customers at no charge, and to otherwise cease to engage in the business of debt adjustment in Georgia until they have created a business model consistent with the statutorily defined debt adjustment model. The company further agreed to pay customer restitution in the amount of $1,771 and $5,000 as reimbursement of investigative fees and future monitoring of compliance.

Good to see that set them straight. /sarcasm

Now onto the real purpose of this post.
CallFerret links American Debt Negotiators to

American Credit Counselors, Inc.

PHL International

BMV Corp

Metukon Corporation

We know that PHL was one of the companies making these calls and that as of 4/18/2008 the paychecks were being issued by Metukon, and no longer PHL.

There isn’t a lot of info on Metukon. A search for them with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) takes us here. 1on1creditrepair is a new one to me.

Ran Barnea (listed as David Barnea, his middle name) is listed as the President, but a whois on 1on1’s domain ( http://www.1on1creditrepair.com/main.htm) shows the admin as Daniel Post.

I was given some documents listing all of Barneas companies along with  each companies executives. Not only do these documents tie Mark Burton to PHL, they also show that Daniel T. Post is an executive of Best Leads Corp, BMV Debt Management Corp, Metukon, ESV International, Inc, PHL International, Inc, Betuoch Management Venture Corp, Nelan International Corp, and American Debt Negotiators.

The fact that Ran Barnea listed this company under a different name (David) and has Daniel Post operating their site makes me wonder if there is another network of companies owned under the name David Barnea doing the same thing.

There are also reports of a few other companies making these calls. Loyal reader and fellow fed up consumer TM sent me this today:

Seems to me that the confusion regarding the responsible parties behind the
Heather calls needs to be cleared up before going much further (including trying to get media coverage).
The potential involvement of XE Accelerated Financial Center, LLC, 927 Fern St.,
Ste 2300, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701; Mr. Ivan Torres (President) and Mr. Jaime
Hawley (Co-Owner) have been reported on your site as well as elsewhere on the
web, for example this one:

“When I answered the phone, Heather’s prerecorded message said to press 1 to
speak to someone. I did so, and asked the representative for his company’s name
and number, in case we were disconnected. I told the representative that they
weren’t allowed to call me, and he countered that “you pressed one.” I
reiterated that they were not allowed to call. He transferred me to his
“supervisor”, who spoke briefly in an argumentative, then obscene manner, and
hung up.
After the call, I dialed 772-664-4005, which led to a recording saying “You have
reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service.”
I telephoned the 888-226-5185 number that the representative provided, which was
answered by a receptionist at IXE Accelerated Financial Center. A Google search
yields http://ixeacceleratedfinancialservices.com

<http://whocallsme.com/awl/nb/r.ashx?ue=wLt92YuMXZjlmdyV2csFWaj5WYulmZkVGdhJXZsV2YjFWZ4l2LvoDc0RHa>
as well as numerous telephone complaints from other individuals…”

There also are reports that the Heather culprit is www.interestsavingstoday.com

<http://800notes.com/awl/nb/r.ashx?ue=v02bj5SehR2b0N3ZulmdhNHdzVmclRnbp5yd3d3LvoDc0RHa>

Address: 1583 E. Silverstar Road Suite 310 Ocoee, Florida 34761, 888-326-2564,

Doesn’t appear to be any obvious business connection between these two
Florida-based parties and Mr. Barnea, PHL, etc. So either they are linked
behind the scenes somehow, or else they are coincidentally using the same
Heather technique in competition with each other (which doesn’t sound
plausible). In any event, enforcement agencies and the media are less likely to
act if there is reasonable doubt regarding the entity ultimately behind the
Heather calls.

So now I need to find out if there is a commection between IXE, Interest Savings Today and the Barnea companies.

From now on please include the date and time of the call and if you spoke to anyone, try to remember what was said?

And, if you have the time could you please post that information here:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pGmqOG3e6JNgOse12GDnKBA&email=true

Filling this out will post it directly to an online spreadsheet and will save me the trouble of doing it myself
I am doing this to aid any groups investigating. They will have a nice clean document showing the sheer volume of these calls that we endure daily.

Your privacy is guaranteed.

EDIT:

I just received confirmation they are open again. Since at least Monday.

People are still getting calls. Either they didn’t shut down, or they’ve contracted with someone else for two weeks (not likely).
I