Firstline Security | Review: Billing And Collection Problems

I acquired my contract in July 2007. I was told that the monitoring would be done by ADT. It is also stated in the contract. Two weeks ago I received a call from a collection agency stating that I owned my security company, Castlerock, for 4 months and that it was past due. Of course I laughed because FL has my debit card number and automatically withdraws the payment from my account. The guy from Anderson Crenshaw & Associates insisted that I owed 225.00 that he wanted me to pay right then. When I refused stating he could be a company trying to scam me and that I was going to look into it before I paid him anything and that I would not be paying the full amount of 225 to get the account current because I do not have 225 to pay.

First Line never answered my call, so I called the number he gave. The person answering the phone greeted me as a Castlerock rep. When I explained the situation she stated that she had an account that had been passed to collections, so she could not give me any further info. She asked me to confirm that the number that she had on file was my number, it was correct. I asked, if you have my number, why didn't you call or your company notify me that you had taken over for Firstline, she had no answer and suggested that I contact Anderson Crenshaw. I asked, is your company still monitoring, she stated she did not have an account open for me. I asked, when did the monitoring stop, reverted to you will have to get that info from Anderson Crenshaw...

I spoke to Morgan at Anderson Crenshaw that stated I was not the only person that has indicated that they were not notified and that Castlerock stated that they sent out a letter asking for payment. She stated that Castlerock then handed over to them a truck load of files for people that did not respond to the letter for collection.

My question to her was, since they have my number, why didn't they contact me by phone, or notify that my monitoring would be cancelled since they are suppose to be monitoring. Morgan respoded questions about my bill payment habits and follwed up with how would you like to make your payments. When I asked what payments, we never discussed a payment amount. I asked what payment and how much was she referring to, she stated that I owed more than $1000, but she would be willing to work with me since I have such excellent credit and accept 300+ for three months. Absolutely not, was my response, I offered to pay 50 dollars additional per month to get the contract current. She became beyond belligerent, bellowed since you have excellent credit that you were "bragging" about and instead of you sitting there like you are getting th "short end of the stick, I am trying to work with you by giving you a deal to pay this off in increments insted of the 1000+ dollars that your owe. I left her finish rambling, I asked her was she fininshed then explained, that the fact that I have excellent credit merely means that I always pay my bills on time and does not mean that I have an extra $300 a month laying around. She repeatedly bellowed her original spill b=about me acting like I am getting the "short end of the stick" and gave me an ultimatum to either pay the $1000+, NOW, or agree to three month installments of 300+ otherwise we can end the call and I could prepare for them to seize my property in court.

My reply was "Lets end the call". I contacted a law firm who stated as long as I pay them something each month, they I am okay. They are reviewing the contract from First Line and will contact Andreson Crenshaw.. will let you know the final result.