We have all heard the news of outsourcing American jobs to Mexico with their cheap, almost free labor costs, and of course the transition of skilled computer related jobs to countries such as India. Why would any company pay $40 or $50 an hour for something that can be done in another country at a fraction of the price? Many companies have indeed done just that. I for one wonder how much of this out sourcing has contributed to the current credit crunch. If people here in the US do not have jobs, they can not buy the goods?
Today I found a new twist on the off shore adventures by a company registered in Mill Valley, California, Astra Business Services. My wife took the call, some lady calling herself Angela Cook called and asked if we could deliver an important message to a neighbor. “Please tell her to call 866-823-1670 as soon as possible.” My wife is a kindly soul, and wrote down all of the information.
I have to admit that my ’spidey senses’ were alerted. We have only just moved into this house, our telephone number is not secret, but it certainly is not in the local directory.
I had some questions for my wife, the fundamental one was ‘how did they get our number’? My wife thought about it for a while, and she agreed, something was amiss.
Well, I decided that before I played the part of Good Samaritan I would do a little investigating. A quick Google revealed that the call back area number 866 is a toll free number. Now I have lots of friends, but I can’t name one that wants to pay for incoming calls. My wife assured me that the young lady on the phone was very nice, and sounded very sincere.
I just wasn’t buying into the game. I decided to call the number and see what I could extract. It was answered by a gentleman in the name of Astra Business Services. I asked for Angela Cook, who I explained had called a few minutes prior. There was what can only be classed as a pregnant pause. Not being easily led away from Red Meat, I plowed on. If Angela is not available, can I talk to her supervisor?
As if by magic, Angela is suddenly located.
It is a very erudite and educated young lady that is put on the line.
So what is it that Astra Business Services do?
Well we are involved with Personal Business Information.
I am not sure what that means, my wife took a call from you a few minutes ago asking if we would relay a message to one of of neighbors. Clearly this is not a personal message, I know of few individuals that offer 1-800 service. So what are you selling?
Oh, we do not sell anything, that is not our thrust.
So tell me about Astra Business Services? Where are you headquartered?
Our headquarters are in Mill Valley, California.
So what kind of business are you in?
umm, well we are a financial services organization, we are in the personal business information industry
I am curious as to how you obtained my number as you do not even know my name, and the person you are actually trying to locate apparently is my neighbor.
Oh, I got it from 411.
That doesn’t seem entirely credible, it stretches my imagination that you can call 411 ask for Joe Smith in some town, and then also ask if they can also supply the telephone numbers of his neighbors, it just doesn’t work that way.
We might have got it from a skip tracer.
Skip Tracer? You said that this message was business related but did not concern money. So you are in the skip tracing business?
Oh, no, we are not skip tracers.
You mentioned that you are headquartered in Mill Valley, California, is that where you are calling from?
No, I am calling from India
Needless to say, by this time it was abundantly clear that this was some kind of collections call, even though the young lady was insistent that this important message was not connected with money. It didn’t take a whole pile of research to track down this company, and on their web site is this illuminating piece of information:
Together, this deeply experienced American/Indian management team has launched a one-of-a-kind company with a singular focus on American consumer delinquencies.
A further few minutes on Google revealed that these folks have a modus operandi of annoying people who are not connected in any way with the person involved. So here is a piece of advice, if you receive a call from 866-823-1670 don’t bother calling it back. It is just a call center in India, if you want to have some real fun though, call the company in Mill Valley at (415) 384-0730 and ask to speak to Feroze Waheed, he is the CEO. I am sure that he would love to chat with you.
Update: Feroze Waheed is actually located in India. This makes this company even more suspicious. This is not out sourcing, this is predatory. How can a company be based in the US when the major players are some place else?
I have also received no reply from the company, no doubt they are just to busy calling people from their 866-823-1670 number. I would love to hear from any reader that has suffered from this organization, so if you have a story, drop me a line. The big black box on the right hand side of the page that says Writers Wanted will get my email addy.
Simon Barrett
(11 votes, average: 4.18 out of 5)
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19 users commented in " Astra Business Services – Debt Collection From Afar "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThey have called me. Our number is unlisted and has been for years.
They asked me to have a neighbor call and knowing who they were from news reports, I told them that the neighbor was dead after going to the local collection agency and shooting somebody who had called him and asked him to tell the neighbor a message about an important call. I told him it seemed like an excellent solution to all and that after I practiced on the range, I would be over. He hung up.
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I too have received many many calls from this company. When I answered after a minute or so of silence it started ringing and a woman answered, “Astra Business Services, May I help you?”. She insisted multiple times I called her. This has got to be a computer routed call that makes it look like I called them so they can get around the No Call list law and harrass people. I told her in no uncertain terms her information for my number was incorrect. Had I called her she would have known my information! I asked her to please remove my number from her call list. They still call me at all hours of the day and night. I just don’t answer. I hate my cell phone because of it.
u guys are retarted. just jealous cuz u cant run a business
I pride myself on my grammar and spelling skills more than I do my business skills. This is so I don’t look like a dumbass when I post responses on the internet. I doubt you run a business either, at least one where the spoken language is English.
I got a call too. But who cares? just hang up. wipe your tears and stop whining about it like a bunch of sissies
its outsourcing guys, get used to it. just another business strategy. trust me, there are much worse
I recieved a call from them wanting me to verifiy my social securty #. I precisted on them to tell me how they got my #. I asked to talk to someone that soke clear English, they couldn’t. They wouldn’t talk to me until I verified it. I didn’t tel them yes or no. They ended the call. today recieved a letter from them trying to collect money for a old card, that I paid in full after an agreement with the companys contact.
I work at Astra Business Services…I know what u guys mean by harrassment but please understand it is our job to call and verify a consumers ssn.Its not that we want to but to protect the privacy of the consumer we need to make sure were speaking to the right person.
We cant jst disclose info to just ne1.
We dont steal ssn’s but we get them from our clients and ur ssns were infact given by you while u were signing up for the card or watever the service.Please give us a break.
We are a legitamat company and we are bound by the FDCPA.Every call is recorded and if u ask us not to call you we immidiately mark ur # do not call.
Maybe if u paid ur bills on time we wudnt have to clal u so much.Were jst tryin to help in gettin ur problem resolved.We offer good discounts to make it easier for you as well.
And by the way calling a neighbour is not something we want to do its something we are told and infact allowed to do by law in a few selected states in the US.
We call a neighbour once and by the way and we only contact them again if we are given permission by them to do so.
Angela Cook was just doing her job and she did it well.And Mrs Barrett was kind enough to help us out and we wud be grateful if the msg was conveyed.If Mrs Barrett told us clearly that she will deliver the msg but not to call her again then we would have done that without an issue.
As for the consumers….
Instead of hanging up all the time jst speak to the reps n hear us out and see what we have to offer you.We jsut want to help and we are here to hear you out as well.
One more thing to add that Mr Waheed is located in India however he travels to the US very often for Business development purposes and to keep an eye on HQ and to attract new clients…Atleast 5 times a month.
So give me a break Mr Barrett.You dont need to make an issue out of something so small.Please…
Hey Dmjs,
If you’re going to do business in the US, you need to understand our Laws and Regulations.
4 words: “Do Not Call List”. It is illegal to call persons on that list (a government list). Your Co. called me and I have no outstanding debts whatsoever (my FICO is 750+). So I reported you to the Government Agency who handles harrassing cold callers/debt collectors (er uh, that’s you), the Dept of Commerce. I urge everyone to report this company as credit harrassment is MAJORLY illegal.
No one wants to deliver a message to a neighbor as it is as rude as cold calling your customers neighbor to have the message delivered. If you have a debt and you can’t collect it, try the next step in our system…take them to court.
We don’t have debtors prison like some third world nations in the Far East who shall remain nameless (but not blameless). We only have bankruptcy. If you want blood from a turnip, you get it from an American.
They call me daily. It’s very irritating. I screen my calls, Leave me a message and let me know why the heck you’re calling.
I too receive calls from Astra Business 4 or 5 times a day. They never leave a message. I don’t have any pass due debts. In the past I’ve had credit cards that I settled and paid with the credit card companies. Maybe they are trying to resurrect those account.
I will be putting a call block on their number.
Ok Mr Irsean
Dont u worry sir we are well eqiped with the laws of the United States.
We have been given detailed training on the FDCPA n HIPPA laws.
We know wat a DNC list is and if we called you then it may have been a mistake or the person we called for may have owned ur number before.
We aint sellin you anything,were callin to collect somethin that you owe!
And yes i can understand the fact that it is rude to call a consumers neighbour but it is only a request to convey the msg,thats all…And alot of people do help out.If peolple have a stick stuck up their pie hole (err you!) and dont wanna help then they can simply jst say that they dont wanna do it and stop callin,And we will do just that.
We have no intensions of takin ppl to court and become nasty,thats not the way we wanna do business.
AS for the rest i apologise for the calls but instead or ignoring them y dont u jst answer the damn phone.No1s gonna eat you.It cud be a debt for somethin u arnt aware about,if so we will help u dispute it.It may even be a wrong# adn if uv filed for bankruptcy then all we need are the details to close the acct…I dont get it,what is the harm in jst answering the phone?
If its a wrong # then jst say it n ask us to stop callin you and we will do jst that.
Watever the reason all we wanna do is help u take care of the debt as per ur own convenience.We dont wish to harras u or anything…
I receive numerous phone calls from them each day. I screen my phone calls, because I work from home. They never leave a message. I was sick of the same number calling me yesterday, so I answered the call and Brian their representative asked me if I was blank. I never answered him and then he proceeded to state “are you ???? with ss # ????”. What is legal about, nothing. I work for a company that trains my division deeply on the Fair Debt Practices Act, the Astra Business Services has no idea what the law is all about. It is only allowed by law to contact a residence where the debtor is believed to reside, not neighbors. I will be filing a complaint with the correct agency or agencies. For me personally my debt is way over the statute of limitations for them to be able to collect anything in the court system. I worked at a law firm back when the delinquency happened and the attorney advised me to just let it ride. They bought the debt from whatever company you owed for pennies on a dollar. They now want to collect the full amount, because they make a huge profit.
Hey Mr Dmjs
Why don’t you give us your name and phone number! ‘no harm’
SCREENING OUT UNWANTED PHONE CALLS
I set my phone’s default ringtone to “none”. For each of the people or businesses that I want to receive a call from (or from whom I am willing to accept a call), I assigned a ringtone to their number. So, my phone rings only when there is a call from any of those pre-approved numbers. The phone does not ring when anyone else tries to call.
When I check the list of missed calls, I can see what numbers attempted to call. Usually, those calls were attempts from collection agencies (probably trying to locate the person who had this number before me). But, of course, those calls are no longer answered.
Someone from this number called two weeks ago, and said they where Monster.com and tried to solicit information from me. I have delt with Monster.com and knew something wasn’t right(strong indian accent) gave it away. When i called them back they said there debt collectors and i owe 60 dollars,”call me in thirty days” i told them. Then they started calling every day! This gets better, This guy calls me today and says This company is calling him and sending him mail with my name on it, He called the police and told them “I stole his identidy”. If i owe, i’ll pay…This is not the way though. By the way astra, i sent your little skit to Monster.com i hope their lawers reem you good.
I too recived a call from them into my cell phone for somone ealse trying to talk me in that I’M he or know him I hang up complite morans! thier English was bad very Indian…..
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