BMG messed up my credit...advise needed!!

mroels · #1 10-28-2006, 03:50 PM

Hey, i'm not sure if this is the right place for this post but i figured you finance guys know this stuff.

So about a 6 months ago BMG (one of those buy 15 music CDs for $1 companies) sent me a promotional CD to my sister's address in Oklahoma. The deal is that you either have to send the CD back or pay for the postage. But my sister lives in Alaska half of the year so she never even knew that CD was in her mailbox.

Anyway since the postage was never paid and the CD wasn't returned BMG charged my $2.98, which I never knew I owed and they made no attempts to contact except by mail (to the Oklahoma address). Finally they sold the debt to a collection agency. So now I have a collection agency on my credit report. So for the next five years i'm gonna look like an idiot for not having paid a $2.98 charge.

The thing is that I never ordered the CD from BMG, it was essentially unsolicited mail. So I feel like I've been wronged. I've called BMG and the collection agency and they are simply not interested in the reason why I never paid the $2.98. So can anyone please advise me as to what my options are here to get this removed from my credit report?

Thanks,
Mike

lastchance · #2 10-28-2006, 06:16 PM

Pay the $3?

mroels · #3 10-28-2006, 06:45 PM

i would gladly pay the $3 if that would solve the problem. but since a collection agency has been involved my credit report will have this noted for 5 years whether i pay or not. so everytime i apply for a car loan or a credit card those companies will see that this $3 debt was sent to a collection agency and that looks bad!!!

Upright Bill · #4 10-28-2006, 10:34 PM

Attach an explanation to your credit report. All three agencies have forms to do that.

MidGe · #5 10-29-2006, 12:07 AM

mroels,

The question to be asked is whether the sending of the original CD was unsolicited or not?

Now, I would seek a lawyer advice if it was unsolicited. I suspect that in most jurisdictions you would have a good chance to get BMG to take remedial action and even pay you punitive damages.

It really riles me that company can send you something unsolicited and have you to take action or pay them for it. It is even worse than spam on the internet. All you legal costs will be covered, as am sure you lawyer would advise you. It would bring a lot of costs (legal, courts, administrative) for BMG, even simple remedial action would cost the heaps and would hopefully discourage them from doing so again with you or even others. Having the time, personally, I would pursue it. I know that I would have a certain win in my jurisdiction and I would revel in taking them on. The main thing is, did you solicit, them in anyway.

Big TR · #6 10-29-2006, 12:05 PM

MidGe is correct. It is illegal for a company to send you something unsolicited and tell you to send it back to them or they will start charging you. So long as you never requested to be sent goods, you are in the clear. Attach a note to your credit report and contact the collection agency. Tell them that you will not be paying since the goods were unsolicted.