636-947-2321

I'm appalled by some of the comments on here from people who probably work for debt collection agencies (aka bottom feeders).  I'm sure that business is probably booming for those companies and they are probably one the only industries doing a lot of hiring these days.  I sympathize that people need to take whatever work they can, so they work for these agencies, and that's great.  

What is not OK is calling people "deadbeats" if they don't have money to pay their bills.  Just because you all have a job doesn't diminish the fact that over 10% of the population DOES NOT! We are really hurting out here and would pay our bills if we could--most of us had great credit until the economy fell to pieces.  I for one am a single wage earner with two members of my family unemployed--had to go through a foreclosure and then the credit plunged.  In the past I would have just refinanced and done whatever it took to pay my credit cards off--after the foreclosure my credit was in tank so could not refinance and had no 2nd income to rely on.  Finally I went to a credit counseling service(a free service to the public) and they looked at my finances and said my situation was hopeless--no way my income alone could ever cover my expenses and that I should file bankruptcy.  That's what I'm doing.  It's sad and it hurts that we've built up good credit all our lives and in the end it's for nothing.

So, you are fortunate you have a job, credit agency people, but please put yourself in the other person's place and don't be haters. Circumstances happen beyond your control and you never know; you might up end up in the same situation.

This number calls me several times a day, day in and day out. I've answered 3 times - never got connected to a real person (yes, I did wait more than 3 seconds). Now, I don't answer at all.

While I have some old student loans in default, I am taking care of them through the guarantor. And, yes - the guarantor has stated several times that my defaulted student loans are still in-house and have not been sent to collection.

These people are really annoying, but there is a fix. For those of you with some cash left, there is now an alternative to the phone company's Block Call feature.

Buy a new cordless DECT 6 phone system from Panasonic (available for ~$129.99 in 4- and 5-handset systems are Sam's Club and Costco, respectively). These systems feature two life savers if you are constantly bothered by harassing phone calls, especially if you've filed bankruptcy, sent a "cease and desist" letter, or are bothered by collection calls for debts of other persons.

The first feature is Call Block which works across all handsets and the base station. To use, simply store the incoming Caller ID number to the "block call" list. After the number is stored, when that number calls again you will hear only 1 one (1) ring of the phone, then silence. The caller will hear a fast busy signal, then the Panasonic phone will hang up. The theory is that most calls are done by a computer which is programed to try a number a certain number of times. If the computer gets a fast busy signal, then the number is marked as "bad" in the database and the calling stops.

The second feature is Night Mode, which is programmed for specific handsets. You program each handset to not ring between certain hours. This feature does not block calls, but it does keep some of the law-breaking ones from calling you at 5:00 AM or 11:00 PM.

See, http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronic ... 000000000005702

[For those apologists of the collector industry, I understand that I'm not blameless. But, I did contact my creditor and am working with them. These calls are not for me (all my few remaining obligations are always paid in full on time), I'm on the national Do Not Call Registry (verified), and the caller has provided me with no way to talk with someone or write a "cease and desist" letter. And, yes -- I have received calls after 10 PM or before 8 AM from collectors looking for persons who somehow used my information as a contact when they filled out a credit application.]

I have received several calls from this number (which I am finding out by reading the other posts on here that it is a debt collection agency of some sort) in the past 3 weeks or so all on my cell phone. I haven't answered them because I didn't know who it was. They have never left a message and since I'm not in default on any of my accounts I can only assume they are calling me because either they are looking for one of my relatives or someone else with the same first and last name as me.

Received a call at my business about a former employee and relative.  Woman ask for my former employee by name and when I told her she no longer worked there, she continued to ask questions about where she was employeed.  I told her I would not give information over the phone to anyone.  I ask who she was and she became very rude and ask for my HR department.  I told her there was none.  I was the owner and she told me she hoped she never had to come to my town because I was rude!!  She then hung up on me.

This company is routing their phone numbers through a local number for me here in New Jersey.  The company is out of Missouri, but the phone numbers that should up on my caller ID are local 732 (that's my area code) numbers.

732-719-3848
732-860-0782
732-860-0778

Of course I answered one of these because if could be someone trying to actual reach me, a doctor's office, a hosiptal, my child's school.  

They are very tricky in their tactics.

Okay, who do these people represent?  Up until recently I had great credit!  I had a job taking care of an elderly woman and my husband worked.  Unfortunately, the sweet lady passed away and my husband got laid off.  Obviously with no money, we can't pay bills and our credit is gone.  Chase has filed suit against me but they still call.  We were up to date on our mortgage until this month.  We are of the "age" where no one wants to hire us (62 and 57).  We spend hours every day looking for work.  We go to websites (Craig's List and others) only to get spammed and come-on jobs.  I called the creditors before this became a problem - but no luck.  We don't answer the phone and jump every time the phone rings.  It is possible that we have missed a job opportunity because of the "unknown name / unknown numbers" or other unidentified numbers on the caller id.  We are very depressed.  I cry almost all the time.  We pray to God all the time to help us.  We pray to God that this wonderful country gets out of this mess soon.

they called me couple time. Ive never answered. I dont want to next they call me.

I got a call asking that my neighbour call 'Denise' at an 800#.
I don't recall the number.  I did not know the neighbour who moved in a few months ago, but concerned that it might be important, I put a note through his mail slot.  
I got curious and knowing that Google is a powerful tool,
I entered the number that called me and found out it was a collection agency.

I think it is VERY tacky of a company to research similar addresses to find someone else to contact the person they are trying to reach.
I certainly will refuse to contact a person, should I ever receive such a request again!

Received a letter from them saying i owed them money.  I looked up to see who they were and since I know I don't have any other creditors other than the ones I'm already dealing with, I threw the letter away, thinking it's just junk. I've had my credit report checked and if i had some outstanding bill, i think it would have been in there, wouldn't it? They have since called my mother, telling her that I'm in  a lot of trouble and that she can help... who calls somebody's mother about stuff? and are they even allowed to do that?  I repeatedly get phone calls to my cell phone but never get a message left.  When I call back it's always conveniently after hours, even though I just received a call 10 minutes before.

I get calls a number of times a day. I don't know why they call and I don't know who they are, but now my voicemail is full and it's obstructing my work environment

Got a call from this number asking for someone I do not know.  I recently moved to Maryland.  Therefore, I believe they are asking for the person who previously had the number that was assigned to me when I moved.  I don't owe any money to anyone so I have no reason to be in collection.  I told them that I was not the person they were seeking.  I asked for an address to send a cease and desist letter.  They refused.  I told them to send me a validation of the debt.  They refused.

Collection agencies search on a daily basis looking for people with the same name and/or harassing the new owners of old phone numbers.

Report them to the Attorney General's office in your state.  I did.

http://csiovertime.com/docs/Petition.pdf

For those who are interested, it seems that Client Services does not "play fair" with its own employees.  The referenced URL is a petition for a class action lawsuit filed against the officers of the company for failure to pay overtime.

This is the html version of the file http://csiovertime.com/docs/Petition.pdf.
Google automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web.
Page 1
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS
STATE OF MISSOURI
DANIEL ESHELMAN and
DON SMITH, individually and on
behalf of all others similarly situated,
Plaintiff,
vs.
CLIENT SERVICES, INC.
Serve: Daniel K. Barklage
Registered Agent
211 North Third Street
St. Charles MO 63301

JOHN L. KASTNER
Serve: 565 Goldwood Drive
Ballwin MO 63021-6315

JULIE L. SHINE
Serve: 16 Delacroix Place
St. Charles MO 63303-3115

BRAD R. FRANTA
Serve: 905 Kisker Road
St. Charles MO 63304-7345

RON H. LANGFORD
Serve: 717 Strafford Ridge Drive
Ballwin MO 63021-7580

MONT D. LITTLE
Serve: 3811 Flora Place
St. Louis MO 63110-3730

Defendants.
Cause No.:
Division No. 1
Minimum Wage Law Class Action
JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
PETITION
COME NOW Plaintiffs, Daniel Eschelman and Don Smith by and through their attorneys
Page 2
Schlichter, Bogard & Denton, and for Count I of their Petition against Defendants, state as follows:
The Parties

1. Plaintiff Daniel Eshleman is a Missouri resident residing in St. Charles County, and at
all relevant times was an employee as defined by Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500(3) employed Defendants
from January 17, 2005 through February 6, 2008, as a debt collector.

2. Plaintiff Don Smith is a Missouri resident residing in St. Charles County, and at all
relevant times was an employee as defined by Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500(3) employed Defendants
from 1995 through February 28, 2008, as a debt collector.

3. Defendant Client Services, Inc. ("Client Services") is a Missouri corporation with its
principal place of business in St. Charles County doing business in the City of St. Louis. Defendant
Client Services is an employer as defined by Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500(4).

4. Defendant John L. Kastner is a Missouri resident residing in St. Louis County, and at
all relevant times was and is President and Chief Executive Officer of Client Services and an
employer as defined by Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500(4).

5. Defendant Julie L. Shine is a Missouri resident residing in St. Charles County, and at
all relevant time was and is Secretary/Treasurer of Client Services and an employer as defined by
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500(4).

6. Defendant Brad Franta is a Missouri resident residing in St. Charles County, and at all
relevant time was and is Chief Financial Officer of Client Services and an employer as defined by
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500(4).

7. Defendant Ron H. Langford is a Missouri resident residing in St. Charles County, and
at all relevant time was and is Chief Operations Officer of Client Services and an employer as
Page 3
defined by Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500(4).

8. Defendant Mont Little is a Missouri resident residing in the City of St. Louis, and at
all relevant time was and is Chief Information Officer of Client Services and an employer as defined
by Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500(4).
Jurisdiction and Venue

9. This action arises under Missouri's Minimum Wage Law, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.500 et
seq.
10. Venue in this circuit is proper pursuant to Mo. Rev. Stat. § 508.010(2) because all
defendants are Missouri residents and at least one defendant—Mont D. Little—resides in the City of
St. Louis.
General Allegations of Facts
11. Defendant Client Services is a debt collection agency which employs approximately
500 people. Client Services operates a call center in the State of Missouri from which Plaintiffs and
others similarly situated employees place and receive telephone calls in their efforts to collect debts
on behalf of Defendants' customers.
12. Defendants John L. Kastner, Julie L. Shine, Brad Franta, Ron H. Langford, and Mont
Little, operate and manage Client Services.
13. Defendants, individually and collectively, constitute an enterprise engaged in
commerce producing services for clients in the form of debt collection and other services with an
annual gross volume of business exceeding $500,000.00.
14. Defendants have had a contractual employment relationship with Plaintiffs and other
similarly situated employees since January 2005 and continuing to the present,
Page 4
15. Defendants directly hired Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees who have
work or have worked for Defendants in Missouri since January 2005 and continuing to the present.
16. At all relevant times, Defendants jointly controlled Plaintiffs and other similarly
situated employees' work schedules and conditions of employment; determined the rate and method
of payment of wages; and kept at least some records regarding their employment.
17. Client Services paid Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees on an hourly
basis.
18. Defendants intentionally and knowingly treated Plaintiffs and other similarly situated
employees as exempt from overtime pay requirements under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.505.
19. Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees did not and do not qualify as exempt
employees as defined by applicable State and Federal statutes.
20. During their employment, Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees worked
and average of 50-60 hours per week.
21. Plaintiffs and other similarly situated employees were not compensated for hours
worked in excess of eight hours per day.
22. Defendants knowingly and intentionally refused to pay Plaintiffs and other similarly
situated employees for the hours they worked over forty hours per week at a rate of one-and-one half
times their regular rate of pay.
23. Defendants' failure to pay overtime compensation, as described above, in violation of
Missouri's Minimum Wage Law, has been willful and was not the result of a good faith contest or
dispute.
Class Allegations
Page 5
24. Plaintiffs bring this Petition on behalf of themselves and a similarly situated Class
defined as follows:
All persons who are employed, have been employed and will be
employed by Defendants in and throughout Missouri and any time
since February 2005 and who have worked without receiving
overtime compensation for work weeks in excess of 40 hours.
25. The Class which consists of approximately 500 persons is so numerous that joinder of
all members is impracticable.
26. There are questions of law or fact common to the Class, including:
a. Whether Defendants improperly withheld overtime compensation
from the Class;
b. Whether Defendants failed to accurately record all hours worked;
c. Whether Defendants are jointly and severally liable to the Class;
and
d. Whether the Class can be made whole by payment of damages.
27. The questions of law or fact common to the Class predominate over any questions
affecting only individual Class Members.
28. Plaintiffs' claims are typical of the claims of the Class in that Plaintiffs, like all other
Class Members, were wrongfully denied overtime compensation.
29. Plaintiffs will fairly and adequately represent the interests of the Class, in that
Plaintiffs have personal knowledge of the facts of his case and have retained counsel experienced in
class actions to investigate further both Plaintiffs' claim and the claims of other Class Members.
30. A class action is superior to other methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of
Page 6
this controversy, in that
a. Class Members are expected to have relatively little interest in
individually controlling the prosecution of their relatively small
claims;
b. Plaintiffs are not aware of any other litigation concerning this
controversy;
c. It is desirable to concentrate the litigation of Class Members'
relatively small individual claims in one action, rather than
subjecting Class Members to the prohibitive cost of prosecuting
their claims individually; and
d. No difficulties are likely to be encountered in the management of
Class Members' identical claims for unpaid overtime
compensation.
Count I
(Violation of Missouri Minimum Wage Law)
31. Plaintiffs repeat and reallege paragraphs 1 -30 of the Complaint as if fully set forth
herein.
32. At all relevant times, Plaintiffs and the Class have been entitled to the rights,
protections and benefits provided under the Missouri Minimum Wage Law, Mo. Rev. Stat. §
290.500 et seq.
33. The Minimum Wage Law regulates, among other things, the payment of overtime
compensation by employers whose employees are engaged in commerce in Missouri.
Page 7
34. Defendants are subject to the overtime compensation requirements of the Minimum
Wage Law because it is an enterprise engaged in commerce and its employees are engaged in
commerce.
35. Defendants have willfully and intentionally engaged in a persistent pattern and
practice of violating the Minimum Wage Law by misclassifying its employees as "exempt" and/or
simply failing and refusing to pay any overtime compensation or the improper amount of overtime
wages to such current and former employees.
36. Plaintiffs and the Class are victims of a uniform and company-wide policy of not
paying overtime compensation.
37. As the direct and proximate result of Defendants' unlawful conduct Plaintiffs and the
Class have been deprived of and are entitled to overtime compensation in amounts to be determined
at trial, together with such other liquidated damages, pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interest,
attorneys' fees, costs of this action, and other compensation pursuant to the Missouri Minimum
Wage Law.
Count II
(Unjust Enrichment)
38. Plaintiffs repeat and reallege paragraphs 1-30 of the Complaint as if fully set forth
herein.
39. Defendants have been unjustly enriched by wrongfully and unlawfully denying and
depriving Plaintiff and the Class from receiving overtime compensation and other benefits directly
relating thereto.
40. Under the principles of equity, Defendants must disgorge all unlawfully withheld
Page 8
overtime compensation, together with interest accruing thereupon and other benefits relating directly
thereto, including corresponding amounts to fund social security that would have been applicable if
the correct amount of overtime compensation had been paid as required by law.
Prayer for Relief
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs and the Class demand judgment against Defendants and pray for:
(1) compensatory damages in excess of $50,000.00; (2) liquidated damages; (3) attorneys' fees and
costs of litigation; (4) pre-judgment interest and post-judgment interest as provided by law; and (5)
such other relief as the Court deems fair and equitable.
Demand for a Jury Trial
Plaintiff hereby requests for a trial by jury on all issues triable by jury.
SCHLICHTER, BOGARD & DENTON LLP
Roger C. Denton, MoBar 3Ö292-
Kristine K. Kraft, MoBar 37971
Matthew H. Armstrong, MoBar 42803
100 S. Fourth Street, Suite 900
St. Louis MO 63102
Tel: 314-621-6115
Fax:314-621-7151
rdenton(g),uselaws.com
kkraft@uselaws.com
marmstrong@uselaws.com
Jason T. Brown
Blau, Brown & Leonard, LLC
304 Newark Avenue
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: 201-386-1777
Fax: 201-386-1788
Attorneys for Plaintiffs

Yes, they can sue you, depending on what state you live in they can garnish your wages, levy your bank accounts, put a lien on your home.  They will not go to that extent if they feel you don't have money, but in some cases they will still proceed. YOu really just have to let me know what state you are in so I can then tell you what they can do.  If you are receiving disability, unemployment, or SSI, social security; anything like that, they cannot garnish.  What they are offering is 36% of the current balance as settlement which is not bad considering I believe you defaulted on the original settlment agreement.  Maybe, if you can afford it, given you were making payments on the settlement, counter offer their offer for 20% of the balance.  Just let me know what state you live in and your situation and I can give you information that may assist you.

Maybe we all should stick together and file a harrassment suit against them too. Then they feel everything that we are going thru. I just pray for everyone on here that each situation gets easier for everyone as your life goes on and maybe someday something will be done about all of this..

Here's what you do... You hook your phone line up to a fax machine and when you see the number come across your caller ID you run and turn on the fax machine, they will eventually get the hint and stop calling.

If your account is "charged off" and says so on your credit report can they sell it to someone else and can those people still contact you relentlessly?

And why would another company want to buy someone else's debt?

These people are very deceptive.  From the way they act you know it's a debt collector. However, if I had a debt it is now about 8 years old.  In our state (Texas), the debt it is  uncollectble since it's past 4 years. I am an attorney and I won't hesitate to give them a good talking to.

I actually called the number and asked them who they were and they told me "client services" I gave them the number that they called and transfered me to an knuckle-haed named Josh Harris.  The girl that answered the phone would only tell me that she could look up my number, and then she did and transfered me to my buddy Josh!!  (ha ha ha).

For all of those that would like to give the owners some of their own medicine I've found some information that might be of interest!

PLEASE REMEMBER TO TURN OFF/OR BLOCK YOUR PHONES CALLER ID FROM DISPLAYING YOUR PHONE NUMBER WHEN CALLING SO THE RECEIVER DOES SEE WHO'S CALLING.

Daniel K. Barklage
211 North Third Street
St. Charles MO. 63301-2812
(636)949-2120
dbarklage@barklage-brett.com

John L. Kastner
565 Goldwood Dr.
Baldwin MO.  63021
(636)391-9590

Julie L. Shine
16 Delacroix Place
St. Charles, MO.  63303-3115

Brad R. Franta
905 Kisker Road
St. Charles, MO. 63304-7345

Ron H. Langford
717 Strafford Ridge Dr.
Ballwin, MO. 63201-7580

Mont D. Little
3811 Flora Place
St. Louis, MO. 63110-3730
www.twitter.com/stlouiemo

NOW GO OUT AND HAVE SOME FUN LETTING THESE PEOPLE KNOW HOW MUCH YOU ENJOY THEIR COMPANY CALLING YOU!!  ENJOY!!