Anyone who has been in the credit industry and has worked with collections agencies before has had this happen to them. You get the calls all the time, and it seems like you are on a magic list to be solicited by agencies and sometimes it seems like the calls never stop and keep coming. They all want you to give them one of your valuable customers just so you can “try them out”. But everyone who has tried out an agency has probably had an agency that you felt like there was that connection with, or the sales person was really good sometimes too good; you decided to give them a try and now THEY WON’T CALL YOU BACK to tell you what is going on with the account you placed. Now what???
Unfortunately it may be too late this time around but maybe I can help you avoid this in the future. Let me explain what happens. This industry is full of uneducated over zealous sales people who paint the picture of pure bliss and amazing recovery results for their prospects, but don’t just blame them for that, it’s probably what they are being taught to do. The rep that called you and got you to give them an opportunity was so excited about telling you about their service they made promises they can’t keep and now they are too scared to call you back and tell you they can’t collect on your account for fear of disappointing you. Truth be told you probably knew the account had a very slim to none chance of collecting anyway (that’s why you gave it to them) but regardless you’d like to know what is going on with your account. It’s sad to say but this happens a lot in our industry and I hear the horror stories, some end better than others.
A collection agency should never tell their customer that they can collect every account especially if they don’t know what is going to happen when they get involved. In other words they shouldn’t make promises they can’t keep. Sure I want my customers to know I am going to do my best to try and recover their money but that is just it we can’t guarantee something in an industry like ours where there are so many different variables. So much of what we do actually depends on our clients…. How they extend credit, who they extend credit to and more importantly how you manage those accounts once credit is extended.
Next time you are thinking about trying that agency out that has been calling you month after month wanting you to give them “just one shot” do some homework. Make sure the agency is licensed (23 States now require specific collections licensing to do collections in their state, most of which will allow you to verify this on line.), Operates with a Trust account and is bonded, but don’t just let your sales person tell you all of these things make them prove it!!!
