They attempted to collect a debt from me for a credit card fraud.
Oct 08: A debit card of mine was unused for over a year, and out of the blue card was charged by "superfoods". I have never done business with superfoods, hadn't even visited their website (superfoodsrx.com) until I spotted the charge. I reported the fraud to the card issuer, and canceled the card. A "30 day trial" of "Health supplements" from superfoodsrx.com was sent to an address I once lived at more than a year ago, my parents currently live there. I reported the fraud to superfoods asking for a credit and let them know that if they want their product returned to simply send me postage paid return packaging. No response.
Perhaps an online retailer's database was compromised and my card number and address (from a very old transaction) was stolen and someone else placed a "trial" order, or perhaps this law office is involved with the card fraud at a lower level. I found a similar predicament involving this law office with a little googling (link below).
Then in December I received a letter from "The law offices of Robert J. Colclough, III" attempting to collect $40.60 on behalf of Superfoods, complete with a threat to report to the credit bureaus, and conveniently accepting money order or credit cards for payment.
I will scan and post the letter I received, along with fraudulent debit card transaction info, as soon as possible. Please check back soon.
Links to other people's experiences with this law office:
theraputix from HEA*NUTRI SCIENCE LAB [ripoffreport.com] Stole card info and sent "samples" to someone who didn't order them, attempted to collect more money via Colclough.
Court filings against Robert J. Colclough [dockets.justia.com]
Links to trouble with Superfoods:
Trouble cancelling superfoods "trial" [ripoffreport.com] (which I never ordered, in case you missed that part)
Fraudulent charges from both HEA*NUTRI SCIENCE LAB and SUPERFOODS among others [ripoffreport.com] I wonder if she got any collections letters from Colclough?
Other links:
Robert J. Colclough attempts to defend selling *bottled water* to help you *quit smoking*, FDA not impressed [fda.gov] PDF
Robert J. Colclough's collections company [acsca.com]
Robert J. Colclough's lame cookie cutter website [debtlawrjc.com]
Apply to work with Robert J. Colclough!!!1!! [listown.com]
Here is the letter I received:
Here is the fraudulent charge from Superfoods:
If you call that 800 number you will get to talk to an Indian who can't/won't help you.
Received a contact today from someone else dealing with a similar situation with this collections agency:
I'm having a similar problem. In July 2008 I got a "free sample" from Theraputix Rx. The sample included a letter that said if I kept the soap that I would be invoiced. So, I sent them a letter saying I didn't plan on paying them and told them where to put the soap :)
Anyway, just a couple of weeks ago i start getting calls from Allied Collections/Law Offices of Robert Colclough saying referring to an unpaid invoice from Theraputix. Funny thing is I never actually got an invoice even though they have my address. The card number they reference is not even actually my account.
Anyway, my theory is this is a scam perpetrated by super foods and probably robert colclough in an attempt to scare people into paying the bogus collection.
Anyway, feel free to post this. Let me know how your situation turned out.
Jake
Thanks for sharing your experience Jake, I'm glad I haven't been harassed by phone as you have. I suspect that may be because I only have a cell phone which is not easy to find by collectors.
On 12/27/08 I sent a letter to The Law Offices of Robert J. Colclough, III (USPS certified).
December 27, 2008
(Per USPS tracking # [put sticker here])
Re: Case #XXXXXX-X
The Law Offices of Robert J. Colclough, III:
This letter is being sent to you in response to your letter (attached) attempting to collect $40.60 from me for “Superfoods Supplement-30 Day Vitamin”. Be advised that this debt is not valid and is hereby disputed. In October 2008 I found 3 fraudulent charges on my debit card, which had not been used for any purchases since July of 2007. One of the charges was $6.95 from “Superfoods”. I have not ever done business with this company, nor had I visited their website prior to the fraud. Superfoodsrx.com was notified of the fraudulent charge and chose not to respond.
The charges were reported as fraud to the card issuer and the card was canceled. I have also filed a police report regarding the fraudulent charges with the Grand Junction, Colorado police department. (Report #XX-XXXXX)
At this time I will also inform you that if your offices report invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureaus, this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if a negative mark is found on my credit report by your company; I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:
Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ($1000 per violation)
Defamation of Character
I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment or to any of my relatives. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me or any of my relatives, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS.
It would be advisable that you assure that your records are in order. This is an attempt to correct your records; any information obtained shall be used for that purpose.
Your cooperation is expected and appreciated.
[Insert name & address here]
I have not received a response yet. They are probably just going after easier targets and trying to intimidate people out of money as Jake's theory suggests. You can't just send some crap to people and pretend like you now have a contract with them. I like to work for a living myself, so it's kinda personal. I've spent much more time than I would have liked to with this, but this has to be stopped. I'll be watching my credit reports closely and fully intend to follow through if anything shows up there. The police report is real, and it's a shame that I had to waste an officer's time with it. Feel free to use any part of the above letter I sent for yourself if you are in a situation like this.
As a side note: I've been keeping tabs on who looks at this page, and there are more than I expected when I first decided to put it up. There are usually a couple new viewers a day, from all over the US. Most arrive here from searching Robert colclough or Law Offices of Robert Colclough on google. Looks to me like this is a pretty big scam, and I'm appalled that someone involved with this can have a license to practice law (in California at least).