I have been called a shit head and that I dont know jack shit but I have never recieved a letter addressed to Shit. heh heh this is a pretty funny story.

Lol...my wife, in college, used to make up names when they signed up for 10 CDs for a penny deals. The collection letters came, and they were addressed to the fake names. Why? Because the collection agency used the name provided by the sales company. So if you signed up as Shit Face, which I bet this guy, or someone at his address did at some time, that's why the letter is addressed as such.

I have nothing to contribute but "lol"

This is pretty funny, but I have reservations about the guy suing. I mean, this was probably someone (either this person or a previous person at that address) who used a fake name to get some free CDs. I hope the person is suing not to get some free money but to make this bill collector adhere to the law. Hopefully the plaintiff/claimant will donate any proceeds.

Obligatory:

[bash.org]

The article last week linked on Consumerist said that Shit Face was the name the account was opened with. So the collections agency used that name as the contact point. I can't believe he would sue over that.

I agree. What a shit face.

What a stupid reason to sue. The used that name that was sent in. If might have been rude by nothing to sue for!!!

Just wanted to give you guys a little piece of information. Most of the cases that involve the FDCPA have to do with intent. For example, a collector calling someone up and calling them names and such. The letter the guy received is called a Validation Letter. These types of letters are not created by the collector but by the system based on the information that is currently there. The agency had gotten the file from Columbia Records with that information, loaded it into the system and auto generated that letter which got sent out. There's really little to no time to catch that stuff because the people that load those files are part of the IT Staff. The agency will have proof that they received that information from Columbia House and this case will be dismissed. I'm surprised that the lawyer would do something like this but then again most lawyers are greedy.

It would almost be worth the $16 and change to get a letter like that. Salutation in mine would probably be "Dear Mr. Hole," though.

Many years back, my brother requested some literature from the "Church" of Scientology (don't worry, he wasn't planning on joining!)

Since he didn't want them having his name associated with a real address in their database, he used a fake name. He then got a half dozen envelopes of brochures, etc. HAND ADDRESSED to Hugh Jass.

@l951b951: There may be something more to the case, but as presented he does sound like a huge shithead.

If the guy isn't lying in the affirmation he signed (which, granted, is a big "if"), then the collections agency can file for a joinder to pull Columbia into the case (I think...crap, no wonder I didn't do well in Civ Pro), in which case they would be held responsible if it legitimately generated with them (through no action of this guy, which again, big if)

I'm probably going to get flamed here, but I think it's still the creditor's responsibility to prevent this problem in the first place. If someone signs up for a membership with the name "shitface" they should catch it, and send a polite letter (addressed to "sir or madam") explaining that, for legal reasons, they can't create a new account with the name they've given and if they want an account, they should re-send their request with a different name.

If you look at the full story, the person suing signed a sworn statement that he never even signed up for an account with Columbia House, and that he never used the name "Shit Face."

Further, the use of profanity is explicitly prohibited by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It isn't even a close question.

So, what's the big deal?