Unfair Collection Letters Plague Young Musicians\’ Parents
A few parents in Central Texas are being mailed collection letters for instruments that were rented. The only thing is, they attempted to return the musical instruments, but could not.
One mother is like many other parents who rented from the now bankrupt local music store in 2008. Her son completed the work with his rented clarinet in May 2008, and she attempted to bring it back to the store.
When she got to the store, there was a note on the door informing customers that they were out of business and no one was in there. On numerous instances, she attempted to go by the store, and even called other locations. As an extra slap in the face, her bank couldn\’t stop the automatic monthly payments that were being extracted from her account.
Around two years later, when the payments had halted, the mother sold the clarinet for ninety dollars. All told, she was charged three hundred dollars after the point she tried to return it. The young mother believed that that would be the end of the clarinet situation. But soon after she received a five hundred dollar collection letter from a bill collections agency on behalf of the instrument maker Conn-Selmer. The instrument makers had received her information as part of the bankruptcy process.
The young mother was dumbfounded. She could not believe that she was charged for the year when she couldn\’t return it, and now that she is expected to pay money, she felt as though the store owed her money, not the other way around.
After a local news channel contacted a spokeswoman for Conn Selmer to find answers for the parents who had received collection bills. The spokeswoman said that the business will be mailing out letters to all parents who got collection letters. Supposedly, the letter will detail how parents who feel as though they are being unfairly treated can challenge the debt.
Mallory McGuinness works for a debt collection agency. She also composes stories about finance and business, consumer spending and collection agencies. Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.
