Can someone please help me? I hate to ask these 2 questions again but I'm having no luck finding answers.

Mark Silverthorn and his new book are currently featured in the "Canadian Lawyer" magazine. Sniffing the winds of change which have blown in the consumer debt crisis, he has "crossed the street" so to speak.

http://www.collection-calls.com/share-story.html

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Fair enough. But I'm still mystified about 2 things on his website which were not addressed during his podcast last month.

1. He's still soliciting personal stories from consumers, their advocates, past/ current collection agency employees, creditors, government regulators etc. about their experiences with collection agencies.

But they just can't be any stories; they can only be "nice" stories. I realize that's not the term he uses on his website, but it's difficult to see how they could be of any other type. They're only eligible for inclusion if they don't offend anyone as they have to follow 15 complicated clauses and sub clauses full of esoteric legalese. Above all, they must not be

"unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, libellous, hateful or racially or ethnically or otherwise objectionable...."

He wouldn't want to get sued - but if he does, you agree to be on the liability hook.

In Common Law [jurisprudence] there are various criteria necessary for something in the media to be considered "fair comment" as opposed to being libellous or "tortuous" (actionable). The first thing they teach you in civil law is how utterly capricious judges can be. Therefore, the only way to be absolutely safe is to always say nice things; things which even the most irascible could not misconstrue.

So my question is: how many experiences are there with a collection agency are there which don't fall into one (or usually most) of the above categories? Out of 8000 posts on this forum, we don't have any except for a couple of incognito collection agent lamely posing as happy debtors in collections.

2) The second question regards his gathering of nominations for the 1500 most influential people involved in the Canadian consumer collection industry. They are to come from the following categories:

1) Collection agencies

- owners

- senior managers

- collection supervisors

2) Collection agency service providers

- industry consultants

- vendors providing goods and services to collection agencies

3) Credit grantors

- senior management responsible for liaison with collection agencies

4) Credit reporting agencies

- senior management

5) Government regulators

- senior civil servants responsible for regulating collection agencies

6) Lawyers
- lawyers doing high-volume consumer debt collection work

It's highly unlikely the average consumer or those who comprise his target market would have any knowledge of any of these groups - except perhaps for a scant knowledge of groups (1) and (6).

Moreover, it's especially noteworthy that Silverthorn groups these people as all being integral to (or cogwheels) in the collections industry. This is indeed the case, though one might not initially perceive that Consumer Protection and Credit Bureaus, have as their principal reason for being, ensuring everyone pays their bills on time.

Nonetheless, restricting ourselves to the first and last categories, just what does Silverthorn mean by "most influential?" What goes around comes around. Psychological reciprocity. The greatest fear of any lawyer who has spent his life threatening to sue people is that of getting sued himself. Thus I'm confused what Silverthorn means by the term "influential."

If it's being used euphemistically, is he referring to those who did what they had to do to get the biggest yachts and Christmas bonuses. If so, and he didn't want to risk offending his industry peers, present and past, why not simply solicit a list of their yacht sizes? Only Silverthorn knows for sure - and he's not saying.

Ray

Warning: this article contains material of a graphic, objectionable and disturbing nature unsuitable for minors and immature audiences. Viewer (in)discretion advised. Do not read if solid food has been consumed within 4 hours.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the finest tradition of "Voelkischer Beobachter," and in the euphemistic jargon of collection agencynomics, the following excerpts are taken from Global Credit and Collections' website. Image manipulation is a prime tool of all financial nazis in the business world and Global is no exception.

This is also the company that Natale Law Offices "works" with/out of. They are in suite 400 and Natale is in suite 405. Those of you who have been unable to contact Natale and/or Global via phone will see why you will also have a hard time dropping by to discuss your account or arrange a payment.

What goes around comes around. The telephone terrorists appear to have found it necessary to adopt a bunker style venue to make them feel safe. They and their collection lawyers haven't made too many friends because of the fear they've bombarded so many accident and job loss victims with. Yet, this accusation would be met with vehement denials. How can this be since they claim to be solid corporate participants in community welfare programs?

If Global Collections is so highly regarded by the community and they've won the numerous business awards posted on their website, then why is a Hell's Angel's bunker style headquarters necessary? The only other places you see that are in cities like Baghdad.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.globalcollection.net/index.cfm

Global Credit & Collection Inc. is a Canadian corporation that provides accounts receivable management solutions to the business community throughout Canada . The company is engaged in collection services for some of the major financial and business institutions in the country. As well as numerous national and local businesses requiring collection and outsource solutions. Today the company is the 7 th largest collection company in the country......

...GLOBAL International maintains a state of the art collection facility in Markham, Ontario. Markham is a suburb of Toronto and is approximately 20 miles from the downtown core. The centre is located in Markham, Ontario in a Class A high-rise office building and GLOBAL occupies 28,000 square feet of space. Security is paramount to GLOBAL Credit and this facility, occupied by professional companies, maintains a controlled card entry system as well as biometric fingerprint access at all entry doors. After normal working hours, entry to the building is restricted and visitors gain entry only through appointment.....

.....All visitors who enter the Global facility are required to sign in and out of the office and wear visitor badges. All visitors are ESCORTED at all times by employees of the company. Security cameras are used in all sensitive areas including door entry, accounting and telephone and computer server rooms. Additionally, all sensitive areas have controlled access to authorized employees only and all offices have cipher locks on all access doors.....

...GLOBAL HAS A COMMITMENT TO TREAT CUSTOMERS AND DEBTORS WITH THE UTMOST DIGNITY AND RESPECT, while negotiating solutions that meet the needs of our clients and their customers, thereby never compromising the reputation of our clients.

A commitment to our staff to make their careers at GLOBAL A FUN AND REWARDING EXPERIENCE, thereby developing unquestionable loyalty and dedication, resulting in the HIGHEST DEGREE OF JOB SATISAFACTION POSSIBLE....