[tomytom]

I recently received a certified letter from my former employer accusing me of not returning and using some cell phone post separation date. :eek: I worked for this company for many years and was laid off 1.5 years ago. In their letter they ask me to pay them over 3 thousand dollars. Their accusation is totally bogus as I retuned the phone to my last manager. I called the company and requested some explanation of how do they connect me to a "ghost" phone. However the explanations over the phone were very vague; they said "call traces" relate to my emergency contact phone number. However they didn't even know that I was assigned a corporate phone for many years. Next time I called they said that they had received a report or some other kind of paper from police which according to them relates me to a phone. I asked them to provide the documentation to me but they refused... This could be some sort of intimadation technique.
Anyway in their letter they are asking me to pay the money within 30 days or else they review all available legal options. During the phone converstion they asked me to send a payment or a letter within 30 days with my explanations in writing.
This whole thing sounds to me like some sort of non-sense or misunderstanding, but what would you suggest me to do? Should I even bother writing anything to them? :confused: This is a publicly traded company and I live in California. Please advise.

[JudyKayTee]

If you didn't use the phone and turned it in, let them take you to Small Claims Court and attempt to prove their case. They can bring whatever proof they say they have, you bring whatever proof you have, the Judge decides.

[Zazonker]

tomytom. This is strange. Normally, I'd just go with what Judy suggests and let them prove their case in small claims, but something is going on that I'd try to get to the bottom of first. Someone there obviously believes you did what they say.

You speak of the former employer as if it is one person. I'd separate that into people and departments. Who/what level of person signed the certified letter? Are all of those phone calls with one person or are different people involved. What level are they? Have you talked to the former manager that you turned the phone in to? Is the phone listed on your checkout sheet as something that you turned in? -- meaning do you have anything from anyone in the company showing that you turned in company property? (I'm guessing no to this one, or I think you would have mentioned it).

I would go higher in the company than the people currently involved to try to force some other eyes to look at the problem. If it's the IT folks coming at you, go to the top IT person. Try your former manager, if still with the company. Raise the issue with HR and Corporate Legal. Continue the effort to get them to provide their documentation to you.

The thing that scares me about just going to court in this case, is that I'm guessing that you have no documentation showing that you turned the phone in. If they show up in small claims court with bogus documentation that looks good to the judge (often not actually a judge in California), you could end up with a ruling against you without good opportunity to analyze and refute the documentation.

[JudyKayTee]

If this person is sued in Small Claims and telephone records are presented as proof the OP has the right to obtain/demand certified copies of those records - that gets around the "false documentation" possibility.

I also have to wonder if this is NOT true why the employer is spending the time and energy to pursue OP. Not saying that it doesn't happen, just that it doesn't usually make sense to falsify records and do whatever it takes to prove a bogus claim.

The numbers called either have a connection with the OP or they do not. That's for the employer to prove.

Were this me I would go no further - I would take the position I turned the phone in (receipt or not), I didn't make the calls, stop harassing me, if you believe it WAS me, try to collect - in the meantime, leave me alone, by mail, with a delivery receipt. And I would do nothing else - sometimes the more you explain the more "they" have you running and the more "evidence" they have.

[Fr_Chuck]

First your phone calls are basically worthless and a waste of time, even if one employee on phone told you sorry it was a mistake, you have no written proof.

So send them a letter, send two one regular one certified and state you don't owe this money and that if they do have proof they are requried to furnish you a copy of any and all material related to this.

Keep this, if they sue, this time in court request all of the evidence they plan to use ( their copies)

Could some other employee or even your past boss used this phone and when found said you never returned it. But that really does not matter, what they have to prove is you made those calls.

[tomytom]

Thanks everyone for your answers.
The person that sent me the mail and to whom I latter spoke to is the regional HR manager who knew me for years while I was at the company. I had a very good record there, so I was surprised that they accuse me of such actions. While I spoke to the person it became clear to me that their reasoning is very illogical. That company laid off thousands of people, went through mergers and closings of divisions; might have had thousands of corporate accounts. I think they might be simply looking for a scapegoat for their lack of inventory control, or lack of accountability or for whatever that has happened with the phone post my separation date.

I think I will take Fr-Chucks advice, i.e. sending certified mail back stating to whom and when I turned in the phone and asking to provide prove that I owe them any debt.

Please advise if you have any new ideas.

[tomytom]

Forgot one important detail:
During the last visit to the company I signed the paper that I returned all property. It was a common procedure to ask for such signatures in that company, and it was what people signed if they wanted to get severance. However there wasn't any detailed list of property returned - at least how I remember it.