Time to think outside the box, just a bit. Call the office of the District Court clerk for your county and ask someone if they could run a quick search for "Infiniti Financial" in the court docket computer. If they find lawsuits which list Infiniti Financial as a party, have them look at the most recent case and get you the name and telephone number of the attorney representing Infiniti.
Call the attorney and explain the problem that you're having with having with his client. Fax him copies of the collection notices, as well as the letter you got from Mr. Silverback.
Tell the attorney that you want this problem fixed and any damage to your credit history repaired. Include a sentence or two, stating that you are not presently interested in litigation and all of the associated costs to all parties involved, but that since a collection agency is hounding you, that's where it may obviously end up.
Of course, the attorney *wants* it to end up in court, that's how he gets paid. Sooo... send a cc of the letter to Mr. Silverback. That way, if the attorney does nothing to avert this legal problem for Infiniti, his neck is in the noose.
In all probability, the people who that lawyer deals with at Infiniti Financial are the ones who can actually correct this problem. Plus, if this approach works, Infiniti gets billed for the lawyer's time instead of you. Hey, it's worth a shot.
Good idea, Martel, and one I'd not thought of. Hard to believe a major corporation could be in such fundamental disarray on an issue like this. As I noted before, I'm not exaggerating when I say they've called me probably TWENTY times wanting to know where their car is, or saying I owe them money or whatever. And each time, we have to start completely from scratch with the explanations. They can say "hold on a moment," transfer me to another person, and I'll have to explain it all yet again.
Tangentially related anecdote: Speaking of the nightmare of dealing with apathy and incompetence in big corps, around ten years ago I bought a $10K professional Sony VCR. It was trouble from Day One. I returned it to the vendor, they replaced it, and the replacement unit had the same issue. Turned out to be a design flaw, one they admitted, but they wouldn't do anything about it other than to declare that it was within their tolerances and I'd have to live with it. I called all over the country, and it got to the point that they wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't call me back.
I got fed up and FedExed a detailed account of the entire affair to the CEO in Tokyo. A few hours after that letter hit, my phone started ringing off the hook. Sony people far and wide were suddenly SO concerned about my problem. They flew the head U.S. tech from Teaneck, NJ to my little Mississippi hometown. He walked into my office, verified the problem with my VCR, and within days I had a refund check for the entire amount in hand. Sometimes you do indeed have to get outside the box.
MM