Debt collectors lie.  And because of this, they hope to hear voice messages they left before thier deposition is taken so they know in advance what they lied about.  It doesn't always work that way. Abusive calls by debt collectors take place on a daily basis. It is common knowledge that abusive debt collectors will do anything to assure conversations between them and consumers are not recorded. In California, consumers do have a right to record telephone calls if the collection calls amount to harassment or it is disclosed. Recordings of the collection calls are great evidence of the abuse the consumer was subjected to. Once a debt collector discovers that their abusive collection calls were recorded, they go to great lengths to obtain those tapes so their “story” can be consistent going forward. Hyde & Swigart often refuse to provide recordings between the consumer and debt collector until after the collectors deposition. This ensures that the abusive debt collector will have to testify from memory and not be allowed to put a positive spin on an otherwise abusive collection call. The Court in Renteria v. Collectcorp, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41769 (N.D. Cal. 2005), agreed with Hyde & Swigart in that the abusive recordings did not have to be turned over to the defendant until after the individual collector depositions had been taken. This allowed un-refreshed recollection of the telephone calls and ultimately lead to the settlement of the case.