[mtlynch]

>It makes me think there's room for a "consumer debt collector" service with a revenue share model.

There was a company called Service that kind of did this. They launched around 2015. You would tell them about a customer service dispute you were having, and they would call the business on your behalf and recover the money you were owed. I used them several times, and they were able to recover money for me without me having to do much except give them the details.

It looked like they had a few million in VC money to blow through because it was free, and there were no minimums on the dispute amount, so it definitely couldn't last. In Feb 2017, they added a 30% commission on recovered money,[0] and then later that year, they pivoted to focus exclusively on disputes with airlines,[1] which it looks like they're still doing.[2]

[0] https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?u=8cdf4d62d0219f237ed96d7...

[1] https://mailchi.mp/dcc5d15901c4/meet-service-20

[2] https://www.getservice.com/