handed over before being contacted

I worked for pep stores marikana and resigned 2011, apparently I owed them R400 for staff account, just received a call from the debt collectors I am handed over and no one ever bothered to contact me from pep, the details they have from address to telephone no are still the same, I called them and no one helped me I transferred from person to person until I was referred to accounts manager marious hough who **** to me and told me that the company who called me is just a tracing company helping them, but the lady confirmed to me that they are debt collectors and I am handed over, disappointed in pepkor as a whole