Product: Debt collection

On XX/XX/XXXX I decided that I was going to pay off some debt that apparently belonged to me from a previous marriage between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Unknown to me at the time was that I had been sued on this debt. Because I had been going through a lengthy and nasty several year divorce, I am assuming my ex-wife was served and she just failed to notify me about it. Long story short, I just recently found out about the judgment by looking at public records as it 's not even on my credit report. I attempt to call the judgment creditor XXXX XXXX but they do n't answer or tell me to call back. I attempt to do so a few times but I decided that instead of being brushed off I would call the attorney who filed the judgment against me. The attorney was XXXX XXXX XXXX. I was told by XXXX XXXX XXXX that they are no longer handling the case so I call XXXX XXXX again. I finally get a hold of a representative and am told the account is now with XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX at ( XXXX ) -XXXX. What they failed to mention is that the attorney is now known as XXXX XXXX and their number is ( XXXX ) XXXX. I have to find that out for myself. I try calling XXXX XXXX for five days and I can never get anything but a voicemail. I research the company to obtain other numbers and I find ( XXXX ) XXXX. It is a good number and I try calling again for another three days but again I get no answers and nothing but voicemails. There were even numerous messages left but I still get no answer and no return calls. It is now XX/XX/XXXX so I call XXXX XXXX again to figure out what 's going on and I am now told to call XXXX XXXX XXXX at ( XXXX ) XXXX. I call them but again I am having the same problem I have been having with XXXX and XXXX XXXX. I keep getting voicemails. I then attempt on XX/XX/XXXX to call 3 numbers to XXXX XXXX. Main line at XXXX. A representative named XXXX at XXXX. XXXX XXXX at XXXX. I keep getting voicemails and I am calling at all hours of the day. XXXX XXXX XXXX is no better. It goes straight to voicemail at XXXX. I even tried another number I found online ; ( XXXX ) XXXX. It is XXXX XXXX XXXX but only an employment verification line. I 'm certain you can understand how frustrating this is for me so I call XXXX XXXX now to see if I can deal with them directly. Their representatives are ovbiously not attempting to call me back or address the situation. Somewhere along the line XXXX XXXX who happens to be a manager at XXXX XXXX calls me back on XX/XX/XXXX and decides to go ahead and settle with me. We agree to a settlement for exactly {$4000.00}. to satisfy this judgment. I ask for the offer in writing and am told I would receive it within 24 hours. At this point I 'm thinking that everything is fine and is going to work out until I get a call back on XX/XX/XXXXfrom XXXX XXXX stating that this account has been recalled by XXXX XXXX and they ca n't extend the settlement offer with me anymore. I am now furious. I have spent several man hours hunting somebody down just to try and give XXXX money and I am being ignored everywhere I turn. When I finally get a someone to actually return a call, I am " led on '' to believe that I am able to resolve a pending account when in reality the company in question has no authority over the matter anymore so they are simply wasting more of my time. I call XXXX XXXX to give them a piece of my mind and am simply told by them that I needed to reach out to XXXX XXXX XXXX. I inform XXXX XXXX that I have attempted to reach them for a week and have left numerous message and still I receive no call back. I inform XXXX in painstaking detail everything that has transpired over the course of these 2 weeks and they do n't seem to care or do anything to try and appease me but instead am just told to " give them a week. '' If after that week is up and I do n't hear back from them, then I can deal with XXXX  directly. Long story short, I do n't get a call back from them but XXXX  still refuses to deal with me after the promised week. It was n't until XX/XX/XXXX and exactly 30 days after I began this process to try and take care of a debt that I do n't even fully recognize as mine that I receive a called from XXXX XXXX XXXX. Apparenty, they are working for XXXX XXXX XXXX who is in turn working for XXXX XXXX. They finally re-settle the account with me for the {$4000.00} I had agreed upon originally with XXXX XXXX. They even send it to me in writing as requested. The letter even states " In addition we will request that our client file the Release of Judgment and Release of lien in the appropriate venue. Finally, we will have the necessary documents needed to release the Abstract of Judgment in this matter. '' I obviously pay them and am glad that this nightmare is finally over. I was wrong. When I pay them, I receive confirmation # XXXX. I was told it would take 7-10 days to get settled in full letter. This was on XX/XX/XXXX. We are now on XX/XX/XXXX, and I have yet to receive a settled in full letter of any kind. What 's worse, I check county records, and no release nor satisfaction of judgment has been filed or even initiated. I am now past my boiling point. I called XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to figure out what 's going on. Why have I not received a settlement letter and why has no satisfaction of judgment been initiated or recorded. Predictably, I am now being transferred from department to department with no answer until I finally am sent to a voicemail. I call back several times and the same thing happens. I keep trying until my calls do n't even reach a representative. The operator just says everyone is busy and I have to call back ... I try calling XXXX and inform them of everything that is going on. Believe it or not, the situation gets even worse. At first XXXX XXXX tries to tell me they do n't know about any payment. They state that they will have to check with their assigned collector to verify if any payment was made. I offer to submit the settlement offer in writing as well as a bank statement from my bank showing payment was cleared for the settlement amount stated in the letter and am finally able to get the representative to admit that they do see payment was made. I press her even harder now as I can see she is just trying to brush me off and feed me lies and she states that she now has to check her assigned collector to make sure that it is in fact a settlement in full. I point out the obvious to her and tell her that I am forwarding her the proof in writing and she tells me the same thing. I finally asked to speak to her supervisor. I am transferred to a XXXX XXXX. I explain everything to XXXX XXXX just like I am explaining to you. I tell her that I want my satisfaction of judgment and settled in full letter and that I wanted it now. She pretty much reiterated what her representative told me but even upped the audacity by another level. I informed her that I researched California Law and that judgments are supposed to be recorded as satisfied within 15 days of payment or I could pursue them for damages and it had now been over thirty days with still nothing. I informed her I intended to do so if I could not get a satisfactory answer or time frame from her in that particular phone call. She did n't seem to care and went as far as to say that she did n't know how long the verification process would take and would n't give me a definitive time frame or even an estimation of when any of this would be completed even though she had now been informed there were consequences if she did n't. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! It took a whole month to find the right representative just to discuss the account. I finally get the deal in writing, pay the account in accordance to the deal, wait more than double the appropriate time for my letters and account to be satisfied, inform her that her company and her collectors are in violation of the law, am willing to provide her proof that a deal was made and paid to speed up the process, am rejected as they want their own verification, and I am told they do n't know how long it would take or even attempt to expedite the matter even though they have been informed about the law. Now I know that they are being willfully negligent and I wo n't stand for it. I have read that your company hands out class action lawsuits against companies who take advantage of consumers. I am 100 % certain that this company has had numerous complaints over the years as that is the first, second, third, etc. thing I read online the second I type XXXX XXXX on my XXXX search. Please look into this company as well as their affiliates as I can not believe the audacity of how they are treating consumers. If it takes a month to get a hold of someone just to pay them, another month just to find out they did n't hold up their end of a deal on a paid account, probably another month just to get them to correct the situation ( I am assuming they will correct it but am now unsure considering how they have treated every other aspect of this fiasco ). I can only imagine how they treat people who do n't pay them but have legitimate disputes. I will hire my attorney and go after them if need be.