Consumer complaint received 2023-02-16
Company: Northstar Location Services, LLC
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
I called XXXX XXXX regarding a XXXX store card on XX/XX/XXXX. I had received a letter from XXXX stating that I could call to remove myself as an Authorized user that I was an account on that was closed. 

While on the phone with the initial XXXX rep, I made my intentions known and was told that I needed to be transferred to another department because of the account status. 

I was then transferred to a man and I immediately let my intentions be known again I am trying to remove myself as an authorized user he told me that since I was not the account owner, I needed to call him back with the account holder present and gave me a phone number so that he could assist me. He never said that he didnt have the ability to remove me as authorized user when those were clear stated intentions. I had also already given the last four of the social/DOB/phone numbers to the XXXX automated service and the initial rep. 


I called back the next day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and spoke to another woman and again told her my intentions, I spoke to XXXX XXXX yesterday and he said I could call back with the account holder so I could remove myself as an authorized user the lady then proceeded to get everything from the account holder such as birthday, full address, and phone number. The lady then asked if it was okay to call me in 7 days and I asked what would you need to be calling me for and she said things regarding payment she then proceeded to go over account balance etc. etc. 

I asked her, I do not need the account balance, I am calling to remove myself as an authorized user which I clearly stated to XXXX XXXX the day before and to her as soon as I got on the phone. She then stated, after she had the account holder verify her info, that she couldnt remove me as an authorized user. 

I was then escalated to another woman for the same company who was apart of claims/complaints and she stated that XXXX XXXX nor the lady I spoke to previously said that they could remove me as an authorized user. I stated to her that those were my intentions immediately getting on the phone and that could have been said to me right away. I would not have had the account holder verify any information. The account holder is a senior citizen and can easily be taken advantage of. 

I feel as though I was mislead into believing they could remove me as an authorized user as on XX/XX/XXXX, I was led to believe I was still talking to a XXXX representative as I was transferred internally to my knowledge. The lady I was escalated to on XX/XX/XXXX replayed the phone conversation at my request as I claimed that XXXX XXXX did not state who he was or who he worked for when I was transferred to him on XX/XX/XXXX, he did not state his name in the beginning nor did he say his company he was affiliated with nor did he say he was attempting to collect a debt. Somehow, in the phone conversation she replayed, he magically said all this at the beginning. It is simply untrue and when she replayed the call for me, the beginning part sounded muffled and then magically when I started speaking, it went to normal. I truly believe they played a recording of XXXX XXXX voice and then started playing our actual conversation. I remember feeling confused when I dialed the number XXXX XXXX gave me because of the intro for Northstar collections when I was expecting it to be XXXX. He absolutely did not state he was from that company when I spoke to him. I believe the deceptively incorporated that into the playback. The lady I was escalated too actually said that she would need to hang up with me to find the call and then call me back, which she did. Somehow when I asked her to play the recording from XX/XX/XXXX of her co-worker that I had just spoken to before I spoke to her, she was able to find it almost immediately while I was still on the phone but had to hang up and call me back to find the conversation I had with XXXX XXXX. 

I feel they had two opportunities to tell me I was not able to removed as an authorized user by them but failed to do so. I was only told this information after the account holder essentially verified the debt and even then after she finished answering the questions to verify, the lady immediately went into account balance completely ignoring my intentions for calling in the first place. I had to bring it up again myself and THEN she said that she could not remove me. 

I ended up calling back XXXX and asking to speak to a supervisor who eventually removed me as an authorized user but feel mislead by XXXX too as they did not state they were transferring me to an external collection agency during my initial call on XX/XX/XXXX. I was able to get recordings of phone conversations today of my interactions. 

I feel I was extremely mislead and straight up lied to by Northstar Location Services/Collections. They deceptively got me to verify a debt and now I know they will be hounding the phone number provided to them, they have my phone number as well as the lady I spoke with called it back to me. I have nothing to do with this account. 

I got a couple of operator IDs from XXXX and the supervisor, named XXXX went back and forth whether or not one of them was XXXX XXXX. The numbers she gave me were : XXXX ( or possibly XXXX ) & XXXX. I also filed a complaint with XXXX while on the phone with XXXX detailing my experience and she assigned me the ComplaintID of : XXXX. 

I will attach the letter from XXXX saying that I needed to call their customer service to remove myself as an XXXX. I also have phone conversations recorded that I can provide if necessary as I can not upload them here.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation