Consumer complaint received 2022-01-20
Company: Consumer Financial Services Solutions, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Debt settlement
Issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
- They got me SUED because they did not file crucial legal paperwork. 

- They tried to blame me even though I had paid them and had all of the financials in writing ( see explanations below ). 

- They tried changing our contractual agreements to extort me for thousands more after their mistake. 

- They were unprofessional and their customer service was inconsistent at best. 

- They did not even touch the second of my two debts until my first was paid, after years had gone by. 

- They did not properly coach me that I would need a lump sum within a week to get a second debt going after I put a lump sum to finish off the first one, which meant I had to come up with thousands within a week. 

- They discouraged me from contacting my second creditor directly to settle the debt myself. They said the creditor would not even talk to me at this point because of Power of Attorney, which I later learned I could easily dissolve myself, and I did. 

- I was served papers at dinner time in front of my family, including an elderly relative that was really upset about it and when I told Beyond this on the phone, someone was clearly laughing at the serious distress their complete incompetence has caused me and my family. It is hard to quantify the damage that was caused, but this is unacceptable on both professional and personal standards and it is just shameful behavior. 


There were other issues, but here is more detail on the lawsuit : I received a voicemail from XXXX at Beyond, who said it was urgent that I contact Beyond regarding my account. 

I called back and was given a week to come up with a {$2200.00} deposit on a settlement offer with my creditor, which I did not have, especially since I had just paid a lump sum to finish my last debt. When I was making that payoff, I asked the customer service representative if they saw any reason to hold off and save it for the next debt and they said no. It was a hardship to come up with that in a week and I basically ended up giving them over {$3500.00} within two weeks. 

XXXX : I called and set up that new deposit with a customer service rep. She said we could do {$2000.00} now and spread the other {$200.00} across the remaining payments, so she calculated that, processed the payment, and sent me an email with that confirmation and all of the calculations, which I have. 

XXXX : I receive and sign the settlement offer promptly via XXXX, which is a legally binding online site. It is dated and I have a copy. It clearly shows the amount and the payment dates. 

XXXX : The creditor filed a lawsuit against me for the full ( non-negotiated ) amount. I was given 30 days. 

XXXX : I was served papers in front of my family at dinner time for a debt I thought was taken care of, with a contract that had been signed weeks ago. 

XXXX : Beyond Finance customer service told me I never signed the settlement offer. I told them Im looking at the signed contract dated XXXX via XXXX. They put me on hold and then apologized- they see it now ; basically I WAS SUED BECAUSE SOMEONE DIDNT FILE MY CONTRACT. It was never entered into the system. She then entered it. I asked to speak to a manager and was put on hold for over an hour.

A new person answered who didnt identify herself as a manager, wouldnt transfer me, made me start over, was hostile, and kept trying to blame me : You didnt sign the contract. Yes I did. 
You didnt pay the full {$2200.00}. Yes I did. I paid {$2000.00} and spread the remainder per the agreement that you made with me. 
Then she said, well, you didnt do it correctly. Thats not true, and even if so, it would have been your fault since your representative did the calculations. 
Well its too late but the good news is there is a new settlement offer I said we had a contract with all of the names of the parties, all of the numbers, dates, signatures, it was done via XXXX, etc. I just needed me to sign and pay the deposit, by the due date, which I did. 

Basically, her story kept changing to avoid taking responsibility, which she never did. 


Then the new offer was for an ADDITIONAL {$1200.00} on top of the {$2200.00} I just gave them and the settlement amount was also {$2000.00} more than the first settlement amount. 

So not only was I sued, embarrassed, etc., now they were extorting me for {$3200.00} because of their massive mistake. 

I would call this criminal. 

I wouldnt bite and she reluctantly agreed to transfer. 


I spoke with XXXX who I have spoken with and we had gotten along in the past ; he remembered me and it was generally pleasant except that someone was clearly laughing when I mentioned being served papers in front of my elderly grandmother who was really upset about it. I suppose it may have been someone else who was in the room, but it was incredibly insulting and unprofessional to say the least. 

He tried to say that maybe something happened in the system or it was logged as they were filing the suit, etc., which I knew wasnt true because the first rep said it wasnt logged at all. 

He said he would reach out to the contract negotiator to see if the law firm would work with us and he would get back to me in 72 hours. 


XXXX : No word from Beyond or XXXX so I called. The clock was ticking on my lawsuit. The representative I spoke with tried to blame me again even though I have documentation. I asked for a call back from XXXX that never came, again. 


XXXX : I contacted the firm that was suing me. They had no record of that contract I signed from Beyond Finance. This confirms that Beyond and XXXX did not do their part and they were responsible for getting me sued. 

They also were making no effort to make this right. 

I also learned that I could easily dissolve my power of attorney, which I did and then broke off from Beyond Finance.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation