Consumer complaint received 2018-04-11
Company: Collection Consultants of California
State: CA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone

Complaint:
How can the hospital and credit collection agency charge exorbitant amount for a XXXX XXXX XXXX, submit a collection and charge off to my credit bureau without ever email me a bill in my name? The cash price at the hospital for treating this was quoted to us as {$100.00}. Original bill was {$740.00}, now trying to collect over {$1600.00} ( 227 % of original bill )? Seems unfair and violation of the fair credit reporting act! 

RE : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Account # XXXX For XXXX XXXX performed on XXXX XXXX XXXX on XXXX XXXX was a minor at the time of service Debt Assigned to : Collection Consultants of California Reference # XXXX To whom it may concern, We would like to resolve this medical bill and have it removed from our credit report issued as a collection and charge off to XXXX XXXX and later in late XXXX to me, XXXX XXXX. 

Our son XXXX was XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX during a basketball game in XXXX, CA on XX/XX/XXXX. 
His cut was under XXXX XXXX below his XXXX and less than an XXXX in length. We took him to the closest hospital after his game to see if he needed XXXX. At the time of this service, we were asked if we wanted to pay cash {$100.00} or if we wanted to bill it to our insurance. We gave our insurance card and also paid the {$100.00} which was most likely for the deductible for insurance. 

The cut required no XXXX, it was wiped clean, dressed with derma-bond ( glue ) and dressed with a butterfly band aid. No further medical attention was given. 

We were shocked to receive a bill for an additional {$740.00} dollars and to see that our XXXX XXXX insurance was also billed for {$650.00}. We called the hospital several times to see if we could get the bill lowered and were expecting to be notified via mail that there would be a substantial discount. Instead, the bill was sent to the above mentioned collection agency for {$790.00} and then subsequently raised to {$1100.00}. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called the above collection agency and they stated with interest, it would now be {$1600.00} to have it removed from our credit report. 

We would like to ask that this bill either be : 1 ) Credited 100 % and removed from our credit report since there was already {$750.00} paid in total to the hospital in XXXX. 

or 2 ) Substantially reduced to a small amount for us to pay and have it removed from our credit report. 

To help resolve this issue we are also copying : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX California Medical Association - Institute for Medical Quality > Consumer Finance Protection Bureau > Medical Billing  Advocates of America > The Joint Commission > The Medical Board of California > California Insurance Commissioner Hopefully we can resolve this quickly. Thank you. 

Best Regards, XXXX XXXX - Father of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX Phone XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation