Consumer complaint received 2021-07-07
Company: WAKEFIELD & ASSOCIATES, INC.
State: TN
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive enough information to verify debt

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I disputed several charges with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX after noticing several line-item charges on my detailed bill that were duplicated. Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX I made monthly phone calls to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to check on the status on my dispute. Each time, I was assured that the account was still in review. When bills started to come in early XXXX with verbiage like " failure to remit payment will result in collections '', I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to ensure this would not be sent to a collections company ; and again, each time I was told that the account was not going to be sent to collections while in the disputed status. During my monthly check-in call to XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, I was told that my account was sent to a collections company. When I referred them back to my previous calls over the past XXXX months, the representative informed me that it was out of their hands and I would have to contact the collections company that now owned my alleged debt - Wakefield & Associates. 

That same day, XX/XX/XXXX, I called Wakefield & Associates and spoke with XXXX who informed me that they did in fact receive my account and were attempting to collect on this debt in the amount of {$410.00}. When I asked XXXX when and in what method they reached out to inform me of their intent to collect on this debt, she could not provide an answer. To date, I still have received no formal letter or documentation on behalf of Wakefield & Associates in their attempts to collect on this debt. XXXX advised me to send a formal demand letter to them so they could begin the dispute process on their end. After finishing the call with XXXX, I provided Wakefield & Associates my demand letter ( attached ) to the email address I was provided with by XXXX. I was also informed that certain amounts were tentatively going to be reported to the credit reporting agencies on the following days with the corresponding amounts : XX/XX/XXXX, {$160.00}, XX/XX/XXXX, {$110.00}, XX/XX/XXXX, {$120.00}. XXXX verbally informed me that if these accounts were in dispute, they would not be reported to the credit reporting agencies. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I replied back to the demand letter I emailed to Wakefield & Associates as I had received no response or acceptance from them. This email also went unanswered. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Wakefield & Associates, as I was concerned that they had not received my formal demand letter and the first account was due to be reported to the credit reporting agencies on XX/XX/XXXX. I was transferred from XXXX to XXXX to XXXX who after XXXX minutes of back-and-forth finally said they would not be sending these accounts to credit reporting agencies until the dispute was completed and I had the opportunity to review the information discovered during their dispute process. 

Now, two months after sending my formal demand letter to Wakefield & Associates, I still have had zero contact or information provided to me about the dispute process. With each passing day, I grow more and more concerned about the status of my dispute and worry that I will find these disputed accounts reported to my credit report.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation