Consumer complaint received 2022-07-28
Company: Sezzle Inc.
State: OH
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I ordered a couch from XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. I used the service Sezzle to pay for the couch in XXXX installments. On XX/XX/XXXX, I reached out to XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX to inquire about their cancellation policy because it had been over 2 weeks and the couch had still not shipped. On XXXX de XXXX website, their cancellation policy stated that you had to wait 15 business days before the order could be cancelled or you would be charges a 50 % fee. That is why I had emailed them to get clarification on that policy. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX telling me that THEY had cancelled my order and that they would issue a full refund to my bank and that I should check with my bank to see when the money would be returned. At this point, 2 of the 4 scheduled payments had already been taken out of my account. Since I was told that my order was cancelled by the merchant and that they would be issuing me a refund, I purchased a couch elsewhere. I waited a week and on XX/XX/XXXX, I emailed XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX to see it the refund had been issues. They responded telling me that they decided to issue me store credits instead and that they had approved this with Sezzle and never notified me of this change. I tried to sort this out with XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX myself, but after telling them that I was told I was receiving a refund and that I did not want the store credit multiple times, they then told me that they would no longer respond to my emails. The very next day on XX/XX/XXXX, I disputed this charges from Sezzle with XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX A third and fourth charge from Sezzle then came out of my account. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Sezzle telling me that because I had disputed the charges with my bank, they were going to start charging me late fees. When I emailed them to explain the situation and why I had to dispute the charges, they said that they would turn me into collections and ruin my credit if I did not make all payments. Also, they sent me a link to XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX cancellation policy that they had updated after refusing my refund. It had stated originally that it would be 50 % fee if the buyer cancelled before it had been 15 business days. Their policy now stated that they would issue store credit. But that was absolutely not the policy previously, and I didn't cancel the order, they did. Sezzle also expressed to me that there was no point disputing these charges with my bank because they will win and receive their money. After this horrific display from Sezzle, I decided to stop all communication with Sezzle. My bank won the dispute and the charges were deemed to be fraudulent on the part of Sezzle and XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. It is now XX/XX/XXXX and Sezzle is trying to send an account that was deemed fraudulent to collections and I am receiving emails to collect on this debt. The debt doesn't exist. Sezzle 's merchant was deemed to be fraudulent and I won the dispute. They are now trying to do what they threatened me with 4 years ago and ruin my credit by sending me to collections.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation