Consumer complaint received 2017-05-10
Company: Cooling & Winter LLC
State: GA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit

Complaint:
I am being sued in  XXXX  separate l awsuits from the same law firm, ( CW ) Cooling & Winter, Attorneys at Law.  This law firm lists it 's address as  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , GA  XXXX .  XXXX  of the  XXXX  were signed by the same attorney,  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX , bar #  XXXX . The fourth was signed by a  XXXX   XXXX , bar #  XXXX . All  XXXX  of these accounts are lawsuits on the behalf of  XXXX   XXXX . When I received the first lawsuit from the firm for  XXXX  Ban k (   XXXX   XXXX  ) on  XXXX / XXXX / XXXX . It was signed by  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  and I was shocked. This account had been disputed directly with  XXXX  Bank, and directly with  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  because I had requested Arbitration in this matter. I contacted  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  repeatedly, with no return calls. I had responded to the initial letter fro m Cooling & Winter  regarding  XXXX  Bank, that stated I had  30days to   respond to dispute the validity, which I did. This letter also stated, verbatim, " This Law firm is licensed to practice law in GA, FL, NC, SC, and TN. Although we are a law firm, at this time no attorney has personally evaluated or reviewed the particular circumstances of your account. This communication is from a debt collector and is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. '' I never expected to be sued w/o some sort of notification. When I called to speak with a "  specialist  '' on  XXXX ,  XXXX  after being sued, and no return calls from  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX , I was told point blank to make a payment to settle, that was the ONLY option, despite my arbitration request. When I explained that after some research, this firm was sued for falsely and deceptively filing lawsuits to intimidate consumers, I was told, " well, take your chances in court then ''. I went ahead and filed an answer with some assistance with legal aid that arbitration was requested to the original creditor BEFORE it was " sold ''. I explained this in my answer. The firm file a stay in this case, but has refused to drop the lawsuit. This entire process took months. Then without notice, a second lawsuit was filed on  XXXX / XXXX / XXXX  for  XXXX   XXXX  (  XXXX   XXXX   )  by  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  ; a third lawsuit was filed on  XXXX / XXXX / XXXX  for  XXXX   (   XXXX   XXXX  ) by  XXXX   XXXX , and finally,  XXXX / XXXX / XXXX  for  XXXX    XXXX    (  XXXX   XXXX   )  by  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX . This firm has so blatantly " churned '' out lawsuits against me that the  XXXX   XXXX  in  XXXX   XXXX  has taken notice, and is waiting to schedule all of the lawsuits o n one day. Neither one of  these lawyers have returned  one s ingle phone call to me. On the  XXXX   XXXX  account alone, the lawsuit was filed 41 days after t he 1st deb t collection letter I received from the firm. And even though I disputed the amount timely, as I stated, the lawsuit was filed anyway, 41 days later. Same with the others. I feel that these multiple lawsuits were filed to intimidate me and overwhelm me, without due process or heeding to the FDCPA. Something is not right, as neither of the attorneys listed has EVER shown up in court. Even though  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  has " signed ''  XXXX  of the  XXXX  lawsuits. Nor have they retu rned ONE phon e call.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation