Consumer complaint received 2019-06-30
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Sued you in a state where you do not live or did not sign for the debt

Complaint:
I came into XXXX XXXX XXXX for an initial check-up on XX/XX/2017. After hours of waiting and a brief consult, someone who introduced herself as a XXXX informed me that I urgently needed a XXXX XXXX  but before I could do that, I needed a XXXX XXXX, which would cost {$1200.00} overall. I had initially come in with my first ever insurance ( Medicare ) which they said did not cover this need. I could not afford this procedure, but  they told me it was really bad and assured me I could sign up for a Care Credit Card, which was my only other option. They said I could pay off no interest over a period of x months. Having only been to another XXXX  once 7 years before, I was afraid and listened to their professional advice. 

On XX/XX/17, I came in for the first half of my XXXX XXXX procedure. Whoever saw me questioned why I was getting the procedure at all. After two tries of XXXX that lasted about 20 minutes, they conducted a procedure that lasted no more than 10-15 minutes. This raised some suspicions, so I contacted a XXXX I knew in another state and asked her opinion. She was alarmed at the cost and how quickly the procedure was finished and advised I asked for my XXXX and " XXXX XXXX. '' I followed her advice and did not come back for the second half of the procedure. 

Over the next few months, I called XXXX XXXX XXXX. They would either put me on ridiculously long holds, tell me to call back, not pick up my phone calls, or only pick them up if I called immediately from another phone number. On my last call, I informed them I knew my HIPAA rights and wanted my records mailed to me. They put me on another hold, then came back on the phone and said this was not possible, that I could only physically view the records in office. Frustrated, I sent them a certified letter stating I wanted my records mailed. After waiting the allotted 30 days, I tracked and found that they refused this letter. So I sent another, which they received and completely ignored. By now, I was being harassed by debt collectors, to whom I sent cease and desist letters. The letters disappeared. 

One year later I received a summons informing me I was being sued by the bank. I was on medical leave, state XXXX, was unable to fend for myself and set to leave the country to live with friends the next week. After consulting with an attorney, he advised me to draft a letter stating I did not owe this debt, and to send it along with a check for the reasonable amount reflecting the services I was given. The law firm cashed out my check, sent me receipts and never contacted me again. 

I just got off XXXX and moved back to XXXX tentatively, and received an entry default judgment in the mail. Livid, I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX, who told me to send them an email authorizing them to send my records to me. They did not respond to my email within their promised timeframe and ran me around YET AGAIN several times, most of which I thankfully got through e-mail this time. After reporting them to HIPAA and the dental board, they responded to my email and told me to call them. Each time I called they did not answer. I asked them point blank what was preventing them from providing me with my records for two years. They sent my records. 

After receiving my records I found that they falsified information on the records, stating I called and said I " just wanted to see them on the screen and also the XXXX XXXX. '' This is completely false and made up by them, as I have no idea what a screen is and expected and have copies of letters SPECIFICALLY requesting for my paper records to be mailed. My XXXX friend reviewed them and informed me that my dental records are also riddled with discrepancies between services and charges ; there is no XXXX signature or name anywhere on the paperwork, and also most recently checked off and signed on the document states " I do not consent to this treatment. '' The XXXX name on the paperwork and emails to me is XXXX XXXX, who, according to XXXX, is a male. I was seen by ALL WOMEN. I do not recognize or know who XXXX XXXX is. 

These services were never completed and unauthorized by either party but billed and sent to collections. I am now under a default judgment which I was not properly notified of, was medically and locationally unable to handle and should have never happened in the first place.

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