Consumer complaint received 2018-08-25
Company: Alpha Recovery Corp
State: UT
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Communication tactics
Sub-issue: Used obscene, profane, or other abusive language

Complaint:
Thursday XX/XX/XXXX between the hours of XXXX XXXX - XXXX XXXX  MDT. I received a phone call from Alpha Recovery Corporation based in XXXX, Colorado. This call was a collection call for a balance that they said I owed from my old apartment that I moved out on XX/XX/XXXX. They stated I owed about 800-1300 dollars for my debt ( I'm not sure the exact amount but it was around this range. ) When I moved out I know that I have in writing that I broke my lease properly and that I owed nothing to the apartment complex. I was driving at the time and pulled over on the side of the road for this call because it was interrupting my GPS network connection and I also had to get to the airport for a flight back so it was already a bad time for them to contact me because I was in an area that I did not know due to searching for housing in a new city for relocation. I informed them of this that this debt should not exist and that I have written proof that I don't owe anything and I needed to get off the phone due to my GPS signal being interrupted. 

The lady I was speaking to was extremely rude and would not let me get off the phone as she kept stating it was a validated debt and that my written proof from the property managers does not matter. She would not actually tell me how it was validated with the apartment aside from that she had the paperwork and the numbers on it. She wouldn't call and when I told her I was going to call them she kept telling me they wouldn't do anything for me because the property managers aren't the ones that make the decision on what I owe. Which I told her was ludicrous because if I were to have owed anything after moving out, they should have disclosed it to me instead of waiting a year to tell me that I'm in collections. In fact, she told me that she had just got my debt collection request the day beforehand on XX/XX/XXXX. 

She started raising her tone with me and interrupting me whenever I said I don't owe anything and my emails with the property manager say I don't and pretending she has been in my situation before trying to align with me with a false claim that she's been here and done that. This was making me feel like she didn't care about anything I was saying so she could get money from me immediately. I obviously was not going to pay due to my documents saying that I was good to move without owing, in fact I had received a refund for my early lease termination due to the situations involving my move out and the reason why I moved out. Because I told Alpha Recovery I had a refund, the lady on the phone kept saying that I should have the money now to pay off the debt because they refunded me the lease settlement costs a year ago so in theory I still have it to pay my debt collection. 

Again this was a year ago when I got the refund, so why would I potentially still have it? Why wouldn't I use that for a new deposit on the apartment I moved into? She wasn't taking what I was saying and was just calling it excuses. I told her that we would just be going back and forth on this conversation if she keeps denying my claims and not checking with the apartment to verified I owed anything. When I said I was going to do that myself, she immediately changed the subject and started saying that she can save me money off of my debt. I didn't owe anything so I told her, " Why would I want to save money off of a debt I don't owe? '' The rest of the conversation with her was just me repeating this and her continually raising her tone and interrupting me until I asked for a higher up. 

As soon as the higher up got on the phone he didn't identify himself as the general manager of the company. I had to ask who he was at the end of the call. He kept on trying to do the same thing, telling me that I owe money and my proof means nothing and he could save me money. He said things that I need help, and me not taking their help would make me lose any settlement and me owing more. He raised his tone with me to the point where he was yelling at me, to which I had lost my temper and started yelling at him over the phone that his tone was inappropriate and I know what I did and how I moved out and I had proof. They same story I kept repeating since the beginning of the call. I asked him what they could do, he said they could wipe the debt clean if they validated it. Him saying this contradicted anything that his employee had threatened me with. His employee, I believe her name was XXXX or something, was claiming that I would always owe money and that she and her company could save me money as long as I agreed to pay over the phone. Meaning she wanted me to pay then and there without validating the debt with me or giving me an email/paperwork informing I owed anything. 

This also meant that both the XXXX and employee said different things and I called them out for it saying that they both are telling me 2 stories and none of it adds up. I told them that I apologize for my tone because of the way they came to me with not hearing me out or verifying the debt or telling me that I had no options. I told them their customer service dialect is bad and makes for a terrible and very frustrating phone call. I told them that I was going to verify myself with the apartment complex and would end the call. This call took 45+ minutes of me repeating the same sentence that I didn't owe anything and I have proof which I read back to them since I still have the emails. 

The next day I went to the apartment complex. I was able to verify that I owed {$0.00}. The new assistant property manager XXXX took care of the debt collectors by sending them an email saying that I needed to be taken off the list since I showed her all the emails I saved. This interaction only took 10 minutes. 

I was very frustrated with Alpha Recovery 's rude and obscene tone and language with me and the forcefulness aspect of them telling me that I will always owe something and that my written emails from the apartment states that I don't. They wouldn't listen and kept interrupting me. They didn't provide me any proof. I never got a letter in the mail giving me a notice. It was a year since I moved out and I hadn't heard anything about a debt until XX/XX/XXXX. They kept me on the phone with threats and kept my from being able to navigate my way to the Airport as my gps was being blocked by this call. And overall, I was humiliated and harassed over this 45+ minute phone call, that would've taken 10 minutes if they called the apartment which they stated wouldn't be able to do anything for me as this debt is " valid. ''

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation