Consumer complaint received 2020-08-17
Company: McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff, Inc.
State: NV
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX I entered a XXXX store in XXXX XXXX XXXX NV and purchased an XXXX XXXX. The phone was going to be mailed to me at my residence. It was explained to me by the store employee that once I received the phone I could port my active XXXX phone number over to the phone and once I did that, new service would start as a XXXX customer. I received the phone, but never ported my existing number over. I had difficulty doing so and when I called XXXX to help me with this I received no help. In the meantime, a new number was issued to this phone by XXXX. I was not aware of this and did not consent to this. Apparently monthly billing was started immediately on this new number that I had no knowledge of nor did I give consent to. Months later, when I discovered a new number had been issued and billing charged I called XXXX to correct this. This was supposed to be corrected and I do not know why it wasn't. I offered to pay XXXX the amount due for the phone which was {$1100.00} This was for the actual phone amount and not the billing for a service I did not sign up for. The bill was sent to collection agency McCarthy, Burgess, and Wolfe.  After speaking to XXXX employee XXXX at XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX she agreed I should not have been charged for the extra charges and need to pay only the phone amount of {$1100.00}. She advised me to ask McCarthy, Burgess, and Wolf to open a dispute from the the time the service was opened to the time it was written off. She agreed that since there was no phone usage I should not have to pay for this. The reason she could not make this change herself is because my account had already been sent to McCarthy, Burgess, and Wolfe and they would then have to send it back to XXXX so XXXX could amend this. I called McCarthy, Burgess, and Wolfe on XX/XX/XXXX and left message with XXXX XXXX to do this. I was told a dispute would be opened and XXXX would be contacted. McCarthy, Burgess, and Wolfe have not done this and it has now been 28 days. I have also not received any form of communication from them since I asked a dispute to be opened. They promised an update would be sent. I spoke with XXXX XXXX today and they confirmed they have not received a dispute action from McCarthy, Burgess, and Wolfe. Further, McCarthy,  Burgess, and Wolfe employee XXXX XXXX told me if I paid a reduced agreed upon pay off amount on the phone I would then own the phone. This was not correct information. Upon confirmation with XXXX I was told after paying this amount of {$920.00} I would not own the phone and still would not be able to use it. 
In conclusion, McCarthy, Burgess, and Wolfe have refused to open a dispute on my behalf investigating this incorrect collection. I have a legal right for this to be done and so far they have refused. They have also stated false and misleading information to me in order to collect a debt.

Company public response: Company believes complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation