Consumer complaint received 2020-07-31
Company: WAKEFIELD & ASSOCIATES, INC.
State: NV
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive enough information to verify debt

Complaint:
I received an initial notification from Wakefield and Associates in regards to an alleged debt owed to XXXX XXXX. After checking my insurance and personal records I was unable to locate a record of this provider nor of the balance they are claiming. While I do not dispute having been in the hospital around the time of service due to the number of providers and number of bills I have received prior to making arrangements for payment I needed the debt validated so I can ensure this is a valid balance. As such the following has occurred : XX/XX/XXXX - Date of the initial demand letter received XX/XX/XXXX - I submitted a dispute to Wakefield via their consumer portal at https : //www.wakeassoc.com/ and received a generic confirmation back in my email XXXX that the email was received and someone will be in contact. 

**To date I have not received validation documents from Wakefield via email or mail XX/XX/XXXX - Received call from Wakefield @ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - Received call from Wakefield @ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - Based on my knowledge of the collection agency and reputation for being compliant with the FDCPA I assumed these calls were in error as they had not validated the debt. As a courtesy to the collection agency I submitted a second letter of dispute in the same method as above. The letter sent on this date is as follows : XX/XX/XXXX To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to give your company the benefit of the doubt, I was previously in the XXXX  in XXXX and know Wakefield has a pretty solid record. 

I submitted a dispute to your office on XX/XX/XXXX requesting validation ; I am unfamiliar with this provider and have no records of them. To date I have not received the supporting documentation from your office so I may review my records. 

As of today I have received the following calls from your office : XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX As I said based on my knowledge of your company and its operations I am going to give the benefit of the doubt that this was simply an oversight, the validation was lost in the mail, or simply an honest mistake. This will however be the only time I extend such a courtesy to your company. 

As of today I am going to consider the FDCPA violations an honest mistake and wave my rights to peruse such violations and will give your company until Wednesday  ( XX/XX/XXXX ) to update this record and will consider any phone calls up to that point as an honest mistake ; please note that my waver of rights expires at XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX and any violations after that time I reserve the right to bring action on. 

That said this is NOT a request to cease and desist communication and once you have provided me with the documentation for this account I would welcome your office to contact me regarding it. If the account is valid I will be more than happy to arrange repayment however based on the information I am not convinced of the validity. 

For your convenience you are welcome to email me the documents at XXXX if your company allows it. I wave any right to privacy allowed to me under state or federal law with regards to email communications. 

Should email be against your company policy please mail the requested documentation to : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, NV   XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - Received call from Wakefield @ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - Received call from Wakefield @  XXXX To date I have not received any validation of the debt that Wakefield and their client XXXX XXXX claims that I owe. I am not disputing that this may ultimately be a valid debt at which point I will be happy to arrange a payment arrangement with Wakefield, however at this time I do not have enough to know if this is a correct balance. 

The collections agency has continued to peruse collection action after twice submitting a request for validation of the debt by continuing to contact me prior to validating the account. This is a clear violation of the FDCPA 15 USC 1692g ( b ) and is even more insulting as I gave them the courtesy of a second request for validation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation