Consumer complaint received 2018-08-15
Company: Javitch, Block & Rathbone LLC
State: OH
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
I just recently married my husband and I am trying to help him pay off his credit card debt. We received a letter from the courts regarding garnishment of his wages. The company in question is Javitch Block LLC. I called this company about 2 months ago to get a balance on the account and also question if there are settlement options. I was told by their rep XXXX that typically when an account is in garnishment status, they do not offer settlements, however they always review offers. He indicated that not all offers are accepted, but we could always make an offer to pay in full to fulfill the debt. I told him I wanted to talk to my husband in regards to what we could afford if we made an offer, and that I would call back. I just called this company back today ( XX/XX/18 ). After waiting on hold for 23 minutes, I spoke with XXXX XXXX who told me that since the debt is being garnished, there are no settlement options. I explained to her what XXXX told me, and she confirmed this by looking in the notes in my husbands file, and told me that since the remainder of the debt was " only '' {$570.00}, they would not accept any offer. I asked her why? She said because the amount is so small. That amount is not small to me, and I asked her why I was told that their company accepts any offer for review. I asked her what would the process be if I wanted to offer {$100.00} to pay off the debt, and she said that she would review it, that it was just reviewed based on my verbal example of {$100.00}, and that it was denied, she was not accepting any offer I wanted to give them. She was very abrasive, and treated me as if I was beneath her simply because I was trying to make an offer to pay off this debt. Then she transferred me to her supervisor, XXXX XXXX, who clearly has been doing this job for way too long as he treated me worse than XXXX. He would not let me talk, finish a sentence, and wanted nothing to do with hearing my explanation. He kept saying that he was not hearing any offer, we are required to pay the remainder in full. Why was I told otherwise a few months ago? Why would they not want to settle a debt? I told him he sounded like he has zero patience for me, or my questions, and he cut me off saying that he was been doing this for 18 years, and that I could ask anyone he works with, he is the most patient person on the team. I told him to have a nice day and disconnected the call. I feel they lied, and misled me regarding making an offer to clear up this debt, and because I challenged them, they want nothing to do with working with me. I find it VERY hard to believe that if I offered them close to the full amount, they would deny it, but they didn't even give me an opportunity. Also their customer service is HORRIBLE. Just because we have an outstanding debt, does not make them better than us. I am very unhappy with my experience and feel awful for anyone who has to deal with their company.

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