Consumer complaint received 2020-01-23
Company: Kingston Data & Credit International Inc.
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
I cancelled, by phone, my access to the XXXX XXXX facility, located in XXXX XXXX, TX and operated by XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I had no agreement on file dictating any terms or conditions of my membership, nor was I informed of any conditions or agreements related to cancellation of my membership ( which I was lead to believe was an open ended transaction, allowing me to remain a member of the gym at will -- -including cancelling at any time ). In the weeks following my cancelling the membership, I received 2 calls from XXXX XXXX, a company handling payments for the gym. They claimed that I owed amounts related to 2 months of membership plus an annual membership fee -- -all of which was applied after I had cancelled my account with the gym. After I explained that there was no signed agreement nor any acknowledgement on my part where I agreed to the charges ... they ( XXXX XXXX ) agreed that in lieu of any signed agreements where I had acknowledged or agreed to terms surrounding the cancellations, that the outstanding amount they showed should be voided -- -as again these charges had occurred after cancellation of my membership. I considered the matter closed at that time. 

I received no further communications until XX/XX/2020 when I received a collection notice from a company called Kingston Data and Credit from XXXX, XXXX. In their letter they claim that I owe a debt of {$170.00} for unpaid membership dues as well as a yearly membership fee. I responded to them by phone and email that I did not believe this debt was valid and they would need to provide some sort of evidence to the contrary. The response was an email with an attached agreement that someone had signed 'Over the Phone ' in each of the signature locations. This was not my handwriting, nor of course my name. I contacted Kingston and asked if they were aware that this evidence was not, in fact, valid evidence of anything and actually further proved that my accounting of events was true -- -- that I had signed up for access to the gym by phone and had never received, nor signed, any agreements. The response back was that it was valid ( though obviously not ) and that they would affect my credit by reporting me if I did not immediately pay the {$170.00}. I confirmed with my legal counsel that no part of this is true -- -that indeed this was an unenforceable contract that should never have been sent to collections in the first place. Nevertheless, I have received no confirmation that they are dropping their collections activities and indeed, to the contrary, that they still intend to pursue. I believe this agency has violated my rights under the FDCPA by 1. ) Pursuing collection of an invalid debt that they did not confirm as valid before beginning collection activities 2. ) Have continued these actions after notification that I am disputing the validity of the debt. 3. ) Have threatened me with harm related to my credit after failing to provide valid evidence that I bear any responsibility for the debt they are attempting to collect. 

I have, repeatedly, requested confirmation that they cease these activities and take no further action ... but my calls have now been blocked and they are not responding to my emails. I believe that XXXX XXXX, XXXX engaged in predatory and dishonest practices when I signed up for the gym by not disclosing any terms, nor that any agreement would be attempted to be enforced upon my signing up for the gym. They then compounded this wrong by sending an unenforceable agreement that was not disclosed to me to a credit collection agency, Kingston Data and Credit. Kingston has since violated my rights under the FDCPA by continuing to threaten me after my request for a validation of the debt as well -- -and even after no such evidence was produced.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation