Consumer complaint received 2018-05-19
Company: COLLECTION BUREAU INCORPORATED
State: ID
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive notice of right to dispute

Complaint:
On Sunday XX/XX/XXXX, I was served with a Court Summons for a debt I was not notified of previously and therefore unaware of. The following day, I called the debt collector listed in the suit ( Collection Bureau Inc of XXXX Idaho ) to gather information about the debt and was met with such hostility it was not possible to obtain the information I needed, let alone am entitled to per the FDCPA on the first call. On the second call, I demanded a supervisor, to which I was told, " There are no supervisors here '', after arguing with the rep she eventually transferred me to a " Lead '' who was acting in the capacity of a supervisor, who to her credit was very helpful ( to the extent she could be ) and patient, however, it was during this call that they revealed they had multiple instances of inaccurate and possibly falsified information on record.

Since this summons and debt was a surprise to me, I was curious how they previously attempted to contact me. I asked them if there were any phone calls made, they had two on record, both to my wife 's cell phone ( a number I would not have provided the company who referred the debt to collections, or the collection agency, or anyone else for that matter ) during a time I was at work three cities away, this is key to illustrating how they falsified information by borrowing notes from another account and applying them to mine in order to appear they notified me per the FDCPA. They claim to have spoken with me directly during one call on XX/XX/XXXX and according to them I even validated my identity, which simply would not have been possible as I have verifiable proof I was not present to do this. As it turns out, according to their notes, during that call, where they claimed to have made contact with me and notified me of such debt ( again fabricated statement on their part ), my wife told them she was sending a check for {$490.00} which is not even the amount on the account they are pursuing me for. After investigating further, it turns out this was actually a note belonging to a different account which my wife had with this collections agency previously but had paid and closed out. The notes were from a call where CBI called her to discuss that account directly, not the debt they are attempting to sue me over currently, ( I'm not entirely sure they were even legally allowed to do so even if they did attempt to discuss my HIPPA regulated medical debt with her ), however that is not the root of the complaint. During this call she did indeed acknowledge that a check was on it's way for the full amount to close out her account with this company which was the {$490.00}, which indeed this company did receive and apply towards her account. The matter of their other call on record is simple, they called her on her cell phone, not me or the number I provide for any billing of my own, the rep did not identify which debt/account they were calling for where she explained the check had already been sent and cashed and they needed to stop harassing her about a closed debt, she was recovering from XXXX at the time and ended the call on the representative without further discussion ( even though they claim to have verified something with her that is public record, our marriage date of all strange things to note, somehow this proves a real conversation ever actually took place ). It is clear she was under the impression they were calling about her debt as 1 ) this was the only debt we were aware of, 2 ) I would not have provided her number on any of my own bills, it would have been my own which has not changed in over three years ( this debt is not that old ), and 3 ) because the representative did not identify the account it was assumed they were calling regarding an already paid debt they had already spoken with her about in the previous month.

After multiple other calls, I finally got a rep to agree to send me a debt statement, but this certainly was not the easy FDCPA request I was entitled to, they wanted to argue anything they could getting themselves so riled up they wind up yelling at me and disconnecting the call blaming me for escalating it. During two other calls I made to CBI to gather information, I attempted to negotiate a settlement to pay the full original debt plus interest in order to keep this out of court but I am unwilling to pay legal fees which should never have racked up if this company followed consumer regulations appropriately and responsibly. They were unwilling to budge on these fees which is unacceptable because again, their actions led to these fees in the first place, adding to the fact that they are trying to cover their tracks by using notes from an unrelated account in my account in order to make it appear they notified me sufficiently. I maintained during these conversations that had I been aware of the original bill, it would have been paid, therefor that is what I am willing to pay.

This company intentionally made getting information I ( the consumer ) is entitled to obtain difficult, and appear to have falsified their documented attempts to notify me of such debt which nullifies any trust I could possibly have that they ever intended to actually contact me or have attempted to notify me in a manner that could have prevented further interest and their legal fees which from my understanding are incurred by their own in-house lawyers which seems to border on Racketeering.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation