Consumer complaint received 2022-06-10
Company: Lotane & Associates, P.A.
State: FL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
Concerning collections attempts from Lotane & Associates, PA on behalf of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX dba XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, for concerning the services of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX? ) : Our daughter went to the ER  for a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. The ER   doctor said he would XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in place but then decided no to do it, He also interpreted the x-ray as no XXXX XXXX He put a loose bandage on it and told us to followup with a specialist after a few days. 

The specialist expressed surprise and dismay that the ER  doctor did not XXXX XXXX XXXX or bandage it properly. Her x-rays also showed a XXXX  XXXX in the XXXX. She told us that it could probably not be saved but she would try. After a few weeks, she had to remove the XXXX. 

We later received a bill from the ER  for XXXX  removing the XXXX, which had only been done much later by the specialist. The bill was also a 2nd or 3rd bill that had gone to the wrong address and had a previous last name. All other bills from the ER and hospital had reached us with the correct information and were paid. We called and followed instructions to again make corrections and to dispute the bill and heard nothing for a while. 

After some time, we received another bill threatening to send to collections. It still had my wife 's name wrong and we again followed instructions to correct her name on the records and to dispute the bill. This time we were told that the corrections had not been made because the bill came from the XXXX XXXX XXXX instead of the Hospital. We were given instructions to dispute the bill that included contact information which appeared to be unrelated to the first instructions.

After this 2nd dispute attempt, we again did not hear back for a while until receiving a letter from a collection company, Lotane & Associates, PA.

From the collections letter, we understood that they would investigate the situation when we replied to them with our concerns and that we wished to dispute the matter. As per their instructions, we emailed all of our documentation, including the doctor 's notes, from the specialist and the unanswered emails sent to dispute the bill according to the hospital billing office 's instructions. We also called the collections company to follow up. In both our email and phone conversation, we explained that the debt was for a service that was not rendered, along with other minor concerns about timely receiving the bills and the correct billing information. 

Within about a week, we received a letter from Lotane & Associates, again with the previous last name, stating some pertinent account information and that stating the letter was in response to our asking that the " account be verified '' and this letter " satisfies ( our ) request. '' The letter goes on to say we " now have the option to make a secure online payment '' at their website. 

In addition to simply verifying the account, the letter also states that the debt is verified by the " additional documentation '' that was enclosed. The " additional documentation '' was only a copy of the itemized bill that we are disputing, and list of transactions that shows that we paid ( and therefore correctly received ) every other bill. There was no verification, or mention, of the issue of the validity of the bill and services claimed to be rendered. The transaction list does seem to show inconsistent record keeping, in my opinion, since some of the bill dates and payment dates appear out of order by several weeks, but perhaps that is normal. We also note that the amount of the bill has increased since the beginning and we do not see an explanation. 

The documentation, and the letter itself, does seem to indicate that the bill is being generated by the hospital ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX dba XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), rather than by a doctor 's group as we had been told earlier by the hospital billing office. If this is accurate, then 1 ) it backs up the idea that we have been given " the run around '' with misleading information, and 2 ) it seems that Lotane & Associates may have picked one of our minor complaints, out of our background and context, to address, rather than the issue we went to them with and that our documentation was for. At best, this is would be sloppy inadequate work by Lotane & Associates, and at worst, would indicate that they are complicit with, or even participating in, the use of misinformation by their client. 

To ensure that they do not do the same thing in response to this complaint, we reiterate here that : We dispute the billed amount for the reason that this amount is for a service that was not provided and had to be done later by someone else. 

This has been determined from a combination of descriptions on the bills and descriptions shown on the insurance claims. The descriptions that are on the itemized bill provided by as " additional documentation '' by Lotane & Associates only shows abbreviated descriptions that I am not able to decipher. If they are not consistent with my claim and bases of this dispute, then they have been retroactively changed since my earlier dispute to Lotane & Associates. 

Thank you, XXXX & XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company believes complaint caused principally by actions of third party outside the control or direction of the company
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation