Consumer complaint received 2016-05-04
Company: AmeriCollect
State: LA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not mine

Complaint:
I have been working on my credit and trying to pay people I owe and move forward in life but medical bills and their protocol is making it impossible for me to do so. I have lots of medical issues and I also pay lots for medical coverage to cover those issues. I keep credit monitoring in order to monitor the accounts and the activity and XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed XXXX new collections show up on my credit report and I was totally clueless as to where they came from because I have NEVER received anything pertaining to these accounts and the amounts where even wacky because they did n't match any of my dedictibles etc. That being said I sent a letter to the this one collection agency claiming to have all of my accounts and they responded with a list of dates of service and amounts but no where on there did it give me an itemization nor did it show me that my insurance was or was n't billed but instead it shows that all XXXX charges are from the same date of service and the same and same department of the hospital. I first of all find that hard to believe because I do n't understand why there would be XXXX seperate bills for the same day with the same department. I would think those would be linked together somehow all on one bill. I work in the medical industry myself and I hope my company does n't ever do business this way but when the company responded they also stated that they had sent me previous notification and I 've never received anything until I requested more information due to it popping up out of nowhere. Not only that but I found it super unfair that the date of service is from XX/XX/2015 and the hospital never sent anything but yet turned it over to a collection agency 4 months or less from the date of service. I go to this hospital on a regular basis and never once was it mentioned that I had an outstanding balance and they usually bill my insurance the correct way. Well after working 75 hours this week and taking care of my children because I 'm a single mom and dealing with my illnesses, I finally made myself sit down and contact the hospital original furnisher of the information and only to find out that the lady did n't have my insurance information correct in their system so my insurance was never billed. When I asked for the account to be removed due to this error I was told I would have to ride it out and that it could take up to 45 days for the insurance claim to be filed etc. This is not OK with me as I am again trying to do my part to take care of my debt but yet collection agencies are allowed to do whatever they want with no reprocutions. If I expect any sort of response, I have to pay an arm and and a leg to have my mail sent certified so that I can ensure they will respond but collection agencies can just simply state they sent you the letter they are supposed to before reporting the debt and I 'm supposed to take their word even though I know I check my mail everyday and I never received anything from anyone. The fact of the matter is I was never sent the appropriate letter giving me 30 days to dispute the validity and had I been the documentation I would 've looked further into it because I would 've figure dout there was some sort of billing error in the beginning.

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 non-monetary relief