Consumer complaint received 2015-12-22
Company: HW Holding, Inc
State: NH
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Communication tactics
Sub-issue: Used obscene/profane/abusive language

Complaint:
The collection agency told me that if I paid by check instead of credit card I will save {$14.00}. I gave the company representative my routing number and checking account number. He said I could get a receipt by going to a particular website and he gave me my account number and PIN to get the receipt. I checked my bank account this morning and there was no check pending. I went to the website to get a receipt. There was no website. I called the company three times, XXXX at a number they had called me on and twice at the number the man I spoke to yesterday gave me as his number. XXXX call did get a message but with no identifying information such as the name of the company so I hung up. The other XXXX calls just rang and rang with no answer. I sent an email to support services at the company. At that point I became nervous that I had given my checking account number to an unknown man and that this might have been a scam. I called my bank and they advised me to put my account on hold which I did. I then called the number on the company 's website and the company receptionist transferred me to someone. I explained the situation, that I had put a hold on my checking account and why and that I wanted to pay by credit card today. He said that I had the URL of the website to get my receipt incorrect and that it takes 20 days to get a receipt. The person I actually made the payment to yesterday never told me it would take 20 days to get a receipt. The representative I spoke to today said that because I had put a hold on my account I had to pay the alleged debt in full. I explained again that I wanted to pay today by credit card instantaneously and he said I could not. I asked to speak to his supervisor which I did. I explained the situation to him although he interrupted a number of times. I said he should listen to the tape of the call so he could hear that I was not told it would take 20 days before I could get a receipt and that I would like the call to be emailed to me as well. He said that is not going to happen, that I had to pay in full because I put a hold on my account. He was extremely rude, cutting me off and hung up on me. I called back and asked to speak with the VP, President or Founder none of whom were in. I asked to speak with another supervisor higher than the one I had just spoken to. She was also very rude, would not work with me on a solution and was yelling at me. She did say she would pull the recording of the call and if the representative had not told me about the 20 days I could pay the discounted amount by credit card but this would take a while. I reiterated I wanted to pay it today by credit card so it was done and taken care of. She continued to yell at me and was abusive as the prior person had been. I asked her to put what she had said in writing and email it to me. She said they do not put anything in writing. I then politely ended the call. I called back and asked to speak with the administrative assistants for the VP, President or Founder and the receptionist said they were also not in. I asked if there was a quality assurance or complaints person and she said no. I asked to speak with anyone on a VP level. She took my name and phone number and said someone would call me. I asked for the email addresses of the VP, President and Founder and she said she had to get permission to give me those addresses. She was trying to be helpful and was pleasant.

Company public response: Company believes the complaint is the result of a misunderstanding
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation