Consumer complaint received 2015-09-01
Company: Patient Accounting Service Center
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was paid

Complaint:
This collection agent, ARstrat, refuses to help me substantiate a debt to a healthcare provider. ARstrat claims I owe {$1100.00} for some health care costs but the agent is much less forthcoming with a description in excess of that balance. The statement, which I will include in the attached pdf, indicates that I owe " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' for this debt. But when I go online, I see the URL redirects to XXXX, XXXX new owner. When I call them I hear either XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX greeting if I call the healthcare lines but hear XXXX XXXX greetings when I speak with the business office. 

When I spoke with XXXX accounts receivable technician from XXXX, she advised me, " XXXX is XXXX XXXX XXXX is XXXX XXXX XXXX. If I do not have a debt for you then there is no debt. Just tell them ( collection agent ) to call me. '' Well for an agent who will not even tell me who I owe or research why nobody else knows of this debt, you can imagine her response to my request, " would you mind calling XXXX XXXX. " The agent, XXXX XXXX, said she can not tell me who exactly her client is. She refers only to the name on the statement. Unfortunately, that business no longer exists! 

When I call each of the many healthcare providers that might be involved, all with similar names but each a separate legal entity, I am told that the creditor has no record of the debt or in the case of XXXX, I was told, " you already paid the debt. '' Which is true? I think too many people are trying to help solve this but it gets more complex as each gets involved. Ironically the XXXX person who could solve this has taken the opposite approach : do n't help anyone. 

The last time I saw this attempt to collect I had already paid a similar debt to XXXX of the potential creditors for the XXXX time. The hospital immediately refunded the over payment saying I owed nothing yet this agent continues on her way, neither substantiating the debt nor advising me of whom I actually owe. She is happy to send incorrect billing statements, billing at her whim, for businesses that likely noThis has gone on long enough. I have endured her interrupting me, being rude, violating my Civil Rights to privacy in California by recording conversations after told I am a California resident & entitled to not be recorded. 

When I ask for anything that requires her effort, such as researching the debt or stopping the illegal wire tap, I am punished by endless hold time, disconnected calls & being called name such as " deadbeat. '' I am tired of it. I pay 100 % of all my bills. Why ca n't this agent simply show what I owe for which services, when & to whom? 

And it looks too suspicious when an agent says something like, " forget what the provider said, trust what we say ... '' I can not believe in such a Machiavellian plot that ARstrat is trying to get me to pay such a modest amount directly to them. I think this agent is permanently on " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' likely in response to all of the mean debtors out there. I have been pleasant, cooperative & helpful. Now I am done trying to do ARstrat 's job for them. It is time for them to act professionally & do something. 

I see little hope of helping myself since the agent will not even lift one finger to collect this debt & calls me a deadbeat when I ask for help. Then the agent punishes me for asking for her to honor my Civil Right to not be recorded. 

Can you please help? I want to pay this if I truly owe it but the XXXX hours of endless research & calling the possibly involved entities has exhausted me. 

If I can not solve ARstrat 's confusion about finance then who can? I have earned a XXXX, XXXX & doctorate in XXXX. Who is better prepared to understand this issue? But ARstrat sees " deadbeat '' & not doctor in business then I stand no chance with them. 

Thanks for the help

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation