Consumer complaint received 2017-10-01
Company: ResidentCollect, Inc.
State: GA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
I had rented an apartment from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX about XXXX XXXX, XXXX. After about two months of living there, my next door neighbors began to make loud noises virtually every night and this would go on from around about XXXX XXXX  until as late as XXXX XXXX. 
On three occasions spread out over some months, I went to the management office of the apartment and told them about the noise and each time they said to let them take care of it, or something to that effect. The noise continued and this was not normal noise that a tenant should expect in an apartment. This was a running, jumping, pounding noise and it would shake my floors and also shake me in my bed. There was nothing I could do to not hear the noise. 
After complaining to the apartment office, I hired an attorney XXXX XXXX XXXX, who advised me of Georgia law as to apartment leases and excessive noise. He wrote a letter to the manager of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and advised that I would be moving out of the apartment because of excessive noise and constructive eviction. He also requested that both parties consider the matter to be settled and that I not be charged any penalties since it is the fault of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for not doing anything about the noise. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX did not respond to the letter and would not communicate with me or my attorney about the matter. They claimed that any person who moves out of an apartment before the lease has ended, must pay one month of rent as an early termination fee. In my case that comes to a little over {$1000.00}. My attorney advised me that I should not have to pay such a fee as it is the fault of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX that I had to move out of the apartment before the lease had ended. 
Instead of communicating with me or my attorney and making any effort to resolve the matter, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX sent me a letter notifying me that they were keeping my security deposit to pay part of the {$1000.00}. I do not believe that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX has any regard for the law based on their conduct. It is their fault for breaching the contract/lease as they did not ever follow up with me about doing anything about the noise and it states in the lease that residents can not disturb other residents. This is a legal dispute between me and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. It should not be resolved by falsely claiming that I owe them money and making it appear on my credit report as if I just suddenly decided not to pay them their rent. I sent a certified letter to the collection agency " Resident Collect '' and advised them as to why this is not a valid debt. This did not make any difference to them. They also put the collection on my credit report before I ever received any notification from them. Then when I sent my letter to them. They suddenly sent me a collection letter and I called them on the phone. They claim they had sent a previous collection letter in XXXX XXXX however I never received it. The address they had on file for me is correct, so I do not believe them when they claim that they sent a collection letter before reporting the collection on my XXXX credit report. 
I made a complaint with XXXX and sent it via certified mail. I wrote a separate piece of paper and explained what happened in full detail, in addition to the complaint form and asked to have the collection removed from my credit report. I included documents with my complaint. Within just a few days XXXX sent me a notification by mail dated XXXX XXXX, XXXX that they had completed their investigation of the dispute I submitted. They said that that the collection agency, Resident Collect,  had verified it as accurate. That does not surprise me as all they are doing is verifying the same wrongful debt.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation