Consumer complaint received 2016-12-28
Company: ERC
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Disclosure verification of debt
Sub-issue: Not given enough info to verify debt

Complaint:
I financed an Iphone 5 with XXXX back in XXXX and I had full coverage insurance. The phone was stolen around the end of XXXX and i put in for an insurance claim. XXXX said I needed to file a police report and give them a copy of it. I faxed it in, I mailed it in and then I faxed it again. The first two times I called to see if they got it they said they did n't. The third time I was told they did have it. In about XXXX or XXXX of XXXX the investigator sent me a letter saying that they found the phone. I asked him if it had been wiped clean, as I had lots of pictures of my daughter and my dad who had passed away on that phone. I really just wanted the pictures and did n't think I had really any right to the phone since the insurance covered it. So I called XXXX and told them about the letter and that the phone was at the XXXX Police Dept and did they want the phone back. They told me no, and then they proceed to tell me that they did n't get the report in time to do the insurance claim. It takes 2-3 weeks min to get the report and i sent it a few times to them. The problem is back then XXXX 's customer service was horrible, no one knew what they were doing and I got conflicting infomation about everything whether is be a billing inquiry, or complaints about service. I traded in my old Iphone and they told me in the store I was to get {$200.00} credit toward the new one, and when it never showed up on my statement- I finaced the phone for like {$20.00} a month, customer service told me that I never traded in a phone and there is no record of it. Finally after hours on the phone and going back and forth to the store, talking to managers, they finally gave me {$50.00} for the phone and that their employee made a mistake by telling me i was to get {$200.00}. So now they have sent this to collections. I dispute it with the credit bureaus and it gets removed from my credit file, then the collection company sells the debt to another collection agency and the process starts over again. This last time my dispute was finalized XX/XX/XXXX and this new account was opened on XX/XX/XXXX. I never know when it will show back up. And unfortunately for me, I am a single mom with XXXX kids, im on public assistance, I work but only make about {$1200.00} a month take home. My car just broke down and it going to cost more to fix it than it worth. I wanted to go get a {$5000.00} loan for a car and was planning on paying most of it off when I got my taxes. Other wise on the train and bus it takes me almost 4 hours to get the kids to school and daycare, then I go to work for a few hours and it takes another 4 hours to get home. I need a car other wise my kids do n't get homework done in time and when we arent home til XXXX its time for bed, they have to get bathed and eat and they will be going to bed too late and not getting the proper sleep, and spending all day on a bus and train is not cool. And of course that day the collection shows back up again. There must be something I can do, the credit bureaus said it is legal for them to do this and they can continue to do it til they can not report it. I am afraid to call them because I do n't want the statue of limitations to start over, I do n't trust them. Is there any recourse I can take to resolve this once and for all. If an emergency happens and I dont make much money, I need my credit to fall back on, and was finally getting good again. Other wise my kids wo n't eat or rent wo n't get paid and we will be back on the street again. It happened before when my credit was bad. They should not be able to do this especially if it has been disputed and removed after I furnished the proof of everything, what should I do?? I still have the letter from the police investigator, I have ordered another report because I lost it. Let me know if I should submit that when I get it.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed