Consumer complaint received 2017-09-19
Company: Meridian Financial Services, Inc.
State: NY
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
Letter to FTC : XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I am contacting you to see if you could assist me with a situation with Meridian Financial, a collection agency. For background information Meridian Financial has placed a collection account on my profile with XXXX and XXXX for a debt that I certainly do not owe. Back in XXXX of XXXX my boyfriend and I went on vacation to XXXX XXXX in the XXXX XXXX. The minute we checked into the hotel we were hounded and harassed by the sales team about their travel club. They wanted us to attend XXXX of their presentations. Based on their persistence, we caved in and decided to at least attend the presentation. Unfortunately for us, we joined their " timeshare/travel club called '' " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' or XXXX. They repeatedly told us that this was not a timeshare but rather a travel club. During the presentation and also at various other times while on the resort we tried to see if we could go online to see some sort of review on this travel club, however, it became apparent that they somehow had managed to limit access to the internet while we attended the presentation and stayed on their resort. They kept telling us that the internet was down and they were having issues. As soon as we returned to the states, I did my research and found a lot of complaints about this travel club being a scam/fraudulent club. We decided immediately that we did not want to continue with the membership. We placed a countless amount of calls to cancel membership. We were told that we had to send a letter via fax. We sent a fax to the representative that we spoke to by the name of XXXX, she refused to provide her last name. We explained to XXXX that we wanted to cancel our membership. She repeatedly told us that someone would get back to us about canceling our membership. This took weeks! In the meantime, we also sent various faxes cancelling the membership. They still did not acknowledge that we cancelled the membership. I contacted XXXX XXXX about the $ XXXX charge on my credit card for the membership fee and was told that they had several complaints themselves against this company and issued me a credit back on to my card and that the case was closed. Now 2 years later, it seems that they have sold the debt to Meridian Financial. Meridian Financial is constantly calling my cell phone in regard to this debt that I do not owe. I am not a member of the XXXX XXXX XXXX. Why would Meridian expect payment for a travel club that I am not a member of? 

Initially, they stared sending me letters indication that this debt was owed by me. The letters were address to " XXXX XXXX XXXX '', my full name is XXXX XXXX XXXX, that alone should be enough to disqualify this debt from my profile. Now I am being harassed by Meridian Financial on a daily basis. They are consistently calling my cell phone several times throughout the day disrupting my work day. I too have blocked their number, however, they call from various numbers and when I block a number, a new series of numbers call my cell. Some of the phone numbers are very close to my own cell phone number. I hired XXXX Law back in XXXX XXXX to see if they could assist me with this however, they suggested that I file a complaint with the FTC. 

Best regards, XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation