Consumer complaint received 2017-02-16
Company: NCC Business Services, Inc.
State: OH
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was paid

Complaint:
I am a recently separated XXXX XXXX veteran. While separating, I had to move out of my house from an allotment called XXXX. 

Many of the damages listed on my move out form were ludicrous, overly expensive, and frankly many of which required a service I already paid for. You see, some things that needed cleaning ( for example, the lawn and the garage ) were not cleaned in time for the final out. Under most circumstances, that would mean that I owe XXXX money to have it cleaned. 

The thing is, I already paid to have a cleaning service do it ; XXXX suggested cleaning service, to be exact. I was guaranteed -- both verbally and documented -- that the cleaning company I hired would be able to guarantee me a passing final inspection. More importantly, I have documentation from XXXX that states that if a job is not completed, they can call the cleaning company back after the final out inspection and have them finish the job. 

According to common law, this grants me Reasonable Assurance from XXXX that even if my house was not completely finished cleaning before the final out, it would be fine, and I would not be charged. However, I was still required to pay the cleaning company {$600.00} for the cleaning, and then more money to XXXX. 

This was only one of many items on the move out report that I was disputing, and I felt like I had a reasonable argument, so I was forwarded to the disputing officer for XXXX. 

I was told repeatedly that because I signed the move out report indicating the total amount owed, that also meant that I agreed to pay all of it. I had already taken the form to the base legal office, and they agree with my interpretation : that my signature on the form does not mean I agree with the charges, and I should be allowed to dispute them. Allow me to quote what it says : " I understand the items listed above, except as noted. '' I did n't note anything, because I understood it. However, it is not an admittance of agreement, as was made clear by the gentleman performing the final out. 

XXXX continued to refuse my disputes, quoting the move out report over and over. I offered to pay for some of the items, but stood strong with many others as I felt like I was in the right. XXXX never wavered, never tried to find a middle-ground with me ... they just kept telling me I owed them the full amount. 

Then ... they TOOK the money from me. I told them previously that they were absolutely not allowed to remove the amount from my XXXX, as per the Leasing Agreement, however they did it anyway. XXXX stole my money. 

I was contacted by someone higher up in the company, asking to get together for resolution, but I told them that I would not speak with them until my stolen money was returned. They said they would take my response as a refusal to cooperate, and a refusal to dispute the items, so they would simply send the total to a collections agency. 

They also finally gave in and returned my stolen money, weeks later. They never contacted me again about the disputed charges. 

Last night, I received a phone call from a collections agency, regarding this amount. I was informed that I was certainly allowed to pay what I thought I owed, however if it was not paid in full, XXXX would have the authority to negatively affect my credit. 

This is utter nonsense. XXXX refused to work with me on the individual charges listed, despite my numerous emails explaining my position. They took the liberty to steal the money from my bank account, and only then asked me to negotiate the disputed items. After finally returning my money, I come to find that they never intended on discussing the disputed charges, but instead had already filed my debt to collections. 

It is repulsive that a company can take advantage of military service members like this.

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