Consumer complaint received 2015-10-05
Company: Snow and Sauerteig LLP
State: IN
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical
Issue: Taking/threatening an illegal action
Sub-issue: Sued w/o proper notification of suit

Complaint:
in XX/XX/XXXX I had medical testing completed through XXXX Hospital. I was not familiar of the specific test they were doing and asked why they were doing that test when they did it. A week later I received a letter stating that they were sorry they did not have the time to meet with me prior to providing the test but after insurance my total would be XXXX. I did not have the money and would not have had the test if I would have known. I was not in a life threatening state that it was mandatory i have the test completed. 
I received a bill and tried to make payment arrangements for the total after insurance of {$1400.00}. They would not allow me to do so and told me the bill would go to collections. Since that time I did receive XXXX bill from a collection agency. I did not dispute it as I knew the services had been performed. On XXXX XXXX I received a letter from the XXXX county Indiana court that I was being sued for the total of {$1400.00} plus {$690.00} in interest, attorneys fees and court costs. 

I called XXXX Hospital and asked for an itemized statement. The lady on the phone offered to take my payment over the phone. I told her no, Thank you, but I was going to mail the payment so I had the cleared check for a receipt. She said ok and mailed me XXXX statements with XXXX envelopes. 
On XXXX XXXX I mailed a check for {$700.00} with the intent to mail the balance in XXXX weeks. On XXXX XXXX I received a call from XXXX telling me I could not pay with a check but she could take my payment over the phone. She said the check would be sent on but could not tell me with who. I said whatever they needed to do to process the payment was fine. 
On XXXX XXXX I was ready to pay the balance. The check had still not cleared my account. I wanted the account to be paid in full. I called to inquire on the check and XXXX Billing Department showed the check was received but did not know where the check was located. 
I told the lady I wanted to make a payment on the account, she said she could not accept payment because I was in the wrong department and transferred me. I talked to another lady who also did nto have any record of the check and told me normally she could accept my payment, but could not. She told me I had to pay through the collection agency. 
I called another department as I keep everything and looked for another number. They took the payment in full and emailed me a receipt. I stopped payment on the first check. 
I called the attorney that was handling the hearing and collections for XXXX. They were noting the account and said I had been sent a letter on XXXX XXXX telling me they were handling the account for XXXX, which I did not receive. 
I did not have the money in XX/XX/XXXX to pay this account. I tried to make arrangements and was denied because I wanted to pay {$50.00} per month. They said I had to pay {$100.00}. I could not. 
Since that time I received XXXX letter from a collection agency and otherwise I truly forgot about this. When I receive the hearing notice I made payment as quickly as I could. However, the hearing will still go on. I will be at the hearing. 
I tried with everything I knew to make payment. It has caused me a lot of undue stress because I simply was no notified, but was just sued. After the tests i never received the test results as I had to cancel the appt. I tried to make another appointment but could not get them to call me back or reply online. I went to the records department XXXX to try and get the results. They did not have them and they were baffled of the where they would be. i switched Dr 's and he was finally able to get them. I am not sure what can be done. Thank you!

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