Consumer complaint received 2018-05-02
Company: CL Holdings LLC
State: TN
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
For years, I had an account with XXXX for their wireless " mi-fi '' mobile internet service. It is a wi-fi box that you can take anywhere so that you don't have to use public wi-fi and chance getting a virus or other problem, as the " mi-fi '' box is password protected. I normally paid for 5 gigs per month for {$50.00}. Most months I didn't even use the 5 gigs, however, if I had special projects I was working on that caused me to need additional gigs, I had the ability to go into my account and change it, so I had full control over how much data I would use and how much I would pay. This problem goes back to before XX/XX/XXXX, when I contacted XXXX because someone hacked into my " mi-fi '' box and I started seeing charges showing up on my credit card for amounts in excess of {$100.00}. If I ever needed more than my usual 5 gigs for {$50.00}, I could go into my account and change it for the month so that if I needed more than 8 gigs, I would change it and the plan would allow me to use 10 gigs for {$80.00}. I always had my account set up on auto pay, and I knew I would never run my bill up more than {$80.00} per month and it was very rare that I used more than the 5 gigs for {$50.00}. When I started seeing these higher charges on my credit card statements, I called XXXX to let them know that I had a problem and that my " mi-fi '' box had been hacked and it wasn't me running the bill up that high. I called them for several months trying to get them to resolve the problem. The first few calls were to customer service, and I was told that the problem would be elevated to management to be corrected, however, nobody did anything to correct my billing and find out how my account was hacked. After several calls, I was told that I should have been dealing with the fraud department and that they would open a case on it and work on the problem. I let another billing cycle go by, and once again my bill was way to high, so I called again and asked for the fraud department. When I talked to that department again, I was told that nobody ever opened a case on it. I talked to people from the lowest positions up to managers and I could not believe that nobody did anything at all to adjust my bills back to what I actually owed and there was never a fraud case opened. I told them to take my account off auto pay since I was having to pay for several months worth of charges that I didn't run up and obviously nobody at XXXX  cared. After I took the account off auto pay I used the internet service for the amount of time that I had already paid for since they never credited my credit card back and then I closed the account and never did business with XXXX again. I even cancelled my cell phone service with them, even though I never had billing problems with that service. I was just never going to do business with them again.

After I closed the account and a few months went by, suddenly XXXX  managed to put some effort into trying to collect {$170.00} from me, which was the overage from when my account was hacked and nobody could manage to help me get a new " mi-fi '' box or do something on their end to be able to stop the hacker. I told them I had already paid that balance and I would not pay any more money to them on that account and it was ridiculous that I tried to get them to help me for months to no avail. After a while, they turned my account over to a collection agency. Every time I explained the situation to the collection agency, they apologized and said that I would not be hearing back from them and they were sorry for what all XXXX  had put me through. It seemed to me that after talking to people at collection agencies, this seemed to be how lacking in service XXXX  was all the time. XXXX   turned my account over to a few collection agencies and I explained what happened each time and each time I got the same response, an apology and a statement that they would not call me again. Keeping in mind that this goes all the way back to XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX has surely spent a good deal more than {$170.00} over the years trying to collect money that they are not owed. I was hopeful that by now this would be behind me, however, on XX/XX/XXXX I got a phone call from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  MN XXXX Phone # XXXX. I once again explained what happened and that I didn't owe XXXX any money and that my account had been hacked and after many, many phone calls to XXXX they did absolutely nothing to stop and fix the problem. The man I was talking to on the phone would say that his manager was right there with him and he said that if I paid {$100.00} that they would write off the other {$75.00}. I once again told him that I was not paying a dime for a bill that a hacker ran up. Then the man said that his manager said that if I would pay {$75.00} that they would write off the rest. Again I asked him what did he not understand - I did not owe that bill and I would not pay any money on a bill a hacker ran up and that XXXX  made me make phone call after phone call for months and they didn't do one thing to help take care of this problem and if anything XXXX  owed me money for all my time and effort trying to get them to help me and I kept them informed from the very first time my bill was too high. That ended the conversation, and within the next few days, I got an email from XXXX XXXX that my credit score, which has always been excellent, had dropped. I immediately went out to my account and XXXX XXXX had put this on my credit report, so I immediately went online and filed a dispute with XXXX. To my knowledge, I think it is illegal for a collections agency to try to collect different amounts of money than what was turned over to them. I intend to file complaints against XXXX XXXX  to every agency I can possibly file with. I have always paid my bills on time and have always had an excellent credit score and I will not stop until this false claim is off my record. If it's illegal for a collection agency to try to wheel and deal with people about how much to pay, I will see that they are reported to the appropriate agencies so that they can go through what I have been put through. The only difference is that I didn't do anything wrong and I don't owe a dime of the balance of what they are trying to collect. It is ridiculous that any business would be chasing after {$170.00} that they aren't even due from all the way back in XX/XX/XXXX and here it is in XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX should be ashamed that they can't run a business any better than that.

Thank you for your time and assistance. XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief