Consumer complaint received 2021-04-28
Company: Credit Bureau of Carbon County
State: CO
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I apparently received a paper statement from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX indicating I had a final balance due of {$430.00}. I did not know this at the time because I was in upstate NY doing doing some work for the feds. I had been paying XXXX a month on the account after a XXXX  XXXX  XXXX  XXXX  XXXX  XXXX  XXXX XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX. Because we were isolated away in upstate NY due to Covid-19, and because my credit card information had been stolen, I did not realize the last XXXX due had not been paid because the card was cancelled. I logged onto the XXXX XXXX XXXX website to check on my balance in XX/XX/XXXX, and saw the XXXX was a few months past due. I decided to pay the full amount the next day and when I logged on, to my surprise, an additional {$1100.00} had been added to my account overnight without explanation. I called the billing department and was told that my insurance company had been giving XXXX  problems with my bill from XX/XX/XXXX and they had finally resolved the issue and that's what was reflected on my account. 

I was told that it took almost 1 year from the date of my XXXX  to correct the final total due and that it was my health insurance company 's fault. This is a lie. I have spoken to my health insurance company numerous times trying to resolve this issue. It was the billing department for the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX that failed to bill for almost 1 year for this XXXX. This figure had never been made known to me, was not part of my payment plan, and never showed up on any billing statement. So I demanded answers about how and why it took the billing department 11 months to add the figure to my payment. They had no other explanation other than it was the insurance company 's fault. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received another almost identical letter, but this time with the XXXX dollars attached to the XXXX remaining balance. The billing department claimed they had been trying to reach me about the XXXX, and lied and said in writing that they had " sent several statements and tried to contact me regarding this bill ''. This is a lie and I have screen shots of my account to prove it and the letter from XX/XX/XXXX indicates there were no other outstanding balances due on my account for the XXXX. The XX/XX/XXXX letter indicates that the previous balance was XXXX, that the current amount due was XXXX and that there was no new activity on the account. 

But wouldn't you know it, in XX/XX/XXXX, less than 24 hours after the billing department added XXXX without explanation and acted like they had been sending me statements about this account for months on end, they lumped it in with the XXXX dollars due and claimed that the XXXX dollars now owed, added to my account overnight without explanation, totaled XXXX dollars and the billing department made it look like I had ignored the total amount due for 91-120 days and sent it that very week to a debt collector who is now suing me in court, and has added XXXX more dollars to the account for court fees. 

This is a clear abuse of consumer rights, fair debt collection practices and fradulent conveyence of a debt due that may not even be applicable due to the fact I had met my deductible for the year in XX/XX/XXXX. 

The billing department held the XXXX for all of about 24 hours in XX/XX/XXXX before they turned it over for debt collection and I'm fairly certain this is not a fair or legitimate legal practice. They did not hold it for 30 days, or 60 days or 90-120 days. They held it for 24 hours before they turned it over to collections. 

I will be contacting the CEO of XXXX and the law firm and I dare the billing department to try and pretend that they were in constant contact with me about this bill. The first time I heard of the XXXX dollars added to my bill in XXXX of XXXX, was in XX/XX/XXXX, at which point they held the alleged debt for approx., 24 hours before turing it over to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for debt collection because they claimed they had been trying to get me to pay it for months on end and it was 91-120 days overdue. This is a blatant lie and I have the documents to prove it. 

This is an illegal act in violation of the fair debt collection practices act. Period. 

To make matters worse, the billing office just tried to charge me an additional XXXX dollars for another XXXX  I had on XX/XX/XXXX, by submitting a bill for the surgery to my insurance company on XX/XX/XXXX. Almost 6 months after-the-fact. When I spoke with my surgeon 's office today, I was assured that I would not be paying for anything on this erroneous bill and that they hear constant complaints about the billing department for the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Constant complaints. 

The billing department for XXXX is full of liars and frauds willing to alter medical bills, so basically medical records, in order to make themselves look like they are not inept. But I assure you, they are 100 % inept, apathetic fools who are breaking the law.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation