Consumer complaint received 2015-07-29
Company: U.S. Collections West, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not mine

Complaint:
Back on XXXX XXXX of 2015 I received a notice and a phone call from a US Collections West in Arizona that was claiming they wanted to sue on a XXXX XXXX apartment account. Because I had already been evicted and there was a judgment against me for this particular account, I was shocked to hear that they wanted to sue on the same account again. I asked how much the supposed charges were and they told me {$3000.00}! They even placed it on my credit report. 

Because I am no expert at these things, I decided to hire a company to assist me in dealing with this debt and credit reporting. I called XXXX. This company told me that if I had already been sued for this account then I could n't be sued again. They also explained to me that they would go trough the validation of debt process so that US Collections West provided documentation to back up their claim of {$3000.00} in charges on top of the eviction notice I was already sued for. 

On XXXX XXXX 2015, XXXX XXXX who is my consultant spoke with a XXXX XXXX at XXXX. She was the collector handling this account. I was present and listening to the conversation on speaker phone and this collector was very rude, very aggressive, and was saying everything she could to get me to pay this account. At that point my representative decided that he would wait to resolve this matter with a different representative. 

Three days later, XXXX XXXX calls him again so my representative just asked for itemization on the charges. XXXX XXXX did n't want to but XXXX XXXX XXXX got her to do it. She stated in the conversation that the {$3000.00} debt was a judgment case # XXXX and that they were going to come after me for it. After looking that case # up, we noticed that was only for the eviction. XXXX XXXX XXXX was obviously trying to lie to us in order to scare me to pay off this debt. 

After a few days of getting harassing calls from US Collections West my representative asked XXXX XXXX to either provide the itemization or he would personally file a complaint against her and the company for noncompliance of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for harrasment after failure to validate debt within the initial 30 day period. At this point XXXX forwarded him the itemization and asked to collect the debt. We informed her we had to review it first. After reviewing the itemization we noticed that many of those charges were fraudulent as I was being charged for dates that were paid, double charged for certain months since XXXX was awarded rent and legal fees in the eviction, and charged for days I was no longer residing on the premises. They were even trying to collect early termination on top of rent which I know you can not do. After reviewing those charges XXXX informed XXXX to contact her client and have them explain those erroneous charges or her would advise me to seek an attorney. XXXX asked him to send that dispute by e-mail to a XXXX XXXX at XXXXXXXXXXXX as he was a supervisor. XXXX XXXX XXXX did so on XXXX XXXX and I will give you a copy. 

When neither I or XXXX received a response from US collections West on XXXX XXXX, we decided to call them to check on the status of the dispute. XXXX XXXX was not around. After 3 weeks of not being able to get a hold of XXXX XXXX we left a message for their general manager named XXXX on XXXX XXXX. On XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX spoke with XXXX and informed him that they had no knowledge of any dispute being sent to them. After some inquiring from XXXX we found out that XXXX XXXX had been out of the office due to XXXX. 

Extenuating circumstances aside, XXXX XXXX informed XXXX that this account has been disputed and they have failed to provide validation and XXXX has failed to prove any debt was owed. Since then all we have received is more calls for collections when proof has not been given.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation