Consumer complaint received 2023-03-14
Company: The CBE Group, Inc.
State: CO
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
See Attachment XXXX for a full explanation including proof, screenshots, and an index so to speak of all the other attachments. For an additional Summary see attachment XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX a letter drafted by my attorney. 
This debt collection account from XXXX is a mistake made by XXXX. They accidentally created a 2nd account in my name, but it is not legitimate. Because of this, they sent me a second phone which I did not realize for some time. I was packing and renovating my home and preparing it for sale so the box got lost and since I didn't know about it, I didn't look for it either. I called them immediately to let them know I found a phone and perhaps that was why they had sent mysterious invoices. Mind you none of the invoices or multiple conversations with XXXX support over many months ever once mentioned they had sent me a 2nd phone by accident. I spoke to XXXX that day, explained the error and situation, XXXX verified everything I said had transpired. I asked if I could just go turn it in to the store and resolve this, but she informed me the amount due had been sold to a debt collector and I would have to work with them. Next, I requested all notes and history on both accounts to prove this was an error, that I had called about XXXX times and visited the store at least 5-7 times ( each time a call was made to support so there should be a record of those ). Every time at the store I was told this was resolved, they promised the account was closed, my name removed, and I would not receive further threatening emails regarding an account that was not real if I did get more emails/invoices to ignore them. XXXX said because the debt had been sold it was impossible for her to help ; not even to send me documentation on either account to prove the issue. However, she could send me a text message stating this was all an error and verifying the debt was not my account. 
I have spent over a year trying to resolve this situation which was caused by an error made by XXXX. I contacted support and visited the store so many times and was never told anything about a phone and was assured each time it was fixed and I could ignore those emails, invoices, etc. I have the phone still in its box brand new and have offered to give it back several times. I disputed the credit collection on credit bureaus and won at which time the debt was passed on to a new collection agency CBE Group and it started all over again. CBE Group offered to settle the debt for {$500.00} on a phone conversation XX/XX/2022. I insisted they send me something in writing despite their efforts to push me to pay immediately without any guarantee of a resolution. See Attachment : XXXX XXXX XXXX showing the settlement offer for the {$500.00} amount. Despite the fact that this situation was caused by XXXX I was willing to pay {$500.00} to finally be done with it. My only concern was how it would appear on my credit. After some research, I was even more concerned so I contacted an attorney for help. I worked with XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. from the law firm XXXX XXXX to draft a letter with the primary goal of preventing a negative mark on my credit report which would cause a negative financial impact for years. I would pay the {$500.00} if they would simply report it in a way that did not suggest wrongdoing on my part or affect my overall credit score. See Attachment : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Letter which is a copy of this letter sent to both CBE Group and XXXX. They ignored this letter from my attorney and sent a new invoice for the full amount as shown in Attachment XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation