Consumer complaint received 2017-07-11
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was paid
Company: Lamont, Hanley & Associates, Inc. (CA)

I had an automobile insurance policy with a company called XXXX XXXX XXXX, which also does business as XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and as XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The car was originally co-leased by my mother and myself, and purchased by myself upon the lease 's expiration in XXXX. My mother was paying for the insurance policy via monthly deduction from her bank account on the XXXX day of every month. The amount deducted was {$280.00}. <P/>In late XX/XX/XXXX ( after the monthly deduction of {$280.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ), my motheras the payer of the policycalled XXXX XXXX to cancel the insurance policy, having found a much cheaper provider for the same coverage in XXXX. She spoke to a lady called XXXX XXXX, who acknowledged her cancellation request and instructed her to confirm her request in writing by sending it to her email address, XXXX. My mother sent her the email on XX/XX/XXXX, which I am attaching here a copy of ( Exhibit 1 ) together with the cancellation letter she included in my email as an attachment ( Exhibit 2 ). As you can see in the letter, she specifically requested to make the cancellation effective the last day covered by her last payment so that no additional payment would be required from her. <P/>Despite her call and email, I started receiving emails from XXXX XXXX and/or XXXX herself demanding payment and threatening for my case to be sent to a debt collector even though no money was owed at that point. For instance, I received one such email on XX/XX/XXXX, demanding payment of {$290.00} by XX/XX/XXXX ( copy attached as Exhibit 3 ). On XX/XX/XXXX I received another email from XXXX XXXX stating : Our records show that coverage for your auto insurance policy cancelled or expired on XX/XX/XXXX. Your policy is eligible to renew with a lapse in coverage if a payment in the amount of {$290.00} is received within 30 days of XX/XX/XXXX. ( Attached as Exhibit 4 ). In other words, it was acknowledged that the policy had been cancelled. Nevertheless, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received another email demanding payment of {$160.00}. <P/>In response, my mother emailed XXXX again on XX/XX/XXXX. She specifically sent her two emails, both of which I am attaching copies of : 1. One email where she explained the situation, asking XXXX to make sure that these demands stopped immediately so that my credit record would not be unfairly tainted by reporting me to a collection agency when this was, in fact, an error at the companys end ( Exhibit 5 ).
2. A separate email forwarding to XXXX the abovementioned email I received on XX/XX/XXXX demanding payment ( Exhibit 6 ). <P/>On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX replied to this second email acknowledging that the policy had been canceled and that she was looking into what happened. I am attaching her reply, which includes the prior chain of emails described. ( Exhibit 7 ). <P/>After that, I continued to receive threatening emails from the company demanding payment, so both my mother and myself emailed XXXX asking for resolution on the issue. I am attaching a copy of one such email my mother sent on XX/XX/XXXX ( Exhibit 8 ) and another one I sent on XX/XX/XXXX ( Exhibit 9 ). <P/>On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX replied to my mother asking her to send her a copy of my new insurance policy, to which I replied promptly the same day sending her my new policy with XXXX, and inviting her to clarify if this wasnt what she was looking for. I attach copies of this last email exchange ( Exhibit 10 ). On XX/XX/XXXX I emailed XXXX againnot having heard back from herasking for an update on the case. XXXX replied on XXXX XXXX stating that This policy was canceled on XX/XX/XXXX as requested ( Exhibit 11 ). <P/>Despite this acknowledgement and all our efforts to clarify the situation, in XX/XX/XXXX I received in the mail a letter from a debt collection agency called Lamont, Hanley, and Associates, trying to collect this debt that XXXX herself on behalf of XXXX XXXX acknowledged was not owed. Attached is a copy of the debt collectors request, date XX/XX/XXXX, where the company is now being referred to as XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and the amount claimed {$67.00} ( Exhibit 12 ). <P/>On XXXX XXXX my mother called the debt collection agency to once again try to clarify the situation. Unfortunately, the person on the phone was not only uncooperative but also extremely rude and intimidating, which seems completely unfair and unwarranted given that no debt is owed in the first place. <P/>I believe this behavior on the part of XXXX XXXX / XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and Lamont , Hanley , and Associates , and their respective employees, constitutes a violation of the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection Act and of my fundamental rights, given that no money is owed by either myself or my mother and my credit record has been unfairly tainted by an error on the part of the company and its repeated failure to correct that error. As the long list of attached exhibits show, both my mother and I have not only done what the company requested to cancel our account but also wasted an enormous amount of time to try to get the company to correct its mistaketo no avail.