Consumer complaint received 2024-10-16
Product: Debt collection — Rental debt
Issue: Written notification about debt — Didn't receive enough information to verify debt
Company: Consumer Collection Management. Inc (NC)

On XX/XX/XXXX, we moved out of our apartment complex when our lease ended at, XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, Ohio. When moving out, we gave the apartment a forwarding address and they noted that within 30 days we would receive a final move out statement through mail. After checking the mail during that 30 days, no information was received from the apartment complex. On XX/XX/XXXX, we sent an email to the apartment complex noting the statement had not been received and inquired when we would expect it. We sent the email on XX/XX/XXXX to one of the leasing agents we worked with but sent a follow-up email on XX/XX/XXXX to the general apartment email address to ensure the communication was sent, no response was provided to either of these emails. 

After several email and phone attempts, we did get ahold of one of the leasing agents on XX/XX/XXXX. The leasing specialist told us that our final statement had not yet been finalized. She states she did not know why it is taking so long and does not know when we will receive the final statement. She stated that once the bill is finalized, the complex would send a final statement through the mail ( confirmed the new address over the phone ) and then we would have 30 days to pay it. During this time, we noted that there was a charge in our XXXX account for a carpet replacement however, nothing was communicated, and we were attempting to find out why this was. We emailed on XX/XX/XXXX asking about this and referencing our call with the leasing specialist on the XXXX and finally got a response on XX/XX/XXXX. The manager noted he was attaching a final statement on XX/XX/XXXX and included an invoice from a carpet company. He referenced minor tears in the carpet but this was an existing issue in the apartment and we had previously submitted maintenance requests and they just came and stapled down the carpet where it was tearing. While this was not caused by us, this is not our concern because we were willing to pay. We were told on the phone that we would receive this final statement in the mail so we were waiting on this statement to be sent and information where we needed to pay the balance. On XX/XX/XXXX, we still had not received any mail statements and sent an email to the manager to confirm this was the final balance because we wanted to avoid future issues and asked how we could pay the balance through a voicemail and email.We did not receive a reply to the phone call or email and sent an additional email follow-up on XX/XX/XXXX to the manager and apartment email address and again got no response. We then sent an additional follow-up on XX/XX/XXXX, and again got no reply. We had set money aside for the balance and had the money to pay it but we could not pay the balance because we no longer had the ability to make online payments through XXXX after move out and had no information on where or how we could pay the balance. I will note that we moved away 7 hours so we did not just want to mail a check when they could not confirm who the check would need made out to or any information on how to pay. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX, we were still waiting on information on how to pay and received a collections letter in the mail. We called the collection agency and left a voicemail on the situation and did not get a call back. We also called the apartment complex and spoke to a leasing specialist at XXXX and why the balance was sent to collections when we had been calling and email attempting to pay and nobody got back to us. She said the manager does not talk on the phone and only communicates through email ( although he did not respond to any of our emails ), and asked about an additional manager information and the agent said that only the manager can give that information. She said she does not know why he will not respond to the emails and that he is bad at responding to emails but he is on vacation and we could call back Thursday XX/XX/XXXX and she would try to make him take the phone call. She said he is the only one who has the ability to take the balance off collections and not in her hands. We asked why we never received the final statement and she said the final statement was mailed XX/XX/XXXX, and we told her we never received this. I will also note that during our phone call on XX/XX/XXXX, the same leasing agent said the statement had not been finalized and even if it did get sent on XX/XX/XXXX, we did not have 30 days to pay as the collections was opened on XX/XX/XXXX. We are fine with paying this balance although we should not have to pay through the collections agency given the above details as we made multiple attempts to pay the balance directly through the apartment and this should have never reached collections if they would have responded with details on how to pay.