Consumer complaint received 2024-08-01
Product: Debt collection — Telecommunications debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: SUNRISE CREDIT SERVICES, INC (PA)

In XX/XX/year>, I canceled an XXXX internet service account with XXXX XXXX their website customer service chat. I received confirmation via email from XXXX on XX/XX/year> which stated the last day of service would be Wednesday, XX/XX/year>. I received an email with an identical subject line the next day, XX/XX/year>, with a different disconnection date, this time for Thursday, XX/XX/year>. 

On XX/XX/year>, I received a reminder email from XXXX which stated the final day of service was scheduled to be XX/XX/XXXX. 

On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received email confirmation from XXXX that my final bill would be processed automatically as had ALL my prior payments on this account, which was set to automatic payments on my XXXX. XXXX confirmed receipt of my final payment on XX/XX/XXXX, via automatic payment on my XXXX in the amount of {$87.00}, all of which was as expected. Regardless of XXXX records of the last day of service, whether it was XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX, both dates were fully covered within the billing period of this XX/XX/XXXX payment and this should have been my final payment. Service was canceled, I had fully paid for all prior service, and I had no XXXX equipment to return. 

Starting XX/XX/year> records including emails sent from XXXX and charges to my XXXX indicate that XXXX did not properly manage the disconnection of my canceled service on this account nor did they properly end automatic payments. The debt XXXX eventually reported for this period was a result of their failure to stop the charges after I canceled my service and the debt is therefore completely illegitimate and must be removed from my credit reports with XXXX and all other agencies. 

On XX/XX/year> I disputed an erroneous XX/XX/XXXX {$87.00} transaction with XXXX. XXXX never defended the charge and XXXX resolved XXXX dispute in my favor and credited me the full amount on XX/XX/year>. 

On XX/XX/year>, I disputed an erroneous XX/XX/XXXX {$87.00} transaction with XXXX. XXXX never defended the charge and XXXX resolved XXXX dispute in my favor and credited me the full amount on XX/XX/year>. I informed XXXX via the dispute that the charges were for service that was canceled and no longer in use and I expected no further charges or bills after this, but instead XXXX continued to send erroneous bills and charges. 

XXXX sent another erroneous automatic payment notice concerning the canceled service, this time stating that I would be billed in the amount of {$180.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/year>, XXXX sent an email with the subject : XXXX receiving a refund to your XXXX. The refund was described as in the amount of {$87.00} and the stated processing date was XX/XX/year>. There was no further explanation for why I was receiving the refund, such as which bill it was meant to be refunding. The refund never appeared on my XXXX statement. 

On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX sent another erroneous automatic payment notice : Your next monthly automatic payment will process on XX/XX/year>. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX emailed me to say Your XXXX  services have been suspended. The body of the email stated : Make a payment to stay connected Your XXXX  services have been suspended due to a past due balance of {$170.00}. 
At this point this was the first mention from any communications from XXXX that I owed a balance on the account, despite my having canceled the service and XXXX previously confirming the cancellation back in XXXX. The debt referenced in this email message was clearly an error and I never, at any time, owed any amount in past due balance to XXXX. 
Whats more, this email was misleading as to the nature of the communication. The email asked for payment to stay connected and keep services going that I was not actually using. The main text of the message says : You can restart your service by paying your past due balance or see if you are eligible for flexible payment options. Because I had already canceled the service, there was no reason to restart it by making any payment. Further down the email message, under the fold, which I have to scroll to see, is text saying This is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. This appears to be a dark pattern design that conceals this relevant information by hiding it below the fold where the user is unlikely to see it. I have attached a screenshot illustrating this dark pattern on my high resolution laptop computer monitor. 

On XX/XX/year> XXXX attempted to charge me yet another erroneous charge, this time in the amount of {$270.00}, and I received the following email message that the payment did not go through : Your automatic payment of {$270.00} was declined by your bank for the card ending in XXXX. 
Since your payment did not process, you will need to make a payment to avoid any late fees or service interruption. 
Again, this was for a canceled account, there was no service interruption since there was no service. My understanding is that XXXX correctly declined the payment due to my XXXX prior disputes with XXXX asking XXXX to refuse any attempted charges by XXXX for this canceled account. 

On XX/XX/year>, XXXX emailed me another erroneous bill on the canceled account for {$360.00} with a due date of XX/XX/year>. 

On XX/XX/year>, XXXX emailed me with the subject Your XXXX  services have been disconnected. The body of the email stated : We have attempted to contact you regarding your past due balance. Your XXXX  services have been disconnected because your past due balance remainsunpaid. 
If you do not want to have your XXXX services reconnected, please return your XXXX equipment to an XXXX store or XXXX XXXX location within 10 days to avoid an unreturned equipmentcharge. This email was a clear error since I never had XXXX  equipment so owed no charges for unreturned equipment, and I owed no service charges, as I had already canceled the account in XXXX and they had confirmed this multiple times including confirmation that the last day of service was XX/XX/year>. This email contained no notice that XXXX considered the erroneous balance a debt to be collected. 

On XX/XX/year> XXXX sent an email stating that We haven't received yourpayment : Your XXXX  service was recently disconnected, but you still have an outstanding balance of {$230.00}. If you do not pay this balance, your account will be placed with a collection agency. Please note that while your balance may contain fees for unreturned equipment, only your bill amount before unreturned equipment fees will be turned over tocollections. 
Again this was in error as XXXX confirmed cancelation of the account in XXXX AND XXXX multiple times and the outstanding balance referenced here was regarding charges XXXX erroneously billed me after the final date of service which was XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/year> XXXX sent another erroneous email regarding the illegitimate debt : We've tried reaching you regarding your outstanding balance of {$230.00}. * Because we haven't received your payment, your account will soon be placed with a collection agency and may negatively impact your credit rating. You can prevent this by paying {$230.00} no later than XX/XX/year>. Please note that while your balance may contain fees for unreturned equipment, only your bill amount before unreturned equipment fees will be turned over to collections.