Consumer complaint received 2016-01-08
Product: Debt collection — Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Communication tactics — Threatened to take legal action
Company: Collection Bureau of America Ltd. (MA)

This complaint supersedes the complaint which I filed against these parties. The complaint involves XXXX parties, XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) and its collection agency, Collection Bureau of America ( Bureau ). 

Essentially, the Bureau submitted a bill to me containing false statements as to what I had been paid and what I owed due to charges my insurance company disallowed. When I demanded a bill reflecting any adjustments by my insurer, the Bureau refused to provide it and threatened to report me to the credit reporting agencies, as it knew that reporting accurate information would have revealed its fraud. Because these practices appear widespread, an investigation is necessary and enforcement action may be as well. 

The complaint relates to my hospital stay in XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX and XXXX XXXX. I was treated both in the emergency room and the main hospital. 

I received a bill from XXXX in early XXXX claiming {$5500.00} for services rendered while hospitalized. This bill was the only one I received for a stay in which the total billed amount was in excess of {$120000.00}. I contacted the billing departments for both the emergency room and regular hospital physicians. Both reported that all services had been paid in full. 

I contacted my insurer, advised them of these facts, and asked them to investigate. XXXX reported that it could find no record of a bill rendered by XXXX. 

In the fall of XXXX, I was contacted by an XXXX at the Bureau. She initially claimed that the insurer had not paid the {$5500.00} and that I owed it. In a second call she claimed that I had been paid approximately {$5200.00} and that I owed that. I explained that I wanted a statement of itemized charges together with the insurer 's adjustments. She refused to provide one. 

Thereafter, my insurer and XXXX communicated and discovered the reason for the lack of progress in my investigation. XXXX had reported the charges under a different physician, XXXX XXXX, than the physician reported to me, XXXX XXXX. Hence, when I was asking for information from XXXX, they were not searching under the right name. Based on the records available to XXXX, they advised that {$1100.00} of XXXX claim had been disallowed, and that this fact had been communicated to XXXX. 

Hence the following statements, made through the United States mails and by interstate wire communictions, were false and known to be false by XXXX and the Bureau when made. 

1. That I had been paid {$5500.00}. 
2. That I owed {$5500.00}. 
3. That I owed interest on the {$5500.00}. 

In addition, XXXX and the Bureau 's failure to provide a bill indicating the insurer 's adjustments were made in an effort to conceal conduct that they knew to be unlawful. 

I do not have the ability to scan documents on this computer but I can provide copies if contacted at the cotaqct information below. 

My advice to consumers is twofold. Never accept as true a medical bill that does not reflect the adjustments made by the insurer. And, what originally aroused my suspicion was a bill where all of the entries ended with a zero in the single dollar place. With more than 15 separate entries on the bill, the chances of this happening after action by the insurer are virtually nil.