Consumer complaint received 2021-04-01
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: Sequium Asset Solutions, LLC (VA)

Step 1 : What is this complaint about? 

XXXX XXXX is attempting to collect a debt that is not owed. 

Step 2 : What type of problem are you having? 

We used XXXX at our last residence, and had service with XXXX for many years. When we moved XX/XX/XXXX, we cancelled our service and they claim we owe an early termination fee of {$180.00}, when in fact we were years out of our contractual obligation and they are maliciously and willfully attempting to force us to pay them money in violation of the " Fair Debt Collection Act. '' Step 3 : What happened? 

XXXX claims we entered a new contract with them in XX/XX/XXXX, which is false and we have e-mail documentation proving it. We contacted them in XXXX of XXXX to try add a phone line. After their representative made various changes to our service, he discovered he could not, in fact, add a phone line as there was already a phone line at our residence ( out housemate had put it in a couple years before ). So we told the agent to just keep our old plan, and he supposedly corrected the account and cancelled all the changes. He sent an e-mail which seemed to us to support the cancellations. Whether he made an error and accidently made the cancellation of the changes a " new '' plan, misrepresented what he was doing, or just lied to us is irrelevant. The change we wanted - getting a phone line - could not happen, we had no need for other services or changes in our previous service and never utilized any changes they may have put against us without our permission, we never agreed to a new plan, we requested the changes be cancelled and that we be kept on our original contract, and we were led to believe, verbally and by e-mail, that what we requested occurred. We never authorized the change and the account is not in my legal name. 

Step 4 : What company is this complaint about? 

XXXX XXXX. 

I called three times to dispute the charges with XXXX and offered to send the e-mail proof, and even read the e-mail over the phone to them one time. They never made a record of the dispute, so in XXXX I provided a written dispute with the e-mail evidence. They have refused to respond though I have written them twice more. They sent the account to collections, being Sequim, who contacted me to pay the account. I notified them of the dispute, and they have since e-mailed me to say they are no longer handling the account. No other collections agency has contacted us about this account and XXXX has never responded to us. 

Of note, when I called to dispute, I also offered to pay the outstanding service charge, but was told to wait for the outcome of the dispute and pay whatever was owed then. But, as mentioned, they ignored my disputes and reported late payments on the monthly bill as well, so in XXXX, when I did the written dispute, I paid what I believe was the monthly charge remaining. 

Step 5 : Who are the people involved? 

XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, NJ XXXX, Account No. XXXX, under XXXX XXXX, service address XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, VA XXXX Sequim Asset Solutions LLC, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, GA XXXX, XXXX