Consumer complaint received 2017-05-02
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Written notification about debt — Didn't receive enough information to verify debt
Company: Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson LLP (VA)

My husband and I live in northern  XXXX  and visited  XXXX  for six weeks this past  XXXX . We use toll roads on a regular basis here in the north, so we have an EZ-Pass transponder in our car. We made sure to have that in the car for the time we were in  XXXX  so that we would be in compliance with the new toll roads that have been instituted in  XXXX  since we last lived there.     Last week we received a collection letter from Linebarger, Goggan,  Blair   &amp;   Sampson, LLP , dated  XXXX   XXXX ,  2017 , informing us that we immediately owed them {$79.00} for unpaid   XXXX   tolls. We were stunned since we thought we had been in total compliance. When I called  XXXX , we sorted out that we have an EZ-Pass and not an EZ-Tag so we had not been charged the tolls we thought we had been paying. He said we had been mailed a bill on  XXXX   XXXX ,  2017 , which detailed the tolls and fees. We never received that letter. At the time, our mail was being forwarded from   XXXX   to our temporary address in  XXXX  ; apparently that letter went astray.     The letter we got from  Linebarger  , Goggan, Blair &amp; Sampson, LLP  claimed on the front to list a Detail of Violation Notices, Fees, Fines &amp; Costs on the back, but all it listed was a single line with the invoice number, the  XXXX  date and a total of {$79.00}. Nothing else.     Against our will and to de-escalate future fees, we have paid this bill.     We are very upset at the procedures followed by the   XXXX    in this matter. In the first place, a single letter is hardly sufficient notification of a debt for most people. If there is only going to be  one  notification, it should be sent Certified Mail. If that seems an onerous expense for the  XXXX , then at the very least a second and third notice should be sent before a collection letter. We live in rural  XXXX  and find that at least  two  to  three  pieces of our mail do n't make it to us each year. Yes,  one  piece of mail from a particular source can certainly go astray, but it is much less likely to happen to  two  pieces of mail from the same source.     It is also inappropriate that we have not received a detailed, printed accounting of the tolls and fees that we have just paid. For the amount of money apparently added on to our tolls for the privilege of receiving a collection letter, it would be nice to know how much of that is actually toll charges and how much is  XXXX  and collection agency fees.     Also, when I called to pay the invoice, a recording said that we owed {$79.00} but that that amount may not reflect the full amount due. What does this mean? That once we have authorized a payment of {$79.00},  Linebarger, Goggan, Blair &amp; Sampson, LLP , are free to add additional fees to my bill now that they have my credit card number? It made us pause before giving our credit card number, but we were basically being coerced to do so by a guarantee of additional fees if we didnt versus a possibility of additional fees if we did so. Hardly a fair choice.