Consumer complaint received 2017-07-16
Product: Debt collection — Medical debt
Issue: Written notification about debt — Didn't receive enough information to verify debt
Company: Credence Resource Management, LLC (CA)

At issue : -Debt owed for ambulance ride on  XXXX / XXXX /17 via   XXXX      XXXX   XXXX   -Amount {$2100.00} -Date  XXXX  XXXX /17- XXXX / XXXX /17 -no advertising, no contract, no receipt for services.
I received a call on  XXXX / XXXX /2017 regarding a debt owed. The caller identified himself as a debt collector associated with Credence and identified the party owed as an ambulance company and the amount owed as {$2100.00}. Up until this call, I was unaware that there was ANY outstanding debt. I had been involved in an auto accident and was transported via ambulance to an emergency room on  XXXX / XXXX /2017 ( the collections call came less than six weeks after the incident in which I had incurred the debt! ). On  XX/XX/XXXX  I told the caller that I would be happy to arrange payment, ( as I had insurance ) but that I had never seen an invoice or any other information about the debt ... no bill, no emails, no calls, nothing from the ambulance service or otherwise. I gave my address and asked the caller to send me an invoice showing the amount owed and who it was owed to. I was told that, at this time, that it would take 5-10 days for the invoice to arrive and asked if I would like to arrange payment in the meantime. At this point I was thinking that this was a scam. ( XX/XX/XXXX  call time 2 minutes ) On XX/XX/XXXX  I received another call from the same number and operator regarding the same debt. I informed him that I had not received the invoice and was not convinced that it was a legitimate debt. He again insisted that it was legitimate and that I arrange payment. He also insisted that I should have received the invoice even though he had initially indicated that it would take 5-10 days. I informed him that I had not and hung up. (  XX/XX/XXXX  call time 6 minutes ) On  XX/XX/XXXX  I called my insurance company and the hospital that I had been taken to and neither had any record of an ambulance billing. I was eventually able to get the get the name of the ambulance service and contact them. (   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   ). I asked them to send me an invoice and was told that it had been sent to collections. ( Again, just 6 weeks after the incident had occurred ). On  XX/XX/XXXX  I also received a 3rd call from the same operator at Credence Collections. He again insisted that I had received the information I had requested ( I had not ) and again insisted that I arrange payment. (  XX/XX/XXXX call time 3 minutes ). From the time I had asked for Credence to send me an invoice, 6 days had elapsed and I had received 2 additional calls regarding collection of the debt! On  XX/XX/XXXX  I received 2 exact copies of the invoice I had requested in the mail, both of them date  XX/XX/XXXX  and both of them post-marked  XX/XX/XXXX . If this is n't harassment I do n't know what is.
I have reached out to   XXXX   XXXX   and they have agreed to bill my insurance company as they should have. They had made absolutely no attempt to reach out to me, the hospital that I was transported to, or my insurance company regarding this matter, instead immediately sending an aggressive collections agency after me.
My issue is both with with  XXXX  and their policy of sending customers to collections without having ever initially billed them or making a good-faith attempt at contacting them. AND with Credence for having clearly violated fair debt collection practices by incessantly contacting me about a debt that they had yet to send me an invoice on after I had requested said invoice. I believe that a resolution of the debt is in the works, via  XXXX  and My insurance company. I would like to see Credence made aware of, and/or fined for their incessant, aggressive, and illegal attempts at collecting this debt ( having been asked for an invoice and not immediately sending it as well as not allowing time for it to be received ). -Attached is the first and ONLY written correspondence that I have ever received regarding this matter.