Consumer complaint received 2022-10-31
Product: Debt collection — Medical debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was paid
Company: Harris & Harris, Ltd. (CT)

Received bill from XXXX Doctors on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$1900.00} for service on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX with XXXX Billing Representative who assured payments could be made monthly without penalty. 
Payments were made to completion as follows : XX/XX/XXXX : {$500.00} XX/XX/XXXX : {$500.00} XX/XX/XXXX : {$500.00} XX/XX/XXXX : {$110.00} XX/XX/XXXX : {$370.00} Received collection notification on XX/XX/XXXX for balance of {$370.00}. Please see communication sent to XXXX Doctors below : I am writing to hopefully bring attention to billing practices at XXXX that I feel can be improved. I am in the midst of a very frustrating billing process that has highlighted areas that I believe should be addressed by your institution to better serve your patients and community. 

I received a bill in XXXX for an outstanding balance for a preventative screening MRI for XXXX XXXX done in XXXX and a few days after the bill a call from your billing team. On that call, I asked if it was possible to make regular monthly payments without penalty and specifically asked about risk of the bill having an outstanding balance being sent for collection. I was assured that provided I made monthly on-time payments my account would remain in good standing without penalty. Despite my specifically asking the questions above, your representative did not say that those monthly payments had to be done on a plan nor did she offer or bring up a payment plan. 


I made regular monthly payments in XXXX, XXXX, twice in XXXX and in XXXX logged on to make the last payment. I saw a zero balance due and knew that was incorrect so again called your billing team. I was told my bill had been incorrectly sent to collections despite making regular payments. Your agent assured me this was in error, took payment for the final amount due over the phone, provided me with a confirmation code and assured me the routing to collections could be corrected. 

I was able to view that payment had been received on XXXX and that I had paid the bill in its entirety with a zero balance. 

Yesterday, I received notification from your debt collection agency Harris & Harris that I had an outstanding balance. Today I spoke with XXXX and XXXX from your billing team to express my concern that my paid bill was sent to collections and the potential impact of this on my credit as well as the process for ensuring the agency is aware that bill has been paid. This was the first time it was explained to me a payment plan would have been needed or it had to be paid in under 3 months or that without either of these happening it would still be sent to collection even if payments were being made. 

I want to highlight that it took over 30 minutes of being told to ignore the debt collection notification and that I had nothing to worry about and multiple requests to escalate my call asking for written verification that my bill was paid before I was able to speak to someone who could send me a written copy of my statement or explain how this happened in the first place. 

I then had to call the debt collection agency to ensure I had a zero balance, file a written contest with them and I am still not assured that this will not have impact on my credit. 

This process, of ensuring patients are paying on-time without penalty, not providing correct information about payment plans, sending a bill that was paid to collections and then offering no support and in fact, telling patients to ignore a debt collection notification is a truly disappointing practice and one I will be filing a complaint with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about . While my particular situation will likely resolve, I can only think of the hundreds, if not thousands of patients this impacts and that has potentially devastating impacts on their lives and credit. 

I am truly embarrassed and disappointed in your institutions billing practices and hope that someone with some ability to review your processes receives this for the betterment of patients. 

If you wish to discuss further, I would be happy to help you improve your process.