Consumer complaint received 2022-03-01
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: Rowland Avenue Management, Inc. A/KA Columbia Debt Recovery, LLC d/b/a Genesis (CA)

XX/XX/XXXX my 1-year fixed term lease with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, WA was set to end. XXXX XXXX XXXX never sent me a renewal offer and, according to the wording in my lease, my lease was to be terminated on that date, and only in the event of buyout of the lease or if I was a month-to-month was I supposed to give specifically 20 days of notice. About a week prior to the end of lease date I called the leasing office to ask about last steps for end of lease and moving out, along with giving them my forwarding address and my official move out date ( which was on the last day of the lease at the time listed ). They told me I cant move out then and that I would have to pay for the following month because I didnt give them 20 days notice, quoting RCW 59.18.200 which only applies to month-to-month leases, or leases of an indefinite amount of time. I explained to them how I did give proper notice as outlined in the lease and not in conflict with RCW 59.18.200. They ignored what I said and kept sending me screenshots of the lease that stated exactly what I said, that it only applied in terms of buyout or month-to-month. I gave them my forwarding address and asked them to send an itemized list with deduction amounts of everything taken out of the deposit including if things exceed that amount. I didnt hear a word for them or receive an itemized breakdown of deductions and how they used my deposit until XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX after receiving a call from Columbia Debt Recovery LLC XXXX XXXX at XXXX by a representative named XXXX, it XXXX also be noted I never remember XXXX telling me XXXX call was being recorded or given my consent but I would find out later that the call was recorded and he argued he did tell me it was being recorded. During this call XXXX told me that they acquired a debt from XXXX XXXX XXXX amounting to {$3700.00} and kept trying to urge me to pay or find out when exactly I could start paying. I asked him I would like to communicate through writing from then on and I would like verification of of the amount they were claiming. XXXX sent me a validation of debt email with an incredibly vague itemized list of charges and credit dated and labeled from XXXX XXXX XXXX. Two charges specifically on this itemized list caught my attention. One charge they listed was for {$1700.00} for insufficient notice. Aside from the fact I gave sufficient notice in compliance with the lease and law, this specific amount shows up nowhere in the lease as a penalty for insufficient notice, its a made up amount. The other charge I had questions about was a charge for {$1300.00} for floor replacement when the lease states resident will be liable for reasonable cleaning expenses. Another thing to note, not once during our call or in the validation of debt email was I informed that I could dispute the debt, rather I was only told to call them to discuss the debt. I took some time before writing my dispute letter after learning that legally I had 30 days after first contact to submit a dispute because I wanted to get a bit more understanding, read over my lease again to triple check, rest up from getting sick over the holidays, and other things. XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX I received, a call from the debt collection agency again ( from a different number ) even though I had explicitly told them I wanted contact to be done in writing. I had bad cell service and the call dropped so I called back about a minute later and I was greeting by an automated message telling me the call was being recorded, and at this point to my knowledge was the first time I remember hearing the calls were recorded, which I wasnt comfortable with so I hung up immediately. XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX they called me again, but this time I had missed the call. I called them back the same day around XXXX to remind them that I had asked them to only communicate with me in writing and to let them know I wasnt aware they had been recording our first call. XXXX told me they did and that I gave my consent. I very much dont remember this, but if they recorded the call that should prove whether or not they got my consent or not. XXXX continued to urge me to pay, but I said I would contact them soon about my dispute. XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX I sent back an email dispute outlining the relevant parts in the lease along with addressing the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX as justification as to why the charge for insufficient notice is not justified. I also asked if they could provide evidence as to why floor replacement was necessary as that by no means is reasonable cleaning expenses assuming average wear and tear. At the end of the dispute letter I also asked for verification that they specifically owned the debt and that they have authorization to collect it as I had heard many horror stories of debt being sold to multiple XXXX who all tried to collect. Two days passed and I received no response to my dispute, the XXXX day has arrived so I wanted to make sure they received it. I called XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. This time I was recording and I did ask and receive consent from XXXX to do so. I asked if he had received my dispute email and if not, being the XXXX day, how I could make sure he got it. He gave me his direct email ( which I had already sent it to ) and I resent it to that email. The entirety of the call after he tried to continuously deflect and say more and try to urge me to just pay, even though I stated multiple times I want that communication in writing and that I was only calling to make sure he got my dispute. After this call I received no response from them regarding my dispute or request for verification that they owned and could collect on the debt. Instead, XX/XX/XXXX I received emails from Credit Karma stating that I had new collections account on my record. They had submitted the accounts to the credit bureaus with no contact to me following the dispute ( and still to this day XX/XX/XXXX ), and disregarding that the amount shown was proven to be incorrect due to false charges.