Consumer complaint received 2020-08-24
Product: Debt collection — Medical debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was paid
Company: Alliance Collection Agencies, Inc. (FL)

1. XXXX had visits with XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX. 

2. We were covered by a XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX told us they are not supposed to submit claims to XXXX XXXX XXXX ( even though they had done it for almost 18 months for us ). 

3. Our XXXX XXXX XXXX told us we could submit the claim, but after about 100 days they told us only the provider could submit the claim. XXXX XXXX refused to do this and sent the bill to collections. 

4. We received a bill dated XX/XX/XXXX from collections and paid it in full, {$730.00}, by check on XX/XX/XXXX. 

5. We received a bill dated XX/XX/XXXX from collections and paid it in full, {$160.00} by check on XX/XX/XXXX. 

6. XXXX contacted a friend at XXXX XXXX ( XXXX worked there for over 10 years ) and got the friend to agree to submit the bill to our XXXX XXXX XXXX saying she would only do it this once. This resulted in our XXXX XXXX XXXX paying what our coverage stipulated and having the collection agency refund us {$100.00} which I deposited on XX/XX/XXXX. At this point we thought we were done with this. 

7. Last month, XX/XX/XXXX, we received a bill from XXXX XXXX charging us for the services on the three dates listed in point 1. I called up the billing office and told them their computers had made a mistake as we had already paid for these services through a collection agency. I was told we owed the money, they implied I was mistaken that I had paid it, and I should contact the collection agency to straighten anything out with them, but XXXX XXXX had not been paid and I owed the money. 

8. I called the collection agency the same day. Their records showed I had paid the bills. They mailed me receipts. And they said it was odd that XXXX XXXX said we didnt pay the bills as XXXX XXXX has authorization to look into the collection agencys computer system to see if we had paid. 

9. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX called a friend at XXXX XXXX and explained the situation and asked them to look into the collection agencys system for the proof that we paid for the XX/XX/XXXX services. 

10. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX heard back from XXXX XXXX that the collection agency refunded us {$400.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. This did not happen, but it turns out it is consistent with the receipts we received from the collection agency. Unfortunately, XXXX had asked them to look up that we had made the payments we made and this question was not investigated. 

11. At some point in XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX sent this XXXX rehash of the XX/XX/XXXX charges to the wrong XXXX XXXX XXXX, one that wasnt covering us in XX/XX/XXXX. They denied the charges. 

12. In XXXX we received a bill from XXXX XXXX for the same three XX/XX/XXXX services in the amount of {$1600.00}. 

13. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX received a voicemail from XXXX XXXX asking her to call them about a business issue. She called and was told she owed {$1600.00} and was then asked how she wanted to pay for it. She explained to the woman that we had already paid this through a collection agency. She was then passed to someone else. That woman told her it didnt matter that we had paid the collection agency, we owed the money, and if we wanted money refunded from when we paid last year we had to talk to the collection agency. XXXX XXXX is saying we have to pay them {$1600.00} for services we have already paid for and if we dont they will send it to collections. XXXX was in tears after this conversation and has been losing sleep since then. This is forcing her to change providers as we cant trust XXXX XXXX billing and are not certain if any payment for future services would be applied to the correct services. 

14. On XX/XX/XXXX spoke with XXXX at Alliance Collection Agencies , Inc. to try to get them to correct their transactions. I was told that she could not change the transactions. I asked her if I showed proof if anyone at her agency could change the transactions so they would be correct and she said no.