Consumer complaint received 2022-06-22
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: Hillcrest Davidson & Associates (FL)

I am filing a complaint against the debt collections agency, Hillcrest Davidson, and their debt collector, XXXX XXXX, for the following reasons : ( 1 ) collecting on debts not owed, ( 2 ) making harrasing and threatening calls and ( 3 ) the most egregious of which is threatening me with arrest. 

Background : XXXX XXXX is attempting to collect supposed debts related to charges made on my corporation 's credit card, for digital affiliate sales services provided by XXXX ( the supposed creditor ) in XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. During the this time, my corporation, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, entered into a marketing services agreement with XXXX, where I would pre-pay for web sales traffic in {$1000.00} increments. The traffic was managed by their affiliate, XXXX XXXX. XXXX and XXXX XXXX ran tens of thousands of dollars worth of charges on my credit card, while we did not receive any of the traffic. An analysis of IP addresses provided by XXXX verified that a significant portion of traffic was diverted to other websites controlled by XXXX XXXX. We brought this to XXXX 's attention, and we immediately requested a chargeback with the credit card company, XXXX XXXX in XXXX, XXXX. We eventually lost the chargeback request, and we paid the balances in full. However, XXXX and XXXX XXXX continue to insist that we owe them an unpaid balance of {$21000.00}. We have repeatedly requested for the accounting, and have provided credit card statements and direct communication from XXXX XXXX showing that we lost the chargeback requests and the charges were applied to our account. 

Interaction with the Debt Collector : 1. XXXX XXXX initially reached out to me by phone on XX/XX/XXXX, vaguely mentioning that I owed XXXX {$17000.00}. I asked XXXX XXXX for evidence of the outstanding balance, and his email so I could provide him an explanation from our end, but he provided neither. It was after repeated text messages that he finally sent me his email on XX/XX/XXXX. 
2. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent XXXX XXXX a complete list of every chargeback we filed for, communication from XXXX XXXX showing that our chargeback requests were not approved, and those charges added to our monthly billing. 
XXXX. Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX began making increasingly hostile and threatening calls. He constantly threatened lawsuits against me, and circumvented me and started calling my counsel. 
4. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX responded to my email dated XX/XX/XXXX with several documents he purported would prove that I owed XXXX money. In fact, these documents were just the ones that had been submitted to XXXX XXXX by the company in XXXX, XXXX, when we had initially filed for the chargebacks. They included traffic data and user agreements, but none of it actually showed that we owed any amounts - there were no bills, or accounts or charges. It was at this point that XXXX XXXX sent a demand letter, and had arbitrarily and capriciously changed the outstanding amount to {$21000.00}. 
XXXX. XXXX XXXX called me on XX/XX/XXXX, and insisted that he had sent everything needed to prove that I owed XXXX money. He said that I had to respond to his email within a week, and again threatened legal action. It was clear that he had not reviewed any of the documents I sent him, and when I asked him to review them, he caused me of forging/altering the credit card statements and XXXX XXXX communication XXXX a flat out lie. 
6. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX called me once again, asking me for a response, and again threatened legal action. 
7. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX called me, extremely belligerent, began threatening me, and demanded payment. He then accused me of theft of services, and threatened me with arrest. It was at this point that I was advised by my counsel to halt all communication, out of fear of future threats from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX has made countless misrepresentations of the facts and documents I have provided him. He has also made numerous threats of lawsuits and financial repercussions. His threat of having me arrested is unsettling and deeply disturbing, and has caused undue personal duress and damages to my business. 
He has done all of this without providing any evidence supporting the monies he is trying to collect. On the contrary, I have provided credit card statements and direct communication showing that all amounts have been paid. 

His use of fraudulent, threatening and deceptive tactics are a clear violation of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. He has constantly overstepped his bounds as a debt collector and refuses to listen to reason.