Consumer complaint received 2020-03-19
Product: Debt collection — Medical debt
Issue: Written notification about debt — Didn't receive enough information to verify debt
Company: SIMM Associates, Inc. (DC)

XXXX XXXX XXXX has an unfair and very misleading, billing practice with their customers. On XX/XX/XXXX, I had contacted with XXXX XXXX XXXX 's billing department after receiving an non-itemized, bill in the  total amount of {$530.00}. I requested to obtain an explanation for the charges under my account. I had spoken with a representative by the name of XXXX XXXX on a recorded phone call. Additionally, XXXX was not able to provide a breakout or explanation of the charges. In doing so, I had requested that she research the charges and provide me with a statement of the charges, reflecting an itemization and/or breakout of the service/equipment being charged. Further, I had explained to the agent that a secondary insurance, which is on my records, is typically billed for any remaining obligation after my primary insurance had satisfied charges. At that time, I had explained that I needed to see how billing and payment activities, so that I can discern what my insurances paid as allowed costs to see if there was in fact a patient 's responsibility. I also informed XXXX XXXX that I needed the explanation because 1 ) I had no knowledge of the charges nor did I receive previous bills for that amount prior to the letter, 2 ) that amount was astronomical high for me to pay all at once as I was a XXXX furloughed employee at that time, which was during the XX/XX/XXXX XXXX government shutdown, and wanted to resolve the bill as it would unfairly and negatively impact my XXXX  employment. XXXX XXXX had requested that I email her a copy of the furlough notice to XXXX, and assured me that she would have her supervisor to further research my account. I emailed the requested letter to XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX via my XXXX email account. The next day, I received a recorded phone call from XXXX XXXX, apologizing while notifying me that the {$530.00} charges were in fact erroneous and would be immediately, removed from my account. She further stated that I owed nothing on my account. I had asked XXXX XXXX to send me a copy the decision in-writing for my permanent records. I had not heard back nor received any additional communications from XXXX 's billing department until I received a bill in the mail for the same amount of {$530.00} bill in XX/XX/XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX, I received the same bill with a note, requesting me to either dispute or pay the bill within 10 days from the date of the letter, then threatened me in-writing to forward my account to collections. I contacted the billing department and was served by an agent whom identified himself as, Mr. XXXX to resolve the erroneous notification. I had immediately, explained to Mr. XXXX that XXXX XXXX from his department notified me by phone back in XX/XX/XXXX that the {$530.00} bill was an error and was removed from my account. I requested that he research the records and follow-up research with the supervisor and notes from XXXX XXXX Mr. XXXX claimed he could not locate any notes regarding the recorded call from XX/XX/XXXX. I had immediately requested to speak with a Supervisor and was told that one was not available and that he would leave a message for a supervisor to contact me. I never received a return call back from any of the supervisors. More recently, I had contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX 's billing department after receiving a Collection Notice from Simm Associates , Inc . I had explained that the billing department supervisor was very negligent in contacting me back and had failed to provide me with an explanation of charges as I had requested 6 and 12 months ago. And, I requested to speak to a supervisor numerous times during the phone call to resolve the conflicting information, which was provided to me. But, instead the agent continued to dispute with me for a total of 50 minutes with no out any explanation of the charges or key information to me. And, on numerous times during the call, I requested that he ask for the billing department supervisor to research the records and review the recorded phone call that had taken place back in XX/XX/XXXX, when I was notified that the charges of {$530.00} was erroneous and would be removed. More astonishingly, the agent claimed that there were no records from XXXX XXXX on file other than the logged, timestamp from when she and I had spoken back in XX/XX/XXXX. The agent ignored my request for the call review and an escalation to the supervisor. During this call, I paid {$100.00} for charges for XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. After a long dispute, the agent agreed to have one of 3 supervisors to contact me back. I had inquired about the protocol for timeframes when supervisors are expected to return the customers ' call and was told there was no timeline. I asked if there was a timeframe of 24 -72 hours, days, weeks, months and the agent said that the department do not have any timelines for return calls. Meanwhile, I am stuck with an collections account, which could negatively impact my employment and credit because I would not pay for a bill that was dismissed and dissolved at the billing supervisor 's decision back in XX/XX/XXXX. The entire practice of this company 's billing department seems very unethical, impractical, and completely obscured and unfair.