Consumer complaint received 2020-06-21
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was result of identity theft
Company: EOS Holdings, Inc. (CA)

In XXXX of last year an account was fraudulently opened in my name by a co-worker of mine and a friend of theirs who worked at XXXX. I didnt know about the account until I received a letter in the mail early this year regarding insurance that had also been taken out in my name to cover the phones on the XXXX phone account which had been opened in my name. I called XXXX   to let them know that the account was not legitimate. The person I spoke with on the phone asked me for information about the account which, since I had not opened the account, I could not answer, such as phone numbers associated with the fraudulent account and XXXX passwords, user names and when I could not answer they instead suggested that I should pay the past due amounts on the account so that it would not adversely affect my credit. They further suggested that since I demanded that the account be closed, that I visit one of their stores and present my ID and pay the bill and after I have identifed myself to one of the store employees so I could THEN close the account and shut the phones down at which time the store employees could grant me access to to the fraudulent account via my own XXXXXXXX  ID and password. FIRST, I went to the XXXX store at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and presented my ID. However, since it was close to closing time the employees there were anxious to go home and understandably so. Still, they did what they could by contacting their superiors at XXXX to help me file my complaint but told me I would have to call the same customer service number that directed me to them in order to close the account because they had no authority since I wasnt able to provide any of the pertinent information about the account at the time. So, I called the same XXXX customer service number again the next day and was on the phone with their representative XXXX who suggested that we use the insurance that was purchased illegally to pay for the XXXX XXXX XXXX handsets ( equipment as they referred to it as ) saying that the insurance would cover the 4 phones which totalled more than {$3000.00} since I would not be able to recover the phones to turn them in to take the amounts owed for them off " my '' bill! And then that way I could pay th he remaining amounts owed and it would then not affect my credit ... she said she was just about to end her shift and that we could pick up where we left off the following day and we set an appointment time for her to call me back so I could be sure to be at my phone when she called. Unfortunately our appointment time came and went with no call back from XXXX. Dissatisfied with the responses I was getting over the phone, the next day I went to the store on XXXX, in XXXX, CA. where after explaining to the employees there what had happened they agreed to take the first half of what was owed and did. I paid over {$300.00} towards the $ XXXX bill that was owing on the account ( minus the equipment that would be covered under the insurance that had been illegally purchased in my name ) to which I had never had access, other than to receive a letter saying the insurance that was purchased in my name was in force. However after making the payment, I asked the store employees for access to the account, in response to which they said access could only be granted to me by my calling the same t-mobile customer service number that had instructed me to come to the store to show my ID. I then told the store employee that the person who opened the account was ordering all kinds of phones and service on the account but I was told that the customer service employees who had helped me to get information on the account had removed the authorized user and so the account would not be accruing any further amounts. The store employee then asked me " that's not XXXX then right? Because your account STILL HAS AN AUTHORIZED USER AND HE JUST ORDERED ANOTHER XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX and an additional line on the account earlier today! " And this was a full 24 hrs after I had spoken with XXXX on the phone for almost 2 hours to tell them to turn the account off because it was fraud. All I was allowed to have for my time and $ XXXX payment was a receipt for the payment ... by the time I had to leave their store at closing. So, exhausted by all of the effort it was taking to get nothing but my bill run up higher I decided I couldnt go through the lengthy explanations again at what was now XXXX XXXX  at the end of an entire weekend spent trying to have the fraudulent account closed. Because i had to be at work early the next morning. But I was so upset about this person not only being allowed to add himself back to the fraudulent account as an authorized user that I called up the XXXX customer service number again and told them to shut it down now or I was going to the police to file a complaint against them for allowing my name and credit to be used after i had already informed them several times that the account was fraudulent and so the XXXX customer service employee that took my call asked if I could please hold while they consulted their supervisor, I said, '' of couse '' and after being put on hold for more than 10 mins the employee came back to the phone and announced to me that the account was being treated as a fraudulent account and so they could no longer discuss the account with me any further. To which I said " thank you! '' And hung up the phone hoping and believing this would be the end of it. Then almost 3 weeks later I received a bill for the $ XXXX owing on the fraudulent bill and so I went to the FTC website where I filed a fraud report, and downloaded the letters they suggested such as the NOTICE TO FURNISHERS, a copy of my Fraud Report and the other suggested documents which I sent to XXXX by both email and US mail to XXXX XXXX fraud department and by email to the only email address I could find which was XXXX. Fast forward 8 weeks later and now I have received a COLLECTIONS letter from a Debt Collection company for more than {$700.00} when all that was left owing on the fraudulent account on the 2nd but last call I made to XXXX BEFORE filing my complaint and fraud report through the FTC website was less than {$400.00}. And to make matters worse, when I got the collections letter I attempted to call XXXX again to ask why they were sending me a bill for the full amount when I had already paid almost XXXX of, on the total which was just a little over {$800.00}? However, since my regular phone service is through XXXX and XXXX and XXXX are now in a merger, my XXXX phone number is automatically routed to XXXX Customer Service everytime I attempt to put a call intXXXX XXXX  and I can not even use the XXXX  feature to cloak my number because it doesnt work on toll free numbers. So, I can not reach XXXX so that even if I did want to pay their extortion demands in order to preserve my credit ( because I am currently trying to purchase my first home ) I can not. Can you help me with this terrible situation?