Consumer complaint received 2020-05-17
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was paid
Company: Duncan Solutions, lnc. (OH)

I received a notice from Professional Account Management , LLC requesting that I pay them {$37.00}, because they claimed that this was the amount that I owed for an unpaid toll via XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

1 ) I have an XXXX XXXX and should never have been sent a XXXX XXXX XXXX bill 2 ) I had received the XXXX XXXX XXXX Invoice and responded with the appropriate appeal letter and my account information so that they could charge me. I never received a response. The amount of the charge even without the XXXX XXXX rate was only about {$12.00}. 

When I received the letter from PAM I immediately called the XXXX XXXX and asked why I was receiving a collection notice for a toll I had sent them payment information for months prior. They explained that they had run into an error running my account number, and claimed that they had attempted to contact me, but mysteriously did not send a letter to the address that had resulted in the original response? Or perhaps that they had attempted to call despite my lack of messages? The explanation from the turnpike was very unclear. They verified that current total amount on the account, and what the current bill should be since I am an XXXX XXXX customer with an account in good standing at the time of the charge. It was noticeably lower than the amount I received in my letter. I paid the XXXX that was all I owed and was told that my account was current and XXXX. 

I sent a letter to PAM disputing the debt, and explaining that any amounts I owed to the turnpike were paid that was sent via certified letter next day. On XX/XX/2020 I received a letter dated more than a week after PAM would have received notice ( which at this point was also an additional week in the past, ie not the 5 in which I should have received a response ) which included no new information - no accounting of charges, no address and contact information of the original creditor, not even the license plate that they claim accumulated the charge. They included 2 lines, 1 claiming that " your payment was received after the due date ; therefore, a late fee was applied to the referenced account ( s ) and no refund is due ''. It now included a new, significantly lower payment. 

I again when through the XXXX  XXXX phone tree for debt payments for XXXX XXXX XXXX invoices which sent me to XXXX XXXX that day and confirmed that I did not have a balance. I spoke with PAM 3 times on the phone on XX/XX/2020 and explained that I do not in fact owe any money to the turnpike and that I had spoken with multiple XXXX  agents who do actually collect payments for the turnpike that I have an account that is paid in full, and that despite what PAM may currently claim, no fees were charged to my account from their end, and that as an XXXX XXXX   customer I should never be charged any form of late fees or collection fees. With the total lack of information being provided by PAM the turnpike was unable to verify any of the numbers that I was receiving from PAM in terms of current account balance and historical amount owed, and was unable to figure out if perhaps PAM had confused my account with someone elses. 

After explaining that to PAM, they claim that they have no obligation to verify with that I do in fact owe a debt with the creditor that they claim to be collecting for, and that as long as their " systems '' show that I owe a debt, then they will continue to contact me. They also refused to give me contact information for the original creditor, claiming not to have it, despite the fact that they should have sent me that information in response to my debt verification letter. They insisted that I must be talking to the wrong people at the turnpike  and that in fact the turnpike   believed I owed it money. 

Despite the fact that they claim to be unable to give me contact information for the creditor who thinks I owe them money, they also claim that they are legally allowed to continue to pursue the debt until I find a way to contact the creditor myself ( the one they can't identify ) and get that creditor to forward information directly to PAM showing a XXXX balance. That is a XXXX-esque circle.