Consumer complaint received 02/21/2018 about Debt collection (Other debt) with Franklin Collection Service, Inc. (CA).
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint: Hello, my name is XXXX XXXX. Today I experienced something very discouraging and I would like to inform you about it because I have no idea what to do about it. Today I was reviewing my credit report along with my wife so we could assess our credit worthiness for purchasing a home. When I reviewed my report, I noticed a collection agency by the name of XXXX XXXX XXXX. They were collecting for XXXX. 

For full clarification purposes I would like to inform you that I did have service with XXXX. I had service with them back in XX/XX/XXXX. There was never any animosity between XXXX and myself nor any reason why I would not pay them any money owed. At the same time, I never knew I owed XXXX any money. Back in XX/XX/XXXX I used to live at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I obtained XXXX services for my home at that time. What happened is that 1 1/2 months after obtaining services with XXXX  at XXXX XXXX, that same apartment complex burned down. One of my neighbors turned out to be a hoarder and caused the fire. I lost everything that day. 

I went to the local XXXX store at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX Ca. I informed the manager there what had occurred and that I would need to cancel services because of what transpired and because I didn't even know where I was going to live. The manager must have taken my plight to heart and informed me that I would not have to pay for these services and that she would take care of it. The fire occurred on XX/XX/XXXX. I went to XXXX just days later. Since that day I have not heard from XXXX   nor anybody else about any debt owed. 

Today after reviewing my credit report I called the collection agency listed and I spoke with a XXXX XXXX. In all honesty she was very polite. I told her of everything that transpired and she said that because of the situation she would give me a 35 % discount. Considering I was never able to return XXXX their equipment because it burned to a crisp, I felt the offer would have been fair had I never been told by a manager at XXXX that I wouldn't have to pay for this. Even then I considered paying it until I asked XXXX XXXX if because of the circumstances surrounding this debt if she would remove it from my credit report. At first she stated that because I was paying a discounted amount they could not remove it from my credit report. I was starting to get a little annoyed as I felt I was being squeezed for money but I decided to ask if I paid it in full could I have it removed from my credit report. In my opinion it is unfair to have an account damaging my credit report when I was told I would not have to pay for the account by an XXXX manager, and if I did have to pay it, I was never sent a notice asking me to pay for it nor a phone call asking me to pay for it. Not even by the collection agency collecting and reporting this account. XXXX then told me she couldn't delete it from my credit report but only show that it is paid in full. Now I was simply confused. 

I asked XXXX " why couldn't you remove it from my credit report if I paid it in full? '' XXXX informed me that XXXX XXXX XXXX doesn't control what gets reported on the credit report but rather XXXX did. Because I'm no fool, I quickly retorted that I doubted that. I surmised that XXXX did not own XXXX XXXX XXXX. I also know that the credit reporting had XXXX XXXX XXXX as the entity reporting the account not XXXX. I informed XXXX of those facts and asked her to try again in explaining why XXXX XXXX XXXX couldn't delete the account from my credit report. She still said she couldn't remove it from my report. The longer the conversation went, the greater my Ire was becoming. 

I began thinking about the entire situation which caused me to get to this point where I was speaking with a collector about an account which to my knowledge was not owed and I was never told about. I asked her why my credit should have to suffer for something I didn't even know existed? I never once got a bill nor a collection call from anybody about this debt. Had I known XXXX was attempting to collect this amount I simply would have paid it. Somewhere along that line of questioning I found out that XXXX XXXX XXXX had my address listed as XXXX XXXX XXXX. Not only was that not my address at the time of services, that is not my address after I moved from the apartments. Instead of explaining to me why she wouldn't remove the account from my credit report she simply asked, " have you worked in collections before? '' I told her no and instead she said she would let me talk to her supervisor. I was grateful and waited for her to transfer me to the supervisor. 

I then spoke with a XXXX XXXX who said he was a collections manager. I explained the situation to him as well. I explained how the location I lived in burned down shortly after obtaining XXXX   services. How I spoke directly to an XXXX store manager who informed me I would not have to pay the debt as it would get cancelled for the unusual circumstances. How I have never been billed nor contacted about this debt until I found out about it today. How I am being given what I feel is dismissive or misleading answers about why it can't be removed from my credit report and how I am saddened that the collection agency is simply playing collector and ignoring the fact that I have suffered enough through this ordeal and maintaining this on my credit report after paying it in full even when I was already told by XXXX I would never have to pay them for this account is going to cause me further harm. His response was that he understood my situation but he still would not remove it from my credit report. If that isn't a slap in the face then I don't know what is. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX retorted by asking me if I had any proof that I don't have to pay this debt? I told him no. I retorted by asking him if he had any proof that I was ever notified about this debt by them or XXXX? He said he didn't need proof. He also said that I was mistaken and that they had in fact sent me notices asking to pay this debt. I immediately figured out where he was going with his rebuttal but I interrupted him midway trough his sentence. I informed him that I already knew from the prior collector who I spoke with that the address listed in their records was XXXX XXXX XXXX. I informed him that was not the address I lived in during the time of service nor anytime after the services. Sending a notice to a location I did not live at nor do I live in was not sufficient to claim that a notice was sent to me. That is what is known as improper billing procedures. I asked him how he obtained that address? XXXX XXXX said his company obtained it through skiptracing which was an investigative method to locate an individual. To make this short, their investigation was faulty. I again informed him that I was upset how even after knowing what he know knew about my situation and the circumstances surrounding this account, he still refused to remove this account from my credit report regardless if I paid it in full or not. He then said the only thing which actually made some sense to me. Although it's true that Franklin Collection Services was not owned by XXXX, and XXXX has no control over what Franklin Collection Services does or does not do, if XXXX XXXX XXXX wants to continue to collect for XXXX then XXXX XXXX XXXX is going to do what XXXX tells them to do and XXXX   says no deletions. That I could actually understand but I still felt this situation was unfair and my situation was unique so I offered a compromise. 

I asked XXXX XXXX if he could ask XXXX about my situation due to the unusual circumstances surrounding this matter and ask for an exception to their rule of no deletions. I felt that was a fair compromise considering I am still under the impression I didn't owe XXXX any money and even if I did, no one ever billed me or told me about it. XXXX XXXX refused. That was the straw that broke the camel 's back so to speak. I implied to XXXX XXXX there had to be some sort of law or procedure in handling collection accounts for accountability purposes. I could not fathom that a company or someone could simply claim a person owes them money, not send that person a bill, not call him informing him about said bill or asking for payment, and then ruin his credit report for it. I asked XXXX XXXX directly and placed myself at his mercy by asking him if he knew the law and proper procedure in collecting and he was kind enough to tell me some of it. He stated that when an account gets assigned to a collection agency, there is a 30 day grace period where the company sends the individual a notice and the individual gets to respond to said notice. I quickly pointed out to him that by those same rules, he acknowledges that his own company did not follow procedure. I again pointed out to him I was never sent a notice. He said that his company had sent one. I then said that sending a letter to an address that has nothing to do with the recipient of said letter can not be claimed as sending an individual a letter. Especially if said address was erroneously linked to the individual by the company through faulty research. He then began making counter arguments which just showed me the true character of XXXX XXXX and his company. 

XXXX XXXX actually went as far as to state that technically, no one ever told me that a bill was sent to the XXXX XXXX address. He even argued that I should have had a forwarding address after the apartment burned down and that it was my fault for not having the forwarding address for long enough. It was now clear to me that I was going to get nowhere with XXXX XXXX. I no longer wanted to discuss the mater with XXXX XXXX as he was now arguing just to argue. I know that the only reason his company would attempt to look for another address is if they knew the address they were originally provided was no good. It is logical to conclude that they would send a notice to this new address in an attempt to comply with XXXX XXXX 's admitted collection laws. But again I was done conversing with him. At this point I am filing this complaint to you because I have finally done enough research in looking up collection laws trough a simple XXXX search in order to determine they were broken in this matter. I also believe XXXX is wrong in sending this account to collections when they told me there was no money owed. I also believe it is unfair to treat someone in this matter knowing full well the situation that transpired which caused said account to be placed in collections. 

For your reference the following laws were broken. 

F.D.C.P.A. Section 809. Validation of Debts. 
By XXXX XXXX 's own admission and said law, I must be given a statement allowing me thirty days to dispute the validity of said debt. Because no notice was ever given to me, and because any notice claimed to have been sent in regards to this account was sent to an address which was arbitrarily chosen and linked to me trough faulty investigation, I have not been given my federally mandated rights to dispute this debt and have this debt validated. 

F.D.C.P.A. Section 807. Unfair Practices. Chapter 10. The use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or to attempt to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a consumer. 
By claiming validation of debt was sent to me in proper procedure when it wasn't, they are attempting to falsely claim that this debt is valid and use it as an excuse to deny or even attempt to communicate with the originator of the purported debt for a decision on the status of said debt or a decision on whether it should even be credit reported. Also, credit reporting is a method of collecting a debt so Franklin Collection Services can not attempt to hide behind a shield claiming they are not technically attempting to collect a debt since no communication was ever given. Come to think of it, refusing to communicate with the originator of the debt is also a violation of validation of debt as XXXX XXXX XXXX is now willingly refusing to attempt to validate it.

F.D.C.P.A. Section 804. Acquisition of location information. 
By erroneously linking XXXX XXXX XXXX as my address and sending any collection notices to that address, XXXX XXXX XXXX had now communicated with someone other than myself about this account and therefore violated the law. 

F.D.C.P.A. Section 808. Unfair Practices.

I believe I have described the situation very clearly. XXXX XXXX XXXX is clearly being unfair. Also, to refuse to remove the account from my credit report even after being offered to be paid in full knowing why this account is even in collections to begin with nor even attempting to be reasonable or accommodating in simply asking their client on a ruling on the status of said account is unconscionable. It's borderline dictatorship and is against all collection laws set forth by congress to regulate a collection agency and its practices. 

Please help me with this as I don't know what else to do. I am being mistreated and I am at your mercy

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation