Consumer complaint received 2025-10-09 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — I do not know
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: Cedars Business Services, LLC
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I signed up for the " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' course provided by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/year>. 
I listened to a lengthy phone presentation by XXXX about how great the course is, and when I got the contract in my email, l he advised that it just reinstates what we discussed, so I went ahead and signed it, trusting the presentation and a big name XXXX XXXX. I didnt expect the contract to have any undisclosed terms, and having English being my XXXX  language and I didnt notice the section where it says that Ill be responsible for the entire course amount even after I cancel the subscription to the course. If this had been verbally disclosed to me, I wouldnt have ever signed up. 
I tried to sign up for the XXXX XXXX class several times unsuccessfully. There is always waiting list which is suspicious since its an online class, and the schedule which was provided to me was for the different time zone. That wasnt disclosed to me during the presentation as I dont know how to navigate other time zones and why would I have to be doing that in the first place while I have other problems to take care of such as XXXX year XXXX  for instance. 
I viewed some videos and after reading some of very lengthy material in their portal, I realized there is no value for me in this course. In addition to that their portal is not user friendly and it was very hard to navigate it and to log in. I wasnt getting any knowledge, yet being charged a very high monthly fee for their course subscription. 
I reached out to customer service and cancelled the subscription in good faith. Days later, I noticed that they continued to charge my bank account. I reached out to them and asked them to stop, and thats when they informed me that the contract, which I signed, states that I am responsible for the entire course fee {$9000.00} even if I choose to cancel. This didnt feel right and made me feel scammed. I called my bank and asked them not to authorize any further payments to XXXX XXXX XXXX as it felt like a complete scam. Three years later, unexpectedly, during the refinance, I noticed a collection on my credit report from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX posted through a collection company named CEDAR XXXX XXXX, phone number XXXX. This derogatory collection caused damage that led to a financial loss. I reached out to both companies and asked them to remove the collection ; otherwise, Ill lose my home, but they didnt care and refused to cooperate. 
This kind of attitude on their part reinforces my concern that they are not truly an educational company as they claim to be. I received no actual educational benefit from them, and their refusal to cooperate despite the serious consequences to mesuch as the risk of losing my homeonly confirms to me that their practices are more in line with predatory behavior than with legitimate education. In short, I believe this unjust collection is causing me significant financial harm, and it raises serious doubts about the legitimacy of their operations. 
Furthermore, I want to emphasize that I canceled the service in good faith, believing that this would resolve the matter amicably. Despite my efforts to disengage respectfully, their unwillingness to cooperate or acknowledge the impact on my circumstances has been extremely distressing. This only further demonstrates that they are not operating as a genuine educational institution but rather engaging in practices that are unfair and harmful to consumers like me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation