Consumer complaint received 2025-09-30 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged
Company: TekCollect Inc.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I am writing to report a debt collection agency named TekCollect and the company that they are working for, XXXX. I am also disputing a debt collection by TekCollect on behalf of the company formerly known as XXXX. 

I had an account with XXXX beginning on XX/XX/XXXX, I financed my treatment for XXXX in the amount of {$2500.00}, and made payments to this debt on time. While I did have an account with XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX, during which I made on-time payments on my account, I did not receive the treatment I was entitled to before the company folded. 

XXXX months into treatment, on XX/XX/XXXX I visited a location to get a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, which wasapproved by XXXX because the XXXX XXXX weren't working. XXXX instructed me to cease using my XXXX and to use the new ones when they arrive by mail. They sentan email saying that they were working on new XXXX  for me and they would arrive XXXX weeks. The very next day, on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX went out of business. I went to their website and it stated that they would immediately cease all current treatment, and the XXXX XXXX XXXX  is cancelled ( and if waiting on XXXX, they will not be arriving ) and directed patients to visit a dental office. Their website also said that if treatment was financed that consumers are still responsible for the debt and to continue paying. 
Out of an estimated XXXX months of treatment through XXXX, I only receivedXXXX months. The new XXXX never arrived, and I could no longer use the old XXXX If I wanted to fix my teeth I had to go see a new dentist and pay again. The company did not uphold their contract to me, their patient, leaving me with partially moved teeth, useless XXXX and no financial redress for their failure. As I told TekCollect, I did make payments for the service until services ceased. The remaining balance is forservices never rendered. Forcing consumers to pay for services they did not receive is misguided at best and unethical at worst. As such, I do not see how paying for services not rendered to a company that does not exist ( in order to pay their debts! ) is a logical or ethical request. 

It seems that TekCollect was hired by XXXX or has purchased the debt from them and is trying to get money from former clients. They sent me a letter saying I owed {$2100.00}. I sent all of the above information to TekCollect and asked them to cancel this debt because it is for a service I did not receive. All they did was mail me the initial contract. On XX/XX/XXXX, TekCollect sent me a threatening letter saying that if I do not pay the balance that they are obligated to proceed with additional collection remedies that our client has authorized. I called TekCollect and asked them what that meant and they threatened to submit this information to the credit bureaus and said that other customers of XXXX were having this problem and because it affected their credit so much they weren't able to buy a car or a house or get a credit card and suggested I pay the amount owed. I asked if they charge interest and they said " No '' and then I asked what the portion of the letter meant that said to call to " discuss ... repayment options to prevent additional costs and further proceedings '' and they hung up on me. I called TekCollect again and they said that the contract I signed was with XXXX XXXX XXXX, the financing company, but the contract was actually with XXXX and they do not exist anymore, so I asked how the contract can still be valid if they do not exist and they hung up on me once again. I made another call to TekCollect after receiving another threatening letter on XX/XX/XXXX and the person on the phone said he was willing to take less than what was owed to close out the account and avoid reporting it the the credit bureaus and admitted to me that TekCollect receives a cut of this money for hounding customers for unpaid debts for a company that filed for bankruptcy XXXX years ago and no longer exists.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation