Consumer complaint received 2025-11-20 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services — Billing dispute for services
Company: ADP Inc.
State: AZ

Complaint narrative:
Money Transfer / Payroll / Billing Error / Debt Collection ADP Payroll wrongfully sent our business account to collections after accepting XXXX payments from us in good faith, and without providing proper notice of a rejected payroll debit. Their actions caused severe and immediate financial harm to our business.

ADP processed a payroll debit that was rejected by our bank. ADP did not send any official notice via mail or verified communication, they said they mailed a letter to my restaurant but our restaurant can not receive mail at the address we are at because we are in a high rise and it is not on the post office route, we use a different address for mail which they do not have. ALL ADP emails had been going to spam because ADP was sending excessive marketing/Workmans Comp solicitation emails every week, which our email provider flagged. We never received a clear or official notice. 

As soon as we discovered the issue and found the email in my spam folder by accident, I called and begged them for a hardship payment plan since my job that helps fund my restaurant is being a health insurance broker selling ACA plans, the main reason the gov't was shut down and My business partner and his wife had a baby at the same time, The baby was born 1 month pre mature and he was visiting her every day at the hospital for a month until he could take her home and quite honestly not knowing she would ever make it home. I begged the member services rep for a payment plan, explained our hardship, explained we never even knew this was going on or that they even paid our payroll for us 1 month prior because our payment said pending that morning so we did not look at our bank account to the following week and never looked back on the previous week because had no suspicion anything out of the ordinary had happened. And again, all ADP emails were going to my spam folder not by my choice but my XXXX I guess flagged it since I was getting insurance solicitation emails every few days and calling me too, to sell me a Workmans comp plan, and I go " Dude I'm an insurance agent myself, I have access to way more products and a lower price and I sold my self the policy and I'm getting a commission, I GO STOP CALLING MY PHONE '' and they just passed my information to another agent and then this would all start over again the following week. So I had to block these XXXX from calling me every week since they couldn't understand I am an insurance agent, more so a broker that has access to way more options and cheaper better products. So I never received any communications from ADP about this issue until one day looking through my spam folder for something else I accidentally found all their emails just sitting there. And I believe they were emailing my business partner to an email account he does not even use anymore, like a XXXX account. 

I emailed them back for a week and no response so I finally called them, when she answered she said no payment plans do not exist, I told her this is an Emergency and Hardship!! I asked for a supervisor. I explained to him we just got our business credit score up to a level where we could finally refinance {$150000.00} of high interest Credit cards that we pay {$25000.00} a month in payments for just interest alone, no principle. I BEGGED and BEGGED them not to send to collections because we were about to sign paperwork for a loan to reconsolidate our debt the following week which would turn the $ XXXX payment a month into just {$5000.00} per month AND WE would FINALLY BE PROFITABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!! ( that call was recorded on XXXX or XXXX I believe ) I told them if you send it to collections it would cause us to get denied on our loan, and at the point not be able to keep the doors open, and then I told them the bank has a Lien against my house and would take my house if everything fell apart, and I would not be able to pay my elderly moms bills. I go you are going to bring my whole life crashing down over {$8000.00} that you will not allow me to make payments on and he said either pay it whole or it goes to collections. I go please put a note in my file to says we are making payments and to not send it to collections we can not jeopardize losing this loan opportunity that is about to change our lives after 3 years of no profits and stress..... I was so mad I hung up and told them I'm going to the Attorney Generals office which we did two days ago and filed all the paperwork there. The next day after that call I wired {$2000.00} immediately 25 % of what was owed, which ADP accepted. We informed ADP we would send another payment within a few weeks due to a temporary hardship. ADP accepted the second payment as well of {$2000.00}.

Despite this, ADP refused to offer any hardship flexibility or payment accommodation and sent our account to collections prematurely, even though payments were active and ongoing.

This wrongful collections placement caused : A collapse of our business credit Denial of a business debt-consolidation loan Disruption to our operations Risk to our SBA-backed loan ( which is secured by our personal home ) Severe emotional distress for both owners Immediate cash flow crisis Threat of business closure ADP refused escalation, refused to delay collections, and refused hardship support. Their conduct violated reasonable commercial practices and the implied covenant of good faith.

We have filed disputes with the Arizona Attorney General and have sent formal written demand letters to ADPs Executive and Legal Departments.

We request the CFPBs assistance in requiring ADP to : Remove our account from collections Remove all negative credit reporting Correct the damage done to our business credit Provide a proper review of their misconduct We are seeking urgent resolution due to the immediate financial harm ADP caused to our business and livelihood. 
RESOLUTION REQUEST : Immediate removal of the account from collections Full removal of all negative business credit reporting Written acknowledgement of payments received Corrective action and apology from ADP Executive-level review of their mishandling Protection against further financial harm caused by ADP We are also pursuing financial damages caused by ADPs negligence.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation