Consumer complaint received 2024-06-08 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: CONRAD CREDIT CORPORATION
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Many years ago, I hired a company called XXXXXXXX XXXX  because they made it seem like their services were a godsend. Like many other timeshare or timeshare like companies, they make their product or services seem much better than they really are. XXXX XXXX didn't just embellish their services, however, they outright lied. 

Around XXXX, I hired them because XXXX XXXX  claimed that I could obtain vacations at a largely discounted price to many places around the world. They swore up and down that their product was the best, and that I would be able to obtain many trips or book at many hotels, etc. etc. I decided to give them a shot, so I signed up with them. 

Immediately I regret my decision. It wasn't buyer 's remorse I was experiencing, but rather frustration and a mild rage. I truly did try to give this company a shot. I started trying to book trips with them immediately. XXXX XXXX  said there was a website where I had to login so I could start saving on trips, so I registered on their website. A few days later, when I'm ready to start planning my trip, I try to log in to their website, and it says my login info is incorrect. I then try to rest my login credentials and I am unable to for numerous reasons. The main one being that the website does not send me a link to be able to reset my info. After a while I become frustrated, so I call the number to XXXX XXXX I explain my problems to the representatives over the phone and they explain to me how I should fix my problem. It doesn't end up working. 

For months I try the same dance with XXXX XXXX and for months I get nowhere. I am paying the company multiple hundreds of dollars a month, and I am unable to receive any services from them. At some point I start asking them if they can simply help me over the phone to book and plan trips, and they tell me no. I finally start becoming severely enraged and manage to get them to help me a little, but when I try to book anything with them, the product is unavailable. My money was simply going down the drain. After many months and possibly a year, I finally had enough with XXXX XXXX I had spent XXXX  without anything to show for it, and XXXX XXXX  was clearly not providing any services for me. I called them and told them to cancel my services since they were not providing any. They argued with me, but I stood my ground and let them know I was not paying them another dime since they were not giving me anything after the thousands I had spent. 

For a while I thought everything was done and over with, and this problem went away. It never did. XXXX XXXX has sent the account to a collection agency named Conrad Credit Corp. They sent me to collections for {$3000.00}. Today, with interest, the balance on the credit report is now {$4200.00}. Seriously! {$4200.00} on top of the multiple thousands I already paid them without receiving a single product, service, discount, booked hotel, booked trip, or anything of value! This is beyond outrageous! I was so incensed I hired a credit repair company to help me dispute this account. They submitted dispute letters to the credit bureaus as well as to Conrad Credit Corp directly. This was back in XXXX of this year. To his day I have not received any written responses from either the credit bureaus or Conrad Credit Corp, but that is a gripe for another day. 

After a month, I was supposed to receive responses regarding my dispute for XXXX XXXX. When time passed and nearly two months had gone by, I decided to try and negotiate a settlement with XXXX XXXX. Not because I did anything wrong, or because I owed them any money. I simply wanted to be done with this matter. It is XXXX and something that I had foolishly subscribed to in XXXX was still haunting me, so I figured I would throw a little money into the problem and finally be done with it once and for all. On XX/XX/XXXX, I speak with Conrad Credit Corp, and I explain the situation to them. I tell them everything that happened and how I have yet to receive a single service from XXXX XXXX, but that I was willing to give them {$1000.00} so they can simply go away and remove this phony baloney collection from my credit report. They tell me no. They say they only go as low as 25 % on debts and in this case, they wanted 50 %. They claimed 50 % of {$4500.00} was {$2200.00}. They were close, but that's not quite accurate. I wasn't going to argue with them about their math skills, however. 

Just for some clarification and a reminder in case you missed it, my credit report today says I owe Conrad Credit Corp {$4200.00}. How is it that on XX/XX/XXXX, my balance was {$4500.00} when even today they are only showing {$4200.00}? Also, because it says the original balance on their own entry to my credit report is {$3000.00}, but a current balance of {$4200.00}, they can't claim they aren't already calculating or adding interest to this account. Are they misreporting this account? Or are they lying to me and wanting to collect even more money from me than they should be? In either case, it appears like Conrad Credit is acting just like XXXX XXXX and is trying to cheat me some more. I no longer know what to do, so I was told that this is the next step to fight creditors and collectors who are misbehaving and not following the rules. 

I don't owe this money. I paid a company thousands of dollars faithfully hoping to receive the promised services and discounts to trips as they promised. I never received those services, and the company knew they weren't providing them. After recently looking this company up, I see they have dozens if not hundreds of negative reviews with people citing my same problems over many years or other problems of a similar nature. It appears that XXXX XXXX has been doing this to people for years. They also have numerous complaints with the XXXX and their responses are terrible. Their XXXX reviews are also atrocious. I am now filing this complaint to you in hopes you see they are deceiving and running scams on many customers. And Conrad Credit does not get away scot-free in this either. They have never responded to me in writing after requesting validation of debt. They are pursuing an illegal debt that they have been informed about yet continue to collect anyways. They are misreporting this account by having a different balance than what they claim I owe, and they have also behaved in a deceptive manner by trying to charge me more than what they themselves are credit reporting. 

I am now demanding that this collection be removed from my credit report. I never received services, XXXX XXXX never assisted me or booked anything for me even though lord knows I tried numerous times. I paid thousands already, and I am being cheated six different ways from Sunday.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation