Consumer complaint received 2024-06-23 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Rental debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was result of identity theft
Company: Rowland Avenue Management, Inc. A/KA Columbia Debt Recovery, LLC d/b/a Genesis
State: WA

Complaint narrative:
I was contacted by Genesis about an $ XXXX debt from an XXXX  in AZ. I let them know I live in WA state and the debt was not mine. 

They requested information & documents that they needed to clear up the confusion and told me if they got the info they would make sure to remove the debt from me and my credit would not be dinged. 

I asked them multiple times for proof they were not scammers trying to get my sensitive info, for proof of that the debt was mine, & for a secure way to send the requested documents & info. 

They ignored my requests and I assumed they were scammers. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I got an email from genesis acknowledging that I claimed the debt was fraud. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I set an email letting them know I was working on getting the documents & police report and also asking them to provide proof they were not scammers, & a secure way to send our sensitive documents. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I sent an email because I realized they had dinged my credit which caused a house I was going to buy to fall through and later problems with a car loan. I explained our situation and that were were willing to help catch the person responsible, which they ignored completely. 

I figured if they were able to ding my credit, they were probably not scammers and asked again for a secure way to send the info they wanted to clear up the confusion. They ignored all attempts to get proof of debt, and a secure means to send my sensitive info. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent the the requested documents and they ignored that as well as refused to remove the ding on my credit. They continued ignoring. I also responded to this email on XX/XX/XXXX with the police report number that had previously been supplied via phone call On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent an email reiterating that we had sent them the info they requested to clear up the confusion. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called genesis and I was told they would not speak to me about the debt they are trying to collect from me. They claimed they would only speak with an attorney they said was assigned to my case. I told them I had not hired an attorney to speak to them on my behalf. I asked the genesis rep to tell me what attorney was working the case, and he refused to answer. I emailed genesis to document the situation while I was on the phone with their rep. 

The representative continued to ignore my requests to talk about the debt, or the documents and police report case number that I provided for them in emails, he hung up on me. 

I would also like to note that the AZ XXXX  this debt stemmed from, did not run a background check or credit check before placing my name on their debt. All the signing was done online without any verification that was shown to me. They did not have my license, phone number or actual address etc... I told this genesis and they ignored it as they did everything else. 

If you have any questions for me, please call me XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation