Consumer complaint received 2026-01-21 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Rental debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: The Phoenix Recovery Group
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
I am an XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  In XXXX  I received official XXXX orders to XXXX XXXX  XXXX. I informed my landlord within the prescribed timeline. They said that move out date did not align with when they wanted to list the house to take advantage of summer movers so they attempted to evict me. The case was dismissed in court. They also attempted to use that hearing ( that happened XXXX XXXX  after I moved out of the home ) to say I owed them XXXX in damages. This was in XXXX XXXX XXXX and was also dismissed by the judge citing lack of evidence of damages incurred and would need to be in small claims court. A few months later I was sent a bill for damages from the land lord. The bill was a word document typed up by the landlord that had estimated repair costs under certain categories, some categories didnt even have dollar figures, just question marks and a grand total at the bottom that was XXXX, even though the estimate numbers listed did not total that number. I informed them 3 things : 1 - on my move out inspection with the landlord she took pictures and sent the to her contractor and she said the total was just over XXXX, an amount that did not exceed my security deposit so the damages were covered by that, since they did not refund it to me when I moved out. 2- in my divorce settlement the judge awarded all money owed in damages to that property to be 100 % paid by my ex husband, not me. I have sent both the landlord and debt collector a copy of that. 3- the bill they sent me was not in fact a bill or proof that those costs were incurred by the landlord or that I owed that money as the document appears to be fraudulent or manipulated. I am not responsible for paying for estimates for work, only work performed or incurred. I told them for all those reasons that debt does not belong to me. I then received a debt collection notice for XXXX. This amount was put on both mine and my ex husbands credit report. I attempted to see if maybe the debt collection company had a more definite bill that showed the land lord paid this amount, what the provided me was the same fraudulent and manipulated bill the landlord tried to send me that had estimated costs and question marks and nowhere listed on there didnt total equal what they were claiming. I also sent the debt collector my divorce decree showing the judge awarded any damages incurred on the property to 100 % paid by my ex husband. They refused to remove it has a joint debt and take it off just my report and said all they need to collect a debt is my lease agreement and proof of debt from the landlord which they claim the fraudulent bill is enough. I pointed out the lack of official documentation sent to me but they did not care. They still harass me monthly about this. My landlord is XXXX XXXX and the debt collector is Phoenix recovery group. The last woman I talked to used aggressive language on why this debt is may fault and Im legally responsible for this and shamed me for not paying my debts.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation