Consumer complaint received 2025-02-19 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: Aldous & Associates, PLLC
State: MD

Complaint narrative:
This is a follow-up to a previous claim. The collection company followed up on my original complaint and only sent a copy of the contract which was never signed by me but only by XXXX XXXX without my presence or knowledge to read or view the contract. I was over the age of XXXX and should have also been required to sign the contract if financial and legal responsibility was going to be obligated to me at any point. My original complaint is listed below. I will also be adding the contract signature that was sent to me and samples of my personal signature so the difference can be seen. 

My original request for documentation of account updates regarding the transition to myself becoming the account holder and missed payment notifications for the first 6 months of erroneous missed payments was never sent to me. I was never notified by XXXX XXXX and still have not received a single email, physical letter, phone call from XXXX XXXX XXXX or any of their representatives. I've only been contacted ALDOUS AND ASSOCIATES and XXXX XXXX -- -ORIGINAL CLAIM INFORMATION : XXXX ( Description below ) -- - My girlfriend and I signed up for a gym membership in the Spring of XXXX. By XXXX, there was no use for the gym membership as we were planning on moving and the gym was in talks of relocating ( since relocated to a new facility ). My girlfriend created the account and was the primary holder of the account responsible for payments. She had tried multiple times to cancel the account but XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX made it impossible to close the account, she ended up paying {$900.00} in past due fees from their lack of timely and helpful information that allowed her to close the account. She was finally able to file a dispute with her credit card company and officially close out the account in XXXX of XXXX... so I thought. Unknown to both of us, the account was actually transferred to my name where I was responsible for making monthly payments. I never received any correspondence, electronic or physical, of this account update. None of my payment information was ever shared with XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX but the account was still being held active for monthly charges. During XXXX of XXXX, a number that appeared as " spam risk '' continued to call me 4-5 times a week until I finally answered due to the sheer amount of calls I was receiving for 3 weeks. After I answered, I learned all of the information I mentioned above had been going on for the last 8 months. The company that reached out was XXXX XXXX, which gave me a bill for the months of missed payments and also a late fees/cancellation fee of an extra {$100.00} to cancel my account. The worker from XXXX XXXX was not helpful, rude, and not forthcoming with any meaningful information on why this happened. I expressed my annoyance and said that I planned to seek representation for further investigation on the situation. One month later, a new " spam risk '' number called stating they are a lawyer/collection agency collecting a debt on behalf of XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX and the amount due had increased by {$50.00} with no explanation why. The name of this collections group is " Aldous and Associates ''. After I learned they were reaching out regarding the XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX  situation, I called them back and requested information ( timeline of correspondence, payments, changes to the account, notice of gym relocation, etc. ) that I could provide to my representation regarding the matter. I was transferred to a supervisor I was supposed to be transferred to immediately but instead had to wait 45 minutes before I could speak with them. The supervisor again was rude and apprehensive to be helpful in any way. He then immediately hung up as soon as mentioned seeking representation and still has not sent me any of the requested information nor the collection notice that he stated would be sent to me. I also have sent a physical letter to their office ( what they told me to do as the only way to seek the additional information I was requesting ) which has not been responded to in almost 3 weeks now. I'm reaching out because from my own research, many others online are having the same experience with this specific " Aldous and Associates '' collection company. They are not providing adequate information nor taking the due diligence to properly contact and address claimants they are trying to go after, but they are destroying people 's credit scores. Thank you for your assistance with this matter, I hope we are able to address these concerns and come to a suitable resolution.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation