Valley Empire Collection

Dear Mr***:I have been in contact with the original creditor regarding Mr [redacted] ’s rejection to our first response to this complaintAvista’s records show that Mr [redacted] requested to be listed at the landlord for this property on June 11, and that stays in place until the customer requests to be removed from the accountAs stated in the first response, Avista never received a request to remove Mr [redacted] from the accountAvista is stating that Mr [redacted] is still responsible for the balance.If you have any further questions, please contact our office Sincerely,Patrice F*General Manager

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: As you can see by the documents that the collection company uploaded and the documents that I submitted to them straight from my account with Avista which can by verified through my banking record there is a clear discrepancy in regards to the payments I made in May, June, and AugustThe collection company documents don’t show the payments that were made being applied to the account or partial payment but not the full amountThis is a discrepancy of several hundreds of dollars in payments made that aren’t being shown applied to my account and yet they are saying they are collecting for missing payments In regards to reaching out to my employer the company representative acknowledges that they spoke to me and I told them that I had sent a letter disputing the debt and attached my account documents to even prove their claim was fraudulentThey then confirm that they received my letter and my request to be contacted in writing only yet they go on to claim that I was supposed to call them back after they received the documents I sent disputing the claim, in what universe does this defense make sense? They stated that since I didn’t call (after I clearly disputed the claim and requested for written communication) they reached out to my employer to verify employmentUnder the FDCPA § Acquisition of location information Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall -- (1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer; (2) not state that such consumer owes any debt; USC 1692c I have the employment verification request and it never once requested location information, it instead was verifying my employment with my employer and was written in a matter that it would cause suspicion with HR, I know this as I am a Certified Professional in Human Resources and my boss who contacted the company to follow up is our Chief Human Resources Officer and can attest to the fact that upon calling to figure out why we received a suspicious request was notified that the company was a collection agency and that they were requesting such information in regards to a debt that I owedClearly this is in violation on the FDCPA on two separate accounts.Sincerely, [redacted]

Dear Mr***:I have reviewed the above referenced complaintMr [redacted] has provided a copy of the real estate excise tax affidavit showing he sold the property for service address [redacted] WA According to the Spokane County assessor website the property has been sold a few times since then as wellHowever, Avista Utilities was not aware that Mr [redacted] sold the property until when [redacted] called to notify AvistaAt the time of service for all accounts in question, there was a landlord agreement in place between Avista and the landlord, [redacted] When a landlord agreement is in place, Avista is required to send out an OBT letter (open between tenants) to the address provided at the time of the agreementThis letter is to notify the landlord that the tenant has stopped service and services will be transferred back into the landlords name unless notified of any changesAvista does not have any record of any of these notices being mail returned or forwarded to a new address, nor did they ever receive a call from Mr [redacted] to remove his name from the property addressThe first contact to Avista was in March after the accounts were sent to collectionsI have attached the validation as proof of the validity of this debt, along with copies of the OBT letters mailed to Mr [redacted] If you have any further questions, please contact our office Sincerely,Patrice F*General Manager

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
First of all, I was not the landlord at that time (I stopped being so years prior) and I should not be held accountable for Avista's inaccurate records
Second of all, the OBT letter was sent to the old property management company and was never received by me
Third of all, every subsequent communication about the balance was sent to an address I had long stopped living at by the time they were sent and none of those communications reached me
I can't see any reasonable argument here to validate the debt they claim I owe I had no reasonable reason to think I still had any dealings with Avista, and not a single communication about the situation or debts made it to me I would have quickly addressed the situation had any of them reached me
Sincerely,*** ***

Our office is in receipt of complaint ID ***Unfortunately, due to third party disclosure, our office is unable to disclose or discuss anything regarding an account without prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector
If you have any further questions, please
contact our office

Re: Complaint #***
*** * ***
Dear Revdex.com:
Our office is in receipt of complaint ID ***We have attempted to make payment with Mr*** wife, *** on Judgment case
#***She made a $payment on June 1, 2015, and another $payment on July 9, No payments have been made since, so we proceeded with a bank garnishment that withheld zero funds
At this time they can contact our office to set up monthly payment arrangements to avoid any additional garnishments
If you have any further questions, please contact our office.
Sincerely,
Patrice F*
General Manager

I was 6 days late trying to make my payment. Not telling them I cant make it, just I need 6 more days. NOPE. They sent me straight in for Garnishment. So now the 50$ I was having difficulties paying will be 250 out of each check. Needless to say my daughter and I wont be eating this month.

Revdex.com,I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  Regards, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
As you can see by the documents that the collection company uploaded and the documents that I submitted to them straight from my account with Avista which can by verified through my banking record there is a clear discrepancy in regards to the payments I made in May, June, and August. The collection company documents don’t show the payments that were made being applied to the account or partial payment but not the full amount. This is a discrepancy of several hundreds of dollars in payments made that aren’t being shown applied to my account and yet they are saying they are collecting for missing payments.
In regards to reaching out to my employer the company representative acknowledges that they spoke to me and I told them that I had sent a letter disputing the debt and attached my account documents to even prove their claim was fraudulent. They then confirm that they received my letter and my request to be contacted in writing only yet they go on to claim that I was supposed to call them back after they received the documents I sent disputing the claim, in what universe does this defense make sense? They stated that since I didn’t call (after I clearly disputed the claim and requested for written communication) they reached out to my employer to verify employment. Under the FDCPA § 804.  Acquisition of location information
Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall --
(1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer;
(2) not state that such consumer owes any debt;
15 USC 1692c
I have the employment verification request and it never once requested location information, it instead was verifying my employment with my employer and was written in a matter that it would cause suspicion with HR, I know this as I am a Certified Professional in Human Resources and my boss who contacted the company to follow up is our Chief Human Resources Officer and can attest to the fact that upon calling to figure out why we received a suspicious request was notified that the company was a collection agency and that they were requesting such information in regards to a debt that I owed. Clearly this is in violation on the FDCPA on two separate accounts.Sincerely,[redacted]

Dear Mr. [redacted]:I have been in contact with the original creditor regarding Mr. [redacted]’s rejection to our first response to this complaint. Avista’s records show that Mr. [redacted] requested to be listed at the landlord for this property on June 11, 2003 and that stays in place until the customer requests to be removed from the account. As stated in the first response, Avista never received a request to remove Mr. [redacted] from the account. Avista is stating that Mr. [redacted] is still responsible for the balance.If you have any further questions, please contact our office.  Sincerely,Patrice F[redacted]General Manager

I have attached our response to Ms. [redacted] complaint ID [redacted] Thank you, I have reviewed the above referenced complaint. The account in question was assigned to ouroffice on April 24, 2017. The validation notice was mailed to the address provided by the originalcreditor on April 26, 2017....

On May 11, 2017 we spoke with [redacted]. She stated she hadalready paid the balance to [redacted]. She was told that we would need proof of payment so we couldforward to our client for review. Ms. [redacted] was asked to call back no later than May 25, 2017.We did not receive proof or a call so another notice was mailed on May 31, 2017. Still no payment,proof, or call from Ms. [redacted] so a lawsuit was filed in [redacted] County District Court on June 29,2017 case #[redacted]. At this time the additional fees were added to her balance, a court filing feeof $73.00 and attorney fees in the amount of $200.00. We then received Ms. [redacted] payment inthe amount of $298.00 on July 12, 2017. At this time I pulled the lawsuit from being served toallow time to contact Ms. [redacted] and explain the additional court costs. We gave her the optionto pay the filing fee of $73.00 and half of the attorney fees of $100.00 to dismiss the lawsuit andavoid additional costs for service of the summons and complaint.At this time we are still holding on service to allow her time to pay the difference for the fees. Ourlast conversation on July 19, 2017 she stated she was sending the payment.If you have any further questions, please contact our office.

Please see attached.
Valley Empire CollectionPhysical address: 8817 East Mission Avenue Suite 101 Spokane Valley, WA 99212 Mailing address:  PO Box 141248 Spokane Valley, WA 99214Phone: 509.928.4611 / 800.669.8139 Fax: 509.922.4380January 12, 2017Revdex.com [redacted] Resolutions ConsultantRe: Complaint ID [redacted] [redacted]Dear Ms. [redacted]:I forwarded the payment history Ms. [redacted] provided in her last response to the original creditor and this is the response I received from Avista:Those payments were made to the utility account after the Prior Obligation was moved to account [redacted] that were sent to collections. She was disconnected for non-payment 05/17/16, arrangements were made 06/23/16, but not kept on that account. We have not heard from either [redacted] or [redacted] (who still isn’t authorized or added) it was sent to collections 10/10/16.If you have any further questions, please contact our office. Sincerely,Patrice F[redacted] General Manager* This communication is from a debt collector. This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Dear Mr. [redacted]:I have reviewed the above referenced complaint. Mr. [redacted] has provided a copy of the real estate excise tax affidavit showing he sold the property for service address [redacted] [redacted] WA 99204. According to the Spokane County assessor website the property has been sold a few...

times since then as well. However, Avista Utilities was not aware that Mr. [redacted] sold the property until 2013 when [redacted] called to notify Avista. At the time of service for all 3 accounts in question, there was a landlord agreement in place between Avista and the landlord, [redacted]. When a landlord agreement is in place, Avista is required to send out an OBT letter (open between tenants) to the address provided at the time of the agreement. This letter is to notify the landlord that the tenant has stopped service and services will be transferred back into the landlords name unless notified of any changes. Avista does not have any record of any of these notices being mail returned or forwarded to a new address, nor did they ever receive a call from Mr. [redacted] to remove his name from the property address. The first contact to Avista was in March 2015 after the accounts were sent to collections. I have attached the validation as proof of the validity of this debt, along with copies of the OBT letters mailed to Mr. [redacted]. If you have any further questions, please contact our office.  Sincerely,Patrice F[redacted]General Manager

My name is Brianna Johnston. I have been trying to resolve a debt with valley empire collection. I was garnished for over 2,000 this year. Recently I called and tried to set up a date that the garnishment would be up. I was told that I could not be given a date and that I would need to ask my employer. I wanted to know a date to call valley empire collection to set up a payment arrangement. My employer notified me when my last payment was done. I called valley empire collection to set up a plan and was told they needed to receive paperwork from my employer. I called again later that week to set up a plan. I was told that valley empire would call to set up a plan and they verified my phone number and address. I waited for a phone call. I called today (11/19/16) to set up a plan. I was told a garnishment had already been filed. I was told that there was nothing that could be done. I let them know I was expecting a call and therefore a voicemail and never received one. I asked to speak to someone else. I was again told that there was nothing to be done. That I had been called 3 times. I was asked why I was never left abmessage. I was told it was against policy. I stated "how am I supposed to know who called if a message was never left" they suggested saving the number in my phone. That is rediculous. I should have been notified what day I would be called or at least that I would not be left a message. The way this was conducted was almost so that I would not be able to make the arrangements to get this settled. Now I will owe even more despite making efforts to get this resolved.

Review: Starting at about 1945 this evening, Sep 26, 2014, I start getting calls from ###-###-#### to my cell phone. I called Valley Empire Collection and ask them to quit calling me. Not two minutes later I received another call from them.

I call them back and they say my number doesn't show up in their records. Funny, they called me 5 times. Must be a lousy phone system they have to not have any record of these calls, or they are deliberately telling me a falsehood.

Either way Valley Empire Collection needs to figure out a way to quit making so many so-called "misdialed" calls.Desired Settlement: I would like Valley Empire Collection to stop calling my cell phone ###-###-####. The company has no legitimate business to conduct with me as I have no bills they are trying to collect.

Business

Response:

[redacted]- Complaint ID 1029394

Dear [redacted],

I pulled our call log and found the misdial by a collector in our office. On September 26, 2012 at 19:46:01 our collector by the name of [redacted] called ###-###-####. This was a misdial. I pulled up the account she was calling on and it was one digit off. When Mr. [redacted] called back the collector was unable to pull up the number because it was an incorrect number and not in our system. I apologize for the error. Mr. [redacted] should not receive any more phone calls.

Thank you,

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business' response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

Revdex.com,

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

I have never had any kind of business at all with this outfit , but they keep calling my number, over and over, asking for someone else who does not have access to my telephone. It is really getting irritating!!!

Valley Empire is one of the rudest and shady company ever. Few years back I bounced some checks and had some medical bills and a parking ticket turned into collection. They do not contact you as they say and once I figured out I was in collection $600 debt cost me over $1200. When I asked for copies of my collection issues and a statement they told me that they only have one and that was mailed to me. The address was an old one and they refused to send any information other than a receipt that did not note what I paid it was just a copy of my credit card amount they charged. 3 years later I go to write a check and I cannot. I follow the paper trail and they claimed I owed close to $500 for bounced checks that I said I paid and they rudely told me I did not and would again not send me any information regarding my account, not only that but after asking enough questions I found out that because I lived in 3 different places I supposedly had 3 different accounts and it was my responsibility to let them know I had moved. I was going through a divorce, so I moved a lot to have one name with one drivers license and social security have 3 different account and its my fault? I cannot believe I paid 0ver $1000 only to find out I still owed another $480 because of fees and interest. I politely asked if they would consider reducing it since I had made ever effort to clean it up. The mean girl said NO, pay now or it will continue to accrue interest. 3 checks for a total of $123 and the rest was fees and interest and it was my fault. They said they contacted me once via mail and then after that it was up to me to contact them. no matter what. I said how am I supposed to know this if you told me when I paid it off my account. She said prove it. I said you would not mail me a receipt until I demanded it and when I got it it did not show what was paid. As far as I am concerned I paid twice for the same debt and got screwed. These people represent the [redacted] in the ticket department. Seriously? People don't choose to be in financial disarray and when you make an effort to clean it up to be treated so disrespectfully is down right wrong. I have had to call periodically and give my name and all my recent address to make sure there is nothing sitting out there. Like a parking ticket you forgot to pay but cannot license your vehicle unless you pay $186 in cash for a $20 ticket really. I know [redacted] doesn't get anything more that the original amount of the ticket. Sad when the [redacted] is broke and this local company is making bank of the downtrodden.

Review: On September 19, 2013 I had inquired from my bank to purchase a home they pulled a different type of credit and found a judgement in the amount of 394.00 with [redacted] from collection agency Valley Empire Collection original debtor [redacted]. I immediately called Valley Empire to find out what this was about and was informed they served me with judgement paper August 15, 2008. Much to my surprise I did not live in Spokane I had already moved to Western Washington for a job. I asked the lady ([redacted]) if I had signed for it she said, yes; then [redacted] replied I owed over 1200.00??????? I was so mad I hung up then I called [redacted] to see if there was some help they can give me, but to no avail, no help. I then called [redacted] and the lady informed me of what to do, I went on line to get the information from archives and they are to call me. My dispute Is this, NOONE EVER SERVED ME WITH PAPERWORK NOR DID I SIGN ANYTHING AND I DID NOT LIVE IN SPOKANE AT THT TIME IN WHICH I CAN SHOW PROOF. I want the judgement removed and I will pay the 394.00 which is owed to [redacted]. I called Valley Empire back and spoke to night manager [redacted], not sure of spelling, to see what I could do to solve the matter and offered to pay the 394.00 to remove the judgement and I also wanted copies of the paperwork, that I was supposedly served with. Again she said, NO they wanted the 1200.00. I do not feel I should be penalized for a bill/or judgement that I knew nothing about.Desired Settlement: I Want Valley Empire Collection to remove the judgement with Spokane District Court after I pay them the principle of $394.00. How do they figure on charging a person that kind of money when it was no secret where I was moving to and they have access to find me on he internet they could have informed me sooner than me finding out by my bank tey had 5 years to do it.

Business

Response:

We have left message regarding this matter with no response as of today. Please see detailed response attached.

Valley Empire Collection

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

I have settled with the company in the amount of 850.00 to be paid in full by 10/31/2013 per [redacted] Manager of Valley Empire. I had sent them the proof I was not there at time they show I was served, she was willing to reduce the interest. Thank you so much for your help, I was unsure if they were going to reduce the amount because at first they were not going to budge until I showed them proof. It is not worth the stress to get it all the way lowered so we agreed upon the above amount.. Thank you so much for your prompt service in this matter. Have a great day! [redacted]

Regards,

This company is beyond horrible. Every attempt I make to be reasonable and honest with them they shove it down my throat. I cannot believe they are still in business. They need to be shut down.

I have been trying to pay a debt for my mother for over a year. I called and GAVE them account numbers and information but they refused to take my payment. Valley Empire Collection then emailed the company that the debt was originally from, telling them I was trying to get information FROM THEM about my mom. Very rude and disrespectful customer service!