Mr***, On our response we made a typo. We stated in the 3rd sentence that we do collect for *** Urgent Care. We need to correct that, we do not collect for *** Urgent Care. We do apologize for our typo. We have checked with the original client and they are still stating that this bill is outstanding. We wanted to notify you of this, so you would not be confused that you have paid this account. We sincerely apologize for the confusion, if you will call our office we will direct you to the supervisor to get this matter resolved. Thank You, Merchants Credit Association, Inc *** *** BlvdSte ***, SC 29621864-***
Mr***, We have investigated this account further since your last responseOur client still states that the bill is still owingWe have verified that this account does belong to a *** *** with a social security number ending with ***-**-*** and a date of birth of ***We show that *** *** signed responsible for a patient by the name of ***The address they have on file is the *** *** Ave., and we are showing that we sent letters to that address with no return mailWe notice on your Revdex.com complaint you listed an address that began with *** but that was all that was providedIf this is not you please contact our office and we will be glad to assist you to get this matter cleared up
MS*** We have received your complaint from the Revdex.com, and have listened to the conversationWhile reviewing the conversation, MrL** did identify himselfHe notified you with the mini memorandum and said he was a debt collector with Merchants CreditAll our lines are
recorded, but by law we do not have to state that in our conversationWe do have to identify that we are speaking with the correct person so if that includes identifying the information that the client gave us whether it is social or date of birth, because we are not allowed to speak with a third party without permissionWe apologize if you were offended by the process we use to identify the correct person
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.
This does not resolve the issue at handMy complaint was that if he asked if he was speaking to me, and I said yes, there is NO need to state my social security number or date of birth over a line that is not secureIf your lines are secure, you need to state that to the caller regardless of lawNot only did MrL** only identify himself ONE time, but when I stated that I didn't know who he was and in this day and age he's calling and demanding I pay him a sum of money over the phone, he never reiterated who he was nor did he have any manor or regard for his unwelcome attitudeI was extremely polite and willing to talk to this MrL** until he stated my PRIVATE informationEither reevaluate your protocol or expect more complaintsAlso, there was no apology form MrL** nor the company in question. People are scammed by callers every dayIt's important for a collections business to understand that
Regards,
*** ***
Ms. [redacted], We sincerely apologized that you felt violated, by us verifying your information. But you do have to understand our line of business as well. Do you know how many third parties contact us a day trying to get information about an account that doesn't belong to them? It may be a parent calling for information on an adult child or also it could be a spouse wanting information about their significant other. By law we can not talk to a third party, so it is very important that we verify personal information that only the consumer would know to eliminate that we are indeed speaking with the right party. As we mention in the last response, by law we do not have to inform a consumer that the call is secure. We also acknowledged in the last response that all our conversations are recorded, and Mr. L** did indeed identify himself. After listening to the recording, he specifically told you who you owe the money to and you agreed with him that they have sent you so many bills. With that being said you knew you owed the original creditor that he mentioned, so how could it have been a scam? As long as we identify ourselves at the beginning of the talk off that is all we are required to do by law. Ms. E[redacted] we do appreciated your promptness in taking care of the account and once again we apologize that you were offended by our collector identifying the correct party, but he was only doing his job.
Mr. [redacted], We do apologize for your inconvenience with trying to get this matter cleared up for your son. Obviously, you and Mr. L** got off to the wrong start. We would just like to make sure that you have the correct client, because you mentioned [redacted] Urgent Care, but we do...
collect for [redacted] Urgent Care. Mr. [redacted], we already have on file that your son gave us permission to speak with you, so I would encourage you to give our office a call back and speak with Ms. Kay B[redacted]. She is our collection supervisor and will be delighted to help you and your son get this information taken care of. Please call 864-[redacted] with the account number or your son's name and the receptionist will transfer you to Ms. B[redacted]. We look forward to helping you get everything resolved.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.
I have not received any letters from Merchants Credit of [redacted], SC. I haven't received any notice of who the debt is even owed to. Unless they have proof of me receiving these letters at my current address I would like this to be removed from any credit reporting files and all contact to end as they have agreed.
Regards,
[redacted]
[redacted]
First off we would like to apologize for the
miscommunication of the conversation. We
listen to the recording and our collector said you stated that you wanted to
pay $20.00 per month. He was trying to
inform you that we have a minimum payment on certain balances and...
that is
$50.00 per month. According to your
balance we would accept payments but our client ask that we set a minimum
balance. [redacted] we would be more than
delighted to set up payment arrangements, but do understand that this will not
keep it off of your credit report unless you make that minimum payment on a
secure monthly draft either debit card, credit card, or check by phone. You are more than welcome to call our office
and speak with another supervisor name [redacted] and she will assist you in any
payment arrangements that you would like to set up. You may contact us at [redacted]
To Whom It May Concern: We do not show that we have ever had a conversation with Mr. [redacted], so we can't quite understand how he would say we used vulgar language. Mr. [redacted] account was placed in our office on 3-1-17. We sent Mr. [redacted] a validation letter on 3-2-17. Mr. [redacted] has never...
disputed his account in the 30 day time frame. We sent Mr. [redacted] another letter the day we received the Revdex.com letter. The mail was sent prior to receiving the Revdex.com letter. Mr. [redacted] also say that his account is not even owed. The day we received the Revdex.com complaint we called our client to verify his account, and per the original creditor the account is still owing. We have attached an itemized statement for your review to forward to Mr. [redacted]. Per Mr. [redacted] he has requested no further contact. We have placed his account into a do not call or bill status per his request, and removed all telephone numbers from his account. If Mr. [redacted] would like to take care of his account, he is more than welcome to give us a call to make arrangements at 864-[redacted].
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.
I simply asked for an apology. Not an "we apologize but.." say sorry, admit you were in the wrong and move on! I guess in your line of work yelling at the customer and hanging up on them is also protocol?
Regards,
[redacted]
Ms. [redacted], We sincerely apologize about this mix up. Our client did place your account with two different companies. Normal protocol is they do not send the same account to two different places. Mr. L** was unaware that the account was sent to the other agency, because as stated this is not a...
normal procedure for them. Mr. L** had no knowledge that your account was with another company so therefore he was trying to make you aware if the account was not taken care of, there was a possibility that it would go against your credit file. Ms. [redacted] I hope you are aware that we are a collection agency and people tell us all day [redacted] that they have paid the client or set up payment arrangements, but without any proof there is no way to tell. However our records show that Mr. L** did send your account to the clerical department after your call. He requested the clerical department to call the original client and verify if your account was indeed with another company. At that time our client did advise us of their error, and requested that your account be canceled with our agency. With that being said your account was immediately canceled and returned to the original creditor. If you need further information about this account and the arrangements you would need to contact the original creditor, because we no longer handle that account. Once again we apologize for the mix up.
Ms. [redacted], After reviewing your file and conversations, we show that you did agree to make payment arrangements on your account. We sent you a reminder 7 days in advance to notify you of your payments being deducted from your account. We feel if you had any discrepancy about your payments once...
you received that letter, you should have notified our office. With you setting up payment arrangements we have keep this account from going against your credit file. Also when you contacted our office on 8-15-17, you requested that we stop payments, but agreed to do one last payment on an account. We have stop those payments and will run the last payment on 9-13-17 that you agreed upon. Ms. [redacted] if you choose to set the payments back up and clear your other account, please feel free to call 864-[redacted]; and we will be happy to assist you in that matter.
To Whom It May Concern, After receiving the complaint that Ms. [redacted] was still unsatisfied, we made a business decision to contact Ms. [redacted] directly. We spoke with Ms. [redacted] on 8-29-17 and happily resolved the issue. Ms. [redacted] stated that she was satisfied.
Ms. [redacted], We would like to start off first by saying we log all our calls into our system. Not sure if you are confused or have more calls coming in, but we do not call you daily. According to our records we have called you at the most 3 or 4 times in a 30 day time frame. Also our records...
indicate that we have never actually had a conversation with you; when we attempt to call your house we always get an answer machine or a no answer. We have left several messages for you, but have never received a returned phone call from you. We also checked your phone number in our system just to make sure it was not related to another file, and found no one else in our system registered with your telephone number so we have no other choice but to think you may be confused with our company and other companies. If you would like to resolve your accounts in our system, please contact us at 864-[redacted]. We will be glad to have one of our collection representative help you get matters resolved.
Mr. [redacted], We have received and read your complaint in reference to Ms. [redacted]. We are limited to the information we may discuss with you which pertains to this account, because you are considered a third party. We do not have permission on file to discuss your wife's account with you. We understand your frustration, but we have resolved all issues with your wife. We actually spoke with her and she was very satisfied, so we are not quite sure why we keep receiving these letters and reviews from you. On a review you sent separate you addressed our business as [redacted] Credit. The name of our company is Merchants Credit Associate, so we don't know if you are confusing our business with another business. Also if your wife has any further questions, please have her to contact our office and we will be glad to assist her with her account. If you would like to speak with us about your wife account, please have her call and grant us permission to release information to you.
Ms. [redacted], As you stated in your complaint, we do have records that we previously cooperated with you regarding your accounts. We show you have 3 outstanding accounts that we have sent you itemized bill to the address you provided in your complaint. We are not quite sure why you would ask...
for the accounts to be removed from your credit file, when we have provided bills that state you were the responsible party. If you still have a discrepancy with your accounts, please call our office at 864-[redacted] and someone will be happy to assist you in clearing up this accounts promptly.
Dear [redacted] We have reviewed the conversations that you had with our representatives. We show no negligent in our conversations. We show that you have an outstanding debt that has been our office since 2011. We have spoken with you on several occasions, and even offered...
you a settlement to get your account paid in full. You have repeatedly disputed this account on your credit bureau file. We have flagged the account as a disputed account on your credit file with the remains that you do still owe the debt. Our representatives were only doing their jobs when they called you about the debt. You were very rude and told them that they don’t need to tell you about a debt and that you would pay when you were ready to pay. You also told the supervisor that you didn’t need a settlement that you would pay what you owed, but has yet failed since 2011 to make the first payment. Also you have requested that we remove your number and no further contact. We have granted your request and removed all numbers from your file. If you have any further questions or see that you are ready to settle your account feel free to contact our office at [redacted]
Mr. [redacted], We received your complaint to the Revdex.com. We are showing that we billed you three times and we did not receive any of the letters back by mail. We have contacted the original creditor and they also notified you with several letters. They also stated that you gave them a credit card for...
the balance and the card decline. They also noted that you had given them a check previously and the funds were not available and the check bounced. With all that being said you were well aware of the account. We also show records that we spoke with you on several occassions and you refused and hung up on us. We are more than delighted to send you another copy of the bill. I have attached it with your Revdex.com document and I also I have placed a letter in the mail for you review. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to call the office at 864-[redacted].
We do not like sneaky business practices and assuming that a collection agency does not have to communicate with the consumer to receive approval for new collection bills that have to be paid is arrogant and wrong. We realize that the medical bills have to be paid, however we need to know which bills are being cleared. Paying on past due bills the way Merchants Credit collects, you never know which bills are being resolved and or paid off? Merchants Credit assumes they can charge for any bills that are received from the same Hospital. How do we know which they are paying on and when a outstanding debt is cleared. They offer no communication and when we tried to call for clarification on same, the phone rings and rings or leave a message and nobody call us back. This practice needs to be cleaned up through the court system. My question to the Revdex.com was, is this a standard practice in collection agencies, to pay off one agreed to bill and start on another without the consumer knowing? What the heck are they doing and why? Is info the Revdex.com collected on a specific merchant or group of merchants available to the public and how do we access that info? Sincerely, [redacted]
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]
Mr***, On our response we made a typo. We stated in the 3rd sentence that we do collect for *** Urgent Care. We need to correct that, we do not collect for *** Urgent Care. We do apologize for our typo. We have checked with the original client and they are still stating that this bill is outstanding. We wanted to notify you of this, so you would not be confused that you have paid this account. We sincerely apologize for the confusion, if you will call our office we will direct you to the supervisor to get this matter resolved. Thank You, Merchants Credit Association, Inc *** *** BlvdSte ***, SC 29621864-***
Mr***, We have investigated this account further since your last responseOur client still states that the bill is still owingWe have verified that this account does belong to a *** *** with a social security number ending with ***-**-*** and a date of birth of ***We show that *** *** signed responsible for a patient by the name of ***The address they have on file is the *** *** Ave., and we are showing that we sent letters to that address with no return mailWe notice on your Revdex.com complaint you listed an address that began with *** but that was all that was providedIf this is not you please contact our office and we will be glad to assist you to get this matter cleared up
MS*** We have received your complaint from the Revdex.com, and have listened to the conversationWhile reviewing the conversation, MrL** did identify himselfHe notified you with the mini memorandum and said he was a debt collector with Merchants CreditAll our lines are
recorded, but by law we do not have to state that in our conversationWe do have to identify that we are speaking with the correct person so if that includes identifying the information that the client gave us whether it is social or date of birth, because we are not allowed to speak with a third party without permissionWe apologize if you were offended by the process we use to identify the correct person
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.
This does not resolve the issue at handMy complaint was that if he asked if he was speaking to me, and I said yes, there is NO need to state my social security number or date of birth over a line that is not secureIf your lines are secure, you need to state that to the caller regardless of lawNot only did MrL** only identify himself ONE time, but when I stated that I didn't know who he was and in this day and age he's calling and demanding I pay him a sum of money over the phone, he never reiterated who he was nor did he have any manor or regard for his unwelcome attitudeI was extremely polite and willing to talk to this MrL** until he stated my PRIVATE informationEither reevaluate your protocol or expect more complaintsAlso, there was no apology form MrL** nor the company in question. People are scammed by callers every dayIt's important for a collections business to understand that
Regards,
*** ***
Ms. [redacted], We sincerely apologized that you felt violated, by us verifying your information. But you do have to understand our line of business as well. Do you know how many third parties contact us a day trying to get information about an account that doesn't belong to them? It may be a parent calling for information on an adult child or also it could be a spouse wanting information about their significant other. By law we can not talk to a third party, so it is very important that we verify personal information that only the consumer would know to eliminate that we are indeed speaking with the right party. As we mention in the last response, by law we do not have to inform a consumer that the call is secure. We also acknowledged in the last response that all our conversations are recorded, and Mr. L** did indeed identify himself. After listening to the recording, he specifically told you who you owe the money to and you agreed with him that they have sent you so many bills. With that being said you knew you owed the original creditor that he mentioned, so how could it have been a scam? As long as we identify ourselves at the beginning of the talk off that is all we are required to do by law. Ms. E[redacted] we do appreciated your promptness in taking care of the account and once again we apologize that you were offended by our collector identifying the correct party, but he was only doing his job.
Mr. [redacted], We do apologize for your inconvenience with trying to get this matter cleared up for your son. Obviously, you and Mr. L** got off to the wrong start. We would just like to make sure that you have the correct client, because you mentioned [redacted] Urgent Care, but we do...
collect for [redacted] Urgent Care. Mr. [redacted], we already have on file that your son gave us permission to speak with you, so I would encourage you to give our office a call back and speak with Ms. Kay B[redacted]. She is our collection supervisor and will be delighted to help you and your son get this information taken care of. Please call 864-[redacted] with the account number or your son's name and the receptionist will transfer you to Ms. B[redacted]. We look forward to helping you get everything resolved.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.
I have not received any letters from Merchants Credit of [redacted], SC. I haven't received any notice of who the debt is even owed to. Unless they have proof of me receiving these letters at my current address I would like this to be removed from any credit reporting files and all contact to end as they have agreed.
Regards,
[redacted]
[redacted]
First off we would like to apologize for the
miscommunication of the conversation. We
listen to the recording and our collector said you stated that you wanted to
pay $20.00 per month. He was trying to
inform you that we have a minimum payment on certain balances and...
that is
$50.00 per month. According to your
balance we would accept payments but our client ask that we set a minimum
balance. [redacted] we would be more than
delighted to set up payment arrangements, but do understand that this will not
keep it off of your credit report unless you make that minimum payment on a
secure monthly draft either debit card, credit card, or check by phone. You are more than welcome to call our office
and speak with another supervisor name [redacted] and she will assist you in any
payment arrangements that you would like to set up. You may contact us at [redacted]
To Whom It May Concern: We do not show that we have ever had a conversation with Mr. [redacted], so we can't quite understand how he would say we used vulgar language. Mr. [redacted] account was placed in our office on 3-1-17. We sent Mr. [redacted] a validation letter on 3-2-17. Mr. [redacted] has never...
disputed his account in the 30 day time frame. We sent Mr. [redacted] another letter the day we received the Revdex.com letter. The mail was sent prior to receiving the Revdex.com letter. Mr. [redacted] also say that his account is not even owed. The day we received the Revdex.com complaint we called our client to verify his account, and per the original creditor the account is still owing. We have attached an itemized statement for your review to forward to Mr. [redacted]. Per Mr. [redacted] he has requested no further contact. We have placed his account into a do not call or bill status per his request, and removed all telephone numbers from his account. If Mr. [redacted] would like to take care of his account, he is more than welcome to give us a call to make arrangements at 864-[redacted].
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.
I simply asked for an apology. Not an "we apologize but.." say sorry, admit you were in the wrong and move on! I guess in your line of work yelling at the customer and hanging up on them is also protocol?
Regards,
[redacted]
Ms. [redacted], We sincerely apologize about this mix up. Our client did place your account with two different companies. Normal protocol is they do not send the same account to two different places. Mr. L** was unaware that the account was sent to the other agency, because as stated this is not a...
normal procedure for them. Mr. L** had no knowledge that your account was with another company so therefore he was trying to make you aware if the account was not taken care of, there was a possibility that it would go against your credit file. Ms. [redacted] I hope you are aware that we are a collection agency and people tell us all day [redacted] that they have paid the client or set up payment arrangements, but without any proof there is no way to tell. However our records show that Mr. L** did send your account to the clerical department after your call. He requested the clerical department to call the original client and verify if your account was indeed with another company. At that time our client did advise us of their error, and requested that your account be canceled with our agency. With that being said your account was immediately canceled and returned to the original creditor. If you need further information about this account and the arrangements you would need to contact the original creditor, because we no longer handle that account. Once again we apologize for the mix up.
Ms. [redacted], After reviewing your file and conversations, we show that you did agree to make payment arrangements on your account. We sent you a reminder 7 days in advance to notify you of your payments being deducted from your account. We feel if you had any discrepancy about your payments once...
you received that letter, you should have notified our office. With you setting up payment arrangements we have keep this account from going against your credit file. Also when you contacted our office on 8-15-17, you requested that we stop payments, but agreed to do one last payment on an account. We have stop those payments and will run the last payment on 9-13-17 that you agreed upon. Ms. [redacted] if you choose to set the payments back up and clear your other account, please feel free to call 864-[redacted]; and we will be happy to assist you in that matter.
To Whom It May Concern, After receiving the complaint that Ms. [redacted] was still unsatisfied, we made a business decision to contact Ms. [redacted] directly. We spoke with Ms. [redacted] on 8-29-17 and happily resolved the issue. Ms. [redacted] stated that she was satisfied.
Ms. [redacted], We would like to start off first by saying we log all our calls into our system. Not sure if you are confused or have more calls coming in, but we do not call you daily. According to our records we have called you at the most 3 or 4 times in a 30 day time frame. Also our records...
indicate that we have never actually had a conversation with you; when we attempt to call your house we always get an answer machine or a no answer. We have left several messages for you, but have never received a returned phone call from you. We also checked your phone number in our system just to make sure it was not related to another file, and found no one else in our system registered with your telephone number so we have no other choice but to think you may be confused with our company and other companies. If you would like to resolve your accounts in our system, please contact us at 864-[redacted]. We will be glad to have one of our collection representative help you get matters resolved.
Mr. [redacted], We have received and read your complaint in reference to Ms. [redacted]. We are limited to the information we may discuss with you which pertains to this account, because you are considered a third party. We do not have permission on file to discuss your wife's account with you. We understand your frustration, but we have resolved all issues with your wife. We actually spoke with her and she was very satisfied, so we are not quite sure why we keep receiving these letters and reviews from you. On a review you sent separate you addressed our business as [redacted] Credit. The name of our company is Merchants Credit Associate, so we don't know if you are confusing our business with another business. Also if your wife has any further questions, please have her to contact our office and we will be glad to assist her with her account. If you would like to speak with us about your wife account, please have her call and grant us permission to release information to you.
Ms. [redacted], As you stated in your complaint, we do have records that we previously cooperated with you regarding your accounts. We show you have 3 outstanding accounts that we have sent you itemized bill to the address you provided in your complaint. We are not quite sure why you would ask...
for the accounts to be removed from your credit file, when we have provided bills that state you were the responsible party. If you still have a discrepancy with your accounts, please call our office at 864-[redacted] and someone will be happy to assist you in clearing up this accounts promptly.
Dear [redacted] We have reviewed the conversations that you had with our representatives. We show no negligent in our conversations. We show that you have an outstanding debt that has been our office since 2011. We have spoken with you on several occasions, and even offered...
you a settlement to get your account paid in full. You have repeatedly disputed this account on your credit bureau file. We have flagged the account as a disputed account on your credit file with the remains that you do still owe the debt. Our representatives were only doing their jobs when they called you about the debt. You were very rude and told them that they don’t need to tell you about a debt and that you would pay when you were ready to pay. You also told the supervisor that you didn’t need a settlement that you would pay what you owed, but has yet failed since 2011 to make the first payment. Also you have requested that we remove your number and no further contact. We have granted your request and removed all numbers from your file. If you have any further questions or see that you are ready to settle your account feel free to contact our office at [redacted]
Mr. [redacted], We received your complaint to the Revdex.com. We are showing that we billed you three times and we did not receive any of the letters back by mail. We have contacted the original creditor and they also notified you with several letters. They also stated that you gave them a credit card for...
the balance and the card decline. They also noted that you had given them a check previously and the funds were not available and the check bounced. With all that being said you were well aware of the account. We also show records that we spoke with you on several occassions and you refused and hung up on us. We are more than delighted to send you another copy of the bill. I have attached it with your Revdex.com document and I also I have placed a letter in the mail for you review. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to call the office at 864-[redacted].
We do not like sneaky business practices and assuming that a collection agency does not have to communicate with the consumer to receive approval for new collection bills that have to be paid is arrogant and wrong. We realize that the medical bills have to be paid, however we need to know which bills are being cleared. Paying on past due bills the way Merchants Credit collects, you never know which bills are being resolved and or paid off? Merchants Credit assumes they can charge for any bills that are received from the same Hospital. How do we know which they are paying on and when a outstanding debt is cleared. They offer no communication and when we tried to call for clarification on same, the phone rings and rings or leave a message and nobody call us back. This practice needs to be cleaned up through the court system. My question to the Revdex.com was, is this a standard practice in collection agencies, to pay off one agreed to bill and start on another without the consumer knowing? What the heck are they doing and why? Is info the Revdex.com collected on a specific merchant or group of merchants available to the public and how do we access that info? Sincerely, [redacted]
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]