collection agencies coming after me for bills i dont owe

I want to start by saying i do have an anxiety problem. Especially when it comes to telling people off or asking girls out.

So today i received a letter from a collection agency for a bill from "lakeland regional healthcare", a local company that runs 2 hospitals and a couple of walk in clinics. I went to there walk in clinic over a year ago to get a mrsa abcess drained....my mistake, shouldve used an exacto knife. Bill was $187 (exacto knives are $10). I was told they do not take my insurance but they would send the bill to my insurance company so it might count towards my deductible. I was told to pay with "cash", used a debit card. Did this immediately after service was rendered. A couple of weeks later they started hounding me with bills for the exact anount i paid, for the exact services i paid for....which by the way i couldve done myself for ten dollars. They hounded me relentlessly with phone calls, but its just a recording.

And i wrote them a nasty letter. Forgot to send it.

They sent me to a #in coection agency. Really? I called them to cuss them out, told them i will not pay. Did end up paying them $35 for an er bill i apparently forgot about (i just throw away all letters from lakeland). Funny thing is i remember that being a 350 bill, that i wasnt going to pay because it was stupid (also for mrsa).


Also have another debt collector hounding me for a 1400 dollar cell phone bill i refuse to pay. Basically tmobile broke our contract by providing me with severely poor customer service. Had been a customer for 5 years. but id call them and get put on hold for hours. So i couldnt cancel the service, dont have time. But it was turned off for non payment. They also hit me with 600 in early termination fees. i also recently told these people, i will not pay, i do not owe that.

How the [snip] did it ever come up to 1400 though? I waited two months to cancel at 200 a month. I infact also didnt pay them 200 for the last lrgitimate bill.

Sick of these [snip] people hounding me. Im going to start answering their calls again and blowing the[snip]up on them...

They also only borderline follow the law. In particular, midland credit management has refused to prove i owe them a penny. But they keep calling me. They also have a credit card bill from chase that i legitimately owe (from when i was homeless). they offered me a good deal but wouldnt prove to me i owe the debt. Also wouldnt put a deal in writing for the lesser amount. im supposed to trust you why? They even wake me up 8am sunday mornings sometimes

reply to post by phroziac


uuh sounds like a lot of that is on you
you cant just refuse to pay your cellphone bill over some flimsy reason that they voided the contract by not providing you with the best customer service in the world and you should have read the contract it probably states in there that you will be hit with an early termination fee if you renege on your agreed service plan
if you really think they breached the contract take them to small claims court but i can tell you right now that poor customer service does not mean you dont pay a penny for services rendered

yeah a lot of these companies are run by A holes and engage in morally (and make themselves unbearable to deal with) dubious behavior but all i hear from you is a lot of boo hooing about a mess you got yourself into

If you own your own property you really are screwed, it's not what you know, it is what THEY can prove in court, if you paid for treatment with a credit/debit card the issuer should have a copy of the transaction and that hospital bill can be proven as being met in full already.

Your phone bill is going to be much harder, can you prove how bad the coverage was, or, how much time they kept you on hold for, if you can prove they were being obstructive in their lack of process to rescind the contract, you may be able to save yourself a load of hurt.
otherwise, pay it, especially if you own your own home, the turmoil these scumbags can drop on you, just isnt worth the stress.

Dont own property.And i cant prove [snip]
Im so sick of this world.

Im calling the bank monday for proof of the medical bill i paid. I was concerned they might not have it, but ill follow your advice.

Where did i ever refuse to pay my phone bill? The monthly service charges were while the service was not being provided....lines were disabled by tmobile. The only remotely legitimate fee i dispute is the early termination fee....but tmobile violated their own contract. I do legitimately owe then one month of service, which i will gladly pay.

It's your fault. Quit blaming the companies. Take responsibility and deal with it. Sounds like you didn't pay much attention, dude. You threw away bills. You decided not to pay because you didn't like their service. You didn't follow through with a dispute and "forgot to mail" a letter about another one.

I'm not saying you don't have a legitimate grievance, but you caused all this by being extremely sloppy in dealing with it. Well, actually with several things, isn't it, kind of a habit. So what to do now?

1. Negotiate. Try to get the bills reduced. If you really did pay the first bill, prove it.
2. Pay up. Get it over with. Document what you do.
3. PAY ATTENTION from here on out. READ the terms of any contract. Adhere to them. Save yourself some grief.

You are not alone in your plight. I suggest checking out this link to combat unfair and illegal debt collection practices.freedomreigns.us...

Service didnt just suck. My phone was turned off. Therefore i didnt get service, therefore wont pay it. thanls fpr not reading my post at all[
quote]Originally posted by schuyler
It's your fault. Quit blaming the companies. Take responsibility and deal with it. Sounds like you didn't pay much attention, dude. You threw away bills. You decided not to pay because you didn't like their service. You didn't follow through with a dispute and "forgot to mail" a letter about another one.

I'm not saying you don't have a legitimate grievance, but you caused all this by being extremely sloppy in dealing with it. Well, actually with several things, isn't it, kind of a habit. So what to do now?

1. Negotiate. Try to get the bills reduced. If you really did pay the first bill, prove it.
2. Pay up. Get it over with. Document what you do.
3. PAY ATTENTION from here on out. READ the terms of any contract. Adhere to them. Save yourself some grief.

Originally posted by ajay59
You are not alone in your plight. I suggest checking out this link to combat unfair and illegal debt collection practices.freedomreigns.us...

Thanks for that, i appreciate it.

I guess some people just havent been through what ive been through. Sometimes when youre living in a car that doesnt even run, the credit cards just dont matter...

Originally posted by phroziac
I want to start by saying i do have an anxiety problem. Especially when it comes to telling people off or asking girls out.

So today i received a letter from a collection agency for a bill from "lakeland regional healthcare", a local company that runs 2 hospitals and a couple of walk in clinics. I went to there walk in clinic over a year ago to get a mrsa abcess drained....my mistake, shouldve used an exacto knife. Bill was $187 (exacto knives are $10). I was told they do not take my insurance but they would send the bill to my insurance company so it might count towards my deductible. I was told to pay with "cash", used a debit card. Did this immediately after service was rendered. A couple of weeks later they started hounding me with bills for the exact anount i paid, for the exact services i paid for....which by the way i couldve done myself for ten dollars. They hounded me relentlessly with phone calls, but its just a recording.

And i wrote them a nasty letter. Forgot to send it.

They sent me to a #in coection agency. Really? I called them to cuss them out, told them i will not pay. Did end up paying them $35 for an er bill i apparently forgot about (i just throw away all letters from lakeland). Funny thing is i remember that being a 350 bill, that i wasnt going to pay because it was stupid (also for mrsa).


Also have another debt collector hounding me for a 1400 dollar cell phone bill i refuse to pay. Basically tmobile broke our contract by providing me with severely poor customer service. Had been a customer for 5 years. but id call them and get put on hold for hours. So i couldnt cancel the service, dont have time. But it was turned off for non payment. They also hit me with 600 in early termination fees. i also recently told these people, i will not pay, i do not owe that.

How the # did it ever come up to 1400 though? I waited two months to cancel at 200 a month. I infact also didnt pay them 200 for the last lrgitimate bill.

Sick of these #in people hounding me. Im going to start answering their calls again and blowing the # up on them...

They also only borderline follow the law. In particular, midland credit management has refused to prove i owe them a penny. But they keep calling me. They also have a credit card bill from chase that i legitimately owe (from when i was homeless). they offered me a good deal but wouldnt prove to me i owe the debt. Also wouldnt put a deal in writing for the lesser amount. im supposed to trust you why? They even wake me up 8am sunday mornings sometimes

Say this to them. "If you believe you have a contract with me, send me an original copy of a first person to first person contact between you and I to the address you have sent previous correspondence to."

Unless you can prove you have a contract with me, you are an interloper with whom I have no contract in which case I am not bound by law to respond to you. In the absence of documentry eviidence of a contract between us any further contact from you will be regarded as harrasement and I will seek remedy for this injury from a court of competent juriistiction,"

This is using the law of contract to your own advantage

look up the work of Mary Croft

cya

reply to post by learnatic


I like that. I have a problem with someone ive never contacted before telling me to pay them money. How do i know theyre really not trying to screw me?

So the hospital bill was dropped. The one I never owed. But I refuse to pay $1400 to cancel a cell phone.