Need Help Dealing With Collection Agency
Date: Thu, 09/09/2010 - 22:19
Back in '08 I signed a 1 year contract with a health club. I fulfilled the 1 year contract and then a few months later I was in a car accident making it so that I was unable to continue my membership. I called the club and they told me no problem and that they would cancel the contract and I would not be billed further. My fault for not getting this in writing, however I was in bad shape, had a couple of surgeries and was in and out of the hospital. This happened around October.
In November I received a call from the club saying that my credit card had expired and they needed a new one. I called them back explaining what had happened and that I no longer wanted the membership. Again they told me not to worry about it and that it wasn't a problem to cancel. I never heard from them for several months after this.
Back in June of this year I received a letter from the club stating that I was past due on 9 months of dues and that if I didn't pay them $600 or respond to their letter by July 1 they would send my account to collections at which time I would then owe $775 as a "collection fee". I sent a certified letter detailing everything that happened and explained to them that I had already fulfilled my contract and that I did not feel I was responsible for the charges. They never responded.
Sure enough about the second week of July I get a letter from a collection agency. This letter said that I owed $1295. I immediately wrote another letter detailing the series of events and letting them know that I was disputing the charge and that they needed to send some type of validation showing that I was responsible for paying more than 1 years contract. I also mentioned in the letter that the amount was over $500 more than what the original creditor said I would owe once it went to collections so I was also disputing the amount as well as the entire charge. I know they received the letter cuz I got the certified receipt back signed. But, they never responded to my request for validation or to the fact that I am disputing the charge. Instead they just keep sending me bill after bill, and today a bill with a threat to take me to court.
I'm at a loss. Is there anything that I can do? I know that I should have gotten the cancellation in writing in the first place, but I had so much going on at the time. Is there anything that I can do with the fact that they did not respond to my dispute letter? I'd really like to get this straightened out, preferably without having to deal with these idiots on the phone.
Since they violated the FDCPA by ignoring your DV, it is time fo
Since they violated the FDCPA by ignoring your DV, it is time for you to collect money from them. You can either find an attorney to file against them for you or do some research on how to file against them. I hope you have kept the green card and the letters they sent you.
Have you called the heath club?
I did keep the green card and the letters. I have tried to call
I did keep the green card and the letters. I have tried to call the club directly however when I do, I always end up talking to a girl who sounds about 12 and then tells me that the manager is not in and that she will call me back and never does. I don't want to call the collection agency as I know how useless that usually is.
wow... OK, first things first. Do you have a copy of the orig
wow...
OK, first things first. Do you have a copy of the original contract that you signed? You need to make sure that there is no provision in the contract for any automatic renewal or anything like that. It sounds like your understanding is that the plan went to a month-to-month plan after the initial one year. You want something on paper to show that. So, if you can locate the original contract, please let us know what it says. The contract may have had some kind of provision in it that would automatically renew a one-year period after the first. This is at the heart of the issue here--the health club thinks that they have a right to continue billing you, and you need to refer to the contract to see why they think that.
In this case, I would also fire off another certified letter to the debt collector. I would make this one a strong letter that shows you are aware of your rights and the FDCPA. Debt collectors like this one often like to try to scare people into paying because they know that most people do not know the laws. Now is the time for you to let them know that you are not one of the people who doesnt know their rights.
For example, the moment that they first received your dispute letter, they were required to stop all collection effort until they provided validation. Clearly they have not done so. That is a violation of section 809 of the FDCPA. Second, they made a threat to sue you? Would you please post here the word-for-word statement? It is against the FDCPA to threaten to take any action that they do not actually take. So, if they threatened to sue you and they dont sue you, that is another violation.
I would also inform them that since they have been content to continue violating federal law, that this is their final chance to get it right. I would tell them that if they continue to violate the law and your rights, that you will take all necessary action, including legal action if need be, to resolve this matter. They are trying to play hard ball, and they dont have a leg to stand on. Call their bluff.
