Knowing the bill had been paid, I immediately called the Collection Company, (after double checking the check had been made out and sent) and told them, THIS BILL HAS BEEN PAID.
The company was polite but they said I must retain a copy of the cancelled check. Look, I rarely EVER go to the Bank and I'm talking maybe once a year.
I was making a trip to Salisbury and on the way I was thinking, well, maybe it got lost in the mail. I stopped in the Bank on my way and low and behold, they cashed my check!
I called the collection company and told them I had confirmation. "OK, e-mail or fax us the copy of the cancelled check".
Unlike other Bloggers, I PAY MY BILLS! However, is that the problem here? I was in business for a LOT of years and my books were always balanced. You have an invoice, you have a payment, you have a deposit slip with account numbers on them and at the end of the month you have a zero balance. Could it simply be it's because I own Salisbury News?
Finally, since this went so far as being wrongly charged with not paying a bill, will this show up as "delinquent" on my credit report?
Funny how you do the honorable thing by paying your bills and rather then EVER getting a letter saying your payment is PAST DUE, I get sent to COLLECTIONS instead. Let me clarify, my payment was never late or past due and I never received any message/letter stating it was.
How many of YOU have had to do all the work to prove your innocence while being wrongly challenged?
53 comments:
So freaking typical of companies these days. It certainly pays to stay on top of paperwork and hold on to everything. Hold no trust in any company, thinking things will work out ok. Often times they do, sometimes you get screwed. And Joe, be interested to see how the collections company gets this ironed out and off your record, if they even will. Keep us posted.
I can write you a book about this My husband was sick for 5 years.
I pay my bills also spent many scared days dealing with this. You don`t fight PR.M.C.
I'll give you one better. I got a call from a collections agency that I hadn't paid a bill, which I never received! Turned out be a healthcare insurance goof, but I can't pay a bill if I don't get it.
When they sent you to collections they committed mail fraud. A federal offense. I wouldn't send them sh*t! Not your job to prove anything, it's theirs!
Frequent problem with doctors and healthcare providers. I have had the same problem with 2 different doctor's offices and both PRMC and McCready. I guess the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. And we trust them with our health. Scary, isn't it!
I am currently fighting McCready for physical therapy. I hand delivered the referral so I know they got it. Unfortunately I didn't keep a copy. Of course they lost it. With a referral my healthcare covered 80%, without 50%. I am not paying 30% more because they lost the referral! I now keep a copy of any referrals.
Do not ever send a canceled check to a collection agency. You're just handing them your banking information.
The correct response would have been to tell the collection agency to go pound sand. I do not owe you any money and we do not have any open contracts. If you call again, I will take action.
learned their tactics from government
I had the collection agency call me at work a few years ago, demanding their $ that I hadn't even gotten a bill for yet. They are crooked.
It should state in the letter from the agency that you have 30 days to dispute the debt otherwise it will be reported to the credit bureau. Contacted them and telling them it was paid should be more than enough. I would keep contacting them about it though.
Bill collectors do it all the time. Happened when I was taking care of my father. Bill collector tried to say he owed 5K for something, but I keep meticulous records, and it was already paid.
Happened with my mother this passed year, bill collector claimed she owed 6500 for a hospital stay. She called the hospital, who said "No, you don't owe us anything.". Called back the bill collectors, who wouldn't take the Hospitals word for it, and wouldn't contact the hospital to check. Thankfully, the hospital sent a copy showing she owed nothing to the bill collectors. They haven't sent anything since.
I'm of the belief that these scummy tactics are on purpose.
Went through this same thing with Your Doc's In. They received payment from the Insurance company but never applied it to my account, sent me to collections, after a couple calls it was cleared up. Apparently this happens quite often according to the collections agency.
Still a pain in the butt but it wasn't the end of the world as mistakes do happen, I do wish I could have gotten compensation for my time having to track down the insurance payment, but that is the way it goes these days, guilty until proven innocent.
i have been hounded by PRMC for 6 months now about a bill they keep sending me for labs now i have 3 insurances and they pay all my med. besides i have zero co pay on labs but since they did not get there full request from all three insurance they try to recoup from me the balance. had all the insurance co call them. and they told them i have no co pay they agreed to accept what the insurance sends my insurance told them if they keep hounding me for the money they will go back and request payment retracted and drop them from there users
PRMC billing department is run by idiots. I got a bill for $2.50 for Tylenol for my 6 year old, keeping in mind that we waited for over 2 hours without being seen. About 6 months later, $50.00 invoice came. No one bothered to check to see if I had insurance on file. Complete invalids.
Unlike other Bloggers, I PAY MY BILLS! Really Joe? is that necessary? you are better than that
Don't waste your time with any collection agency. They are bottom feeders who earn a fee from legitimate businesses you may have owed money to such as PRMC. Some of these collection agencies simply "fish" for someone to send them a check while others act on requests from the business. If you receive a notice from one of them, call the business immediately. If you are paid up, file a complaint about the collection agency and ignore any other notifications from them. If you are not paid up, pay your bills.
This happens all the time with PRMC they send a bill I pay it and a couple of months later the collections company will call. This goes on delinquent on your credit and you have to dispute it
I had to do this may years ago on a final payment for my student loan. They said was was delinquent, but i had my check stubb to prove it. It was from some processing center in India and because I always pay early, they assumed the payment was for a previous month. No apologies or nothing!!!
Has anybody had a Comcast past due notice for bills not received? Seems somebody switched my account to "E-Mail billing". Don't know where they sent the bills. If only these people could speak and understand the English language ....
Yea these Idiots came after me for a relatives bill that had nothing to do with me at all and put it on my credit report.
I worked medical collections and medical offices in Salisbury fpr over 30 years I have seen a lot of mistakes and a lot of deliberate theft at one particular office. PRMC used to not sure of policy now, if they received any payment it went where they chose to post it, even if you put the account number in the memo box, with the bill half when you paid. I used to ask all the time if you did not know what account to post it to why not call the patient, if that didn't work post it to the oldest balances so no collection agency needed to be involved. When I left one office I was aware that when the patient paid and ins as well $ was not always refunded to the patient. We were told if they don't ask for a refund don't send one. When I left one office there was $3,300 in debit balances of over pd acts they refused to refund. I called the patients with those balances and advised them what they were due, a lot collected their $ and thanked me. Yes it happens if someone doesn't understand their bills and think they are due $ persue it or get someone who does to help you. Most offices do not do these practices but there are some still doing it, be watchful and with each dollar and your insurance EOB's and statements.
10:50, Thank You. When my Father In Law was ill there were a LOT of bills. The insurance paid them and the next thing they knew they were getting billed again and threatened collections. This happens often to the elderly. They get to the point where they just pay the bill because of the frustration. This topic needs to be discussed and experiences need to be shared. This is what makes ANONYMOUS so convenient for so many. The billing company will never know who you are.
It's a hustle. PRMC sells the bills to collection companies for fraction of the owed amount and sells them in bulk. Then the collection agency who bought 2500 unpaid bills comes after you. The thing is this happens all the time. Now prmc got your payment and still sold the bill for prophet. It's crooked as hell.
How could you not know they cashed your check until you went in person to the bank? It would have been on your bank statement.
11:19, The statement wasn't good enough for the collection company. They wanted a cancelled check, period.
This is the america you wanted... Now you got it... And what do you know, you don't like it... JUST like we told you all the while... And as usual and like I said before, you cannot fix it!!! TO late for that now...
But just keep sitting there, ignoring all of us who want to save this damn country... Where you people wish harm on others based on free speech because you don't like what they say, but you want he right to say what ever you want even if we don't like it... Good ole double standard...
Mmm I don't know , sounds a little fishy to me , maybe you pissed off someone , like maybe John Cannon or somebody else.
I worked in collections for a number of years in Newark, DE. There are lots of rules regarding collections, the biggest one being the fair debt collection act. Many of you should read up on it, it is very informative for the consumer.
Now companies sell debt all the time, this is not something exclusive to PRMC. If they don't sell it off, it becomes a huge financial liability for them. It is VERY common practice.
I have no idea how much debt PRMC carries, but I imagine it is a lot.
Let's talk about real Debt , PRMC is like any other large business , they budget for these things , non payment can go into the millions for any large business as with PRMC . Real loss is nothing , it was in the budget to lose X amount , having said that , that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do , not paying your bills. Not too many businesses go bankrupt because of this if handled properly .It's very similar to theft on the job , it to is in most budgets. We have become a Nation of thieves , thanks Obama , it's your culture.
yes, make sure you always keep your documentation! it's wrong but it's the way life is these days.
They also write debt off and get tax credit. Then sell it to a collection company. I think that should be illegal. The seeling of a a debt should only be allowed when the debt has gone unpaid. Way to manty credit card companies and high risk loan companies are guilty of this. Consumer loses.
It is against the law to balance bill for medical procedures. If insurance pays then the medical provider has thirty days to refund patient to stay within the law.
Other things you might want to watch for is always staple your bills, statements (eobs) from your insurance companies for the same service dates and any payments you have made together. Make sure they are paid correctly by looking at the total charge amt, what the insurances pay and what you pay also pay attention to the amt the ins states you are responsible for, any questions 1st of all contact the ins companies documenting who you speak with, date, time etc. Do not be afraid to ask for help you can go to Mac center, someone who has worked w/ins, medical records, and also dealt with Collection Agencies. If a mistake is found and reported to the collection agencies make sure your record is cleared and get a copy, if it is something you are still working to get cleared have them mark it disputed bill.
This happens a lot. And it doesn't get fixed because it's profitable. People assume it's the case and just pay it.
The easiest way to address this is to call the hospital, get them agree that there is no balance, and document the call.
Then reply to the collections letter, disputing the debt. Include the contact person at the hospital. Insist that any reporting be ammended to show the account is in dispute. I think at that point they have 30 days to figure it out on their own. Don't ever send them a copy of the check - then they know where to garnish funds.
When my child was born, I got a huge bill despite having insurance (the insurance did not cover it all due to deductibles - thanks, Obama). It took me about 2 months to negotiate the balance down to insurance company rates ($50 for Tylenol was just one crazy charge on there). In the mean time, I sent then $20/mo to keep them from sending it to collections....it was sent there, anyway. A dispute letter kept them off my back and once we agreed on an amount I paid the rest of the balance due.
I received and paid a ticket in Delaware... a couple months later I received a notice from the state of Maryland that my license was suspended for not showing Md I paid the ticket!! Then when I contacted them after trying to reach a person, they said my canceled check wasn't good enough. I had to jump through all kinds of hoops to get it resolved.
I had trouble renewing my Driver License in MD a few yrs ago, too. It turns out, MN had a ticket 19 yrs earlier with my name on it, mis-spelled and I never paid it. MN DMV refused to throw it out and MD wouldn't renew until MN cleared me. I finally ended up talking to a Judge in the district where the ticket was written. She couldn't find the ticket, which meant they couldn't prove I had ever been written a ticket. It still took the judge two write an order for the DMV to write off the ticket.
When I talked to the DMV guy for the last time, he asked, Why didn't you just pay the $25?
Because that would make me your bitch.
He hung up. I got my License Renewal.
$140.00 ! what was that for......the Band-Aid?
How can the hospital send someone to collections without first letting them know they are delinquent? When the first you hear of it is from a collection agency, that means the hospital is lazy and not even trying to collect(if they think you're late) and they are sending things to collections in too short a time period. Then when they tell you that you're paid up, they won't contact collections to let them know. Poor business on their part.
sue em joe. maybe you can get something out of them, if you can find a lawyer around here that's not scared of them
Last October my brother was in PRMC for 12 days before he died. The insurance paid $55,ooo. I called to make sure nothing else was owed. They said nothing more was owed. 3 days later I received a collection letter from Bay Area Receivables for $100.00 for PRMC. No notice from PRMC just collection. GREED, GREED, GREED.
Whats the name of the agency? Dealing with similar issue. Looking into lawsuit...
Sue for a letter being sent possibly in error to collect less than $150? People like you are what's wrong with this world today. A lawyer would laugh in your face.
Just pull out that priority partners card out and all be fine in obamieland.
Couldn't agree more. It is a circus tent full of idiots incapable of getting out of their own way.
They said that because they are morons. PRMC is a place of employment for those that aren't capable of being of keeping a job anywhere else.
Maybe I should be ashamed to admit it,but I just roll with the punches.In this case I would provide the necessary documentation to resolve the situation.If that did not work I would contact an attorney & sue for 1000 times the amount in question.
Some people don't know how to roll with the punches and feel the need to get all worked up and complain to the world. And in regards to you're suing comment, you really think you deserve $150k because some clerk at a collections company made an error and you have to spend a few hours fixing the situation? Is your time really worth $25k an hour?
At the end of the day, PRMC is a shark in the water.Doing all it can to take as much as it can from your wallet as possible while the executives go home with RIDICULOUS amounts of money for this area. It's piracy.
All hospitals are like that not just prmc
Well that makes it ok then, right?
It is not just hospitals. There are Finance companies around here that do their best to screw people out of money all the time.
There's a pediatrician's office in Salisbury that does this kind of thing too. Per the wife of one of the docs, they post all payments in a bulk deposit (to get the money in the bank) then when they have time, they post to the individual accounts which (per her) can take "months" because they are always short-staffed (which is why she was there 'helping' them out). When I got a nasty letter from one of the docs, that was not even my child's doctor, telling me my (already paid in full) account was being sent to collections. I called and spoke to one of the incompetent receptionists, who apparently told the doc (again, not my child's doc in that practice) that it was paid and she sent me another nasty, condescending, threatening note. Needless to say, we left there after proving with my cancelled check that it indeed was paid in full (the only thing they would accept)and they realized they'd posted it to the wrong account because they misspelled my last name after posting from that bulk deposit into someone else's account (giving them a credit balance). The doc who saw my child for 16 years was embarrassed and apologetic, but the damage was already done by his greedy partner, who we didn't even know. It's frustrating, especially when you know you pay your bills and have never in the 16years of going there ever even had to bill me prior to that because my pre-paid co-pays always took care of my balances before that.
had same thing anon 1;59 paid ticket was suspended lic got stopped cost 1000 for lawer to get all straight what a mess an yet paid the ticket your ticket didnt happen in greenwood too by chance screw them oh well its just money i should sue for lost wages an etc but why cut your losses i guess
Look at the insurance plan, it probably had a deductible or co-payment of $100 if the patient is admitted. If the total was "only" $55,000 and they paid all but $100 of it, count yourself lucky that he had EXCELLENT insurance, unlike most people.
Although "Cadillac plans" like that are now going to be heavily taxed through your employer, thanks to Obama.
They should have sent you a billing notice for the co-payment/deductible of $100, definitely.
But you're complaining about owing $100 on a bill for over $55,000? Suck it up and pay it already.
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