Posted on January 22, 2009 at 7:34 pm A web hosting company is charging me for work that was not performed, authrozied or approved.  I argued and argued with them and thought it was resolved last summer.  In December I got a call from a collection company requesting payment.  I sent a letter of dispute and now they have "verified" the debt by sending me the invoices (which are not valid).  Do I keep sending letters of dispute? 

Posted on March 15, 2009 at 3:29 pm Anyone can produce bills but that does not give any proof that the work was done or if the bills were even paid. File a complaint against the web company with the BBB in your state and send another letter to the CA telling them that you are disputing the invoices with the original creditor and wish to deal only with them. If need be follow up the comlpaint to the FTC, your attorney general and even the local TV consumer advocate. Be a big pain to them. Also send a cease communication letter to the collection agency and reqire them to commuicate by USPS only. They are required to honor that under the FDCPA.

Posted on March 23, 2009 at 1:44 am The Better Business Bureau is your best option.  And, report the company to your local consumer investigative reporter. Perhaps they will do an expose on the site and shame them into leaving you alone.  

Posted on March 23, 2009 at 7:34 am You may also want to contact the ACA to see if they are able to help you.  952-926-6547 or their website www.acainternational.org

Posted on March 26, 2009 at 9:22 am I agree, calling your local news channel to investigate what is happening is probably more effective and quick than contacting the BBB, although you should certainly do both because a news station is not a governing entity. Hopefully you recorded the dates you spoke with them last summer and asked for a written confirmation of the resolution at that time (great if you recorded the phone calls but this is highly unlikely), this would be all you need to prove that they told you one thing last year, but now are trying to say another.With that said it may even be a simple problem such as getting a new employee in the accounting department. The former one may have known your invoices were invalid but a new employee may have had them come up somehow and it just trying to do their job to get the invoices paid since they don't know the background of the account. Even still, if this company is trying to collect money from them that you don't owe, you could go back and forth forever but getting a third party involved will help you resolve the issue.

Posted on March 27, 2009 at 12:56 am If ever that happens to me, I will get a lawyer if they will try to insist that I have a debt.

Posted on March 27, 2009 at 4:51 am Contact a lawyer (if you can find one you trust) Keep writing letters and contact the better business bureau.

Posted on March 27, 2009 at 11:24 am I'll second the notion of getting a lawyer.  But, many people cannot afford an attorney.  If the web hosting company is in your state or jurisdiction, you may be able to take them to small claims court.  That will save money on court costs. If they are not in your state, you might have to go to a federal court, assuming that the web hosting company is within the borders of the US. Till then, warn everyone you know about the site so that others don't make the same mistake.  

Posted on March 30, 2009 at 6:50 am This is something new for me because I never heard of anything such kind. But get out of it as soon as possible or they could create many problems in future.

Posted on April 3, 2009 at 11:01 am You should send them a validation letter under the FDCPA if it has been less than thirty days since the first statement. They are required to validate the debt before resuming collection. If you can afford a lawyer that would be best because they can no longer contact you if you ar represented by counsel. Most collection agencies will drop a case and move on to a softer target when their is a lawyer involved.