This is the story of the incredibly bloated disputed debt to Grolier/Scholastic for $31.90.
This evening, I was at work and I got a phone call from Pinnacle Financial. First, the phone rings with a caller ID of 877-796-2497. When I attempted to call it back, the most unprofessional sounding message came on the line. I tried to call 3x and got the same message. Just as I was about to give up, my phone rang again. It was John with Pinnacle Financial.
We discussed how I had initially disputed this debt and when I found out that the debt was only for $31.90 (Scholastic must have finally fixed their records), I was willing to pay it on my Discover card - just to be done with it. I asked him if he would kindly send me a copy of the bill that I owed, he said that he could not. Please remember this for later in the complaint. I explained to him that by law, they had to send me a copy of the debt. He told me that he could send me a receipt for my payment but that he could not send me a copy of the debt.
I began to write down information about the debt like the date acquired (February 21), account number, John's name, the phone number John gave me, 1-877-796-2497 and the location of the office from which he was calling. I told him that he could take the $31.90 off of my Discover card. He told me that he could not take a Discover card. He suggested that I use a Visa or Mastercard. Not a problem! I pulled out my Mastercard and gave him the numbers, expiration date, and security number on the back of the card.
Just as I gave him the final number, John piped in and said, "This is where you are going to go through the roof". I knew what was coming, I've heard it before, he was going to tell me about a fee to accept the payment. Ladies and Gentlemen, the fee was outrageous! John said that if he took the payment off of my Mastercard (or any credit card) there was a fee of $19.95. But not to fear, as John tried to calm me down & if I wanted to write a check, the fee was only $9.95. That's really helpful!
First of all, John should have told me about the fees up front. He should have said, "If you'd like to make a payment by credit card today, there is a fee of $19.95 added to that fee or you can pay with a check and have a fee of $9.95 assessed to the bill."
I asked John if he could ask his supervisor if the fee could be waived. He said that he would. His supervisor, a woman who did not give her name came on the phone. She was a little bit on the nasty side. You would have thought that I owed this company a million bucks, not $31.90 (and even that is disputed). I reminded her that, according to John, they just got this debt and that this was the first week that they had the debt and that I was willing to pay $31.90 to resolve the debt but that I would not pay the fee. I then asked her if I could have a copy of the bill so that I could send the payment in and by doing so, have my own documentation AND would not have to pay a fee. She told me that they *just* received the account and that they had *just* mailed me a bill. Well aren't we speedy?
Today is Sunday, February 24 and the debt was just acquired on February 21st and you are saying that you mailed a bill on February 22nd (a Friday) and I am supposed to have the bill by now?
The supervisor then went on to tell me that as of January 1, they no longer waive fees on payments. I asked her why John was willing to ask her to waive a fee if they "no longer" waived fees. She said, "John is new, he's only been on the floor a couple of weeks." Fuzzy logic here, but if John is *that* new, wouldn't John have the newest training, since January 1 that says that fees are not waived? Would John have completely missed that part of the training where they say that clients are mailed a bill twenty nano-seconds before they are called about the debt?
This company stinks to high heaven. I eagerly anticipate this bill from Pinnacle Financial. If it is true that they have sent a bill, I will receive it within the next few days. I can hardly wait to see what type of fee they charge for opening up an envelop with a check inside.
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