We have been contacted in writing and by telephone Kevin with Kenneth, Eisen & Associates regarding a supposed debt we had incurred with San Pedregal Apartments a Mark Taylor property. The letter states an account number of: 1104506-1 and references both my wife and my legal name for a debt that is supposedly not satisfied with the apartments after we vacated in August after purchasing a home. My wife and I were notified within two months of "buying out" the lease that there was a question as to whether the debt of $1163.96 had been satisfied. We ordered a copy of the canceled check from our financial institution and provided that documentation to a representative of Mark Taylor properties at San Pedregal Apartments in the fall of 2007. We assumed the matter had been satisfied as the check was written "Pay to the order" of San Pedregal Apartments and was for the amount above plus water usages and closure of the water services. We never received any further correspondence from San Pedregal via mail nor telephone until:
Yesterday we received a letter from Kenneth Eisen & Associates, LTD regarding the before mentioned debt. I called the provided number and spoke to Jamal at 10:00 AM on 10/15. He just asked me to fax over what documentation I have and they will look it over.
I begin to get suspicious and called San Pedregal Apartments and spoke with Ashley who stated they no longer had any of our documentation there but I could call Corporate and speak with Dianne White.
I called Mark Taylor corporate office and spoke with Nikki Moosman who said they no longer have our file in front of them and therefore would be unable to answer any questions I have about the account, she repeated her statements several times. When I asked if they never received payment were we delinquent on the water bill, she stated we don't show you were ever delinquent on your water bill, I proceeded to inform her that we always paid the rental amount together with the water bill. She referred me to Kenneth, Eisen, and Associates, LTD.
At 1:00 PM I called the collection agency and spoke to Amy first. She took the account number and stated she would transfer me to the person handling our account, Kevin. I spoke to Kevin and he asked regarding San Pedros (I corrected him there was no San Pedros, but San Pedregal and he said whatever) so I was very abrupt with him, and he asked me why I was so upset. I proceeded to tell him that if he were in my shoes, after two years time passing and without any notification received a correspondence from a collection agency and was unable to get information from the creditor (s) in question how would he react. He then stated that the creditor was only required to notify me once "uno" and they had done that. He read me a letter dated September sent by Dianne White that started out by thanking us for renting with Mark Taylor properties and had a balance due of the amount in questio. He then asked did I have proof that the bill was paid, I informed him that I had a bank statement and would have a copy of the check in hand by mid week next week. He proceeded to ask for the check number, reluctantly I gave him the share draft # 4352 and the date it was written and amount of the check $1207.08. He then stated that the amount didn't match the amount they were attempting to collect, I replied with if you had records that were worth a flip you would know that we paid the water bill with the amount due by us to San Pedregal. He asked me to just fax over what documentation I have and he would tell his "supervisor" to give it immediate attention.
I received a phone call at my home around 7:15 P.M. On Oct 15 from my father-in-law Alex Carrillo informing me that he had received a call from Kevin with Kenneth, Eisen, and Associates and he identified himself as a bill collector. My father-in-law was listed on our rental agreement as a reference.
We feel that we have already supplied proof that the above matter had been satisfied (paid in full) approximated two years ago and therefore the lack of standard accounting practices by the aforementioned companies constititutes harassment. I asked Kevin who would reimburse us for our costs of producing bank statements and a copy of the check showing the debt as no longer valid, and he replied, "I assure you it won't be us, maybe you can take the matter up in civil court or small claims court".
The fact that we received no correspondence whatsoever in the past 22-24 months makes me suspicious that this is even a legitimate company at all. Living in the #1 state in the U.S. For identity theft makes me even more leary. I do believe that the company in question Mark Taylor Properties, San Pedregal Apartments and now Kenneth, Eisen, and Associates have acted unprofessionally, without due diligence and intend to continue conducting "business" in this manner in the future.
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