At least 18 months ago I ordered the trial of Acai Berry and Colon Cleanse for the shipping price of $3.97. On its arrival (which took 5 days) I read the full requirements to comply with their return program and realized that I had less than a week to evaluate the product and return it if I did not want to continue its use.
Seven days is not enough time to do an evaluation so I returned the whole batch IMMEDIATELY with delivery confirmation through USPS. The confirmation was received 2 days later, well within their 15 day window. Fortunately I used a feature of my credit card that allows a single use number to be supplied to the merchant. This single number prevents fraudulent billing.
Approx 2 weeks later I received a call from the CC company telling me a charge of $80 had been attempted against my card and should they honor it. I explained the situation and the CC card rep said "Oh yes, we run into a lot of these, I will return it".
End of story? NOT! Dec 29th I got a call from a (supposed) Collections agency saying that I was delinquent in payment, that I owed$80 but that the company would accept $60 and which card should they charge it to? The number they called from was 321-285-2380, which rang as a fax machine when I called it back
I told this guy in no uncertain terms I was not going to pay one penny, I had met their criteria for a return and it was done as far as I was concerned. He persisted in asking for a CC number and I repeatedly declined. He finally said "You really want me to file this as no payment" to which I replied "Correct".
Of course, I do not have records from a year and a half ago - this was all taken care of (I thought) so I have no proof. How long can they keep this going for? This Collections guy then proceeds to tell me that a negative credit report will be filed with the three collections agencies and that I should "expect a lot more phone calls from this number". Well I have had a lot more calls and have ignored them.
My question - how can I avoid a negative credit report as this is NOT an unpaid bill, it was a legitimately disputed amount that was correctly reversed by my credit card company? Of course, now I see all the reports on these companies and the BBB caution issued in 2010. Doesn't help me as my situation goes back prior to August.
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