On July 1st of 2008 I was hit in my 2 month old F250 diesel and flipped upside down by a drunk driver in San Bernardino CA. After being extracted by the fire department I was transported to Loma Linda Hospital by AMR along with another patient involved in the accident. A 16 year old girl who was in another vehicle passed away 4 days later from trauma received by the accident. Finally in November I tried to reconcile all my bills from this horrific accident and submit them to my insurance when I realized I never received a bill from AMR. So I called AMR on around November asking for a copy of my bill. The response back is when all the hell began between these two companies. I was informed by an AMR employee that since AMR did not obtain my address when AMR picked me up and sent me to the hospital that AMR had since submitted me to Bay Area collections company. You would think the AMR driver would obtain that information on the ride over, I was coherent, and had my driver license with me.
So I then contact Bay Area Collections and have to leave a message. So I leave a message and wait to be called back. No call comes. I call again the next day and leave a message, no one calls back. Classic! So I call a third time and actually get a human being who says she was astonished that I have not heard back from them. I inform her of my predicament and ask to receive a copy of my bill so I can submit it to my insurance agency. She takes down my information and says a bill is in the mail. I wait and no bill comes. So I then send an email to AMR on 1/8/09 explaining the difficulty I am having with Bay Area Credit and receiving a bill. Never heard back from AMR. CLASSIC! Called Bay Area Credit once again on 1/14/09 and finally get a real person by the name of Linda. She is astonished of the problems I am having getting the bill and informs me that one will be in the mail shortly. FINALLY receive my AMR / Bay Area Credit bill on 1/23/09 and submitted it to my insurance.
For the next 4 months I have to push my insurance company to hasten the meeting between all parties so I can acquire funds to pay for all my medical and ambulance bills not paid by my health insurance. But since there was a death involved the insurance company is delaying everything. Then on 5/15/09 I receive a letter from Bay Area Credit explaining the following: We are offering you the opportunity to settle this debt at a discount. We will accept 40% of the total amount owing, which is $492.94 as settlement in full of this debt. This settlement offer is only valid through June 4. Wow I think, this is a great offer. I havent received any money yet from the accident that was not my fault but I will dig money out of my own account to fulfill this great offer. So I call Bay Area and confirm this deal and then go on the Bay Area web site to submit my payment. I pay the amount due of 492.94 on 5/30/09 and have a receipt of such on both my Visa card and from the Bay Area web site.
Finally on 7/6/09 the insurance companies meet for an arbitration meeting and all parties attend. Money is divided up fairly and I receive a measly $2,500 from the person at fault insurance.
I think to myself, this H*LL is finally over!
But wait on 8/15/09 I receive a notice from Equifax that I have a collections notice on my credit report. I go to Equifaxs web site and see that I have a collections notice from Bay Area Credit Services. What the @#%@^$@^! The most classic information on the collections notice is that the first delinquency is stated as 5, the accident happened 7/1/08!!! So today I call Bay Area Credit to see what is up with the collections notice. I talk to a Bay Area Credit employee who informs me that I must have read the letter informing me of the reduction wrong and that I owe more money and they can take a visa or m/c today to clear up the amount owed. I inform them that no that is not the way I read the letter. They then ask me to fax a copy of the letter. I reply in return, youre the company who sent it, dont you have a copy? They reply no! I ask to speak to a manager and am informed that non are around. So I hang up and call again.
Once again I discuss all the particulars with another employee at Bay Area Credit and once again I am informed that I must of read the letter wrong and that I owe the other $641. I ask to speak to a manager and once again non are available and I can leave my number for them to call me back but they will tell me the same thing. I leave my number and hang up again and drive home from work and look for the letter in question. I find it and low and behold I am correct!!! So I drive back to my office and call back to Bay Area Credit and talk to a Derrick and inform him of all the predicaments and that I have the letter in my hand. I read him the letter and he has the BALLS to say that I must have paid it late. I ask him when it shows in his computer that I paid the amount owed he says 5/30/09, I then inform him that the letter says valid through 6/4/09. Derrick then says, hold on one moment. A few seconds later Derrick gets back on the phone and says that he spoke to his supervisor and they apologize for the inconvenience and that I am correct and the balance is paid in full. SO A SUPERVISOR CAN BE REACHED is the first thing I think, the second is that I ask Derrick, so this means that my collections notice on my credit report will be removed. He informs me yes.
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