Creditors calling for bill that doctor's office never sent (US)

Can they even do that since I never got a bill?


I've never had to deal with a collection agency before, and I'm so upset I can't sleep.

Just before my wedding, I got a check up at a doctors office. They told me they would bill me after billing the insurance. I got married, moved across stated, started a new job, and never thought about it again. I had all my mail forwarded to me through the post office. However, I never got a bill from the doctor's office.

I was shocked when after work today I got a call from a collection agency. They demanded that I give them a credit card number to pay the bill right then and there. I explained that I do not have a credit card, and I would pay them as soon as I saw a bill saying I owed the money. I then gave them my new address.

Then they kept calling. The second call was awful. The woman was screaming at me and calling irresponsible no good person who can't manage my bills. This really irked me since my car is paid for (in cash), we have an emergency fund, and our only debts are student loans and my husband's car, which will all be paid off in less than two years.

The collection agency is claiming I owe them an entire $26, which I don't mind paying with a check or money order, as soon as I see proof IN WRITING that I owe it. 

The woman on the phone with the second call stated that she was going to put me on the "refusal to pay" list since I would not give her a credit card number. I told her as soon as I got a bill, I would pay. She stated that they had sent a bill to my old address on 07/11/10 and they could only send one bill a month. If I waited to pay more than 30 days after 07/11, this whole mess would go on my credit score. I have never talked to more rude and despicable person. I was in tears by the time I got off the phone.    

I have a good credit score. My husband has a good credit score. My husband and I are planning on buying a house after our student loans are paid off. Is this whole mess going to wreck my credit score? Is there anything I can do to fight back since I never got a bill from the doctor's office?

Send a dispute letter to the collection agency and they'll stop contacting you.  The doctor's office will be notified you disputed the debt.  Then call the doctor's office and find out what's going on regarding this bill.

I've been on both ends of the collection game and now that I own a business with DH, I can't tell you how worthless collection agencies are.  There's nothing the collection agency can do to you except send letters and call you. 

It's freaky to get the calls and the threats or whatever but if you're in the right, there isn't anything to do except call the dr's office and try to sort it out.  The impact on your credit score is minimal.  Try not to freak out.   

FWIW, a regional bank in FL  has been chasing my DH for 2+ years for a $200 bill that WE PAID.  We send a dispute letter, it all goes away until the agency sells the account to another agency. We've had no problems with his credit because of that. 

I called the doctors office this morning just to see if I could pay them. They said that since it was "so long ago" they couldn't do anything about it. The woman wouldn't even look me up in the system. I asked why I had not received a bill. She stated that if I didn't receive a bill, then someone else had paid it for me. HA! That is total bull sh*t.

I had the same thing happen to me with an emergency room visit.  I received a letter from a collection agency that I owed money from emergency room visit from 6 years prior.  I never received a bill from the hospital or the organization that owned the hospital...or from the collection agency.  I called the collection agency asking them what in the world the bill was even for (because I was fully covered under my parents insurance at the time and there shouldn't have been anything for me to pay anyway).  They said they couldn't give me that info as all they were there to do was collect the money.  So I called about 15 different people at the hospital, finally got to the correct department, only to be told that because it was "so old", they didn't have access to the information anymore.  Oh ok...so you want me to pay over $300 for a debt that I supposedly have with you...that you've made no attempt to collect for over 6 years...and to top it off, you don't even know what it's for.  And you actually expect me to pay this?!?!?  The only information they could give me was the date of the service and that it was at the ER.  I also explained to this completely useless person who couldn't assist me at all that I had insurance at the time and 100% of any emergency room stuff would have been covered...so if they didn't file it with the insurance correctly, it wasn't my problem. 

Luckily for me, the collection agency wasn't too much of a pain.  I never paid the bill or the collection agency...and it was never reported on my credit.  I'm not suggesting you do that...just sharing my personal experience.

As a side note, I saw a show about the abuse from collection agencies (they actually had tape recordings of the person working for the collection agency saying things like "I have your address and I know where you live and I will come kill you.") and it's absolutely horrid...but the just of the show was that they can't really do anything except make empty threats.

This happened to me too. I asked to see a printed copy of the bill, and they mailed me a sheet of paper with Pay $250 and NOTHING else on the paper. They persisted in calling and I mailed them a copy of the receipt of the bill I paid (TWO years prior!), with a remaining balance of $0. I called the original company and they said they handed over their original records and could not see if I had paid or not.
So I had one company that I had paid and one place calling me saying they were going to "ruin my credit score" (their words) because I wouldn't pay them, even though they didn't have a website, or would even mail me an official looking invoice. I found out that the original company was in a lawsuit for adding charges when accounts were deactivated, so I didn't pay, and it doesn't seem to have hurt my credit score a year later. After two months they stopped calling anyway.

Did the doctors name their credit agency? I would just check to see if you are being frauded, anyway.

Also, I am not positive this works, but i have heard if you pay anything they can not hurt your credit score if it is a medical bill. My mom sent a check for a penny a month until the account was sorted out (it was for a considerably larger bill that was supposed to be $5,000, but billed as $50,000) just to make sure she could say she HAD been paying them- all of 10 cents .

They called me six times yesterday. They didn't leave a message. I didn't answer. I they have my address. When they send me the bill I will pay them the $26. Until then, I see no point in talking to them and listening to their rudeness.

I looked online and the phone number matches a credit agency. An they said it was for a doctors office that I know I went to. So I don't think it's a fraud.

Do you have any correspondence from them at all or do you have their address? I ask because if you send them a letter stating that you don't want them contacting you by phone, they can't legally continue to do so. It's harassment and they can actually be sued for that. You're also entitled to see an itemization of what they're charging you for. They can't just call you up and demand the money. Consumers actually have more rights than these debt collection companies do; they're just hoping you don't know that. If they call again, I suggest that you just ignore it. Wait for them to send something in the mail.