My employer has asked to me send a letter to a collection agency regarding an amount owed to a medical supply company in the amount of $276.57. He has Sleep Apnea and has to wear a special mask at night. He buys his supplies online and during his last order half of the supplies he couldn't use. The medical company told him since he used a couple adapters, he would have to pay for the whole order. They refused to accept unused supplies back and have since gone out of business....which I verified. So now he has received a letter from a collection agency who claimes to have been "engaged by the above creditor who has turned over your account for collection in the amount listed above". From what I've read, the collection agency (local) has not purchased the debt.. yet. Can anyone suggest what the next course of action should be? I don't want to send a letter blindly stating as my employers has asked to me write, that he refuses to pay for the entire order. Thanks in advance for all replies. I can't tell all the "adda boy"(s) I'll receive from him for this.
Is this the first time he tried to send merchandise back? Was there any contract he signed with the the OC explicitly stating that there are no exchanges/refunds on purchases?
Thanks for the reply Mindcrime. This is what I know so far. My employers is out of town for a couple of days.... when he returns I will quiz him on your other questions. The medical supply company did not bill him, in fact they told him his supplies were covered by insurance. Everything was handled online including him giving the supplier his insurance information. He sent back the unused supplies and the company is billing him for the whole order although he only used two adaptors. He is willing to pay for what he used, however the company has refused to accept anything less than the full amount of the invoice. I'm not sure whether Aetna has refused to pay for his supplies or whether the supplier hadn't billed Aetna BEFORE he returned the unused portion of his order. I will have more details by tomorrow. Thanks again for all replies.
Okay, additional questions to ask your employer: Does he have something in writing from the med company that confirms his supplies were covered in full by insurance? Has he contacted his insurance company, Aetna? If not, contact them! Find out if this company ever tried to bill them. If they did, find out if Aetna paid, if they did not pay, get the reasons why. If this company never contacted Aetna but claimed elsewhere that they would bill his insurance company, try to get in writing from Aetna that a bill from Company: Med Co. has never submitted any claim on your behalf. Hopefully though this med company has a return policy, in writing, that blows the whole claiming you can't return part of the order only out of the water. If you know the name of the company, you could probably check that out for yourself. Good luck.
I would suggest calling the insurance company. (a) to verify that they were indeed a covered medical supply, (b) the company properly went through the process of obtaining the necessary referrals, and medical necessity reviews, and (c) that they properly submitted the invoice for the supplies to the insurance company for payment. I would send a validation letter to the COLLECTION AGENCY, disputing the debt, and that the debt is strictly between (COMPANY) and (AETNA), and it is not *HIS* debt. (He will need to sign the letter or esign it.) You would want to make the validation/dispute as simple as possible. i.e. "I received your letter. I dispute this matter in its entirety, as this matter is not by responsibility, it is a matter entirely between your alleged client, and my insurance company."
Thanks for both your answers Jam and Mindcrime. My employers is back and I have an update. The name of the medical supply company is Cardiosom and the local office is indeed closed up. All phone numbers for the company have been disconnected. I do see that Cardiosom is located in a lot of cities nationwide... not sure if they are all affilated or if each is a franchaise? The order was placed over the phone and not made online so no signed contract. He was told by the company that his insurance would cover these supplies so Cardiosom did not ask for any form of payment such as CC info or COD. They did however ask for his ID number for his insurance company (Aetna). Cardiosom sent him several adaptors for his machine but only one that would work. They also sent an invoice for over $600.00 which he paid close to $400, the remaining $247 has been turned over to a local CA. We are going to contact Aetna to see if Cardiosom has billed them and whether they have made full or partial payment or totally rejected the claim. The reason my employer has not returned any of the unused adaptors is because the local supply company is not in business and is unreachable. My employer is also going to try to find the original invoice. Again thank you for any and all comments and advice.
Googling cardiosom, I see they have a 'F' rating with BBB (at least the Chicago location does). The one in Noblesville IN is closed (local office your boss dealt with maybe?) For a business with so many branches throughout the US, I don't see a main website for the brand --very odd. From what I am seeing, your boss likely has a good chance of watching the CA go away with a nicely worded DV letter or two. I see no common ground between each of these branches and have a feeling that when this branch went belly up, so did their records and don't see this CA being able to validate. But follow the steps Jam listed and put it back on cardiosom and Aetna. Also, if this was a phone order, unless the CA can produce a tape of that recorded phone call explicitly stating there are not refunds on supplies, I believe your boss would be entitled to send back supplies that he does not want (especially if they part of the order was defective). Getting his hands on the org invoice could be beneficial for him as well to verify what it says as far as returns. When did CA first contact him BTW? He may want to check his Credit reports to verify they're not already reporting especially if he's still within the fret 30 days of contact.
Thanks Mindcrime, we will do as you and Jam suggested. His first contact from the CA was 1/17/13 by letter. Found it strange info too on Cardiosom. I'll keep you posted.
Apparently their main office is the Chicago one, that Mindcrime found, and their web site redirects to their hosting provider, which is a good sign that the entire company went belly up...
