Rural Metro Southwest Ambulance, Inc Rural Metro billed me $2650 for doing nothing. Scottsdale, Arizona
On the night of January 7th, 2008, an unidentified person called because my lease-purchased property's dryer vent had steam coming out of it when the lease/purchasers were doing laundry; it was cold outside and so the heat from the dryer vent created steam coming from the vent. Rural Metro was the private fire department sent to suppress the raging inferno and they sent me a bill for $2650.00.
I rejected the bill when it was sent to me because it stated that they were charging me for "Fire Residential Response." There was never a fire at the property!
When their lawyer called several months later, I asked them to provide me with two pieces of information before I would even consider if I was responsible for the service; I asked for proof that the service was performed, what services were provided that evening and I asked for the statute that allowed them to bill me without my requesting the service or even knowing that the service was to take place.
Unfortunately, they never responded but called several more times to harass me for payment. Now, 4 days before the statute of limitations expires and almost 2 years after they had last contacted me regarding this bill, Rural Metro decided to bring a lawsuit against me for not paying for a service that they never provided.
You might be reading this and saying that this guy is a joke! That is impossible! Let me tell you right here and right now that when I received the bill for $2650 in June of 2008 and when I called their company to inquire about the bill, that was the very first time I had heard of the incident and the first time I had ever spoken to any representative of the company. I had no clue that there was a problem, I did not let them in to take care of anything, I did not make any phone calls to their company, the only think I did was become the owner on the county records and that, to Rural Metro, was enough to bill me $2650.00 for doing nothing.
So that leaves me now with a big mess and I have to decide if I want to settle with a company who uses their lawyer as their bill collector and the courts as a tactic or if I want to stand on a moral high-ground and spend even more money to properly defend myself and not let these guys get away with this.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Enfuego
Queen Creek,Arizona,
United States of America
I won the lawsuit!
#5Author of original report
Tue, October 11, 2011
Yes, I won the lawsuit!
In a way, its sad because I offered Rural Metro a reasonable amount of money for checking out the steam from the vent and they refused to settle even though I knew the law was on my side. So, when they wouldn't work with me, I hired a lawyer to prove that you cannot just send someone a bill without providing some sort value.
Don't you worry about Rural Metro, they will be fine, even without my $2650.00. For me, on the other hand, $2650.00 is a real amount of money that would have affected my small family in a real way.
Yalkable
Nashville,Internet,
United States of America
Huh
#5General Comment
Fri, February 11, 2011
Interesting. If indeed there was no fire, then certainly their arrival shouldn't be worth over 2500 dollars. An arrival fee of maybe a hundred or two hundred dollars would be understandable, and while I probably would contest it, I'd be more likely to pay it. For that much money though they better start a fire if there wasn't one and put that sucker out!
It reminds me of ambulance bills. Someone else calls an ambulance that you don't need, they put an IV of saline into you which probably costs less than five dollars, and charge you eight hundred dollars...
Robert
Buffalo,New York,
USA
Other side of the coin.
#5Consumer Comment
Thu, February 10, 2011
This does pose an interesting question: Who gets this bill for a false alarm?
For what it's worth, it seems to me that fire/police responses should be covered by municipal taxes (as it was in the good old days.) Lately, more and more municipalities are assessing "response fees."
A few years ago, Buffalo inacted such a fee for Fire Rescue Squad responses. The fee is $300 and is billed to you and/or your insurance provider. Here's the kicker: if you don't have insurance the city WAIVES the fee (translation: if you're on public assistance the city doesn't bill you this fee.)
Whatever happened to "equal protection under the law" (US Constitution, 14th ammendment.)
Cory
San Antonio,Texas,
U.S.A.
Cheap b*****d
#5Consumer Comment
Thu, February 10, 2011
It's people like you that cause the problems like they had where that fire department stood around and watched and DIDN'T put out their fire because the owners hadn't paid their bill. NOW, IF it HAD been a REAL fire would you still be bitchin' about the bill? What a pompous jerk. "I asked for proof that the service was performed". "I asked for the statute that allowed them to bill me without my requesting the service or even knowing the service was to take place". Someone like you is looking at this as strickly a business proposition. Fine, next time they'll let the rental burn down cause you're on the DO NOT RESPONDE LIST. See what that does to the insurance rate on your rat trap. Lord, talk about moral highground, anyone with ANY morals would have just paid the bill and been thankful it wasn't a fire and no one got hurt or worse.