Complaint Review: Boise Office of the Better Busines Bureau - Boise Idaho

I think it would be irresponsible of me not share the ordeal I had with the Boise office of the Better Business Bureau. A business I had dealings with were billing me for services they never rendered. I wrote repeatedly to that business and they would not respond. Because I didn’t pay for what I had not received they sent my bill to a collection agency. When I got the bill from the collection agency I immediately put it into dispute but for some reason this collection agency never followed through with their dispute process and they continued to send me ever increasing bills. Finally I paid because I thought my credit was being damaged. After I paid they told me I had another bill with them that needed to be paid. This of course was false. I sent a certified letter to the owner of that collection agency and he did not respond. A few months later I wrote to the Boise office of the BBB and another organization that this collection agency was a member of and presto! The collection agency contacted me and refunded my money, something I had not asked for.  (I’m sure this is just a coincidence but the very day the other organization signed for my letter was the same day the refund check was dated and the brief letter that came with it was dated the next day).  In that letter, they stated that there wasn’t a second bill (even though their employee told me there was and gave me it’s account number and balance), it was a mistake on their part. Their employee also told me that they had received the information pertaining to the dispute they requested from the business that had sent them my bill and when it was uploaded they would forward that information to me. That never happened! There was no mention of the dispute they said they did in their letter Their response (and check) was sent over a year after they stated I had another bill with them and over three months after I wrote to their owner about all the problems I had encountered with his company. I felt their conduct was both unethical and unprofessional, if not illegal.

The BBB states it will post this kind of conduct on it’s website so that others who might be in a similar situation can find out about this company. The first certified letter I sent to the BBB was on 2-14-19. For some reason that letter took a detour and wasn’t found until I repeatedly asked about it at the Post Office. It was finally delivered on March the 6th. The next day Julie Edwards of the Boise office wrote back and said they had passed my letter on to the collection agency (I’m sure this also is a coincidence, but the collection agency wrote me another letter that very same day) and when they got a reply they would contact me. On March the 18th, Ms. Edwards wrote me again and at the end of that letter was this statement. “please provide your response within 7 calendar days so as to avoid closure of the complaint as assumed resolved.”. Ms. Edward’s letter was postmarked March the 19th . As one can see, the Boise office ‘robbed’ me of one of my 7 calendar, not business days. I received the letter on the 22nd, and wrote the response that evening. I mailed it, via certified mail, the next day. That letter was available to be picked up at 7:57 AM on the 26th of March and it was picked up at 10:21 AM.  And even though I met their deadline, theyMs. Edwards wrote me back and said “We have not received your response to confirm this complaint has been resolved.”   and my case was closed. To me, Ms. Edward’s actions were no different than those of the original business that sent my bill to collections or the collection agency. Next I contacted the national office of the BBB. In that contact I stated I wanted the information I had supplied to the Boise office to be posted on their website. They forwarded my “complaint” back to the Boise office and the Boise office stated I had requested a refund from the collection agency. This is blatantly false (strike one), next they stated that as of 3-26 they had not received my response and that is why they closed my case. That also was blatantly false (strike two).  I wrote to the Boise office to have them post what they labeled as ‘my complaint’ on their website, and as far as I can tell they refused to do this, (strike three) To me Ms. Julie Edwards, at the Boise office of the Better Business Bureau, has proven herself to me (my opinion) to be ‘an element of corruption’ in the business community protected by her superiors at the national office.