Complaint Review: Pinnacle Financial - Minneapolis Minnesota

This is the story of the incredibly bloated disputed debt to Grolier/Scholastic for $31.90.

This evening, I was at work and I got a phone call from Pinnacle Financial. First, the phone rings with a caller ID of 877-796-2497. When I attempted to call it back, the most unprofessional sounding message came on the line. I tried to call 3x and got the same message. Just as I was about to give up, my phone rang again. It was John with Pinnacle Financial.

We discussed how I had initially disputed this debt and when I found out that the debt was only for $31.90 (Scholastic must have finally fixed their records), I was willing to pay it on my Discover card - just to be done with it. I asked him if he would kindly send me a copy of the bill that I owed, he said that he could not. Please remember this for later in the complaint. I explained to him that by law, they had to send me a copy of the debt. He told me that he could send me a receipt for my payment but that he could not send me a copy of the debt.

I began to write down information about the debt like the date acquired (February 21, 2008), account number, John's name, the phone number John gave me, 1-877-796-2497 and the location of the office from which he was calling. I told him that he could take the $31.90 off of my Discover card. He told me that he could not take a Discover card. He suggested that I use a Visa or Mastercard. Not a problem! I pulled out my Mastercard and gave him the numbers, expiration date, and security number on the back of the card.

Just as I gave him the final number, John piped in and said, "This is where you are going to go through the roof". I knew what was coming, I've heard it before, he was going to tell me about a fee to accept the payment. Ladies and Gentlemen, the fee was outrageous! John said that if he took the payment off of my Mastercard (or any credit card) there was a fee of $19.95. But not to fear, as John tried to calm me down --- if I wanted to write a check, the fee was only $9.95. That's really helpful!

First of all, John should have told me about the fees up front. He should have said, "If you'd like to make a payment by credit card today, there is a fee of $19.95 added to that fee or you can pay with a check and have a fee of $9.95 assessed to the bill."

I asked John if he could ask his supervisor if the fee could be waived. He said that he would. His supervisor, a woman who did not give her name came on the phone. She was a little bit on the nasty side. You would have thought that I owed this company a million bucks, not $31.90 (and even that is disputed). I reminded her that, according to John, they just got this debt and that this was the first week that they had the debt and that I was willing to pay $31.90 to resolve the debt but that I would not pay the fee. I then asked her if I could have a copy of the bill so that I could send the payment in and by doing so, have my own documentation AND would not have to pay a fee. She told me that they *just* received the account and that they had *just* mailed me a bill. Well aren't we speedy?

Today is Sunday, February 24, 2008 and the debt was just acquired on February 21st and you are saying that you mailed a bill on February 22nd (a Friday) and I am supposed to have the bill by now?

The supervisor then went on to tell me that as of January 1, 2008, they no longer waive fees on payments. I asked her why John was willing to ask her to waive a fee if they "no longer" waived fees. She said, "John is new, he's only been on the floor a couple of weeks." Fuzzy logic here, but if John is *that* new, wouldn't John have the newest training, since January 1, 2008 that says that fees are not waived? Would John have completely missed that part of the training where they say that clients are mailed a bill twenty nano-seconds before they are called about the debt?

This company stinks to high heaven. I eagerly anticipate this bill from Pinnacle Financial. If it is true that they have sent a bill, I will receive it within the next few days. I can hardly wait to see what type of fee they charge for opening up an envelop with a check inside.

Wendy

Upper Marlboro, Maryland

U.S.A.