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CB Collection Agencies Bay Area Credit Service Trying to extort payment for ambulance ride
Bay Area Credit Service

Bay Area Credit Service review: Trying to extort payment for ambulance ride 13

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3:57 pm EDT
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Approximately Nov. 2008 Bay Area Credit Services (BACS) contacted me by phone claiming that they had purchased an unpaid account concerning me (for an ambulance ride) from American Medical Response (AMR), an ambulance service company.

Back on Oct. 6, 2004. Yes 2004, AMR picked me up at my home and dropped me off at one of the local hospitals, Inland Valley Hospital, (this was a non-emergency), where I was admitted for the day.
At that time I had full medical coverage with United Health Care (UNC). After being contacted by BACS, I of course contacted UNC about this claim. The Service Rep. searched my medical claim records for 2004 & 2005 and discovered that AMR DID NOT FILE A CLAIM!
I then contacted AMR and was told to contact BACS because they had purchased the account. So I contacted BACS and they confirmed what UHC told me that AMR DID NOT FILE A CLAIM!
Now AMR and BACS both claim that I did not give AMR my medical information that day. THIS IS A LIE! The hospital I was admitted to filed their claim and was PAID. UHC confirmed this to me when I spoke to them during the week of Nov. 3-7, 2008. Also, knowing that I was going to be admitted into the hospital that day I definitely had my medical insurance card with me.
Now after 4+ years BACS is demanding (or trying to extort) payment + interest ($1, 077.49, probably higher now). Not once in the 4+ years did AMR contact me. BACS says that AMR did not know how to contact me. Really? AMR had my home address; after all they picked me up there! Not once did AMR contact me, NOT ONCE!
UHC says that it is now too late for this claim to be paid and the beginning of this year my medical claim records have been purged from their data storage. I can not and WILL NOT be held responsible for the negligent behavior of AMR's employees at that time! I strongly believe that BACS and AMR are working together to extort this payment from me by threatening to ruin my credit.
I’ve filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau of Los Angles, where American Medical Response is located, and with the Better business Bureau of Metro Atlanta, where Bay Area Credit Services is located. What a surprise, each business is not a member. Since these businesses are not members of BBB, they are not able to do anything further than contacting the companies. A complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, A complaint with [redacted] web site. See report #429156. I also discovered on the [redacted] web site the BACS has done this to other people nation wide. All of them deal with ambulance services. A complaint with ComplaintNow Consumer Services web site, the complaint title is Payment Extortion & Credit Report Scare Tactics. I am in the process of filing a complaint with my states attorney general’s office.
Something is very wrong with this company. What a scam!
Mean while, the phone calls continue.

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The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

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13 comments
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Skidaddy
, US
Jan 05, 2017 8:07 pm EST

Fake company that moves around a lot. Working mostly with American medical response to collect money they failed to submit correctly and in a timely manner.

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shakey2
, US
Aug 24, 2018 12:34 pm EDT
Replying to comment of Skidaddy

AMR has beem trying to collect bill that they submitted and insurance would have paid "per ins co" but bill says "non medical transportaion" explained this to AMR repeatly but no replys except more bills. Now they brought in bay area credit service which claims to be sueing me.what a load of bs..

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jhb
Colorado Springs, US
May 27, 2009 9:47 am EDT

I received a cell phone message saying a Visa account was frozen and that I should call.

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Ice52berg
, US
Mar 26, 2011 3:56 am EDT

I would love to know where you get your information. Any company has to accept a min $10? No way. That is not true at all. BACS is a legitimate collection agency, and while i will admit their practices are unfair, they are trying to collect a debt. When have you ever heard a debt collector be pleasant? Never! Medical providers are unfortunately one of the few who lay outside of the state law that 1) if what you promise to pay doesn't fit their policy they CAN and WILL send you to collections. and 2) they do not have to inform you your account is being sent to collections. Look it up, research it a little more, and remember that Ambulance rides are not free, never have been, never will be. Even if you take an ambulance and don't get a bill and you know you dont have insurance or may not have provided it at the time, call the provider! Take responsibility for your actions instead of running around complaining to everyone.

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J.Casados
Colorado Springs, US
Mar 02, 2011 10:46 pm EST

I've had this same problem with Bay Area Credit Services. In 2008, 2 years after my husband had to have a ambulance ride from his work, BACS called demanding payment of 1000.00. Being who I am, I told them I can only pay 10.00 a month, which I did. I did this until August of 2010. During all this time, I had not recieved a monthly bill. So, I stopped all payments to BACS. In February I started getting calls again from these people demanding payment of 905.00. I do not dispute the bill, what I am disputing is all the calls these people make to my home at all hours of the day demanding immediate payment. On February 22 my husband was admitted into the hospital...and yes, again BACS called demanding payment. The person I talked to was not only very rude but arguementive. He wouldn't listen to anything I had to say. At that time, I demanded a monthly bill...which I got on Friday, Feburary 25th. And they called me again demanding payment telling me that I 'promised' to pay by friday...now...how can I pay anything if I didnt have an address and bill? I couldn't. I told the guy who called that I had just got the bill and that my husband had just got out of the hospital...he in turn told me that he would call back on Monday...which he didn't do. He called me back on Wednesday demanding payment of 150.00. I told him that I had already sent out a money order for 10.00 on Monday. He then got all angry threatening me with the bill going to collections...which it is already in...I've checked and BACS is a collection agency. He also asked me if I was renting or owning my home. I told him that my husband was on SSDI and that we were paying a mortgage. After I disconnected from that call I was extremely pissed off. I feel that this kind of collections should be against the law! I do know that in the state of Colorado...any company has to accept a minimum of 10.00 toward a bill or that said bill would be considered paid in full.

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NotGoingtoBeFooledByBayArea
, US
Dec 02, 2009 12:32 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I'm having a similar experience with these Bozo's. Had to take an ambulance ride from American Medical Response in 2004 (which has a notoriously poor record of collecting from insurers. I was insured and still have the same insurance company and I signed an Assignement of Benefits - which I'm sure everybody who has used them and was able to hold a pen has also signed. An assignement of Benefits legally contracts your right to the insurance proceeds over to the ambulance company. Once you sign that you can't go to your insurance company to be reimbursed, it's up the the provider to do that. Well, the rep from Bay Area told me on the phone that when the ambulance company submitted the claim it was denied as being untimely. So whose fault is that? It certainly isn't mine. I checked this out and under my insurance the maximum I owe is a $100 co-payment so I told them that's what they can get: take it or leave it. If they want to submit something to the credit reporting agencies I will dispute it and since they won't be able to establish that they have a lawful claim against me it will be removed from my files. I urge everyone to contest anything they submit to the credit reporting agencies - follow the procedure for disputing the information. Oh, and I offered them $100 and they said no. Well, they're losers in my opinion.

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dev-null
Camarillo, US
Oct 09, 2009 5:21 pm EDT

BAC are all ###s - my bill is for an ambulance ride to Hospital for my daughter, the company tried to file a fraudlent claim for highest level life saving procedures done during the ride, when it was in actuality nothing, they gave her a blanket because it was cold. Ins had already paid the higher amount and they actually asked me NOT to mention that to my ins co after they changed the bill to basic transport. I told em no way and that if it was ever mentioned again I would file a complaint with the State, my Ins readjusted the bill and thanked me - the ambulance co immediately turned it over to BAC, who hounded me over what they claimed was a telephone bill of all things - I asked them to show me the telephone bill and they refused, so I told them to get lost, this was over 4 years ago - they called today and still want 82 dollars, now its BAC in Atlanta, not in San Jose, CA like it was. I told them to get all the paperwork from their fellow idiots in Calif, because if you want it from me there is a 10 dollar per page charge for duplicate information. I also
told them that I will not speak to anyone that cannot properly speak or understand english. As far as I am concerned, with all of my time they have wasted, they owe me money...

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okie_4366
Oklahoma City, US
Sep 29, 2009 3:49 pm EDT

Mine is for AT&T, I canceled them and went with only cell phone. When I did this, I asked that they send me a FINAL bill so there wouldn't be any surprises. They instead sent me 2 bills just days apart with different amounts. I called and told them I needed a final bill again. They said they would send one. I waited several weeks for it, in that time I began receiving calls from this Bay Area Credit Service. I informed BACS that I would be paying AT&T directly when I got the final bill in. They acted like they didn't understand that and kept asking me over and over for my CC number or bank account information. Even if I did plan on paying them, I wouldn't give that info over the phone to someone with an Indian accent that I can barely understand. I got the final bill and paid AT&T, the calls kept coming and I informed BACS that I paid it already. The woman told me it was MY responsibility to prove to them I paid it. I said no, it's your job to validate debts! She became very rude and obnoxious when I was telling them no. I was transferred to a different person and he told me I was lazy and should be ashamed of myself for not paying them. I went off on him, after that they stopped calling. I assumed they got the correct information finally. Now it's been like 9-10 months later and the calls started today again. I explained that it was paid a long time ago through AT&T and she claimed the account was still active with them and I should pay them anyways. What a SCAM!

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Sahara444
, US
Aug 07, 2009 12:17 am EDT

They are not a real company...They are a Scam. If you get any Invoices from them ask them, in writing, to submit to you a DETAILED statement showing whom is claiming these charges with dates, description of service and contact information of said complaint... Give them 30 days to submit that to you. If after 30 days you do not receive anything you know they are a Scam. I agree 100% with this recent posting.

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William44775
, US
Aug 06, 2009 5:00 pm EDT

I have confirmed the following with Legal Assistance: BAY AREA CREDIT SERVICES, LLC is NOT a legitimate business firm. They are SCAM ARTISTS. Do NOT pay them ANYTHING. Any $$ that you pay them is MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN. Just ignore ALL mailings and put them in a box for future reference if needed and PLEASE change your Home Telephone # and get it unlisted. The calls will stop then. They CANNOT walk onto your property otherwise you can have them arrested. Again.. Please ignore these people. They are a SCAM !

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worried
Astoria, US
May 26, 2009 4:15 pm EDT

Back on January 28 2007 American Medical Response provided services to me when I suffered injuries as a passenger in a car accident. I never received any bill from AMR . On July 2007 I received the first Collection Bill in a lump sum amount from Bay Area Credit Services (BACS) for these services.
At that time and still I have full medical coverage with HIP. I contacted HIP on 8/21/2007 sending a copy of BACS collection bill and I was told the original and itemized bill should be provided to HIP in order to reimburse the Service Provider.
On 8/27/2007 I called Bay Area Credit Services, I was directed to [protected] and gave the customer representative my HIP insurance information and also asked for the original bill to be mailed at my address. Bay Area Credit or AMR never provided the original bill to HIP or me.
After numerous calls, I was directed to Linda in Insurance Department and sent her a fax requesting copy of the original, itemized bill. Finally, I received the bill June 2008 and forwarded to HIP.
HIP denied, this time due to untimely filing.
I should not be held responsible for the negligent behavior of both AMR's of BACS employees .

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Alisha
Abilene, US
Apr 03, 2009 9:57 am EDT

They call me EVERYDAY! They even call my Gramma's house! Even though I've made arrangements for payment with them... I feel sooooo very HARASSED. I really wish I knew what to do to get them to stop calling me?!
Alisha
balloons_in_the_skys@yahoo.com

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Skidaddy
, US
Jan 05, 2017 7:59 pm EST
Replying to comment of Alisha

Contact the original creditors to see if and who made a mistake. My insurance paid the bill for my ambulance transport and they are still giving me a hard time about a three year old bill being removing it from my credit. They move around a lot changing address. It work but don't give up. Good luck

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