This sounds illegal?

[NordiaW]

I'm in Florida
After finding out that I got declined for a business credit card, I decided to find out why that was the case by reviewing my credit report, then to my surprise I found out that I have a collections statement on my credit report.

I called the debt collectors office and they said they sent out 14 letters notifying me that I owe a bill from my dental office, however the address they sent those to is my father's address, I don't live with him and I have never lived with him so why are they sending it there? My father has not even contacted me to tell me I owe a bill or they are trying to contact me. The dental office has my address and phone number so why didnt they contact me and why didnt the debt collector contact me before putting a collection statement on my credit report is that legal?

I did move however I still had my old cell number up until last year and I had all my mail from my old address forwarded to my new address so what happened? The collections attorney said they are filing a lawsuit in a couple of days if I dont pay him, but I told him well how can I pay and how can this end up on my report if I never recieved a bill or any notification. I spoke to my father and he said he made a payment to them and he agreed that he will pay monthly until the bill is paid up but he stopped apparently. I have to wait until thurs. to speak to the woman in charge of billing who won't be in the dental office until thursday.


**UPDATE**Well my balance that is owed to the debt collector currently is over 400 dollars. My insurance covers 50 or 60 percent of dental work and it was done by an oral surgeon, I had 4 wisdom teeth taken out with anesthesia. My insurance covered an ESTIMATED AMOUNT of over a thousand dollars and that day a relative paid my part of the balance for me which was over a thousand dollars. A few weeks later I paid another balance my insurance did not cover and I was told I have no further balance to pay. Yes my insurance is not the best, I use my dad's insurance( this is all irrelevant!)

All I know is when I called the debt collector he was rude to me when I tried to find out what was going on he threatened to file a lawsuit on me that week although he never contacted me in his life. Nobody contacted me prior to me finding out! Yes they contacted my dad however it was very unwise for them to assume my dad will tell me everything and it is their job to contact me and not my dad if they want the money that is owed. MY dad and I dont have a relationship, he doesnt tell me anything, yet I was quite shocked he didnt tell me he paid a bill and then he stopped. Well I found out that the dental office had my address and it was their fault as to them not contacting me but my dad. After all I'm the patient.

Bottom line is the debt collector was wrong for not trying to contact me or assuming I live with my dad and he should have contacted me to let me know I owe a debt and so should have the dental office before putting it on my credit report! Because of their assumptions I'm suffering for it and I already put in a complaint about the rude phone call but this is just not right in my eyes. If i owe a bill I'm fine with paying it but they are not right for not letting me know. They have my address and my dad's address so why didnt they send info to both??? By the way I spoke to the dental office and they said the woman who handled my billing is not there anymore so they cannnot tell me whether they have info on whether it was communicated to me and my address that I was owed a bill, is that not ridiculous?? I'm assuming this balance is from what the office thought my insurance would pay, and that sometimes happens when an estimated balance is billed to insurance. I just graduated college and trying to start a career and this jerk is screwing me up. He has my address and phone number and never sent me anything there but to my dad's address???

[daprez1963]

omg, how much dental work did you have done? If you have a business, surely you had dental insurance at least, even if you didnt have a business at the time, thru a past employer. Why did you stop paying on it?

[NordiaW]

I only had surgery to take out my wisdom teeth, I paid a balance of over a thousand dollars and the rest went to my insurance to pay off which i use, the insurance is in my dad's name. Usually when insurance pays off their balance there might be a payment they actually don't cover so they hand over the balance for me to pay.

I never stopped paying anything. Like I said I was never notified of a bill. I paid off my balance to the dental office whenever they billed me the day of my services and when they billed me again i paid of the balance my insurance didnt cover. I just graduated college and trying to build up my career so I dont even know what this person is going to get out of me. My dad paid my bill because he was notified, not me, and he stopped payments for some reason. I found all of this out today. I'm 22 and too young for this!!

[debtcollector`]

It sucks, but it is your responsibility to make sure the bill is paid.

Talking to the lady in the billing office is pointless. You will have to pay the CA to take care of this. If you are willing to make payments, they will be willing to work something out with you (99 percent of the time). However, don't plan on it being more than 6 payments.

It will not aid you to argue with the CA that the bills were sent to your father instead of you. The collection agency doesn't care. And they will decide that you are seeking to attempt to evade payment and proceed in that manner.

DC

[NordiaW]

I actually did make sure my bill was paid, as they did tell me my bill is taken care of and that was that. So it really sounds illegal for them to put it on my credit report when they have not attempted to contact me or failed to tell me I have another portion to pay because more than likely my insurance does not cover it. Again, I was told my balance is 0. For that reason thats why I argued with the collector, which I was wrong for but I was just shocked I was not notified and I was told the last time I contacted the office that my balance is zero.

[daprez1963]

Originally Posted by NordiaW

I only had surgery to take out my wisdom teeth, I paid a balance of over a thousand dollars and the rest went to my insurance to pay off which i use, the insurance is in my dad's name. Usually when insurance pays off their balance there might be a payment they actually don't cover so they hand over the balance for me to pay.

You must have had the cheapest insurance out there. I have dental insurance and when I had a wisdom tooth pulled, they cover 70% of the $300 procedure. I just apply the co-pay to my flex account and never had any worries over it. Your balance of over a $1,000 is crazy. What in the world did they do? Something about this whole story sounds a bit funny.

[ecmst12]

You had "a" wisdom tooth pulled, probably in the dentist's office with local anesthesia. Not everyone can have that. Some people need to go into the hospital or surgery center and have general anesthesia, depends on the degree of impaction. My mom had to have hers taken out in pieces. That's a lot more expensive then what you had done.

[daprez1963]

Originally Posted by ecmst12

You had "a" wisdom tooth pulled, probably in the dentist's office with local anesthesia. Not everyone can have that. Some people need to go into the hospital or surgery center and have general anesthesia, depends on the degree of impaction. My mom had to have hers taken out in pieces. That's a lot more expensive then what you had done.

First of all, a general dentist doesn't remove wisdom teeth. It is done by a oral surgeon. GA is not given for this. The risks are great than needed and local is fine enough. I have had all 4 of mine down and yes, they typically do come out in pieces. The surgeon doesn't charge extra for each piece. btw, some of mine were impacted, curved roots and tough to get to. I still remember him puttting his knee into me to get better leverage. lol The bottom line, I still find it hard to believe that it cost so much. I would question anything that even after insurance, cost me over a grand for tooth care, aside from multiple root canals, dentures, braces and porclein caps.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by daprez1963

GA is not given for this. The risks are great than needed and local is fine enough.

daprez -
There is no way for you to back up such a generalized statement as this.
You know nothing about the conditions surrounding the OP's treatment and the reasons for him receiving it.

[lealea1005]

Originally Posted by daprez1963

First of all, a general dentist doesn't remove wisdom teeth. It is done by a oral surgeon. GA is not given for this. The risks are great than needed and local is fine enough. I have had all 4 of mine down and yes, they typically do come out in pieces. The surgeon doesn't charge extra for each piece. btw, some of mine were impacted, curved roots and tough to get to. I still remember him puttting his knee into me to get better leverage. lol The bottom line, I still find it hard to believe that it cost so much. I would question anything that even after insurance, cost me over a grand for tooth care, aside from multiple root canals, dentures, braces and porclein caps.

Ecmst12 is right. It sometimes is done under genreal anesthesia at a hospital or surgi-center. You were lucky enough not to have complications and unusually good dental insurance.

[daprez1963]

Originally Posted by lealea1005

Ecmst12 is right. It sometimes is done under genreal anesthesia at a hospital or surgi-center. You were lucky enough not to have complications and unusually good dental insurance.

maybe you are right. 2 were done in the service on board a ship, and the other two were done by a highly skilled oral surgeon who knew what he was doing and was reasonably priced (and covered in the network by the insurance) at which time was priced accordingly. the OP might have gone out of network, used the highest price surgeon and paid for all the extras, like use of facility, anesthetist and supplies. again, i would question the price and would have shopped around. most insurance offer menus on how much they cover and a list of places to go. look yours up now if you have any. call them up and see if you get a price. let me know if any of them are over a $1000 with insurance. thanks.

[lealea1005]

Originally Posted by daprez1963

maybe you are right. 2 were done in the service on board a ship, and the other two were done by a highly skilled oral surgeon who knew what he was doing and was reasonably priced (and covered in the network by the insurance) at which time was priced accordingly. the OP might have gone out of network, used the highest price surgeon and paid for all the extras, like use of facility, anesthetist and supplies. again, i would question the price and would have shopped around. most insurance offer menus on how much they cover and a list of places to go. look yours up now if you have any. call them up and see if you get a price. let me know if any of them are over a $1000 with insurance. thanks.

Not to be rude, but you really have no idea what you're talking about which isn't fair to the OP.

[daprez1963]

Originally Posted by Zigner

daprez -
There is no way for you to back up such a generalized statement as this.
You know nothing about the conditions surrounding the OP's treatment and the reasons for him receiving it.

trust me, after the first 2 were pulled in the navy, i didnt want to go thru that again (knee in my chest and the pulling of pieces). i asked for GA and was told that was not an option. only under "very rare" situation would this be allowed. then a waiver would have to be turned in to the insurance asking for this particular type of surgery in which GA was needed. If it was deemed not needed, the insurance could refuse to cover it, and this sounds like to be the case here. Maybe the OP insisted on it and knew it was not going to be covered and just took the entire bill on his own.

[nolow]

I have never heard of this procedure being done under GA. Are you sure they didn't use a local anesthesia with a sedative. This is what they did for my elbow surgery. General anesthesia is basically a medically induced coma and would be considered an unwanted risk in my opinion.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by nolow

I have never heard of this procedure being done under GA. Are you sure they didn't use a local anesthesia with a sedative. This is what they did for my elbow surgery. General anesthesia is basically a medically induced coma and would be considered an unwanted risk in my opinion.

You are a doctor now?