Dear Melissa,

About six months ago, I ordered flowers online for my girlfriend’s birthday, and she never received them.  I called and complained and they sent the flowers but they charged my credit card twice!  I had my credit card company reverse the charges, but now they have sent me to a collection agency.  I have good credit so far, and I do not want to have this be reported to my credit report.  What should I do?
Bobby A.

Dear Bobby,

The first thing that you want to do is dispute the charge with the collection agency.  Write them a letter citing that you invoking your legal right to dispute a charge that you do not believe you owe and that you are requesting validation for the charge.   This will buy you some time with the collection agency, because legally, they cannot report an account to the credit bureaus without validating that the charge is owed.

However, do not leave it up the collection agency to make the correction of the mistake for you.

The second thing to do is to contact the florist.  It is possible that they made a mistake with the double charge, and that the accounts receivable department did not catch the double billing.  Immediately upon placing the call, ask to speak with a supervisor and do not allow them to pawn you off on the collection agency.  A lot of times, once an account has been placed with a debt collection agency, the original creditor will no longer speak with you.

Explain to the supervisor that there is an error that needs to be corrected as a result of double billing.  After they realize their mistake, request a letter in writing that you are no longer responsible for the bill and that the bill will be removed from the collection agency.  This way, if there is an issue with the credit bureau, you will have your letter to dispute the account.

Do YOU have a question for Melissa? Email her at melissa@dovcocs.com.

Melissa Douros
Dovco Collection Solutions, Inc.

As the owner of Dovco Collection Solutions, Inc., Melissa Douros uses her eight years of being a collections specialists to offer advice and answer questions pertaining to debt collection.  With running her own successful collection agency, she seeks to keep debt collectors accountable for their actions and in line with the law.