ComplaintsforCollectly, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  11/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Beginning on 10-31-23, I began receiving emails addressed to me from Collectly.co (a business in Santa MonicaCollectly, Inc.) directing me to click on a link purporting to be a bill from AFC ************ a medical provider in *******, **. Collectly is a patient **************** employed by some healthcare providers. Given that no one in my family has been to an AFC *********** in many years (and all bills were paid, as confirmed by calling the billing department of AFC *********** directly), we were concerned the email was a phishing attempt and have therefore not entered any information at the link provided in the email from Collectly.co. Therefore, if Collectly is actually trying to provide us a link to pay a real medical bill, we have no way to determine how much is purported to be owed or where it is purported to have been incurred as an expense. One concern is that someone may have obtained my private information from Collectly be used the email address where I received the email is my husbands email addrress, but my first name was in the body of the email and we were able to confirm with AFC ****** care that my husbands email address is associated with my medical records at AFC. To address these concerns about a privacy breach, we tried calling Collectly. No one ever answers the phones, including on the line that is supposed to be for patient inquiries, in the line meant for sales, or on the line meant for current medical practice clients (all of these are automated options on their phone system). In fact, when you choose the option for the patient line, it is automatically answered by a voicemail that sounds like a personal voicemail box for someone named ******, which is full. I would like someone to contact my at ************ to resolve my privacy concerns and tell me the details of any bill they are trying to send if it is legitimate. The companys website says it improves patient financial experience, and so far, this has been a horrible experience.

  Business response

  12/01/2023

  Dear patient,
  

  Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. We understand your distress regarding the emails you received and the challenges you've faced in reaching out to us. At Collectly, we prioritize the confidentiality and security of our clients' information, adhering strictly to HIPAA laws. Due to these regulations, we are unable to discuss any personal health information publicly. This is to ensure the utmost privacy and protection of your personal and medical data.

  To address your concerns and provide specific information about the billing inquiry, we kindly ask you to contact your healthcare provider directly, since they are the one who reach out. Sometimes, the healthcare providers have outdated contact information and need to be notified that the recipient is another person. Usually, healthcare providers are best positioned to clarify any billing issues and confirm the legitimacy of the charges. However, should you feel that our customer service has violated privacy laws or if you receive any unlawful communications, please respond to the text messages with "STOP" and **** the emails as spam. This will help us maintain the highest standards of service and compliance.
  

  Additionally, for a detailed review of your case, we encourage you to email us at ********************************* and cc ****************************************** Our dedicated team will assist in resolving your concerns in a confidential and secure manner. We understand the importance of a positive financial experience for patients and are committed to resolving your concerns as promptly and efficiently as possible. 
  

  Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. We look forward to assisting you.
  

  Warm regards,
  Patient Service Team

  Customer response

  12/18/2023

  This is my response to business response to complaint 20898558. While I appreciate that the business is trying to protect health information. and needs to verify peoples identity, the email that they send telling me that I owe money does not include any identifying information about the medical provider whom they claim to be billing on behalf of other than a generic name of *** urgent care. ***, urgent care location keeps different records, so when I called to check with the one location. I am aware I have been to as a patient, they are not able to tell me whether or not the bill is legitimate or not because they do not have the records of other locations. Collectively.co needs to include a location for the *** urgent care to which they contend I owe money. The email from Collectly.co does not appear legitimate. When the only way to find out information about the balance, they say I owe is by clicking on a link and entering my personal identifying information. In addition, their website includes the phone number for patients to call with questions, but the phone line is unmonitored and has a voicemail that is full, and sounds as if it is a personal voicemail for an individual . In addition, I already tried to email the business at the email address that they provided and their response to the Better Business Bureau, and the business never responded to my email. I did this before I contacted the Better Business Bureau, and told them that I was going to contact the Better Business Bureau if they did not respond to my email I will try them again at the email address as they requested, at this time I hope that they will respond. By the way, I realize I am late with this response to the Better Business Bureau, but I just saw the email. I find it interesting that the business had a month to respond and I only got five days.

  Sincerely,

  *************************

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