My boss received some invoices from Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District for some false alarm calls that occurred because ADT's fire system equipment was malfunctioning so they kept calling the fire department. There was a total of 3 bills sent each of which was $321.83. After several months of fighting these charges, we were eventually able to get the Chief Financial Officer of Sac Metro to agree to allow us to pay 50% of the total charges ($965.49 x 50% = $482.75) which I have in writing in the form of an email. Once they agreed to this, we mailed a check for $482.75 the same day. The email also said to mail the 50% check payment to the address that the Supervising Fire Chief was at rather than sending it to the payment office listed on the invoices.
Fast forward one month and today we received 3 collection notices for the original amounts of $321.83 with interest added on. The notices themselves even say "SAC METRO FIRE DISTRICT has informed us that the PAST DUE status of this account could be a simple oversight."
I have contacted the collection agency and told them about the situation. They said they are waiting on a call from Sac Metro Fire District to verify that the accounts were settled in full (for the 50% payment). We settled this matter prior to the accounts being taken to collection. My question then, if the collection agency wants to continue to push for payment even though we already received it, what actions can I take to cease the collection efforts on these accounts?
Starting Scores (lender pull 3/27/10): 759 (EQ), 752 (TU), 749 (EX)
