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

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 .

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

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 !

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.

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!

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...

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.

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.

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.