Our family spent thousands of dollars on our child's dental care with Drs. Lange. Just before the very last payment ($180) we moved around the corner - same town- Wyoming, OH. Drs. Lange office sent the bill to our previous home, but we never got it.
So, Drs. Lange's office, instead of assuming a mail issue they assumed that a family that had paid their bills on time-- every time-- decided to skip on the last bill. We never got a bill, and assumed there was no further payment needed. Treatment was done.
OK, so a patient does not pay the last, smallest bill. At any point they could have called or texted (they had two working phone numbers) or emailed (they had our present email address). But they didn't. Guess what they did?
They sent the bill to a collection agency. That collection agency then filed with the various credit bureaus. How did we find out? Our bank (5th3rd) sent us an alert stating our credit score had been damaged. We immediately assumed identity theft. Long (and panicked) story short, we found that the damage had been done by Drs. Lange office. We paid the bill EARLY the next business day.
When we asked the office worker who botched the billing if they had ANY system in place for people who had moved, this person said they had no system to call, text or email. She then proceeded to "blame the victim."
Here is our suggestion: If you get a warning from your bank that something has gone wrong with your credit, it may not be identity theft. It may just be these dentist's incompetent billing system. Identity theft or these guys-- painful either way. read more