Was I scammed?

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I had a call today from a company claiming to represent the billing department for a physician's group. It was an automated call. 

The system 'knew' quite a bit about me - phone number, insurance id number - and stated I had a past due balance that they had tried to collect and this was the final notice before it was turned over for collection. Since multiple members of my family have been to the doctor lately I figured that maybe I had misplaced a bill so I went ahead and paid it via the phone.

 

Now that I'm home and have been able to go through all of my EOBs and bills received, I can find neither a bill from that particular physician's group nor an EOB from the insurance company for that group. None of the bills or EOBs indicate a balance due in the amount I paid.  

 

I'm kicking myself for paying it before I was able to investigate further.

 

I used my credit card so I guess I can put a stop to the payment.

 

Ugh what a pain this is.

[zoobie]

I would call your credit card company. They may have stolen the number.

[heartlikealion]

Can you remember the amount of the bill and the company? Can you backtrack to find out? Did they supply a date of service?

 

Edited: What I meant is go back to the original source, get the company's phone number (if it's on other paperwork at your home, for example) or call the hospital/clinic/insurance company to ask them what they have on file.

Edited September 13, 2016 by heartlikealion

[TranquilMind]

Check all your old checks written and credit card statements to see if you possibly did this and don't remember.  Then call credit card company if you don't find it. 

[City Mouse]

Yes, I bet it was a scam.

[Anne in CA]

Sounds like a scam, but it sounds like you can fix it.

[creekland]

I'd call the company you paid via a number you find via google and ask them to check their records.

 

Then, assuming it was a scam, I'd immediately call the credit card company.

 

If it wasn't, then you'll know and have peace of mind.

 

If you can't get them tonight, I'd call the credit card company just in case.  You could always pay a legitimate bill a second time.

[regentrude]

I vote scam. You would normally receive several written notices of a past due balance before it is turned over to a collection agency.

[happymom4]

Most likely a scam.  A doctor's office would have contacted you more than once via mail about a bill not call, especially not automated.  The rule of thumb around my house is never submit a payment over the phone for a company that calls us.  If by any chance we miss a bill somehow and get a call, we tell the person we will go to the known company website a submit a payment or send a check to the known company.

[gardenmom5]

I would put a stop payment asap.  and notify the police, and the physcians office - someone may have hacked into their system in order to get such information.

 

I'm sorry I can't remember which gov't agency is in charge of this stuff, because it should be reported.

Edited September 14, 2016 by gardenmom5

[Jean in Newcastle]

If you gave them your credit card number you need to notify the credit card company so they  will issue you a new card with a new number.  It isn't just about the money for the "bill".  It is about additional charges that they can rack up on your card. 

[mamiof5]

I'm afraid you were. Sorry :( Stuff like this makes me so mad, it's not right!

[school17777]

I don't know if you were scammed or not. I did get a call from a real live person about dr's bill for dd. She said that it we didn't pay that day, it would be turned over to collections. We paid it because dh knew he hadn't paid it yet and the lady had all the information. We could have not paid over the phone and paid online, but it seem legimate, and it was convenient to pay right then.

 

I really hate how our insurance has changed from co-pays that you paid at the visit and knew how much you were paying to waiting sometimes months out to get a bill that you have no idea how much it will be until you get it. We just got a bill today for a visit ds had a month ago - that's not a bad turn around, just forgot that he went and we would get a bill for an unknown amount.

[kirstenhill]

Probably a scam but I would do more research to confirm. In a season where we had multiple bills from multiple places, I once accidentally paid the wrong amount on one bill (not enough) and we were not sent any further bills for some reason. Then we were sent to collections over the small amount we didn't pay (It was like $30). Luckily it was an easy mistake to get sorted out.

[OneStepAtATime]

Almost certainly a scam.  And as mentioned up thread, they should have sent a notice that the bill was overdue before calling with an automated message.  Also, they now have your credit card number.  The possibly phony doctor bill could be the least of your worries regarding charges.  Call your credit card company.  Better to be safe than sorry.  

 

Then try to track down that doctor's office and see if they are legit.  If they are, they may have been hacked. If not then MAYBE they called you by mistake and it needs to be addressed so they don't call again further down the line.

[DawnM]

Most likely a scam.  A doctor's office would have contacted you more than once via mail about a bill not call, especially not automated.  The rule of thumb around my house is never submit a payment over the phone for a company that calls us.  If by any chance we miss a bill somehow and get a call, we tell the person we will go to the known company website a submit a payment or send a check to the known company.

 

I have never gotten emails about bills. I have gotten phone calls.

 

I wouldn't have immediately assumed it was a scam. But I would have asked which hospital, which doctor, and which patient and possibly which procedure.

 

Call and verify. This is fixable.

[creekland]

I really hate how our insurance has changed from co-pays that you paid at the visit and knew how much you were paying to waiting sometimes months out to get a bill that you have no idea how much it will be until you get it. We just got a bill today for a visit ds had a month ago - that's not a bad turn around, just forgot that he went and we would get a bill for an unknown amount.

 

This is not just insurance.  The huge "Top 5" place I've dealt with is absolutely horrid with billing and we're self pay (then forward bills on to Health Share).  In June/July we were getting bills from Dec - long after having paid more recent bills.  On top of that, since we tend to put some down for certain procedures (if they want it), they had decided to go ahead and apply that to some charges and NEVER bill us for it.  It took us months to fix that with them claiming they couldn't "re-issue" a bill.  Um... it's not "re-issuing" when we didn't get sent a bill in the first place!  They also don't send receipts, so once something is paid, we NEVER get record of it.  We just have to keep our record of having paid it - and if that happened from a pre-payment, there is no record.  And that was just one issue (the latest one).  They had many.

 

Our local places are awesome with billing.  I wish Top 5 would get some sort of decent system.  They've long dropped out of "Top 5" in my mind.  Too much waiting, lack of interest in finding out what is wrong ("here, take these drugs to suppress symptoms instead"), and then add the billing on top of that.  For my original issue they were very good (except billing), but it ended there.

 

It actually wouldn't surprise me to get some sort of bill from them down the road - even though I've no idea what it would be for!

 

Back to your regularly scheduled programming... I still think the OP needs to follow up on this with the "supposed" company and with the credit card.  It could be either really.  Top 5 called us looking for their $$ (since I wouldn't pay them until we got what we needed to submit once I figured out what the problem was).  That took a few months, so yes, they were threatening collections.  It was so tempting to let them just send it to collections, but I digress... once we got what we needed, I paid them.

[Miss Tick]

Our EX-allergist's office sent our bill right to a collection agency, despite their having billed us previously with no problem and also having left weirdly confrontational phone messages about having an appointment before getting our prescription refilled. So although it sounds like a scam it is also possible it was just plain-vanilla incompetence.

 

Call the credit card company, they are generally helpful in this type of situation.

[Tammyla]

I would call the credit card company and alert them to the situation, cancel the payment and have a new card issued.  In future, always take a number and call back after verifying the number and information.  It may or may not have been fraud, but you never know and need to secure your account asap.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Thank you so much for the advice.

 

Here is the resolution:

 

It wasn't a scam.

 

I called the number this morning and was able to speak to a live person. It is a legitimate billing agency. The agent was able to tell me the dates of service, where the service was done, etc. I explained to her that I had never received a bill for these charges and was concerned that my first contact with their company was an automated message stating I was being turned over to collections if I did not pay that day. She acknowledged that the company never sent a statement. The insurance company negotiated the bill to a lesser amount and the negotiated price was paid last week. She said I wouldn't have received a statement until after the negotiations were final. She is sending a statement today.

 

I knew I hadn't received a bill from this particular company. I am irked that my first contact was a pre-collections call. 

 

I had called my credit card company last night and, while they were sympathetic, there was nothing they could do while the charge was pending. I was instructed to call back and dispute the charge once it went through. At that time, I could also close that particular card and receive new cards, pins, etc.

 

I'm going to contact the hospital today and file a complaint about the billing agency. I don't know if it will be beneficial but I hope it makes me feel better.

[creekland]

Glad it worked out, even if in a not-so-great way.  Oddly enough, in a "misery loves company" sort of way, it's also relieving for me to hear that our billing issues (even with a different place) aren't the only  :cursing: ones out there.  I wonder if they all use a similar service - designed to create stress and more business for them.   :lol: