phathom

Ok, so my wife went to the local community college during summer term, she signed up for online classes so she could work a normal schedule and do school in her spare time. She ended up dropping the classes because she needed a teacher there to explain stuff and she was going to enroll in classes when we had money for her to go back. The college sent us a bill for $811 this fall saying that it was for unpaid for online classes that she had taken fall term. Only problem is she never took any classes fall term. The classes they say she took, she isn't even eligible to take because she didn't even meet the prereqs for the classes. She never signed up for them, she never logged in to a single class, never had any communication with any teacher, nothing. The college will not even look into the matter of what happened, checking with teachers, checking logs, etc. They said the only way they would is if we paid the balance in full and then filed a dispute. Obviously we are not going to give them money for something she never even signed up for let alone took. So we get no more notices or anything until today, fast forward 3 months and we get a letter from department of revenue saying that they sent us to collections for this and they are going to garnish my wages, take it out of our tax return, and even right out of our bank accounts if we do not pay this. How do we stop this? The college won't even look into it all they want is a check not an answer of what happened and they won't admit blame. I called my lawyer and left a message with a brief summary of what happened and sent the Department of Revenue this email, "

Dear Sirs, My wife and I have recently received a notice from the Oregon Department of Revenue, reference#xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
In this notice it states that we owe Portland Community College a sum of$811.00. We owe no such sum. They are alleging that my wife Samantha took classes this summer and did not pay for such classes. She did not sign up to these classes, furthermore she was not even eligible to take any of these classes due to prerequisites and never attended any class, because she did not register for any of the classes they are alleging. We have talked to representatives from the college and they are not cooperative to investigate any of the before mentioned. The only solution that they suggest is to pay the amount in full and then file a appeal. We are not in a position to give them money for something that we did not do and wait for them to investigate and possibly give it back. Please look into this for us and give us any advice you can about getting this matter straightened out. We are still trying to work the situation out with the college, but they are under no right to put us into collections or take money from us for something that did not happen and is a result of some human or computer error on their part. I am in contact with my lawyer now about this matter and will be seeking his council on this matter. Please get back to us at your earliest convenience.
Thank you."

Any recommendations other than what I've already done to avoid them literally stealing our money?

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-snooch to the nooch

guyy

If you've gone to the top at the PCC, call or write some local elected officials. It is a public institution, isn't it? College/uni bureaucracies are some of the worst.

JumpinJesus

Tell them you want the debt validated. Send the letter certified mail. The burden of proof is on them. Tell them in your letter that you want no further contact from them until the debt is validated. If they do not (and they won't be able to) prove that you owe the money, send them another certified letter stating that you want your record cleared of any negative information and if they reported this debt to any credit reporting agencies, you want the information removed as well. They cannot garnish your wages without your consent or without a judgment against you.

Make them prove you owe the money. Don't let them scare you or cause you to believe that you have to prove you don't. Too many people get scared and send the money when they don't have to.

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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

tiberry

I'm confused!

Your post states: First question: How much were these online classes that she signed up for?

Second question: Did she drop the classes within the school's prescribed time for a full refund? Schools usually have a policy that dictates that you only have a few days to drop and not pay full tuition.

Third question: Are these the same classes she originally signed up for?

Your letter makes it seem like you had no previous contact with the school and suddenly received a bill in the mail or at best they "auto-enrolled" her in the follow-on classes assuming she had successfully completed the original course work she'd signed up for in the summer. I can't imagine that a school would just send a bill for something that you or your wife hadn't agreed to/signed up for at some point, although I could be wrong!

I think your best bet is to find out what the school's refund policy is on dropped classes and ensure that you met their deadline for a full refund. Assuming you did, or at least dropped in time to get a partial refund, you should reference their policy in all future correspondence.

Last question: Did you really give this to an attorney to handle?

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My life's work is to bridge the gap between that which is perceived by the mind and that which is quantifiable by words and numbers.