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I am feeling incredibly violated, XXXX, and embarrassed. 2 years ago, I received a phone call from someone named XXXX, who worked with/on behalf of Elite DMS ( Elite Document Management Solutions ), claiming that Elite DMS was a " financial restoration program '' and was told that if I stopped paying my credit card bills, to the point that each account/debt were to go into collections, that they ( Elite DMS ) would work dispute those debts for 30-40 % of the total amount of my debts. I was, of course, very skeptical of this, and remember doing some research at the time ( with no legal expertise or background ) and all I can really remember about my findings at the time is that they were positive, and that they had had rave reviews on various websites. The woman I spoke with, who claimed to be named XXXX, sounded to me, at the time, incredibly kind, informative, helpful, sweet, understanding, etc. I had many, many concerns at the time, and had been receiving a number of letters/offers for various " debt relief '' programs that very clearly seemed to be scams, but for some reason, this one seemed different to me.
I had around ~ {$15000.00} in debts total across 6 different credit cards. I had been paying those credit cards on a timely manner, and would have continued to do so had I not signed up for this program.
I ended up agreeing to pay $ XXXX over the course of 2 years, receiving monthly phone call/appointments with XXXX to go over any new documentation I had received from debt collectors. I was told that if Elite DMS were unable to successfully dispute any of the accounts in question, I was A. Be entitled to reimbursement, or B. Be provided with legal representation at no extra cost.
I was already in a desperate financial situation, and though I was not looking for any shortcuts or easy ways out of it ( as I stated before, I would have simply continued to pay off my debts as normal over a long period of time ), XXXX & Elite DMS were incredibly convincing, and I ended up signing up for ( what I thought to be ) an honest program that existed to protect consumers, despite it being a for profit company/institution ( as I was told ).
Fast forward to 2 years later, this past XX/XX/2023, I received a court summons from a debt collector/law firm that had bought the debt from one of my accounts. My fiance was actually the one to have been served, not me directly, as I was working that day, so I didn't get a chance to look at the documents until after business hours. Once I had realized that what I received was, in fact, a court summons, and that clearly, at least 1 of my 6 accounts had not been successfully disputed, I googled Elite DMS to find their phone number so I could get back in touch with them and get some guidance as to how to move forward/how to respond to the summons/etc.
To my utter dismay, shock, horror & disbelief, I saw a torrent of 1 star reviews of dozens and dozens of people crying " SCAM!!! STAY FAR AWAY FROM ELITE DMS!!! ". I couldn't believe it.
The next day ( Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX ), and each following business day that week ( excluding Friday of that week ), I called every phone number I could find that was associated with Elite DMS. I got a call back on the 1st day from someone claiming to be named XXXX, who told me not to worry, and that someone from their legal team would be getting back to me shortly. Tuesday passed, I made a number of calls to Elite DMS, left voicemails, etc. Waited on hold with what I now assume to be a " dummy '' " dead end '' " hold '', where a voice at the beginning says " Our representatives are currently busy. Someone from Elite DMS will be with you shortly '' and waited 30 minutes in silence to no avail. Repeat same thing on Wednesday, and Thursday.
Finally, on Thursday, I received a call from Elite DMS, but not from their legal team. I do not recall this person 's name, but they told me they would send me a form for reimbursement for the account that was not successfully disputed. I did not sign this form ( as I worry it would relieve them of accountability ).
I have since revisited the contracts I had signed and I fear I have made a grave mistake. I have no idea what I got myself into, but I fear I have paid this company $ XXXX for what appears to be absolutely nothing, and it seems that several dozen other people have also fallen victim to what I presume to be a scam, that I *HOPE* to XXXX is breaking some sort of law here, so that I might have some sort of legal recourse or course of retaliation.
Today is XX/XX/2023, and I repeated my same calling routine, trying to get in touch with SOMEONE at Elite DMS, to no avail. I will continue to do so the rest of the week.
I had initially attached 6 documents to this, but then upon seeing that Elite DMS would see that it was me filing this complaint, I removed them out of fear of retaliation. I would be more than happy to provide such documentation, should my identity remain anonymous until I could at least know that I am protected in some capacity.
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