Formal Complaint to the Consumer Protection Bureau of Manitoba

At this point, I am also filing a complaint against both Equifax and Citadel Credit of Canada (Shapes' Collection Agency) for violating The Personal Investigations Act

Citadel has violated by providing disputed evidence to a personal reporting bureau (Equifax) and failing to provide me with proper documentation to validate the debt. Since I have supplied them with evidence that proves, reasonably, that the debt is invalid they are required to either show me their proof or to correct their files and update the report to Equifax.

Equifax is also in violation of this act for failing to properly validate the information that I have disputed. The law says they must "verify" it, something that they have not done. Rather than verify it, they choose just to rely on the word of the Collection Agency to confirm ir(who obviously have a financial motive to lie).

So both of these companies are in violation of The Personal Investigations Act. Here's an excerpt from my formal complaint:

I would like to file a complaint under the personal investigations act.

Citadel Credit of Canada, a collection agency in Manitoba, has knowingly
supplied false information to someone making a personal report about me
(Equifax Canada Inc.) They have told Equifax that there is a debt
against me, that does not exist. I have proof that disputes the validity
of the debt. Under section 15 of the personal investigations act, they
are guilty of an offense. I have supplied them with evidence that the
debt is invalid in the form of a cancellation notice of a contract in a
timely manner, therefore they should reasonably be aware that the
information they are supplying is false.



In addition to this, I would like to make a similar complaint against
Equifax Canada Inc. (a credit reporting bureau in Ontario) I have sent
them a request to verify and correct the inaccurate information, but so
far, they have refused to do so. Equifax's "verification" process
consists of asking the reporting agency (Citadel Credit of Canada)
whether the information is true. The dictionnary, however, defines
verification as "to establish the truth, accuracy, or reality of a
claim". Equifax does not do this in their verification process, instead,
they simply ask the reporting agency (who has a financial motive to say
that it is truthful) whether or not the record is accurate. Even though
I have supplied them with evidence to the contrary, they still maintain
that they have "verified" the information.

Under section 17.1, I would request that the director investigate both
of these agencies to ensure that they are in complaince with the act and
to force compliance and/or prosecute both of these agencies if they are
found to be in violation.

I would also request, that since I have, on several occasions, made both
of these parties aware of their mistakes/violations that you make note
of the fact that they should not be exempt from civil liability under
section 16 due to the fact they they "ought to be reasonably aware that
part or all of the information in the report ... is false"

I'll be faxing this along with my documentation to the consumer protection office. As this is a formal complaint, the commissioner now has the right to levy fines and force compliance.

Complaints submitted

So I've submitted three complaints to the Privacy Comissioner. One about Shapes, one about Citadel, and one about Equifax. Can't wait to hear back from them. We explained in detail in each complaint letter the actions that I took, the actions taken by the businesses that violate PIPEDA and the way it needs to be rectified.

Good times. Hopefully I'll get to sue all three of them for the crap they've put me through after this.

My mortgage broker also had Shapes do this.

So I'm applying for a mortgage through a broker and I tell him about this collection and he says...

"I'm guessing it was a gym membership? If so same thing happened to me, they actually called SCU and SCU gave them my acct info and they forged my signature!! Was it shapes by chance?"

no fooling, I'm saving the e-mail if anyone wants to get a look at it. It's from a business e-mail address of a Winnipeg area mortgage broker. I don't want to post it here, but if anyone wants a look, let me know.

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

Also, he has a way of submitting a request for a re-score to Equifax and they'll be more likely to take it seriously since he's a paying member. In the U.S. it's called "Rapid Re-scoring." I don't know what it's called here

Either way, he says he can get any bank to overlook such a small collection, especially when he explains the circumstances and shows them my proof.

To Shapes: You can't treat me this way and get away with it. So to recap the consequences for you: Lost customers, lost time dealing with me, lost time dealing with complaint to consumer's bureau, lost time dealing with formal complaint to privacy comissioner, and soon to be lost time dealing with court and (God willing) lost money from a judgement against you.


PS dear readers: It seems like so many people have had a number pulled on them by Shapes, I keep talking to random people and they all seem to have similar experiences. Why are they allowed to continue their business? Everyone who has been wronged should complain to A) The Consumer's bureau and B) The Privacy Comissioner of Canada!
Perhaps with enough people, we can put these ass-clowns out of business.

Help from a most unlikely source?

So I've turned down Shapes's blackmail offer. Especially since they wouldn't even remove the hit from my credit anyway, so it would be pointless to pay them their blood money.
If the inept consumer protection bureau had any brains, perhaps they could have settled this, but in spite of their stated function of enforcing the consumer protection act, they actually have no power of enforcement.

But I got an e-mail the other day from a most unlikely ally. He doesn't want me to give out his name or position, but he has experience working with a federal law called PIPEDA that governs how organizations can collect and use my personal data. It is enforced under the office of the Privacy Comissioner of Canada. Apparently, Shapes has violated nearly every aspect of it:

- They have not allowed me access to my personal information that they have on file
- They have not implemented a transparent policy that investigates my dispute
- They have not allowed me to make a statement in my file which disputes their claim
- They have not made me aware of an internal dispute resolution method
- They have disclosed my information to a third party without my knowledge or approval (the collection agency). Apparently the contract I signed gives them the right to sue me if they think I have breached it, but it does not give them the right to share my information with a third party for ANY purpose

Also, the Collection Agency itself has violated this same act for much the same reasons as Shapes.

And Equifax has violated it as well by not properly investigating my claim and reporting their findings.

So, my new friend sent a letter to Shapes telling them all of this. And we're also filing a complaint with the Privacy Comissioner.

He has experience with this kind of thing, and he says from what he's seen "it's a pretty open and shut case." And once the Privacy Comuissioner finds against Shapes, the Collection Agency and Equifax I'll be able to sue them for large civil penalties.

So maybe this will all turn out awesome in the end.