My friend made a complaint to BC consumer protection and received a call from them telling him that they cannot access such information, then he was forwarded to this:
http://www.oipc.bc.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=77

So it is an uphill battle from now on without an easy answer. Talk about frustration. I will keep this post updated until my friend hits a dead end or resolves the matter.

Since I have your attention good sir, I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of noobie questions:

1- Is there anywhere my friend can find an example complaint or template?

2- I see many books advertised, it is hard to know what the best book to buy to learn about the inner workings of our credit system. Can you recommend one?

Since you're in BC, go through BC Consumer Protection because credit reporting is provincially regulated and (supposedly) enforced.
Follow the directions in the link below. Separate complaints will have to be filed against each bureau, so your friend will have to pull his report from each of them and also include other relevant info and documentation, such as Equifax's bogus response.

http://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/consumers-alias/help-for-consumers-enforcement-actions/investigations

Thank you again for your help. Would you be able to link me to the proper complaint form page? I found the following: http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/eng/resources/lodgeComplaint/FIComplaint/index-eng.asp, however this one seems to be for banks. And so I am clear, should the complaint be against Equifax or AC or both?

See the update below. It's sad when this happens. The bureaus don't actually pay any attention to consumer objections.They're trained not too. They only go by the monthly faxes their high paying collection agency members send them. Investigation? What you got was a boilerplate response, likely from the Philippenes. Not to worry, They do the same thing to everyone. Consumers are actually a nuisance to them. And no, I'm not being sarcastic. Their investigations are either non-existent or worthless.

Your friend should try filing a complaint with Consumer Protection along with whatever documentation they have. The bureaus won't listen to consumers, but they'll have to respond to a government agency.

Thanks for the reply. My friend called equifax and challenge the payment. Equifax did an "investigation" and said that the information from Actioncollection matched. Now i guess it's up to my friend to prove that the payment wasn't made.

He has not called AC yet, and I think that if he does they will not comply with anything. He has not clue what to do now.

Well, that's definitely NOT the way it's supposed to work. Negative information is supposed to come off after either 6 or 7 years depending on what it is, except for second bankruptcies which are reported for 14 years. Whether you a make a payment or not has no effect on the negative reporting period. Obviously, there's been an error and some phone calls are in order. See page 10 of the link below.

By "Date of Last Activity" Equifax means the date the debt went into original default, whether or not a subsequent payment was ever made on the account. Ditto for TransUnion. In practice though, they use the last payment date before the "Date of Original Default." Yes,I know it's confusing, but the bureaus designed it to be that way. See page 10 in the link below.

http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/eng/resources/publications/budgetMoneyMgmt/CreditReportScore/PDF/CreditReportScore-eng.pdf

This is my friend's situation.

My friend had a loan that he did not pay from the late 90's it has been over 10 years since the last payment was made. Now his credit is great and the company “actioncollection� reported a payment recently and were able to wreck my friend's credit because of that. My friend has not made a payment to them in over 10 years and the reason that they reported a payment was to wreck my friend's credit rating which they were successful.

What are the options in this case?