This has been my experience as well. I was involved with some payment dispute with the New York Times many years ago. I switched from credit card to Apple Pay and they sent my account to collections. I took no action on this because it was in error and my credit score was 830 before and 830 after. The only thing that's ever had an impact on my credit score was buying a house; went down to 800 after that.
It was an error on their part so take that as you will, but... scary letter != inability to borrow money.
(And just for the record, I no longer subscribe to that rag.)
A rather famous example of this is when Columbia House sold off accounts from their scammy operation to a debt collection agency, with many folks unaware that the company claimed they owed money.
