Can an organization/creditor run a credit report without my permission?

I have been paying off an old debt sent to collections. I recently pulled my credit report and found that this agency that I've been making regular weekly payments to ran my credit without my permission. When I called them I was told ';We have the right and don't need your permission';. Anyone know what I can do- if anything? This ';credit check'; caused my score to go down by a couple points.