Ignore Company's Excuses and Demand Corrections
Question: I'm in the Navy and stationed overseas. More than a year ago, I paid a $425 cell phone bill. A month later, the company billed me again for the same amount, claiming no payment was received, even though the check cleared my account. After I called repeatedly and sent copies of my bank statement and the check, the company's customer service representatives advised me to pay only my new cell phone charges while they researched the problem.
After four months had passed, I discovered the payment had been credited to my mother's account. Meanwhile, the company turned my account over to a collection agency. Eventually, the company acknowledged the mistake and partially credited my account with the amount that was not already used by my mother. I have no problem paying for what I owe, but the company's foot-dragging disappointed me. What's worse, they've deactivated my account. What can I do to restore my credit and possibly my account?
Answer: The problem with talking to customer service representatives is that your brain gets dulled. You lose track of what's right and what's wrong, what's reasonable and what's not, what makes sense and what's absolutely nuts.
The company "partially credited" your account with the money your mother hadn't already used? Beg pardon? Wasn't this your money to begin with, and wasn't it the company that applied it to the wrong account? How does your mother's phone use enter into this at all?
Then there's the issue of turning a collection agency on you, which jeopardized your credit rating, while you were paying your bill in good faith.
You should be more than disappointed. You should be absolutely outraged.
You have every right to demand three things:
* That the entire $425 payment be credited to your account instantly, if not sooner.
* That the company contact the collection agency and tell it to stop coming after you and to stop reporting any delinquency to the credit bureaus.
* That you get a letter of apology from the company acknowledging its error and the fact that it turned your account over to a collection agency by mistake. You may need this letter in the future if the collection agency continues to report a delinquency.
You also can insist on having your account reactivated, although it's hard to imagine why you'd want to do business with this company again.
