My father is having a problem with CBCS (debt collectors) and Verizon and could use advice. To make a long story short, some stupid, crazy woman he knows ordered Verizon services (not sure what services) and gave them my father's contact info so they could bill him. I'm not sure she knows my father's address, so I don't know what info she gave Verizon, other than his phone number. The only bill he received was something from CBCS over a month ago. So CBCS started calling and wanting my father to pay for these Verizon services. My father spoke with someone from CBCS and supposedly straightened everything out. They even asked if he wanted to press charges against this woman because apparently what she did is illegal. My father decided not to press charges. A few weeks later CBCS started calling again and Verizon even called wanting my father to pay. Is there anyway to get them to leave my father alone without getting the police involved? I don't know how CBCS and Verizon can even be demanding money from my father. If this woman ordered home services like internet, then they should be billing her at her house where she's getting the services. Maybe she's just getting cell phone service, I don't know. This is disturbing because it reminds me of identity theft, not that it's the same thing. Is there anything my father can do?
Get Verizon on the line again and make sure these charges are reported as fraudulent. Get some documentation in writing too, which will come in handy down the road if you run into more problems. Don't just take some CSR's word that everything is "fixed". Also, demand that they pull the account back from collections so your father doesn't have to deal with the CA any longer and then keep following up with Verizon to make sure that all charges are removed from your father's name. You have to be really persistent with many of these large companies as they use multiple systems and things can often pop up again just when you think you've finally got it all taken care of. Has any of this showed up on his credit reports yet as a collection?
I don't know, we haven't checked. Is this something we should do? What would be the best way to check? My understanding is that we could go to certain websites, but we would have to put in my father's SSN. I think he's a little hesitant to submit his SSN over the internet. The only computer we have access to had a rootkit on it in the past, so I don't know how safe and "clean" it is.
Yea, if this is showing up on his credit reports as a collection then you'll want to make sure that's corrected as well. Annualcreditreport.com is the only official website where you can access each of your credit reports for free every year. And if you don't feel comfortable requesting them online, you can order via phone or mail too. Check out this link for more information: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/order?phone
