Hello all. Fairly recent member of the boards, although I have been reading them for a few months. I'd like to first thank everyone for sharing their experiences with everyone. I've gained a lot from your knowledge (credit was 581 when I started and I've gotten it up to mid 600s now). I'll try and keep this as short as possible. Please let me know if you have any questions. An inquiry was made last year with a representative at a (what I now know only to be an 'authorized dealer for) T-Mobile kiosk in a mall as to how to lower my monthly bill. As a result, my monthly charges changed and I received a lower bill. Great news right? Well, in January of this year, I receive an e-mail from T-Mobile stating I owe upwards of $400 on my cell phone bill. I found that odd as I pay my cell phone bill on time every month so I decided to give them a call. When I do that, I discover that I am being billed for two lines that do not belong to me but have apparently have been paid with the same card, therefore clearing them from being fraud (per the Fraud department over at T-Mobile). I discover later that what the representative at the T-Mobile kiosk did apparently was open up a new account for me so that I could take advantage of the better rate and transferred my lines over to the new account. How he could have done this without my approval, I do not know. He never closed the 'old' (my original) account apparently and that's where the balance was coming from. Fast forward to now >>> I've been checking my reports pretty frequently and have been enjoying all of my paid items falling off. Just last night I was able to confirm the removal of a small, paid collection from a few years ago. I came to work this morning and decided to just confirm again that it was still off my Experian report and I find a *NEW* collection being listed, much to my anger and irritation. The Collection Agency: CONVERGENT OUTSOURCING Original Creditor: T-MOBILE USA. Amount: $1,464 Date opened: 6/2012 I immediately start my plan for requesting debt verification, checking to see if they are registered to collect in my state (I live in Florida, and yes, they are). Then it hits me: This collection was not showing up as of last night 7/24/12 and is now appearing on 7/25/12. The date opened states LAST MONTH. How is it that this debt is showing up on my credit report without me ever receiving any sort of notice?? Luckily, Experian (the only report showing it as of right now) provides an address verification number which matches a creditor to the address they have on file for you. I check the number versus what's listed in my personal information section and the address they have for me is in ALABAMA! That would explain why I never received notice. -___- My question is: where do I go from here? I'm at a complete loss. Are there some violations being committed here? Am I suing? Am I requesting verification? I need this gone ASAP. I was making such progress with old accounts and now have to face this new issue. Please help! Summary: Shady business at T-Mobile. Charging me a balance for an incorrect account. Sent to collections. CA has an address for me in Alabama furthering my suspision of shady business. What in the world do I do now?
I hope one of the veteran's chime in. I'm interested in this one myself. I've had some problems with T-mobile as well.
Hi there- congrats on the recent improvement in your credit scores! Now, on to your questions. A CA isn't technically required to notify you before reporting your account to the CRAs. Also, they may have sent you some kind of notice, but obviously the address they had was incorrect. There's nothing that says they have to send notification to the correct address either. Have you sent them a DV letter yet? If not, then you should. I also tend to think that your real beef here is with T-mobile and how you were basically screwed by one of their authorized sales reps. I would keep pushing your complaint up the ladder at T-mobile to see if you can get to a supervisor who will actually help you. It's ridiculous for them to charge you for the additional lines, especially since they should be able to see that they weren't being used after you were set up with a new account. I'm sorry to hear about your situation, and I really hope you can get it worked out with T-Mobile. Keep us updated on your progress, ok?
Thanks for your reply. I spent weeks on the phone with different people at T-Mobile and all they know how to tell me is that they're not showing it as fraudulent as they were paid with the same card and they basically can't help me. I'm at my wits end here. I appreciate your response.
How high have you gone up the ladder at T-mobile? If you've just been dealing with various CSRs in the fraud department, then that's not enough. You need to get higher up, and the fraud department may not even be the right spot. I would say this sounds like more of a billing dispute regarding an account that was set up improperly for you, not necessarily a case of fraud. Have you tried sending your complaint in writing too? It's amazing how a written letter can often garner a much different response from what you get on the phone.
interested in you progress... have some additional suggestion if you haven't been able to resolve your T-Mobile account.
