Hello everyone. I have a bit of a dilemma. About a year and a half ago I ordered a cell phone and service from Verizon Wireless through their website. When two weeks later I still did not have the phone I cancelled the order and went into a Verizon store to make the purchase. Well I started recieving two bills, one for the current account and one for the account that I cancelled and for which I never even recieved a phone. After several long phone calls to Verizon I thought the issue had been taken care of but after pulling my credit I see that they are listing it as an "Open" account type but the current status is "CHARGE-OFF"!! What does everyone think my best course of action would be? It is the only charge off on my record and I am certain that it is probably hurting my scores more than anything else, and all for the price of a measely amount of a single months service. Ugh!!!
Just my $.02 from the cheap seats. 1) start with Verizon and see where the account is. 1a) If it has gone to collections, there's probably not much that you can do because Verizon will say it's closed and not theirs any more. If this is the case, you'll need to work with the Collection Agency. 1b) If it is still under Verizon's control, then see if politely explaining the situation will get you anywhere. If you have any hope of dealing with them favorably, don't throw that out the window be starting off yelling and screaming (even if only figuratively). 2) Where you go from there just depends.
Get your complaint into writing, not just on the phone. You cannot trust anyone to properly handle a problem by phone, especially when they just send their problems to collection anyway, and wipe out their phone logs in a few months. Send it, CRRR, to Verizon executive offices. Send a complaint to BBB, and also contact your local DA's consumer protection unit, since you dealt with a local store. Keep copies of everything, since they will probably claim they have no records of anything.
I just wanted to let everyone know that I called Verizon Wireless and calmly explained the situation to them. They checked the records on the old account and saw that it had never been used, so they zeroed out the balance and requested that the trade line be deleted from all of the credit bureaus. They also sent me a letter stating exactly that which I have recieved. Needless to say I am very pleased. I think it helped that I did have documentation of when I called them originally (over a year ago). It'll be interesting to see how many points my score will jump because of this.
You better keep that letter for at least the next 7 years, along with copies of your statements and credit reports showing the correction. Even disputed and allegedly corrected Verizon accounts have shown a propensity for turning into "collection" accounts years later.
Dirty Harry: Just wanted to verify ontrack's warning: "You better keep that letter for at least the next 7 years, along with copies of your statements and credit reports showing the correction. Even disputed and allegedly corrected Verizon accounts have shown a propensity for turning into "collection" accounts years later." I had the same problem with an "ordered, but never put into service" Verizon account. Took me two years and many letters and telephone calls to get Verizon to stop billing me. I'm keeping all the correspondence, just in case...
Start with CMRRR to Verizon; in writing detail the entire history of the account, and that you have repeatedly told them that for some reason, either they did not ship, or you did not receive the phone that was ordered, and despite repeatedly advising them of that fact, they refused to correct the situation. Did any of the invoices for that account show usage (indicating that they shipped, someone intercepted and used the phone)?
None of the invoices showed any uses. They also checked their system archives to see if it had been used and it hadn't. It's mind boggling to me that they would even pursue an account when it obviously hadn't been used. Ugh. Thanks for the warnings everyone. I am definitely going to keep all of the records that I have, especially this letter.
It would be mind boggling if they put any effort into it, but trashing your credit, and dumping bogus accounts on a CA, doesn't take any effort. It's just the standard operating procedure, even for good, current customers, and is fully automated, besides. It takes more effort, and costs more, to NOT trash your credit. To draw a comparison, you would exercise care if you were playing around with a handgun, lest you damage something, or hurt someone, even yourself. Some companies routinely operate as if NOTHING can come back to hurt them, and it matters little what damage their actions do to others. Thus they have no reason to use ANY level of care. If you push hard enough, you might get them to correct an error, but there is little risk of having to pay you off. This is the situation that the exclusions from liability in the FCRA create. The only safe policy is to stay out of their range.
Would it be a good idea to send the CRA's a copy of this letter? If yes, should I send it CMRR? Thanks.
If the tradeline has not been removed yet (through Verizon's actions), then it is advisable to send a dispute, with a copy of the letter from Verizon. I would add into the dispute letter the name and contact info for the rep you spoke with that finally cleared this up as additional "evidence". Sometimes you have to do the CRAs job for them! Definitely send CMRRR, it is always a good idea to cover yourself with the paper trail.
