Collections Agency - I Was Never Called
Actinguy1
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey all! I had a verizon cell phone for a couple years, consistently paying approximately 45 dollars a month. I never went over my minutes, texts, etc. In December 2009, my bill was suddenly way over 100 dollars. Apparently, I had gone wildly over my minutes while talking to my girlfriend and sister, both of whom had AT&T. I figured if I was calling AT&T numbers, I might as well switch over. The fact that AT&T had roll over minutes while verizon didn't also meant that it was very unlikely that I would over encounter this situation again, which was another plus. I switched to AT&T that month (December), keeping my phone number.
In January, I moved. I was in the military, and most of my mail went to my parent's house rather than my own at the time, so I didn't bother leaving a forwarding address. I simply called each of the companies and people who DID mail things to me there (including AT&T) and gave them my new address.
It's now June 2010...pushing into July...and I just got a call from a bill collector, telling me that I owe them 250 dollars for an unpaid Verizon bill. They say that doesn't include any collection fees. I asked them what the bill is for, and they said "this phone number." I again asked what the specific charges were for, and they said they don't have that information. I asked for their phone number to call them back, and they asked why I needed it. I said I was going to call Verizon to find out what the 250 is for, and they said Verizon won't have the info because the account was turned over to them.
I said I can't pay anything until I see a bill. She said she'd mail something to me (after I gave her the new address), but it was pretty clear that it wasn't going to be a detailed run-down. She then offered to let me set up payments, but I reiterated that I can't pay anything until I see an actual bill. She then informed me that Verizon had made "every attempt" to collect the money from me. I pointed out that they never CALLED me, and since my phone number is the same phone number that the bill is for, they certainly had it on record. At this point, she stopped talking to me, so I hung up.
So...thoughts on how to handle this? It's ER Solutions, which has a few bajillion complaints on Google...but of course, odds are, the people who are complaining are the sort of people who don't pay their bills, so not sure how to proceed here.
tl;dr: Collections agency wants 250 dollars for Verizon bill. Never received a call about the bill from Verizon, and don't know for sure that it exists.
In January, I moved. I was in the military, and most of my mail went to my parent's house rather than my own at the time, so I didn't bother leaving a forwarding address. I simply called each of the companies and people who DID mail things to me there (including AT&T) and gave them my new address.
It's now June 2010...pushing into July...and I just got a call from a bill collector, telling me that I owe them 250 dollars for an unpaid Verizon bill. They say that doesn't include any collection fees. I asked them what the bill is for, and they said "this phone number." I again asked what the specific charges were for, and they said they don't have that information. I asked for their phone number to call them back, and they asked why I needed it. I said I was going to call Verizon to find out what the 250 is for, and they said Verizon won't have the info because the account was turned over to them.
I said I can't pay anything until I see a bill. She said she'd mail something to me (after I gave her the new address), but it was pretty clear that it wasn't going to be a detailed run-down. She then offered to let me set up payments, but I reiterated that I can't pay anything until I see an actual bill. She then informed me that Verizon had made "every attempt" to collect the money from me. I pointed out that they never CALLED me, and since my phone number is the same phone number that the bill is for, they certainly had it on record. At this point, she stopped talking to me, so I hung up.
So...thoughts on how to handle this? It's ER Solutions, which has a few bajillion complaints on Google...but of course, odds are, the people who are complaining are the sort of people who don't pay their bills, so not sure how to proceed here.
tl;dr: Collections agency wants 250 dollars for Verizon bill. Never received a call about the bill from Verizon, and don't know for sure that it exists.
Actinguy1 on
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The bill is legitimate, for the entire amount the collection agency said. They sent a letter in April to the old address, but I was long gone. They never bothered trying to call because they just assumed the number was disconnected rather than switched to AT&T (which I assume their records should have shown).
I have no problem paying a legitimate bill...but I'm really pissed that this is now going to collections when they could have simply called me at the number they were billing me for, and I could have cleared it up immediately.
Is there anything I can do to avoid "went to collections" on my credit report, given that Verizon freely admits I was never called?
Thanks!
Be aware, though, that you don't actually have any high ground to argue from. It is your responsibility to handle address changes and mail forwarding, especially with debtors.
I used to work at a video store and we were always sending people for late fees/unreturned items. Usually when they called us we would tell the tough cookies, but if they were nice, and the circumstance warranted (death in the family/long term customer/deployed in the military) we would call the the collection agency and said it was sent in error as long as the person paid their bill.
Collections on the other hand can track down the number of your second cousin, call her up, and tell her you're going to jail if you don't call them back immediately to pay them money. They're just awesome like that.
Also, you need to verify if Verizon collections has your bill, or a third party collection agency that they've sold the debt to. If the latter, then you absolutely do not offer to pay verizon, because the collection agency will still be on you for the money and there will be no chance of getting it lifted off your credit report.
If they've sold the debt, you're kind of boned. You need to pay them, and hope they'll take it off your credit report if asked nicely. If it's still under verizon, you need to double check your contract and see if you were responsible for early termination fees. If you were out of contract when you switched, then it could just be a billing error that can be reversed.
Get some more details before you pay anyone. Just my .02
If the debt has already been sold to a third party agency then it's no longer Verizon's. They don't care. They've been paid off and are out of the loop at this point. OP: You need to find out if the company calling you is verizon or someone else.
First, I'd make sure that Verizon didn't screw up if you were out of contract. If you weren't, and you do owe them, then that sucks, but call ER solutions and pay them. You can settle for pennies on the dollar if you want just so you don't have to pay the entire $250, but if you do there's no chance they'll pull it from your credit report.
I'm in no way doubting you here or anything, but if Verizon sold that debt they were already paid. I don't see them being very eager to refund the collection agencies money, take the OP's, and go through the legal cost of filing papers to the credit bureaus.
I guess it's possible, but the OP is going to have to call pretty far up the ladder for this to happen.
This is somewhat incorrect. Verizon has to be the company that sends the letter to get the "sent to collections" taken off your record since they reported it. They don't get the money or anything, though. One reason they might do this is because they think they might get further business from you if they make you happy.
I don't believe I've ever heard of a company "unselling" debt, though.
basically, it's on them to prove you owe that debt. The fact that the guy said "i dunno" when you asked what it was for should be a red flag. it might be legit, but it's your right to request they prove it.
I think you're entirely right. It's going to require determination and a lot of hassling. It's a cost-benefit of whether the impact on his credit rating justifies the effort. It may be entirely futile. One way to run the cost-benefit analysis is to see what OP's current credit score is. If you're OK with where it's at, then just pay the bill. However, no need to pay full freight. I'd try to negotiate with them. Offer them $50 and see if you can get them to agree to $125.