Complaint

0
christy
Country: United States
I was shocked to see this website...I just got a bill from a debt collector that claims I owe Verizon 727.81 from a landline telephone I allegedly had back in 1995.  When I was in high school.  And lived with my parents.  At a different address than where this random phone line was connected.

What is going on?

Comments

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  • 0
    TAIWO ADEYANJU
    i used verizon wireless for a month and they gave me bills of $1500, i do i go out of this debt
  • 0
    Joey
    I had two accounts with Verizon Wireless. One was for my girlfriend at the time. After we split up, she quit paying the bill. No big deal. I would have payed it off had I known, but they never contacted me. They had my current address and phone number listed on my other account but never contacted me by letter or phone. I have never missed or skipped a payment on anything in my life. I wasn't aware of the issue until I received a collections notice. The collections agency conveniently knew how to contact me. I paid the bill, but they ruined my credit and have refused to remove the deragatory information for five years now.
  • 0
    Sharon
    We cancelled our Verizon Fios account on January 7th of this year after they kept hiking rates and refusing to negotiate anything lower with us.  Since then we have been trapped in the bizarre world of Verizon customer service.  Basically, the person who cancelled our account only cancelled the phone service.  Even though we had a "bundle" with internet, tv and landline on the same account and Verizon always sent us only one bill, they are now telling us we had two accounts since the landline has to be kept separate from the others "because lots of people don't order the landline service."  Does this make any sense?  At any rate, when we kept getting bills I called again at the end of January and talked to someone who told me what the original rep had done.  He said he would cancel ALL services retroactively.  Since then we have gotten a credit statement for $83.40 on one account and a balance due of $83.40 on the "other" account.  I have called and called and called, and no one seems to be able to make the credit balance out the bill!  Two days ago we received notification in the mail that Verizon sent us to collections for $83.40.  When I called them, they still say they can see the $83.40 credit on the other account, but somehow can't put the two accounts together!  One rep told me to pay the bill and then wait four to six weeks and they would send me a refund check.  This is ridiculous.  I have filed complaints with the FTC and the BBB and am sending a letter today to the collections agency disputing the dept.  I don't owe Verizon anything.  This shady company needs to be shut down!
  • 0
    Bob
    Had Verizon as a provider to my house for phone/internet. I moved. I transferred service. I was told that I could get the same service I had at my new residence. I did not. The service was terrible at best. I called almost daily for months to get this fixed, meanwhile I had no service 80% of the time. They insisted it was working, and that any more calls would cost me $$ for service calls. I told them to come one more time to check it, or I was ending service. They came. They did not find anything wrong from my end or my house, but was told that I was "So far" out of town it would not work. I reminded them that I was told I would have the same service for the same price in my new home. Verizon agreed that I did not owe them for those months, because they "could not provide the services promised". Being a little naive about such situations, I took their word for it. I did not get a name or confirmation number, and I terminated the service.
    Flash forward 4 years. I have my house paid off already. I want to do some improvements so I apply for a loan. Verizon has on my credit report that I owe them $250.00. That it is in collection with a company called Midland Funding.  1-800-825-8131.  I talk to a guy named Larry Calven (like that is his real name). Midland Funding has no record that I owe money to anyone. But, hey lets clear this up.. send us in the money, and we will get you out of our system. They cannot find me in the system, cannot tell me what they think I owe, tell me why I owe, who I owe it to, or, how long I have owed it. But get this... I can send the money in and it will get me "out of the system" I tell them absolutely not, but I get this repeated two more times.  SHAM SHAM SHAM SHAM SHAM.
    I try to deal with this through Verizon. They cannot understand anything that is not ABC simple, so of course I have spent hours and hours over this week with them. No, I cant help you. No I cant get my boss to help you.  Ok here is my boss. Sorry sir this is not where you want to be. let me transfer you to billing.  Let me start over more than a dozen time. EVERY PERSON I TALKED TO AT VERIZON LIED TO ME. THEY LIED ABOUT HOW THEY COULD HELP ME, THEY LIED ABOUT WHAT POSITION THEY HELD AT VERIZON, THEY LIED WHEN THEY TOLD ME THERE WAS NO PROBLEM AND MY PROBLEM WAS SOLVED, THEY LIED THAT ABSOLUTELY THIS WAS THE LAST TRANSFER I WILL DEAL WITH, THEY LIED WHEN THEY TOLD ME THEY WOULD CONNECT ME TO SUPERVISORS.
    I was given the run around on purpose. I find this to be an absolutely unacceptable business practice and I find it to be bordering on, if not actual, criminal behavior.
    This error by Verizon is going to cost me a $15,000 Home Equity Loan  loan that the bank was going to give me at 4.3% interest, to be a loan I will have to get elsewhere, probably as a personal loan at some outrageous interest rate somewhere in the  12 or 13 percent range. Totally ignorant behavior by a company.  No excuses, no reason for it except for their incompetence, or greed. Either which is unacceptable.
    !
  • 0
    martha  mitchell
    | 1 reply
    harsement from debt collector/palisades collection.that i owe
    verizon a debt for $177.49.  i have a copy from collectech systems  that   it was paid in full.1/10/06.check #1628 for
    $144.28.174897673 placement id. client ref #8136556598030123/174897673. this as been paid in full for ^ years. this is terrible debt debtor.palisades/ andrew/has harrassed me for over a year for  this verizon paid account. there should be  law for this. that stops phone calls  twice a day.and threat notices every month.
    • 0
      tj replies to martha  mitchell
      Abusive and harassing collection is often an indication that the debt collector knows the account is bogus, and they are using the harassment to divert you from disputing it, to evade verification that would reveal it is not owed.  They are basically tactics employed as part of deceptive fraudulent collection.

      If they are demanding payment of an already paid account, they may be illegally engaging in deceptive collection, in violation of FDCPA.  You may be able to sue them, and this bogus "$177 debt" could cost them much more.

      Run this by an attorney.  You can find a consumer attorney in your state through www.naca.net
  • 0
    shellsangel
    Wow!  I am not alone in my battle against Verizon I see.  I was getting fed up with all the run around.  I even had a person at corporate flat out lie to the BBB in order to get rid of me!  My credit is going down the toilet over $330 that I never owed them, and they refuse to fix any of it!  I can't even begin to tell the whole story, but it makes me feel better to see I'm not the only one they are screwing over.
  • 0
    Anonym
    | 1 reply
    I cancelled my service with verizon when I moved to another state.  I received and paid my final bill before moving- in fact I had to in order for the people moving into my house to get Verizon service.  Several months later I happened to check my credit and found a chargeoff fromrm verizon.  I could not figure this out.  I then started to receive calls Arom AFNI stating that I owe this money and have no recourse but to pay without seeing a bill.  They state that Verizon had sent two notices to my old address.  Really ??  They have my new address and phone number because I still have verizon wireless! I do not believe that I owe this money.  I am glad to have found this site because now I have some idea about how to approach this.  Without all of you I would think I was going crazy.  If you have any further advice I would appreciate reading it.
    • 0
      hate-verizon replies to Anonym
      did you get to fix it? the same thing happened to me and i have no idea how to solve this.
  • 0
    johan
    I sent in my old phone for replacement on a contract renewal. They lost it and sent me a bill for $650.00. I of course I don't have the tracking number it was 3 months ago. I did what I was to do. But now I have to pay for their mistake.
  • 0
    BadGirl
    Contact the CEO of Verizon, Lowell C. McAdam @ 212-395-1000, or Verizon Executive Customer Service @ 212-321-8700. The fax number is 212-571-1897 or 212-719-3349.

    Our business had issues with Verizon and after dealing with other departments, I went on line and found how to contact the CEO through The Consumerist: http://consumerist.com/2008/03/call-the-ceo-of-verizon.html

    Good Luck
  • 0
    verizon
    i had verizon for a while and it got a little high so my bill when over and my phone was cut off now i got a bill from the collation and i own a some but i still want to keep them as a phone services. so what should i do
  • 0
    Anonymous
    | 1 reply
    800-922-0204 reaches any call center anywhere chandler aZ, Tucson, Bloomington il, Youngstown Ohio,  knows who you will get and they lie to you because they are told to pass their surveys and if they don't they are fired. The people behind the phones are human who need jobs
    • 0
      tj replies to Anonymous
      At what cost to your soul?
  • 0
    Jv
    At least im not the only one I'm so confused I checked my credit report and I saw in may verizon wireless was added onto with a debt collector I started to pay on it. Than eventually paid it off in a lump sum than I started to get phone calls from another debt collector so i figured okay let me call them find out for what? So I did come to find out they are telling me its verizon also and i owe $876 meanwhile I just paid a bill $458. I tell them I am already dealing with another agency for verizon and its paid off so they tell me that its not possible to have to have two different amounts unless i have 2 verizon accounts and I do not I tell them I have already paid the other agency he tells me well the debt has been sold you need to pay us now. So I ask so my money to the other debt collector is just gone? He says that isn't my problem you can pay $3** now to close the debt I was so frustrated I hung up on him before I lost my temper. I Called the other agency and they told me that I was getting a paper in the mail stating that it is paid in full and account closed. My question is now what do I do? How do i get the other agency to stop calling and harassing me and off my credit report?
  • 0
    Jim
    | 1 reply
    I used to work for AFNI on the Debt Purchase team and dealt with these accounts every day. I would collect between 30k and 45k for this company every month while only making about 3k per month in salary. AFNI purchases old debt from phone companies for pennies on the dollar. They almost literally spend nothing for millions of these old accounts. These debts are ancient old and the best thing you can do is tell AFNI that you would like to put this "debt" in dispute and that it is fraud. Make sure you tell them it is fraud. They will probably still attempt to drop the price or even tell you phone numbers dialed or even tell you who you were calling by a reverse number lookup. There were times I could find out they were calling their parents or sister or their own cellphone. Continue to tell them you would like to dispute this as fraud, follow their directions and more than likely they will close the account within a few days. Do not tell them that this was your account. Really, all they want is quick easy money and they definitely get a lot of that.
    • 0
      tj replies to Jim
      Your account of their junk telecom debt operation matches other insider accounts, and is consistent with consumer complants.

      They have a history of sloppy compliance with validation, including numerous consumer reports of deceptive employee talk-offs suggesting training in such tactcs.  See their long complaint history on ripoffreport.com

      They got caught engaging in deceptive collection several years ago, sending deceptive reply letters in response to disputes, and got sued in a 3 state federal class action lawsuit, which they lost.  Also had a run-in with the Minnesota AG, attempting to collect old Verizon and Qwest accounts from people who didn't owe them without validating, reached a settlement, then got caught again. Their recent complaint rate has dropped drastically since about 2010, so it appears they are now a bit more careful, maybe even "gun shy".  

      If they continue to harass you over unowed debt, file FTC complaints along with complaints with your state AG and the Illinois AG.  It appears that they may also have tacit expedited complaint resolution with a number of other state AGs, possibly NY and FL, based on consumers' reports of responses to AG complaints.  Forget IL BBB, as it appears they have been paid off to keep their image clean.

      If you have further problems, get an attorney to see if you can sue them for FDCPA violations.  That's probably the fastest way to fix credit damage caused by erroneous credit reporting.  You can find a consumer attorney in your state through www.naca.net
  • 0
    Chrissy
    I paid off a Verizon debt to Solomon and Solomon P. C. (S&S) in monthly payments that took a year; debt paid off 9/2013. Unbeknownst to me and within that same year, Verizon recalled the debt. S&S never informed me, not surprised. Also, within that same year I received letters from 5 other debt collectors for the same debt (IC System, Inc, CBCS, Enhanced Recovery Co, Afni, and CBE Group).  Just this past week, I received a letter from Verizon about my account needing immediate action. I called Verizon and talked with Sammy, who told me that I needed to call Solomon and Solomon to update have S&S the account and transfer the money I paid to Verizon. So, I called Solomon and Solomon and talked with Kayla who told me the account had been recalled by the client (aka Verizon), that I had paid off the balance and that they would not provide me with a letter proving that I paid them (S&S) the balance because the account had been recalled. She even talked with her supervisor to make sure she was giving me the correct information. Kayla told me that Verizon calls often to verify accounts, and that I needed to call Verizon back and tell them to call S&S. So, I called Verizon back, and Sammy answered. I explained the situation to him with the new information. He refused to look into this situation and only wanted to argue with me about why the account was recalled. This went back and forth for a couple of minutes, then I requested to speak to his supervisor. Sammy transferred me to the Fraud Department, where after 5 minutes a Mr. Herring picked up and told me I wanted the Financial Department. I am sharing this story because I would like some advise as to what to do next.
  • 0
    kate
    watch out and report Solomon and Solomon and Julie Solomon to your local bar and file a complaint with the Barr in writing
  • 0
    Amazed
    Oh well this would be FUNNY if it would stop with this "creature".. I disupted the bill and got it off credit report.
    I lived in NY and moved out of state 3 years ago... unknown to me last year ny pennyless ex roomate got Verizon landline using my information. I ONLY found out because this "creature" has a habit of these crimes and i reforwarded my mail after 2 years to new address (because this person was signing my name to other crimes) and lo and behold WAS a collection letter from UBC for 112 and seperate bills from Verizon for 200 for a phone in NY address.. and bill had NEVER been paid since phone was put in my name in Nov 2013.... i quickly pulled my credit and THERE it was Verizon "dinged my credit" and there was where they pulled my credit in Nov 2013 - remember I already Had moved out of state a Year before..well Verizon was KIND enough to change the address on bill (again without my knowledge for this unknown phone) to IN for a landline phone in NY where bill had Never had even ONE payment on it ... fortunately - I disuputed it and it got removed from credit report... BUT Verizon was Kind to the criminal and left the phone on more than 3 months after I told them and they said phone was OFF.. I called and the Criminal STILL answered the phone... Well I did get a police report - I called Verizon - guess WHAT ??? there NEVER was a Phone at that address! EVER - under my name, ssn, even with the address or account number and I AM HOLDING the collection letter and VERIZONS bill in my "hot hands"... and they say the PHONE NEVER existed, NEVER, and never was on.. in ANYONE's name and they don't know a thing about any bill going to Indiana for a NY number!
    OK Verizon the "thief" thanks YOU for a free year of phone bill - because I do not have to pay... but Everyone does! a Banner strikes again Tully Trash!

    chestermeeker@gmail.com
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