******WARNING THIS IS A RANT AND MAY CONTAIN SWEAR WORDS**********
Words cannot even describe the anger and frustration I am feeling right now. I take that back there is a word, PISSED OFF! I don’t use that word lightly when I am writing, but that is the only thing I can come up with.
Let me tell you a little story to help you understand why I am seeing red right now!
About 3 years ago, almost right after my family moved to Indiana for a job, my husband was laid off. I had just had knee surgery, with $3000 worth of co-pays. We had some credit card debt, cell phone bills, and other bills that we could no longer pay. In attempts to survive, several bills went unpaid because at that point we were just hoping to have a roof over our heads.
I didn’t have a job at the time, because we had recently decided I would come back home to be with the kids. There we sat with absolutely NO income! It took weeks for unemployment to kick in, and it was from the mere kindness of friends and family that we survived those first few months. Our credit took a horrible hit over the 12 months that my husband was unemployed.
Fast forward a year later. My husband was able to get a job, and we started assessing the damage. We called EVERY SINGLE CREDITOR that we owed money to and started making payments. I won’t lie we did contemplate bankruptcy, but being the stubborn woman I am I didn’t want to go that route. If it took me $5 bucks a month to each bill we were going to pay it all back.
EVERY payment arrangement we made that year we have kept! Slowly but surely we have been able to pay off medical bills, credit cards, and other bad debts. That is why today I was so extremely ticked when I found out some aggravating news.
I had a cell phone bill with Verizon Wireless that went bad during this time. My bill was over $1000 ($700 of that was from disconnect line fees), and off it went to collections. I made arrangements with the collections agency to pay this bill, and they have been drafting the agreed upon payment STRAIGHT FROM MY CHECKING ACCOUNT for over 2 years!!!!!!! When my payment didn’t come out this month, I found it a little odd and decided to give the collections agency a call.
My jaw hit the floor and my blood pressure began to rise when the collector told me that Verizon Wireless had recalled the debt, EVEN THOUGH I PAID ON TIME AND PAID OVER 85% of the balance, and that I needed to call Verizon.
Off I set to call Verizon ready to do battle, when the news got worse. Not only had Verizon Wireless recalled my debt, they sent it to ANOTHER collection agency that charged me MORE COLLECTION FEES!!!! That is total and utter bull shit! Like I told the operator, I could have very easily have filed bankruptcy on the debt and just walked away. They wouldn’t have gotten a penny, but I didn’t! My husband and I have stuck it out and plugged away at the balance.
I know these companies are in the line of making money, but where exactly do they get off. When exactly does paying your payment arrangements on time mean it’s STILL NOT GOOD ENOUGH. It is no wonder that millions of American file bankruptcy every year. We couldn’t help that my husband lost his job, but we still took responsibility for our obligations when we were able. Yet we are still getting punished by corporations like VERIZON WIRELESS.
Even though the vultures wanted more money, I am happy to say that the story does have a happy ending. The agent I spoke with, Ashley, was actually extremely helpful. When I told her what had happened, and the fact that I could pay the remaining $100 TODAY she was happy to help me. She’s even sending me a paid in full letter.
The best part is that the collection agencies lost over $300 in collection fees! All I had to do was pay the balance owed to Verizon. Take that vultures!
A giant shame, shame to large corporations like VERIZON WIRELESS that squash the little guy and decide that even when you are paying your collections on time that is not good enough.
Have you ever had this happen to you? How would this make you feel? Leave comments so the corporations can see how people feel about their collections practices.
About Ashley Sears
This is why I don’t do contract phones. I don’t care if I don’t get the extra gadgets , I don’t need the extra bill I may or may not be able to continue paying. It’s Net10 for me
I don’t mind contract phones, things in life happen and I get that. Just don’t understand why big corporations are not seeing they are getting paid.
I’m glad they didn’t get that $300!!
This is unfortunately a very common situation. I used to be in collections (don’t shoot me!), and it was horrible.
We were paid to talk them into a $19 payment, knowing they were going to get hit with $100 in interest and a $39 late fee anyway. But we still got our commission if they made that minimum payment, and they thought they were making some headway.
I eventually had to quit that job after I was on the phone with a 98 year old great-grandma on oxygen. My boss was behind me, yelling at me telling me to yell at HER to get a payment. I couldn’t do it. I told her not to pay anything and I told her it’d charge off (meaning it’d be on her credit but who the hell cares when you’re 98?) after 180 days. Then I walked out.
Sorry for the side rant. I hate collections. They are SHADY as hell and no matter WHAT you pay you’re getting screwed. I have KIA coming after me for a car that got repo’d. The total price when I purchased it was $8,000. I paid over $3,000 on it. They are trying to collect $12,000. HOW the hell does that work exactly?
OH I forgot to mention.. as a collector they even had us call neighbors, family, friends, employers, acquaintances from high school!! And bug them to get the newest phone numbers for the people we were calling for. It was nuts. I don’t know how they get away with it!!
I have had that happen too! My next door neighbor in my old house walked over with a phone in his hand and said he was told to hand Wayne the phone. I am not sure how that is legal because indirectly they are disclosing you have a debt. It’s just fricking ridiculous. Good for you for standing up to your boss. It’s a hard thing to do, and I understand that collections is a job so I won’t hold it against ya
Oh my goodness that’s horrid. What horrible service. I really hope you get your story out there and they settle this for you. I’m so sorry. Ugh!
Thanks so much I hope these types of practices stop.
Good for you! I used to work for a bankruptcy attorney. I’ve also lost a job and tried not to file bankruptcy while racked up with debts. Companies tried to intimidate me then and use me as a conduit to intimidate others not. I refuse to play those games. Glad you got a better, happier outcome with this.
Glad you made it out ok. It is hard being on either side I am sure.
People need to learn to fight back. Whether Verizon broke a FTC law I do not know but most companies are not above doing so and if no one ever files complaints with the FTC, Attorney General and BBB they will continue to use unlawful collection practices. THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT was enacted to protect consumers and specifically lays out what debt collectors can and can not do. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf