Hey everyone,
I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I work for a very small business (3 employees). For the past 5 years we used Verizon for DSL internet & phone service. We never were late with a payment, and never really had any problems with them.
At the end of last year, we almost closed because of the economy and lack of business. We were able to find a smaller store with a much smaller rent, so we were able to stay open. We also switched to Cablevision (Optimum Online) because they offered us a better rate.
I called and cancelled our Verizon account, and everything seemed fine. Then they sent us a $300 bill ($280-$290ish). I called and after an hour of being bounced around they had no answers as what it was for. They even were like "Well, you're not even a customer of ours anymore, so there's no reason for us to help you."
Finally someone said it was an early termination fee, because our original contract said we had to be a customer for 1 year to get the rate we were getting. When I pointed out we were a customer for 5 years, they just said "Well, I don't know what to tell you".
After talking to several reps and a manager, they told me that they removed the charge (that they couldn't even explain what it was for) and our balance was $0.00. A few days later we got the Final Bill in the mail that showed the $0.00 balance.
This past Wednesday, about 2 months after we received our $0.00 final bill, we got a notice from a collections agency saying that Verizon submitted us to them for not paying a $300 bill.
My boss is pretty upset, and since "I am the IT guy" (the only person that can run the computer) it falls on me to fix this problem. I'm upset too, because it is just a total screwjob by Verizon. $300 is a lot for us to pay at this time, especially when it's something we don't rightfully owe.
So I am looking for advice from anyone. I figure it's pointless to try to call the collections agency, since even if I fax them a copy of our $0.00 bill they won't care because they just want the $300 so they can get their cut of it. And if I try and call Verizon again, it's going to be another few hours of being bounced around and "You're not even our customer anymore so there's no reason for us to help you" like they told me before.
The only thing I was thinking was of getting Verizon on the phone, and if they aren't helpful just mentioning that I don't know what to do at this point except contact media outlets like The Consumerist.com and local news to show them how Verizon operates.
Anyone have a similar experience with Verizon, or can offer suggestions on how to handle this?
Thanks.
I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I work for a very small business (3 employees). For the past 5 years we used Verizon for DSL internet & phone service. We never were late with a payment, and never really had any problems with them.
At the end of last year, we almost closed because of the economy and lack of business. We were able to find a smaller store with a much smaller rent, so we were able to stay open. We also switched to Cablevision (Optimum Online) because they offered us a better rate.
I called and cancelled our Verizon account, and everything seemed fine. Then they sent us a $300 bill ($280-$290ish). I called and after an hour of being bounced around they had no answers as what it was for. They even were like "Well, you're not even a customer of ours anymore, so there's no reason for us to help you."
Finally someone said it was an early termination fee, because our original contract said we had to be a customer for 1 year to get the rate we were getting. When I pointed out we were a customer for 5 years, they just said "Well, I don't know what to tell you".
After talking to several reps and a manager, they told me that they removed the charge (that they couldn't even explain what it was for) and our balance was $0.00. A few days later we got the Final Bill in the mail that showed the $0.00 balance.
This past Wednesday, about 2 months after we received our $0.00 final bill, we got a notice from a collections agency saying that Verizon submitted us to them for not paying a $300 bill.
My boss is pretty upset, and since "I am the IT guy" (the only person that can run the computer) it falls on me to fix this problem. I'm upset too, because it is just a total screwjob by Verizon. $300 is a lot for us to pay at this time, especially when it's something we don't rightfully owe.
So I am looking for advice from anyone. I figure it's pointless to try to call the collections agency, since even if I fax them a copy of our $0.00 bill they won't care because they just want the $300 so they can get their cut of it. And if I try and call Verizon again, it's going to be another few hours of being bounced around and "You're not even our customer anymore so there's no reason for us to help you" like they told me before.
The only thing I was thinking was of getting Verizon on the phone, and if they aren't helpful just mentioning that I don't know what to do at this point except contact media outlets like The Consumerist.com and local news to show them how Verizon operates.
Anyone have a similar experience with Verizon, or can offer suggestions on how to handle this?
Thanks.