Collection Tony
Collection Tony
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A collection agency has asked me to pay for something that I didn't buy. What can I do?
It started a month ago when I answered a phone call from Afni, a collection agency, which said I had an unpaid bill ($120) with Verizon of New York for phone service in 2002. I never had this service. In the phone conversation the man asked me to verify my mother's maiden name which he had correctly. It's obvious someone had much of my personal information, including my Social Security number. I now have received a letter from Afni with the supposed bill from Verizon. I will not pay for a service I never used. This letter says nothing of legal action against me. It just wants me to pay.
Will Afni now take me to court? I welcome that move. Where will this court proceeding be held if it comes to that? In my state of New York? What other remedies can I persue since Afni did not accept my word during the phone conversation that someone stole my identity?
Thanks for any and all help.
Tony
PS: A big thanks to everyone. I believe my problem is solved.
OK. First off, disregard everything all these other people have told you except the guy who said you should keep a detailed record of every last thing that passes between you and the collection agency and Verizon. THAT is crucial.
Here's the deal. I had this exact thing happen to me in '04 – with a Verizon account that I didn’t open. The collections agency had all my info – SSN, mother’s maiden, etc… Yet this was NOT my account. ( I had actually never done business with Verizon.)
I wrote letter after letter to the collection agency, and even sent them travel vouchers and receipts to prove that I was on business 900+ miles away from where the account was opened the day the account was opened. All of this was to no avail.
After about 2 months of complete BS, harassment and lies from the collections agency, I just got pissed and called Verizon. I told them I needed to speak to their fraud investigators, about the situation and I meant RIGHT
F###^ING NOW!!!!! That approach got me a very speedy response.
The biggest problem with the whole thing was that at the time I was in negotiation on a $400,000+ piece of real estate. Since this crap was putting that at risk, I simply explained to Verizon’s fraud investigator that if they didn’t fix things in 48 hours I was going to sue them for the cost of the property, plus my time and damages.
Hhhhmmmm….. $1,000 debt, or a half a million dollar lawsuit. You do the math. (I'm sure you have just as valid a reason to provide Verizon to motivate them to an expedient resolution.)
WOULDN’T YA KNOW!!!! Within 24 hours it was resolved! Funny how that works when you go directly to the source.
It took about 2 more days for the collections agency to stop calling. About another week and it was off my credit report.
So, call Verizon’s fraud dept and tell them you want it fixed, NOW!!!!! This is not your doing; and there is no reason for you have to deal with this stress and potential damage to your financial position.
You won’t have to get snotty with the fraud investigators. They see this sorta stuff everyday. So, they know what to do. But, be firm about your position. (and give them until, say, next Monday latest.)
Also, you want to tell Verizon that they will need to:
1) make sure this is removed from your credit report, and
2) provide you written proof that it has been removed and will remain so, by sending you
a) and ammended copy of your clean credit report
b) a letter of appology and explanation absolving you of any responsibility for this debt.
Verizon fraud == (888) 374 – 7782
(as you can see, I kept detailed records…)
Make sure to have the collections case number and any other relevant information available when you call them.
So, there it is in a nutshell. You will get NOWHERE if you attempt to deal with the collections agency. (They won’t even talk to Verizon about it, because they don’t care.) Go directly to the originating company and talk to their fraud people. They WILL fix it -- because it’s more common than you think, the company can write it off as bad debt, and they don’t want the bad customer relations and potential legal action.
Hope that helps. Good luck.