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How do the eff do we make them stop?

lbo — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:28:07 -0800

Why am I getting snail mail and phone calls for two people who never lived in my apartment, but who share my last name? I've lived in my current apartment for about two years now. About three months ago my husband and I decided to get a land line to use in emergencies. Since we started the service, we have received phone calls almost daily for Cory OurLastName or Sawanda OurLastName. We've also started to receive mail for them at least once or twice a week, on which we write "no such person at this address" and return to the mailbox.

When we searched their names on one of the more popular, but sketchy-seeming, online phone books, we found that they were listed as heads-of-household in a different apartment within our same complex. They are listed with our phone number and, oddly, my husband is also listed as living with them. When my husband searches his own name, he also comes up at that address living with them.

Qwest was of no help aside from telling me to get a new phone number. Our number has always been unlisted with them, so that should never have contributed to our number/address being listed online, should it? I called my apartment management company and they were able to tell me that Corey and Sawanda did, in fact, live in the complex at one point, and at that different apartment number that we found online. The manager told me she would talk to the mail carrier herself about not delivering any more mail addressed to them.

We'd really prefer not to change our phone number, though we will if necessary. But what's to really stop us from somehow being connected to them again, even with a new number? Is there some logical explanation for this that we're missing? We are weirded out that our names, address and phone number are so easy to find. We live in Utah, if that's useful.

$2400 early termination fees from Qwest!!!!

4Lnqvv — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:46:21 -0800

How should I contest the big bad phone company? More inside. I recently terminated service at my business with Qwest and was surprised to receive a $2400 ETF fee. I feel I've been slimed.

Original Qwest Centrex 21 contract signed 4/11/05 to conclude 5/31/08
Early termination prorated fees determined by months remaining in contract
8 lines =$395 monthly

Qwest choice business prime contract approved by bookkeeper on telephone 5/26/07 without approval from management
Early termination fees $300 per line
8 lines = $449 monthly less $65 credit for business prime contract

I had previously called to ask about any contracts or ETF’s and was told there were no contracts by a dsl customer service agent. Apparently she only checked for contracts on our dsl account and neglected to check our phone account.

When I called back to inquire about the fees I was told that our Centrex plan was being discontinued and they needed to change all customers over to the new plan at that time. I found on the Qwest website that previous Centrex customers would be grandfathered in until their previous contracts ended.

After checking my previous contract I saw that the original Centrex contract ended this month but the prorated ETF would be relatively low if I made the change based on the previous contract. On the next call to customer service I mentioned the grandfather clause and got no real response. It was typical dodging the issue from the agent. He said the contract was ending in 2007 anyway and that if we did not sign a new contract our monthly non contract charges would increase greatly. He did not realize the original contract did not end until this month and his argument was moot.

I asked for a copy of the new contract which we did not have on file. He said they did not have it on file either. They had this info in their computer. I asked for a tape of our bookkeepers call to determine what due diligence was done on their end to make sure they were talking with a decision maker. He said they do not record those calls. I asked how they had a contract with us without any paperwork and he said that by paying our bill we had agreed to the contract then. The phone agreement wasn’t valid anyway; it was the payment that sealed the deal. After checking more recent bills I found the small print that we had entered into a contract. There was nothing stating that paying is our agreement to the new terms.

I have researched slamming and cramming and it looks like my issue does not quite fall into either category. It looks to me like they are renewing contracts as often as possible to reduce customer churn and increase the penalties for leaving. The only thing I get when talking with Qwest agents is misdirection and/or lies. I understand this is typical of many phone service providers. I also believe my bookkeeper was influenced with discounts that didn’t really exist and told little of new contracts or termination fees. The PUC and BBB say this is probably not within their regulation and will most likely become a civil case.

What course of action or defense should I take? Are we really liable for these fees?

Verizon Sucks

jdroth — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 12:20:17 -0800

I hate big corporations. I really do. They're enormous behemoths that can't be fought. Or when you do try to fight them, it's futile; you get squashed. Help me fight a behemoth. On January 12th, I received a phone call here at work from somebody representing Verizon SuperPages asking us to advertise in their phone directory. I have little memory of the conversation (because I have several similar conversations a month), but I'm mostly certain that the call ended with me saying something like, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to advertise with you." I have no memory of agreeing to advertise with any new yellow page company; we're pleased with our current level of advertising.

In March, we received a $37.20 bill from Verizon for advertising in their Portland/Vancouver SuperPages. I phoned Customer Service (what a misnomer!) and explained that we had no record of having placed any advertising with them — would they please remove the charges? They would not and could not.

They asserted that we had, in fact, placed the order. "We have third-party verification indicating that the sales representative spoke with you, Mr. Roth, and that you provided your taxpayer identification number. This is all the confirmation we need to verify your order."

The call ended with nothing resolved. A few days later, I received a letter from Verizon re-iterating all of this information. I contacted my attorney. On his advice, I sent a certified letter to Verizon's customer service department stating that the business has "neither requested nor authorized any service from" Verizon, etc. The letter threatened legal action if Verizon continued to bill us.

Verizon continued to bill us. They billed us in April. They billed us in May. They never replied to our certified letter. Today I received a letter from Verizon's collection department. Enough is enough, so I phoned them again.

The woman in the collections department was nice enough, but she couldn't help me. Her department has nothing to do with resolving disputes, only with collecting on outstanding debts. She suggested I call customer service.

I called customer service, and though I was trying to be polite, I was, I admit, a bit confrontational. (No shouting, no cursing, just had my hackles up.) This conversation was frustrating to a degree that I cannot even convey. I went through the whole "we did not authorize this" bit, and the customer service rep went through her whole "we have third party authorization in the form of your name and your business tax identification number" bit.

"Look," I said. "My name is common knowledge, accessible from any database. And I give out our TAX ID number all the time. This is not proof of anything. I want written documentation that we authorized this, or I want an audio-recording."

"I'm sorry, sir," said Makeesha, "but this is authorization."

Repeat ad infinitum.

Eventually, Makeesha gave me the address for Verizon's legal department, though I'm certain any correspondence sent there is destined for the same old dead letter file that my former certified letter reached. (Actually, to be fair, the previous letter has been scanned into Verizon's computer system. They have the letter, they just don't care.)

My attorney verifies what I already suspected: this is verification of nothing. I'll pursue the next logical step with him, of course, but meanwhile I want advice from other people. Have you ever gone through anything like this? How do you cope with the awesome might of transnational corporations? How can the individual hope to have his voice heard when the transnat will not admit error? How can this be resolved to my satisfaction?

Yes, I could just pay for the add — $40/month is peanuts for our business — but I refuse. It's more than a matter of principle. If transnats can collect money because they say you owe it, whhere does that leave us? It's insane!

Somebody somewhere must have some useful advice on this. (And, yes, I know you are not a lawyer.)

Make them stop giving out my number

ronv — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 10:32:11 -0800

a supreme annoyance: apparently, the phone company (who knows which one) has updated someone else's residential phone # with an automated response that gives... my cell phone #. [mi] after googling and dialing "0" to no avail, i'm stuck. who do i contact and how do i fix this?

ps. he's in legal trouble; i know because the law office and the police have called multiple times, even though i've told them to take my # of their lists.