Verizon "slammed" me????

[MR CJ]

I own and operate a small busness.

I get a phone call from a collector about a "yellow page ad" that I have not made payment on. I tell the lady that I have no idea what you are talking about. She says that I owe a past due bill of $118.00 and "they" re-newed my ad in the yellow pages so now they say I owe $384.00.

She said I made payments on the account in May and June....I looked back thu the check book, and sure enough, I made payments in May and June for $18.55 each to Verizon.Well, after scrathing my head for a few minutes, it hit me. Verizon is my LONG DISTANCE carrier. They are not my local carrier. They dont even have a phone book in my area. I tell the lady "why would I buy advertising in a phone book that doesnt circulate in my area." I told her that the payments that I made, I thought was my LONG DISTANCE BILL. My bill is never over 20 bucks. Of course she argued with me over this and I hung up on her.

A few days later I get the `ol "you owe me money" letter. WTF

I`m sending them a DV letter written in my own words and it wasnt nice.(if you know what I mean).

GEEEZZZ!!

[Methuss]

Don't bother.

Business debt is not covered by the FDCPA so they don't have to follow that law at all. The FDCPA only covers consumer debt arising out of normal household use.

Your only means of dealing with this is by claiming fraud on the part of Verizon. Have your business' attorney handle it. If you don't have an attorney retained for dealing with business issues, shame on you...get one.

[rella5]

My husband and I also have a small business, and I did put an ad in the yellow pages in 2001. I paid the first few bills and then started noticing that I was getting bills that looked identical (verizon logos etc) but the amounts were different and they were coming more frequently than once a month. So I call verizon and ask them what is this about. No one could figure it out after many phone calls and hours of my time. I quit paying. Told them I would not pay until they explained what was going on. ONE person somewhere in the chain speculated that perhaps I had ads in several different books. I requested an investigation into this. Never heard another word. Several people demanded that I get all my bills together and acct nos. etc. and after repeating this over and over and getting nowhere I just said screw it . I quit taking their calls and quit paying them.

Then the CAs started calling. Not knowing any better I spoke with them and tried to explain that I was not refusing to pay what I actually owed, but I need clarification etc. Again and again with subsequent CAs. I started feeling like I was in a Chevy Chase movie. Got a call in late Dec. from yet another CA and told them that the debt is beyond SOL in my state and go pound sand and never call me again.

Curiously, I have never rec'd a letter from a CA about this, just phone calls.

The amount is somewhere around $700.00 .

My acct is listed as "my name " DBA as "company name" so maybe the rules don't apply because its a business but I am not going to pay them and so far it has not showed up on the CR. If it does I will dispute.

BTW, I have spoken with oodles of people who have had similar experiences with verizon.

[myscoresawful]

I would first file a complaint with the FCC. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/policy/slamming.html

It is illegal to switch a person (residential or business) without their express written (sometimes recorded verbal permission).

CC Verizon with your complaint to the FCC so that they are aware of your intentions.

Most often, they will drop everything, even if they have a verbal by phone agreement with you, they don't want to deal with the FCC, but especially if you never switched and were slammed.

Even if you recieved advertisement or services from them, if you did not ask for them, they can not legal collect the fees.

Good luck.

[ocn2000]

Business debt or not, at some point they would have to validate the fact that you entered into sometime of agreement with them for which you owe them money. I find it hard to beleive that you would have purchased an entire ad for your business and not remembered it?? I mean that is alot more involved than accidently checking a box on a form a signing up for a service by accident. It sounds like the phone company messed up. I would continue with the DV process and see what they tell you, even if they are not bound by all the details of the FDCPA, they have got to tell you something.

[MissaFraQ]

Have you made any small deposits in the amount of a few dollars? Sometimes, they will send you a check for a few dollars and when you deposit the check (it is written there somewhere) where you agree to pay $X.xx a month for advertising, long distance switch, etc etc.

Have you seen anything like that?

[MR CJ]

I got a letter back from them saying that they considered the account closed and said they were sorry that I didnt return the "mailer" that was sent to me. They said that I needed to send back this mailer if I wanted to cancel the advertising. I never seen a bill and if they did send one, I probably didnt even open it.....I get junk mail all the time ..with offers for advertising.

HMMM, maybe I should try that.... I`ll send all the members of this web site a letter and tell them in the letter ( in the smallest print I can produce) that if you dont mail back the letter saying cancel, I`m going to send each and every one of you a bill.......... then sell the bills for pennies on the dollar to a JDB

only in America