joer33304 Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 Hi,AT&T changed my unlimited plan to a limited one although I disputed this. Of course they did not answer to any of my certified mails, so I canceled the contract.They send me to collection which I immediately disputed. They now say the debt is "valid" because they have the invoices. But those where before disputed with AT&T.What are my legal options ? They put the debt in the credit report. I cannot believe that this is possible for a disputed debt without an judgment.Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BV80 Posted August 24, 2012 Report Share Posted August 24, 2012 Hi,AT&T changed my unlimited plan to a limited one although I disputed this. Of course they did not answer to any of my certified mails, so I canceled the contract.They send me to collection which I immediately disputed. They now say the debt is "valid" because they have the invoices. But those where before disputed with AT&T.What are my legal options ? They put the debt in the credit report. I cannot believe that this is possible for a disputed debt without an judgment.JoeSince no one else has responded, I'll give this a shot. Did you have unpaid charges before you cancelled the contract? If you did and if those charges were legitimate, AT&T has the right to try to collect them.Also, check the terms of the contract. Did the contract state that AT&T had the option of changing your plan under certain circumstances? Did the terms allow for you to cancel the contract due to a dispute and not be held responsible for any charges? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joer33304 Posted August 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2012 Thanks for your reply, but I think I did not explain enough what I tried to get resolved.The question here is not IF I owe money to the creditor or not. The creditor says I owe, I did make my case that the charges where not valid. So two parties disagree and that's what we have courts for to decide who is right.The debt was disputed with the original creditor BEFORE they gave it to collection. I send 3 certified letters which none of them was ever answered. I had an interesting talk with the collection agency, and they basically told me that creditors usually use this tactic to just ruin your credit to force you to pay, even if the debt is not valid. So there must be a way to prevent this. Everywhere I read about "debt" validation, it's mentioned that this means to get the original invoices. But since those have disputed, for me a valid debt is a judgement.Can I somehow force them to present a judgement in 30 days, and if not than it's not validated ?Thanks for any help or links to resources on this.Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coltfan1972 Posted August 25, 2012 Report Share Posted August 25, 2012 Not trying to be rude, but what did you expect them to say, okay you're right? It's business and they are alleging you breached the contract. You're also emotionally attached and most likely can see no other way this should go other than what you say, because you're probably looking at every possible "what if" in your favor. In other words your opinion is not exactly neutral. What you say about that is what court is for is correct, in theory. AT&T has an arbitration clause. I suggest you read that clause and you will see just how easy you can make this go away. AT&T for anything less than 10K pretty much makes it impossible for a customer to lose if they will just read the clause and then use ATT's own clause against them. However, back to your original question, of course they are not just going to say okay. If they did that then nobody would have anything negative on their report. Plus they know the chance of you doing anything more than what you're doing right now is slim to none (you can obviously change that and make them regret that assumption). Google the guy that sued them in small claims and made national news. Even though ATT could force them to arbitration, they settled to make it go away. I think he won like 700 bucks off ATT plus got the bill take care of. The collection agency you spoke with is pretty much right. The truth is very, very, very few actually do more than fuss and complain online or maybe a generic form letter to a government agency. For every 10000 that post like you have, maybe one will do something about it. If you stick around the board you will easily be able to pick out who has done something about it. However, the sad truth is most just like to get a good day or two of really ticked off blowing off of steam and then just bend over and take it. So the choice is actually yours. If you fight them you will win, but will you fight them is really the only question. On a side note I know a little about this type of contract/service your talking about, and unless you had unlimited from the very beginning of the service they gave tons of notice about switching the plans and ATT sends out text and email alerts when you reach certain thresholds. However, with all that said, you can still beat them if you fight them, even if they are right (which is a toss up right now and far from cut and dry either way, like your alleging). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joer33304 Posted August 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2012 Thanks for the very helpful post. You could have left out your first paragraph. Nothing in my previous post stated that I am either emotionally attached nor that I think they have no right to make their case. I just stated that two parties disagree and that a court (or Arbitrator as I learned now) should decide. Now to your valuable advises. I read the arbitration agreement, I I have the choice to either ask for this or go to small claims (which I did before in other cases so I am not new to this).Question is what is the better tactic for a quick success ?Why would you say it is impossible to loose anything less than 10k for them ? How can I use this clause against them as you mentioned ? As of the rules I would first have to send a notice to their legal department, do they usually settle or drop the case because they now know costs will be involved ?If I go to small claims, I get a first court day in 30 days which is also an arbitration. I am pretty sure it would settle at this first date, so I am wondering what is the better and faster approach.Thanks for any further help on this. And YES I know the UNFORTUNATELY 99.999 % of consumers never really fight the big corporations, that's why they the get away with this. I am thinking since a while to create a web page with exact information and help for people to fight those corporations. The concentration of power is the biggest threat to democracy and this country ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest usctrojanalum Posted August 25, 2012 Report Share Posted August 25, 2012 Why would you say it is impossible to loose anything less than 10k for them ?Theoretically it's not impossible. Just ATT would have to do a cost-benefit analysis and decide whether to pursue the matter or not. It's probably not as high as 10k either, what the exact number is no one can tell you. How can I use this clause against them as you mentioned ?The theory behind the strategy is that arbitration is expensive, and that over disputes that are smaller dollar amounts it is not cost effective to proceed on those.If I go to small claims, I get a first court day in 30 days which is also an arbitration. I am pretty sure it would settle at this first date, so I am wondering what is the better and faster approach.You would probably get a resolution faster in small claims, but private arb is more expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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