Eastern Account Systems nightmare - HELP PLEASE

[pritchardhallhokie]

Hey everyone, this is going to be a long post, so if you have the patience, I really appreciate it!  

Yesterday, I get an alert through myfico saying that something had changed on my credit report.  I log in and see that I had an alert that a collection had been reported as paid on my CR.  Only problem is, I don't know anything about a collection that was unpaid or anything on my credit at all!  My score dropped 40 points and I found the company and phone number.  Eastern Account Systems, Inc.  I gave them a call, not sure what this was about.  I got someone named "Becky" who was the epitome of rude.  I asked her what this was for, she said it was for a COMCAST account.  I said that can't be right, I have comcast and never had any problems, she said that someone must be impersonating me, etc.  Being extremely condesending ,etc.  I asked her if I could get a copy of the letter she said that they sent me in September of last year, she said they didn't have that and couldn't send it.  I also asked her for her operator ID, she wouldn't give it to me, I asked for her last name, she repeatedly said she was the only Becky there.  I then asked to speak with her manager and she said that she was the manager and was helping out.  I was getting nowhere with "becky".  I called Comcast, they said they didn't know what was going on as my service had always been here and nothing immediately showed up.  Then the rep said, I see a balance on a previous address from 2012, when we moved into our new house, we transferred our services over to the new location.  

I have a major problem here obviously and I feel something was done that I wasn't aware of.  I still have more digging to do with Comcast, but from what I see so far, it appears that when I paid my balance this month, they said I had a left over balance (never mentioned a collection, another account ,etc) so I paid it.  Again, I never heard about a collection agency and paid it.  

This "Becky" chick is without a doubt the worst customer service person with whom I'm getting nowhere and no answers.  I want to dispute this, what can I do?  Can comcast take a payment from me and have it go to  a satisfied collection?  I didn't know I had it, and I want to get this resolved.  Any and all help is MUCH APPRECIATED!!

THANK YOU!

[seruby]

I was in a similar situation not too long ago actually.   When I moved from my old place, apparently there was still a balance owed, but I never got a final bill.   Got comcast at my new place, no problems.  Suddenly, EAS shows up on my credit reports.  So I call comcast and they say I have a balance on an account from 2012 (funny, same year as you).

What I did was email comcast EO about the other balance and how I never heard anything about a collection account.  They said they sent the final bill notice in July 2012, but where they sent it wasn't my address.    The EO replied and said that I could pay them directly and "Please be advised that once you pay the balance I will notify the collection agencies to delete your files and update the credit bureau.  They will send you a confirmation letter."    So I paid the balance and responded back to the EO, who confirmed they received the payment and informed EAS.

About a month or 2 later, I hadn't gotten any confirmation from EAS, so I filed a complaint with the BBB basically stating that they were reporting balances incorrectly, since they were showing a past due for equipment which I returned and they updated the account status to "Paid" when in fact comcast recalled the debt from them.    I wrote "Since EAS has no interest and had no dealing with these account, as it has been handled directly with comcast, and nothing was paid to EAS, they should not be reporting any accounts on my credit reports."

Through the complaint, EAS removed the accounts from my report.   They wrote "It was recalled by comcast and will also be sent for removal by us from the credit bureau"

[pritchardhallhokie]

Thanks for sharing!  My biggest problem here honestly is that I feel like I was deceived.  At no time did Comcast mention this, I have continued to have my service with them without any interruption and when I recently paid, they never mentioned anything about it being in a collection state.  I feel like I need to be extremely careful with how I go about disputing this and want to take the best course of action to get this removed entirely.  Do you recommend I try to work with Comcast?  Or do I file a dispute with Experian directly and let EAS remove it?

[seruby]

Yea that's how I felt too.  That's why I just went to the EO and explained that I got my new service in 2012 with no issue after my move and the previous balance was never mentioned, and had I known I still owed, I would have paid it but I never got a bill or a notice that a balance was owed.   

You should work directly with comcast, because based on what they did with me, it sounds like they recall the debt from the CAs if you pay them (they won't tell you they can PFD, but it's essentially the same thing since they recall it).   Then after you pay, confirm with them that it's paid.  Then, you can either dispute with Experian or file with the BBB.  I went with the BBB b/c I didn't want my dispute to come back with "Updated" and the status showing  "Paid."   I wanted it completely gone.

[pritchardhallhokie]

Do you have a contact that you can recommend?

Did you do this over the phone with comcast or via email?

[seruby]

Sent you a message.

[pritchardhallhokie]

Thanks again!  I just got off the phone with comcast.  FINALLY got someone who said they are going to have it completely removed.  The verified that it was something that I shouldn't be there.  I confirmed three different times that they are removing this completely from my report.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

[Callandra]

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@pritchardhallhokie wrote:

Thanks for sharing!  My biggest problem here honestly is that I feel like I was deceived.  At no time did Comcast mention this, I have continued to have my service with them without any interruption and when I recently paid, they never mentioned anything about it being in a collection state.  I feel like I need to be extremely careful with how I go about disputing this and want to take the best course of action to get this removed entirely.  Do you recommend I try to work with Comcast?  Or do I file a dispute with Experian directly and let EAS remove it?

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For some reason, cell phone carriers and cable/sattelite companies are the WORST with this. We have Verizon here at work and we've always had an account with them (for like years). Well, we switched services (internet options) with them and for whatever reason, we were given a new account. We then got a final bill for the old account and my boss called to pay it but the rep at Verizon said it was a mistake and we'll get the bill to our new account. 

Well, fast forward one month and we get a notice in the mail from a collections agency for that last bill!! Even though my boss called and was told NOT to pay it and we still always had an account with them and it was never billed to our new acccount. (And our new account was in perfect standing and we had no idea it was going to collections)

Anyway, hope everything works out for you!