Who to address GW letter to for best chance?

[Anonymous]

I'm about to send a GW/dispute letter to my utility company about removing a collection that, despite being paid in early 2014, is still being listed as unpaid. I've lurked a bit and it seems that the higher up the person you can reach, the better chances your GW letter has of being effective. My question is this, how do I find the person I need to address this to? Title-wise? On their website it lists the CEO and VPs of the the various departments but I don't see anyone on there that might handle my specific matter. Also, I'm not sure if I should start out with someone "at the top" just in case I need somewhere to fall back on if the first attempt is unsuccessful. I had the thought of just calling the ol' customer service line and asking for a name of a supervisor that I could write to about this matter, but would that be a mistake? Also this particular utility company has a VERY bad reputation of horrible customer service, scams, etc. so I'm weary of getting the run-around and dealing with unhelpful reps. 

Does my question make sense? How do I find out who I should send this to??

[cmony787]

The more the merrier. I wouldn't focus on sending just to one person, I recommend more of a shotgun approach.

Research and find as many email addresses as you can and then copy them all into the BCC field. I usually just put my email address in the To box.

If you are doing directly mailing, you might just send it directly to the address listed on your credit report and address it to Customer Relations with a c/o Executive Office

[Anonymous]

It didn't even occur to me to send it via email, does it make any difference? Is snail mail more effective? I may try that method of just addressing it to be forwarded to the executive office.

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It didn't even occur to me to send it via email, does it make any difference? Is snail mail more effective? I may try that method of just addressing it to be forwarded to the executive office.

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I believe US Mail is more personal than an email its how I did mine. The letter should go to the CEO or President if you can obtain their address

[RonM21]

I agree, US mail is more personal. This is the route I would go, but anything is a start to get this removed.

[cmony787]

I went the email route and was successful in getting a 30day late from 2011 deleted by Cap 1. No right or wrong way to go about it...I have a auto loan with some lates and email was unsuccessful, so now I am on a snail mail campaign.

The hope is that by expanding your outreach, you will reach some person with authority to make adjustment/or approve and they find compassion with what you have written.

Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

Ok thanks for the feedback! I'll probably go the regular mail route for now just because it feels more personal and I'll try to forward my letter to someone higher up on the rungs. Anyone care to give a quick critique to my letter before I send it out today?

I did steal a few words from a couple of GW letters I found on this site because they sounded so much more eloquent than what I originally had.

___________________________________________________

First I would like to say that I have been a happy customer of  "Utility Company" since January 2014 and have been very satisfied with my service from your company with no complaints.
I am writing in regards to an item showing innacurately on my Transunion credit report as an "unpaid" 169$ originating from an old bill from "Utility Company" that was aquired after losing my job, moving, and having my first child in 2012; a year of displacement and hardship. This balance was paid in January of 2014 when I had my current service installed and discovered there was a balance owing from my previous service in 2012. I have records showing that I made this payment at the start of my service in January 2014. However for the last two years it has been reporting as "unpaid" and has subsequently negatively affected my credit and my ability to be considered for a mortgage. The report it is listed on is by far the lowest of all my credit reports and I was turned down in April for a mortgage based, in part, on this unpaid item on my credit report. In the last two years I have gone from becoming a single mom struggling to rebuild my life and provide for my children to finally being able to aspire to qualify for a mortgage on a home of our own.
I am humbly requesting that "Utility Company" consider rescinding the negative account from my credit report as it has been reporting innacurately for over two years. This would give my family and I a much needed boost so we can continue working towards a mortgage and improve our quality of life. This gesture of goodwill from "Utility Company" would mean so much to me and I would be forever grateful.
I thank you very much for the time you took to read this letter and look forward to continuing on as a satisfied customer for all the forseeable future.
Very sincerely,