topic Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection? in General Credit Topics

T-mobile Last bill to collection?

eddymvp — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 23:07:43 GMT

By T-mobile bill was due on the 7th of each month and I canceled my account on the 8th. I had one day of use and they are sending me the full month bill for that day of use. If collection didn't affect my credit, I wouldn't pay this bill because I feel I been billed unfair. I have not paid this bill yet and it hasn't gotten to collection yet.

Do I have a case if I take them to court for ripping me off?

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 02:58:38 GMT

IMO, you should have cancelled on the 7th and if there's a chance to pay before a late payment posts, do it.

Choose your battles wisely. A late payment will hang around 7 years.

Your agreement should spell out billing, cancellation, pro-rating, etc...

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 04:26:51 GMT

@eddymvp wrote:
By T-mobile bill was due on the 7th of each month and I canceled my account on the 8th. I had one day of use and they are sending me the full month bill for that day of use. If collection didn't affect my credit, I wouldn't pay this bill because I feel I been billed unfair. I have not paid this bill yet and it hasn't gotten to collection yet.

Do I have a case if I take them to court for ripping me off?

T

By chance did you port your number to a different carrier, or did you simply cancel everything and you no longer have a phone?

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

bettercreditguy1 — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:24:29 GMT

+1. I would pay the bill. It is not worth the damage to your credit file or the stress.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

RobertEG — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:42:24 GMT

Billing issues can be disputed within 60 days under the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA).

What was the date of the disputed billing?

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

eddymvp — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 12:58:54 GMT

I ported my number over to another carrier.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

eddymvp — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:33:56 GMT

I feel is unfair for them to charge me the whole bill for a few hours of used.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

RobertEG — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 19:19:51 GMT

Then I suggest that you file an FCBA billing dispute, and hope that they dont dismiss it as untimely.

Check out the FTC homepage for a summary of the FCBA dispute process.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

eddymvp — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 19:43:47 GMT

Thanks RobertEG,

I'm sending them the following letter, please help me on how to word it better.

Date
Your Name
Your Address
Your City, State, Zip Code
Your Account Number

Name of Creditor
Billing Inquiries
Address
City, State, Zip Code

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing to dispute a billing error in the amount of $96.00 on my account. The amount is inaccurate because is unfair to charge me the whole billing cycle for this service when I only used it for a few hours. I should only be charged the time I used. I am requesting that the error be corrected, that any finance and other charges related to the disputed amount be credited as well, and that I receive an accurate statement.

Enclosed are copies of (use this sentence to describe any enclosed information, such as sales slips, payment records) supporting my position. Please investigate this matter and correct the billing error as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Your name
Enclosures: (List what you are enclosing.)

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 21:40:51 GMT

Disputing it as a billing error because "it is unfair" is unlikely to gather much attention. What you need to do is go over your contract or look on the service providers website for contract disclosures that state what the procedure is for cancellation within a billing period.

If they had previously disclosed that you would be charged for a full service period when canceling after the start of that period then while I agree it is "unfair" the billing is correct. If they state that billing will be prorated then you have an argument for inaccurate billing.

Edit to add: Have you tried a POLITE phone call to customer service to resolve the issue?

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 06:13:09 GMT

The reason I asked whether or not you ported your number to a new carrier is because it may be what screwed you (sorry for the language, haha).

Excerpt from their user agreement/T&C:

"If you port your number, you will be responsible for all usage and Charges through the end of your current billing cycle."

From that, it sounds as if you may not really have an argument. I actually work for an authorized retailer of the 4 major carriers and I can tell you T-Mobile is the worst one to deal with in terms of having any prorated in any way, shape, or form.

Good luck, but your best bet is to just bite the bill and move on.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:40:54 GMT

A $96 phone bill? You're willing to risk massive damage to your credit - 80-100 points if it goes to collections, at least - over a NINETY-SIX DOLLAR PHONE BILL?

I pay $165 a month for mine through Sprint (and an additional $10 for another line), and before I switched to Sprint, the same crap (although with better coverage/stronger signal, and slightly faster data... Verizon gave me about 20/2.5mbps [on LTE], Sprint gives me 14/1.5mbps [on WiMax, I don't live in a Sprint LTE zone... which sucks, because I wanted to upgrade to an SIII, but the SIII, unlike the SII, doesn't have a WiMax radio, so I'd be stuck with 3G for who knows how long... even though WiMax drains the battery insanely fast, that is, if the phone is in use, it has about 2.5 hours of battery to it], no difference noticeable in the speed in how I use it, except that I use about 30-50GB of mobile data a month, including tethering, and Sprint is far, far cheaper for data) cost me $290 a month (and $19 for a second line).

Pay it, and count yourself lucky!

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

eddymvp — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:14:06 GMT

The bill is about 329.00 $200.00 for early cancelation fee which I'm fine paying.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:02:57 GMT

@eddymvp wrote:
The bill is about 329.00 $200.00 for early cancelation fee which I'm fine paying.

The $200 early termination fee is moot at this point as there is nothing you can do about that. Since you ported your number to a different carrier, they can also bill you through the rest of the billing cycle/month. I work for an authorized retailer for T-Mobile, and I can tell you at this point there is really nothing you can do other than ask them nicely, which didn't seem to work.

In the agreement you signed along with your two-year contract, they have the following:

"If you port your number, you will be responsible for all usage and Charges through the end of your current billing cycle."

That means, even though your service is technically canceled when the port is completed, they can still bill you for a full month. I've seen it happen many times, and T-Mobile is the worst out of all the carriers in terms of prorating anything, because they almost never do.

Sorry, but you're out of luck. Pay the bill.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 22:57:55 GMT

I'd say tread carefully on this one. About a year and a half ago this happened to me... I requested that my number be ported on the last day of my billing cycle (this request was over the phone) and they agreed, but it wasn't ported until the next day and they sent me a full bill. I was irritated and told them I wasn't responsible for that amount and I expected them to drop it. They didn't. Now I have a 480 dollar collection account. Sigh. I mishandled that so badly and wish I would have just paid it.

Edited to add: That collection account isn't actually on my credit report thankfully, I'm trying to handle it before they add it to my report.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 08:04:22 GMT

T-Mobile is the worst of all carriers for just about everything - now I can add prorating to the list. I say "just about" because I don't want to find out that some regional carrier or prepaid service that I've never dealt with is actually worse in some regard. I think the general wisdom (or at least mine) on mobile common carriers is:

1. Verizon, if you can afford it and don't mind paying it. From LTE to FiOS, Verizon has the Midas touch, and expects you to pay by the Roman Talent. Overpriced and overpowered.
2. Sprint, if you can live with the weak signal (the price helps). Underpriced and underpowered.
3. AT&T, because who wants to deal with a Bell? I've never heard of any AT&T product, from enterprise telephone to U-verse, get a glowing recommendation. Overpriced and regular-powered.
4. Prepaid carriers (Boost, Virgin Mobile) and mobile virtual network operators (Revol) that get backhaul from one of the above.
4.1 US Cellular? I've never dealt with them
4.2 Regional carriers.
5. T-Mobile - Deutsche Telekom operating in the USA as a glorified MVNO - because you're always roaming, and paying for the privilege. Just as overpriced and way more underpowered, with bad hardware offerings (that aren't subsidised), it vies for the dubious distinction of being the Macintosh of the mobile world.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

sperrin — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:06:25 GMT

You didn't get charged for the entire month. You get billed for your cell phone bill the month AFTER you use it. So you were being billed for the previous month of use.

Re: T-mobile Last bill to collection?

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:31:02 GMT

If you were on a contract you usually pay one month after use, this may be the confusion.

Basically:

Cycle begins on the 8th of month 1, ends on the 7th of month 2

You get a bill on month 2 with the charges from month 1

Since you ported on the 8th you should have x days of usage (pro rated) and the early cancellation fee. Replace 'x' with the amount of days it took you to fully port the number.

I worked as CSR and never saw a full month charge when customers ported their number, only pro rated for the current month, the cancellation fee AND the bill from the previous month, which was already used. IF it is in the contract that they will charge you full month of charges then you have no other option than pay the bill in full. It is not worth the headache over $100.