topic Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now? in General Credit Topics

Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 03:12:47 GMT

A week ago I went to get pre-qualified for mortgage that's when I found out there's a collection on my C date June 2012 R and it said the OC is Comcast. Given that I don't have Comcast and never had, I called Comcast to find out what the heck was that. The CSR couldn't find an account using my name, phone, and DOB. He then asked me for my SSN and DL#, saying it would help them locate an account if I had any, I was reluctant but since I needed the collection off my CR ASAP, I gave it to him. A few minutes later, he said they found an account under my name, from 2010 at an address I used to live at. The thing is, the date Comcast was giving me was after I had moved out and was living in a different city. He asked me to pay the $157, I refused since I have no recollection of the debt, I asked for proof, he told me I would get a call on Monday. I didn't hear from comcast till Thursday, and they said they'll mail me a fraud kit, which will take 15 days till I get it. Then yesterday, I found out that comcast run a credit check on me after I called them about the collection on my CR. That inquiry from comcast impacted my score. I emailed comcast customer service. This morning I received a call from a CSR saying I owe them $157 and if I want them to delete the inquiry and the collection on my CR I have to pay the amount I owe them. He was rude, threatening and bullying me. I asked to speak with a supervisor he said there was none. I hung up on him. Now I'm even more angry. Comcast collected my SSN and DL# under false pretences, then run a unauthorized Credit check, then used it to bully and black mail me. Does anyone know what my rights are in this case? Did they do anything wrong by pulling my credit and then threatening to not undo the inquiry unless I paid for a debt I have no recollection of?

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

DaveSignal — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 03:18:55 GMT

That sucks. It sounds like a lot of time and work to fight, as opposed to paying $157.

EDIT: Did you return all of your equipment to Comcast when you moved out of the address?

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 08:07:24 GMT

@DaveSignal wrote:
That sucks. It sounds like a lot of time and work to fight, as opposed to paying $157.

EDIT: Did you return all of your equipment to Comcast when you moved out of the address?

+1 I agree if the rep wouldve told me that I would have told them to email or mail me that in writing then when i had proof in hand pay it. I dont know how you look at 157 but in my case to get that mortgage I would pay it then down the road be mad about it.

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 11:43:57 GMT

Sorry but I would get a lawyer and file police reports for extortion if the CSR were willing to put all that in writing. Promising to delete an inquiry for payment reads very illegal.

Letting someone hold me hostage over fictitious accounts the entire mortgage process doesn't make sense.

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 21:46:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
A week ago I went to get pre-qualified for mortgage that's when I found out there's a collection on my C date June 2012 R and it said the OC is Comcast. Given that I don't have Comcast and never had, I called Comcast to find out what the heck was that. The CSR couldn't find an account using my name, phone, and DOB. He then asked me for my SSN and DL#, saying it would help them locate an account if I had any, I was reluctant but since I needed the collection off my CR ASAP, I gave it to him. A few minutes later, he said they found an account under my name, from 2010 at an address I used to live at. The thing is, the date Comcast was giving me was after I had moved out and was living in a different city. He asked me to pay the $157, I refused since I have no recollection of the debt, I asked for proof, he told me I would get a call on Monday. I didn't hear from comcast till Thursday, and they said they'll mail me a fraud kit, which will take 15 days till I get it. Then yesterday, I found out that comcast run a credit check on me after I called them about the collection on my CR. That inquiry from comcast impacted my score. I emailed comcast customer service. This morning I received a call from a CSR saying I owe them $157 and if I want them to delete the inquiry and the collection on my CR I have to pay the amount I owe them. He was rude, threatening and bullying me. I asked to speak with a supervisor he said there was none. I hung up on him. Now I'm even more angry. Comcast collected my SSN and DL# under false pretences, then run a unauthorized Credit check, then used it to bully and black mail me. Does anyone know what my rights are in this case? Did they do anything wrong by pulling my credit and then threatening to not undo the inquiry unless I paid for a debt I have no recollection of?

Did you have cable, internet or VOIP at that address, or have you ever cosigned for anyone's utilities? I ask because it's possible that this debt was incurred to your previous service provider who was purchased by Comcast or who sold the local cable system to Comcast (any debt payable to them would be to Comcast now).

Also, as another posted commented did you return all your cable provider owned equipment?

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

RobertEG — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 08:48:37 GMT

If you can state that, to the best of your knowledge, the account was never authorized by you, simply file a police report, which the FCRA calls an "identity theft report."

Armed with that report, it opens the doors to your identity theft rights under the FCRA, one of which is blocking of the information from your credit report.

Send it to the CRA and request an immediate block of the collection from your credit report, pursuant to FCRA 605A.

Send it to the OC and demand all business records pertaining to the contested account , pursuant to FCRA 609(e).

Send it to the debt collector and request all information that they would otherwise be required to provide if you had disputed with them, pursuant to FCRA 615(g).

That immediately blocks it from your CR and makes them scamper to provide documentation.

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

marty56 — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:03:20 GMT

If you haven't done so, you need to monitor all 3 CRs. Also did you your SSN to your landlord at the old place? If so I would start there and with anyone who new you back then who would have a reason to hurt you. I know for a fact that people have used neighbor's address to get satellite service to bypass the new subscriber rule so it might be true of Comcast as well.

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

IOBA — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 01:05:38 GMT

new_start12 -

1. Get Comcast to send you a letter or a bill or something that shows the dates of service that they are trying to collect on.

2. Once you have the Comcast dates, then go back through your stuff and prove you had already moved from that address.

3. Go back to Comcast and say you have proof you were NOT at that address at the time of service they are trying to collect from. If they do not remove, then inform Comcast your next stop is the police dept.

4. Then file a police report - possible fraud.

5. Then contact the BBB - file a compliant.

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 04:22:07 GMT

@IOBA wrote:
@Anonymous -

1. Get Comcast to send you a letter or a bill or something that shows the dates of service that they are trying to collect on.
2. Once you have the Comcast dates, then go back through your stuff and prove you had already moved from that address.
3. Go back to Comcast and say you have proof you were NOT at that address at the time of service they are trying to collect from. If they do not remove, then inform Comcast your next stop is the police dept.
4. Then file a police report - possible fraud.
5. Then contact the BBB - file a compliant.

While I definitely agree with getting the specifics, not living at the address doesn't necessarily make him not liable for the charges. Even though the OP said he's never had service from them, from Comcast's point of view, whether you lived there or not at the time of the charges is a somewhat moot point. They could easily say the OP never canceled his service after moving or he was paying for someone else and had the service in his name. Just playing the devil's advocate here and saying that alone isn't going to get him off the hook.

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

RobertEG — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 21:09:52 GMT

That's why the FCRA uses police/identity theft reports. To address not having to "prove a negative."

You dont have to prove the facts of the case. You assert not authorized by me under oath, and immediately get it blocked from your CR under section 605B prior to building the necessary facts to support a dispute.

Then you use the police report to get the facts from the creditor under section 609(e), and from any debt collector under section 615(g).

Hopefully, those facts will ultimately lead to deletion from your credit file.

Re: Did comcast violate my rights? What should I do now?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:18:30 GMT

Did you ever give comcast another address after you moved out? I was in a similar situation about 4 years ago after I moved out of my first apartment.

Moved into my first apartment and had my first cable and internet service there. First one ever in my own name. About a year later the apartment next door to me burned down and thus I had to move out of mine as well. I moved back in with my parents for the time being while I search for a new apartment. So when I went to the comcast office to cancel my service at my old address they asked me for a new and current address that they could send the final bill to. Seemed fair enough so I gave them my parents address.

Well a month later i get my final bill, in addition to the bill for someone else I didn't know at an address I didn't know. Someone elses service had been attached to my name.

I ran down to the comcast office and after pleading with them that I have no clue who this other person was on my bill they took it off. Glad I took care of it quick before it became a serious issue.

Only one of two things could have happened. Gross incompetence and the comcast rep "accidentally" added someone else's service to my bill when they should have cancelled and sent me the final bill instead, or straight up fraud and the comcast rep tried to get someone free service at my expense. Neither of which I like and just upsets me.

You have to sign for stuff like this. Give them hell OP. Ask them to provide proof that you yourself authorized that service at that address. If they can't come up with it give them hell.