Experiences filing a suit, complaint or grievance against a utility or phone Co.?

[ztnjpv]

My Ficos are at 699 TU and 682 EQ. My EX Score PLUS is about 679. Besides the passage of time, the only thing stopping my score from instantly reaching the mid 700s  is a paid collection to Verizon. It was an old phone bill that was left in my name at my friend's house. Back in 98, I moved in with him when he bought the house and I took care of getting the phone line connected. In 2006, I moved out to get a place with my future wife. It had been 8 years and I totally forgot the phone was in my name. Summer of 2010 my friend repeatedly tried to cancel service by writing it on the invoice and they kept rebilling him. He finally got fed up after several attempts and stopped paying and let it go into collections. One year ago, I bought my wife a Verizon iPhone for Valentine's Day and was alerted to the collection. Stupidly, I paid it so I could finish the purchase and also got my friend to repay the money. 

Since becoming credit aware this past fall, I realized my mistake in paying in them instead making a deal first for removal. I have since fought countless hours on the phone with them trying to explain. I gave up. My friend is looking for copies of the invoices (he always photo-copies this stuff) so we can file with the Magistrate. He is certain that Verizon will give in for such a small claim and just remove it.

Any similar experiences? Do these types of companies just give in when people put some pressure on them for petty little things like this? I got 6 more years with this albatross on my neck.

[pipeguy]

Verizon can be pretty hard nosed about "fixing" credit issues, I fought with them for close to a year over an obvious error on their part. I believe the real problem is that Verizon tends to sent problems to different departments that are set in their ways (collections not customer relations).

Small claims court is pretty simple, it's inexpensive and there are no lawyers allowed (unless directly involved). In addition, Small Claims is fairly informal which means as a pro se plaintiff (Pro se legal representation means advocating on one's own behalf before a court , rather than being represented by a lawyer.) you are given a good bit of latitude as far as "proper legal terms and filings". There are smallish limits for small claims awards, in Virginia its $5000. You don't have to seek money to win in small claims court, you could sue for "correction of errors on your credit report by defendant" plus "costs" (filing fees and a bit more for time, etc). You will find that in almost all small claims suits against larger companies that they'll settle before court because of costs and their "legal team" can not represent the company in the actual court. If they don't show up, you win a default judgement and a Court Judgement is all you need to prove your case to the CRA's (well, except perhaps Equifax).

I would suggest first that you file a complaint with the BBB against Verizon as this goes directly to Executive Relations rather than their "collections wasteland" before you go the small claims route. Your chances are good (not 100%) that if you present a reasonable defense to the executive relations representative they'll fix the problem. My 11 month nightmare with Verizon was "fixed" with a BBB complaint within a few days and the executive relations rep was outstanding to deal with.

If you lose with the BBB complaint you can always go the small claims route.

[GregB]

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@ztnjpv wrote:

My Ficos are at 699 TU and 682 EQ. My EX Score PLUS is about 679. Besides the passage of time, the only thing stopping my score from instantly reaching the mid 700s  is a paid collection to Verizon. It was an old phone bill that was left in my name at my friend's house. Back in 98, I moved in with him when he bought the house and I took care of getting the phone line connected. In 2006, I moved out to get a place with my future wife. It had been 8 years and I totally forgot the phone was in my name. Summer of 2010 my friend repeatedly tried to cancel service by writing it on the invoice and they kept rebilling him. He finally got fed up after several attempts and stopped paying and let it go into collections. One year ago, I bought my wife a Verizon iPhone for Valentine's Day and was alerted to the collection. Stupidly, I paid it so I could finish the purchase and also got my friend to repay the money. 

Since becoming credit aware this past fall, I realized my mistake in paying in them instead making a deal first for removal. I have since fought countless hours on the phone with them trying to explain. I gave up. My friend is looking for copies of the invoices (he always photo-copies this stuff) so we can file with the Magistrate. He is certain that Verizon will give in for such a small claim and just remove it.

Any similar experiences? Do these types of companies just give in when people put some pressure on them for petty little things like this? I got 6 more years with this albatross on my neck.

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I don't know what Verizon did wrong. I would say the problems are highlighted in red above: your mistake and your friends big mistake. Your friend only had to contact you so that you could authorize the closing of the account. Not that I find it easy to side with Verizon, one of my most hated companies. You probably don't want to get in front of a judge and repeat the parts in red.

You might have made it further with a PFD but now would have to hope they would do a GW.

[pipeguy]

As a follow up, if you do go the small claims route, there are services that will do all the paperwork for you such as http://www.civiltree.com/index.php.

These services charge a base fee, but if you win you'll recover your costs. In Virginia its about $50 to file a small claims case, you'll also have to pay to "serve" Verizon. Civiltree charges $259.95 (I think, you can check their site) for a complete package of fees, filings and serving the defendant.

I have never used civiltree, but they seem to get good reviews around the net (and) good results. I'm sure there are other services out there, just remember that small claims is "Pro se" so don't hire an attorney to represent you.

[ztnjpv]

Thanks for the advice! I will call the BBB tomorrow and try that first if it's easier. If that doesn't work, I will try out that civiltree site.

I really want this collection off my report and I will stop at nothing. I would pay $1000 tomorrow to delete it if I could. That's chump change compared to the upside.  Without this charge off, my credit will instantly jump from borderline good to firmly excellent....where I believe it should be based on actions of my own doing. 

Yes, I realize that this all technically is of my own doing by failing to transfer ownership of the account. But it's all very unjust...no matter how "legal" it might be. I've already reemed out my friend over it and he feels terrible and has vowed to help me. I just saw him tonight and I told him I planned to go to the magistrate tomorrow to get filing papers. But after reading the advice here, I just may check out the BBB first. I will still need his proof of shoddy attempts to cancel the service. 

[pipeguy]

BBB complaints are all done online, start here:

http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/business-reviews/cellular-telephone-service-and-supplies/verizon-wirel...

[ztnjpv]

Just submitted my complaint to the BBB. Fingers crossed. It would be wonderful if this worked with no fruther action needed. I made it clear that I am only asking for a deletion of this incident from my tradeline and this was a rather painless and simple settlement for Verizon compared to my filing with the local Magistrate for the collection amount, fees and deletion. I also made it clear that I intend to not renew my iphone contract with them if it comes to that. 

We'll see what happens....

[Jstic]

Hate to be negative about this, but the BBB route is not going to yield anything. All they do is contact Verizon for a response, which will probably be ignored by them or they will send a form letter. As far as small claims court, the only thing you can get there are monetary damages. No small claims court that I know of has the power to impose

an injunction forcing Verizon to remove the credit line from your file. In every state that I know of, small claims court ONLY deals with issues about money or property. You can argue the recovery of the money you paid in small claims, but the judge/magistrate is likely to tell you that you need to file in superior court if you want to force Verizon to remove information from your credit file. You could file in small claims(for money damages) and use that as leverage to get Verizon to delete the credit report info. Tell them you will drop the whole thing if they delete.

 Your best evidence is the bills that you say your friend sent in with the request to cancel/disconnect the account. If you have these, you can ask Verizon for a copy of the bill that was sent in, if they both match up you may have some legal recourse in that you can prove that attempts were made to close the account. If you don't have that evidence, you really have nothing to base your claim on other than your word. Unfortunately, in court, it is evidence that wins cases, not one's claim of innocence or otherwise. I believe Verizon is required to keep the bill and payment information for at least 3 years, so if they tell you they don't have it, that is probably not true.

Once you have that evidence in hand, you can make a case with Verizon for a deletion of the trade line on your file. If they refuse, you can file in superior court and that may change their tune. Every day in superior court costs a defendant between $500-$2500 in legal fees on the average. Every motion, or even a response to your suit is going to cost them money. If Verizon is faced with a court case that they could possible lose, they may just work with you and delete the negative info on your credit file. I have had no experience with Verizon, or a case like yours, but have had experience representing myself in superior and small claims court on several occasions. In court, it is common that money that determines the outcome of the case. Whoever has the most money often wins because they can hire the better lawyer or outlast their opponent. Some defendants feel that  it is not worth the money to even fight the case, which may be the route Verizon takes. Good luck whatever you choose.