I have been a mobile phone customer of VZW for over 20 years and my account has always been in good standing. So imagine my surprise when CreditKarma alerted me recently that an entity named Verizon Wireless South had posted a delinquent charge on my credit report for $147!
At no time was I ever notified that there was money owed, and I thought it must be a mistake.
Several hours later of being transferred and disconnected multiple times, I reached a testy customer service agent who said that when my mother and I joined accounts several years ago (keeping separate phone numbers), my solo account was closed and that's where the last bill was. In a closed account. With the same phone number as I have now. That I have absolutely no access to. How was I ever supposed to pay the last bill having no idea it was there and zero ability to find it?! It should have been sent to the new merged account. But nothing ever appeared online.
Testy said that it's company policy to ONLY send last bills via snail-mail. Except that I never got one. I didn't move. No last bill was ever sent. Not one phone call from an eager collections agency in all this time. And now the payment is marked in collections/charged off.
When I told him I needed him to take this off my credit report, Testy snarled he could take my payment, but said no one at Verizon could expunge the charge.
Why is Verizon treating longtime customers in good standing as delinquent when it's their mismanagement of accounts receivable that is truly delinquent?!
I was intending on buying property in the next year and this needless antic threatens that. I need this removed from my credit report now, not in 7 years. How do I make that happen?
