Issues with a closed account and a delinquency charge for unreturned equipment

[cialean]

I've seen multiple people have similar situations, although I got the short end of the stick.

Context: My old living location had 5G home internet, my new location has Fios, I have a separate account for each, so it is always very difficult getting in contact with the 5G home internet reps. This issue has reached month 7 of stress and agony trying to solve this.

Month of moving out of my old location, I notified Verizon that I would be cancelling/transferring services since I was moving and that I would be needing an equipment return box. No box came before I had to move out, so I reached out to customer service again, requesting a box, along with an email with the return label in case the box doesn't come again. Rep said that the email should arrive within the next day, and that the box should arrive after 3-5 business days. After a week, no box came, so I reached out again. Still no box. It was not until the 4th or 5th attempt at getting a box or a label that I actually received one in the mail. The thing about that is, while going back and fourth between asking for a box, waiting for the box, and realizing the box was never showing, the 30 day return period for equipment per Verizon's Policy was surpassed, which was reflected by a $217.50 charge on my closed account. The last rep I talked to, who FINALLY was the golden ticket to getting a box to return the equipment (I was unable to return it to a store at the time) ensured me that the $217.50 charge would be refunded as it was not my fault that it had surpassed 30 days. The return never came, so I reached out to my bank regarding it, and they said they would get in contact with Verizon to settle it. I was refunded the amount, and there was no more communication between Verizon and I, so I figured everything was good and settled. Then, a few weeks later, I get an alert from my credit bureau's that my credit score dropped 100 points and that there is now a delinquency charge on my account (which last 7 years!) Obviously now I'm panicked as 100 points is no small change for a credit score, pretty much causing me to cancel and back track a lot of the processes I was in the middle of, as I no longer qualified for what I once did. 

I tried to contact Verizon about this, and immediately get sent to collections as apparently no customer rep at Verizon is allowed to talk to me anymore. I've got no choice but to communicate through collections and to dispute it through them, except the debt collection agencies keep switching, so I have to keep restarting this process. After stopping in the Verizon store in person, I was able to talk to someone and they were not allowed to access my account, so they gave me some direction to talk to corporate and talk to someone higher than a customer rep. I try that, call the number, and they once again transfer me to collections, which is once again a new agency than the last time. 

At this point, I cannot afford to pay the debt, not due to finances, but due to the fact that doing so would solidify the 100 point decrease on my credit score and the delinquency charge would stay there for the next seven years for something that should never have happened (as stated and promised by the Verizon worker, not just myself), so I really have no choice but to dispute/find a solution. Verizon has been giving me the runaround for the past seven months regarding this situation and the amount of stress and obstacles this situation has given me is absolutely not justifiable by the $217.50. And I do love Verizon, don't get me wrong, my family and I have been a customer for over 20 years and the customer service for my Fios account is fantastic, but that 5G account is nothing but pain and despair. Honestly, this forum is my last hope as I'm at my wits end with this entire situation.