The summary: Sprint retailer in Providence sent a $300 fee to a collections agency without notification on a separate contract with the retailer for a termination fee which I have never seen, and it looks like someone forged my signature on it.
The long story:
In May I approached employees at the Sprint retail location in the Providence Place mall in Rhode Island. I inquired about mobile broadband service (internet) for just 1-2 months (temporary relocation) and was told I could sign a contract with Sprint, cancel within 30 days, and *incur no financial penalty*. I asked about penalties several times, and was repeatedly told by the employee that there would be none.
I was somewhat concerned at this time, because the employee also tried very hard to get me to sign another contract for two cell phone lines (which I had no use for), telling me to cancel the next day and profit by reselling the phones on Ebay. This of course stood out to me as strange, but I couldn't tell if the man was hitting on me or trying to bolster his own sales figures without concern for company profit. I did not sign those contracts because I thought it was fishy.
I did however, sign the contract for the wireless internet, and canceled with Sprint directly over the phone at 30 days (June) without any problems. This was the last I heard about the contract until February when I received a collections letter from Vantage Sourcing (a debt collections agency). The collections agency said I owed $300, due to a contract not with Sprint, but with the individual retail company in the mall, iMobile. I was blown away since I had specifically asked at least 5 times if this would be a problem.
I disputed the debt with the agency, and after 2.5 months (!!!), they sent me a contract showing the agreement for a 300$ fee "per infraction" if you "cancel or suspend any existing service with Sprint for 181 days from the date of this agreement." The contract further says that you agree to "authorize iMobile to charge my credit card account any amounts that become due under this contract. This agreement will act as my signed receipt in the amount of $300 per mobile number activated"
I had never received any communication from the Sprint retailer about this fee, even though the correct address was on the form. Why didn't they just charge my card then? Why did it take close to 3 months for this contract to materialize?
Well, the important information is that looking at the handwriting on the form, NONE of is is mine!!! The top of the form (address information etc) is filled in obviously different handwriting. The initials next to each clause of the contract look vaguely like mine, but one of the letters looks exactly the same as how the obviously different handwriting at the top wrote my name out (and forgot to capitalize the first letter of my last name?!?). The address above my signature is clearly not my handwriting. The signature itself is very shaky and looks vaguely like mine, but not in the way that I would write it (it looks like a kid trying to copy the signature).
My conclusions are this:
either the contract was never given to me by the nefarious employee who tried to get me on the hook for 2 other numbers (it would have been $900 in fees!!!), and then forged by copying my signature from the Sprint contract later
or
The signature was from the touch-screen box used for signing credit card receipts (they get scratched and don't work quite right, and sometimes make your signature look strange). How can a contract be valid if I only signed an electronic signature line—clearly I wouldn't have seen the actual contract!
The debt collection agency is now asking me to send a copy of my drivers license (with the signature) to verify my signature. I hope that they recognize the difference between a wavy copy of the signature and my actual handwriting—I'm sure a handwriting expert would, but some debt collector that doesn't care? Probably not... Guess I'm screwed: (
Ellagrrl
Minneapolis, Minnesota
U.S.A.
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