In December I moved to the UK with my family. I had previously contacted Verizon to ask to continue my service here in England. They informed me that they did not service there so if I sent a copy of my rental agreement from the UK then they would waive the disconnect fee. I did this asked to have the phone disconnected, paid through the date of disconnection (15th December) and left the country. No further money was taken from our account and six months later we closed it.
Now almost 4 years later a friend informed me that they had received a letter from Nelson, Watson and Associates in Haverhill, MA and they were a collection agency. When I phoned them and explained the situation they told me they could settle for $150 not the $303 they claimed I owed.
Their attitude was so rude and condescending that I was quite offended. When I told the man my address here in England he made fun of the way in which I pronounce the words - sorry about the English accent - and kept speaking over me. I worry that they will harass my friends think that I live there. I had left that address as a forwarding one as I needed to leave something and could not leave an international one.
I attempted to explain that I did not owe that money to which the gentleman refused to listen and said my credit would be ruined. At this point I told him that it did not matter as I did not live there anymore, to which he replied "They all come back, they always do, and your credit will be ruined." I could not get them to understand that this was taken care of 4 years ago! They actually hung up on me when he asked me if we dealt in Yen here and I commented that he could not be that stupid!
So I attempted to contact Verizon and have gotten no where. I really do not care about my credit as I have no intention of moving back to the USA at any time. It just really bothers me that it has been 4 years and this should have been taken care of. I feel that the Fair Credit Act has been violated as I have had nothing even though they had my original forwarding address.
My warning is to beware of Verizon, they will continue to squeeze every penny out of you even after you move country! Of course they will not tell you just sell it off to a collection agency. Then the collection agency will employ some half wit who is not very PC to contact whomever they can find to try and scare you into paying.
I will continue to try to sort this out as that is the type of person I am. I will not pay out any moneys that I do not owe so they will not get one penny from me - in any currency!
Kent
Gravesend
United Kingdom
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