Summary: I am being falsely charged $93.00 by one division of Verizon Northwest called Verizon Home, claiming I owe this money to Verizon wireless. The "wireless" divsion says "no" I do not. Neither side communicates with each other on these matters, so Verizon Inc (Parent company) referred the account to NCO Finanacial for collection.
Until around Jan I was a Verizon "Home phone" customer. And in addition, until Sept I was a Verizon Wireless customer. When I cancelled my home phone (in Feb) I was a One bill payment customer through Verizon "Home phone". Meaning both bills were forwarded to Verizon "Home" to be paid on one combined bill. The option was cancelled when my home phone service ended (due to my wife and I moving). Since I was still a "Wireless' customer I opted to pay that bill on line via my credit card.
The problem started when Verizon Wireless's billing computer continued to send a bill to the One bill option after Feb. (Which should have been rejected by Verizon home, but was not. Wireless apologized and said that it takes a couple of billing cycles for the process to stop, but that they'd put a note in my account so I wouldn't apear tardy in payment to them. Since I was only doing business with wireless at this time, I paid my wireless bill online. That fact, shows up on the financial statements to me, but does not wipe out the "ghost" bill that was sent to Verizon Home phone. As far as they (Verizon Home or Verizon Inc) were concerned (and to this day, I still owe the wireless division of Verizon $93.00.
I contacted them (Verizon Home), and they confirmed that it was a bill from wireless. I was told to contact wireless directly to remove the debt. Wireless said they would communicate with Home to clear up the matter. When I closed my account with Wireless in Sept they confirmed that I had no outstanding debts. (Please see recent copy of wireless bill) I contacted Verizon Home to make sure that Wireless did as they said they would. They (Home) claimed that the matter was cleared up.
Today, I ordered a copy of my credit report and lo, and behold, there is a charge against me from NCO Financial on behalf of Verizon Northwest Inc. It would appear to be the same amount that was in dispute before. Verizon Inc confirmed that it is a charge forwarded from Wireless last Feb but said they could no longer help me since it was referred to NCO for collection. Any investigator would learn that Verizon Wireless shows no outstanding debts owed by me to ANY entity of Verizon Inc. This is a billing miscommunication between the 2 companies. The billing computer at wireless sent what amounts to a false billing statement to Verizon Home which since they do not share computer resources (according to them) they can't see that I have a valid argument.
I spoke with a slightly rude customer service repo at the Columbus office (since thats where they keep delinquent accounts) as was told that Verizon cannot help me since the matter now belongs to their collection agency NCO Financial. Therefore, I have sent 2 certified letters to NCO Financial requesting they review the facts and remove the remark from my credit report. To date, I have not received any replies from them. And I have called the company direct only to be rebuffed since they do not discuss claims over the phone.
I have filed an additional claim with Equifax to investigate my dispute. I filed a complaint against Verizon Inc with the BBB in Trenton NJ, and another complaint against NCO with the BBB in PA. Additionally, I filed a complaint against Verizon Inc with the FCC. As a result of Verizon's neglagence and NCO's incompetence, I have a lower credit score than I otherwise should have with Equifax, the consequences of which affect me financially and emotionally.
Marcus
FPO, California
U.S.A.
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