I was contacted by Allied collection agency concerning a debt on a cell phone account I had not opened and had no knowledge of. An unknown party obtained my name and social security number and opened the account with Sprint/Nextel.
I am extremely disturbed with Sprint/Nextel practices because: (1) Sprint/Nextel makes it too easy for someone to open an account with stolen information. I dont know how my name and social security number were stolen, or by who, but Sprint/Nextel should require additional proof of identity. (2) Sprint/Nextel uses Allied collection agency, an exceptionally unprofessional group. (3) Sprint/Nextel required me to collect documentation (police report, notarized statement, copies of various identity documents). Gathering these documents, dealing with Allied, and being put on hold by Sprint/Nextel during multiple calls, caused me to waste at least 6 hours. All of these could have been easily avoided if Sprint/Nextel would have tighter control over account-opening procedures. (4) Seemingly, Sprint/Nextel has calculated that they can increase their bottom line by loosening account-opening restrictions, allowing for a small percentage of fraud, and requiring innocent people to demonstrate they are not guilty.
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