After many years as a Time Warner Cable customer, I cancelled my service in February. Because TWC bills for service in advance, their February 22 statement to me showed a credit balance. I called TWC when I got that statement because I knew I owed an early termination fee. TWC told me that would appear on my next statement, scheduled for March 22. I was told to wait for that statement and then to write a check for the balance; TWC could not put this final bill on my credit card (as had been done automatically when I was a customer) since my account with them was closed. On 3/25 I received a statement, dated 3/22/10, that showed the credit balance forward from my February statement, a billing detail item (the termination fee), and a final balance owed to TWC. The next day (3/26) I went to the TWC office to pay the final bill and was told my balance was more than the bill showed. TWC had deemed my account past due (even before sending the 3/22/10 final bill) and had turned the account over to a collection agency! I made numerous phone calls and finally got in touch with the collection agency. I explained the situation to them and they had me fax the 2/22/10 statement, the 3/25/10 statement and the 3/26/10 payment receipt to them. They referred the matter back to TWC. TWC returned it to the collection agency, insisting I owed the collection fee. Under duress, because my credit rating was being threatened, I paid the collection fee plus a processing fee. My contention is that since my account was never past due, TWC should never have put the account in collection and I should not have to pay for their mistake.
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