Utah Free Press

AT&T Wireless Monster on the Loose.

Originally published December 7th, 2006 by Rich Okelberry

If you are looking for a wireless cell phone provider you may want to reconsider purchasing services from AT&T Wireless. It appears that AT&T wireless has no way of knowing which of its customers are under a two year contract and which aren’t. I was one of those customers that wasn’t under contract but was still charged $350 in early termination fees when I finally discontinued my service in December of 2004. Ever since then, any attempt to correct the issue with AT&T has been met with complete stonewalling on the part of their service department.

Even after admitting to me on two different occasions that the amount that I owed on my final bill was incorrect, they were unwilling to make the correction and accept a final payment. Instead they sent the account off to a collection agency, National Recovery Systems of Dallas, Texas. I quickly disputed the claim and provided this collection company with copies of my previous correspondence with AT&T Wireless detailing why I felt the amount owed should be adjusted from $734.49 to $230.30. Under Federal Law, the collection agency was required to investigate the amount owed and mail me a report detailing their findings. No such report ever came, instead in November 2005, I received a second collection letter for a different collection agency, Bureau of Collection Recovery, Inc. in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Once again I disputed the claim by AT&T which was answered this time by a representative of Bureau of Collection Recovery, Inc. calling and actual yelling at me over the phone for several minutes. I advised him that I felt the amount was fraudulent and warned that if he followed through with threats to defame me by posting false reports to my credit file that swift civil action would follow against both AT&T Wireless and Bureau of Collection Recovery, Inc. Of course that was the last I heard of them and once again, no written accounting of the amount owed was ever provided by AT&T Wireless or Bureau of Collection Recovery, Inc. as required by federal statute. This brings us to the newest attempt by AT&T Wireless to try and harass me into submission. Their new strong arm is called Palisades Collection L.L.C. This time I decided to not only send a letter disputing the amount but to also include a check for the amount that I believe that I owe, $230.00.

Regardless of what I may think of AT&T Wireless and their tactics, I do believe in paying my debts, even when a creditor refuses to correct by invoice the amount that I owed. Also, this time I was also sure to explain in the letter that I was invoking my right under Federal Statute [15 USC 1692c] that requires a creditor to cease all harassing attempt to collect a debt once an individual requests it. Well it seems that unexplainably, the check got there but that letter was never found and the collection calling continued. While I am absolutely certain that the letter was include because I purposely folded the check into the letter so that the recipient couldn’t accidentally remove the check from the envelope without also removing the letter, the collection agent on the phone assured me that no correspondence was ever received. I would argue that the letter was either accidentally or purposely dropped in the trash so that collection attempts could continue. Otherwise you would have to accept the argument that I, who has disputed this claim in writing on several previous occasions not only didn’t mail the dispute but then also made the mistake of mailing a payment to an address designated by Palisades Collection, L.L.C. as a DISPUTE department.

If any letter of dispute was missing from an envelope received by the dispute department, one would assume that the dispute department would call and try to clarify the intent of the mailing. Also one would assume that when the first collection agent was told that I intended to dispute the claim that the file would have been tagged and sent to the dispute department. Instead my second collection call from this company was from a regular collection agent who had to transfer me to the dispute department, a transfer that for the second time ended in dead air. You must also accept that I am a liar. I assure you that as an honorably discharged, disabled veteran and someone who has recently been nominated to be an elder in my church that I am about as honest as they come. I find the idea of being called a liar both wrong and offensive.

I regularly correct clerks when I am over changed and will even go so far as detailing every little thing that is wrong with a vehicle before selling it to avoid slighting my fellow man. I promise that you do not need to go far to find strong character references to stand behind me. Even when dealing with AT&T’s mishandling of my account, I purposely gave them every opportunity to make corrections to my adjustments. Instead, AT&T Wireless finds it easier to play this game of using purposeful harassment to pressure honest people into paying money that they don’t owe. In an attempt to bring this saga to a close, I am filing a complaints with every government agency that will listen and proceeding with a civil suit for ongoing harassment and defamation. I will continue to keep readers up to date. In the meantime, if you like your peace of mind and value your credit rating, you might want to think about choosing a different carrier.