At the end of last year, I decided to leave AT&T wireless and cancel my service with them. I transferred a number to the new carrier and gave up two others. At this time, I became unable to log into their billing website. One of the cancelled numbers was my login ID and it was now rejected by their website.
I was unsure about what I would owe and paid the last bill I was aware of. I received a letter from a couple of months later saying my account was suspended for non-payment. I spent a good 1-2 hours on the phone with a customer service rep. I was asked for a security code which I do not have. The process seemed to be complicated by the fact that I had never actually joined with the company. They had acquired the carrier I had joined with a number of years ago. At the end of the call, I agreed to pay the remaining bill and was assured that I would not be billed anymore.
I am continuing to receive letters with new charges on them as well as suspension notices. I tried to call their billing support but after waiting 30 minutes or so to speak to someone, they refuse to talk to me without the security code that I don't have and (to my knowledge) never had. I asked to speak to a manager and had to wait for another half-hour to be told the same thing.
I've tried logging into their website and use the forgot user ID functionality. I receive an email when I do this but it provides some sort of generated key and says I should enter it in my profile page or something but it is not a valid user ID. I may pursue this line of access but I'm not sure where it will get me.
So I'm left with a company that continues to claim I owe them money but refuses to speak with me about my account. The latest letter they sent says that my account will be cancelled if I do not pay which is fine by me but I don't want to have this sent to collections and affect my credit. I would go ahead and pay off this last amount after it is cancelled but I fear they will reinstate my account and I will be stuck again.
I'm trying to figure out what options I have and how to best get out of this mess. I think this type of thing is becoming a common problem for people so I'm hoping someone has better ideas that what I've come up with:
- Send a notarized document as a certified letter to the billing department with my request to have my account cancelled permanently
- File a complaint with my state Attorney General
- Hire a lawyer to work on my behalf ($$$)
- Call again with a recording app the rep's refusal to cancel my account (I would inform them they are being recorded for legal purposes)
- Let this go to collections and dispute this with the bureaus
- Get on Twitter and blast them as the next Wells Fargo.
I understand that security is a big deal with mobile carriers now but they cannot legally continue to bill me because I don't know a code. Any ideas on my best course from here?
P.S. It seems they were sued successfully for this kind of thing in 2004.