So, this has to be my worst customer service experience ever in my 46 years on Earth.
Got a new iPad and called to activate it as second device. Was told that due to my "poor credit history", I would have to pay an $800 deposit. Huh? What poor credit history? I have every bill I ever got for this account and proof that all were paid on time, right here. How could my phone by currently active if this were true? Answer after 4 hours on the phone was "we arent sure, go to a store and the manager can waive it" Really??? Since I have an iPhone with a hotspot, I just back burnered the iPad as that "solution" seemed absurd at best.
That was back in January, fast forward to March when I am at Audi dealership buying a new S4, I casually ask what my credit score was (previosly always around 780-800) and they say 705, apparently because "you have a collection from At&t"...again REALLY? I stare at my fully operational iPhone, dumbfounded.
I investigate on Experian...sure enough, there is a $76 past due/collection showing from At&t and some collection agency I have never heard of (or from)...again, I say how can this be my account is totally current??? BTW, my bill has always been 2-300% more than that per month, and NEVER gotten any past due notices of any kind. My account, after all, was always (and is) paid on time. It shows as being reported on my credit in January 2013, right after the iPad debacle...seems like more than a coincidence for a supposed 2010 bill???
Again, I call. This time I at least get a competent and helpful CSR who after about an hour is able to tell me that there is in fact a past due balance FROM JANUARY 2010 that was forwarded to collections. It was apparently part of the final bill from my old CORPORATE Blackberry from my prior employer...an account that was not paid for, by, or billed to me. Strangely, it was for my wireless card...She says bills were sent and calls were made yet cant tell me where or to whom...I say that's ironic, since my only phone number is my wireless account with YOU, and you never called ME there or sent any notice to that billing address. Further, that was billed to a Company I LEFT IN JANUARY 2010, when coincidently, I opened my current personal wireless account!!! Had there been some balance owed by me at that time, wouldnt you have collected it from me or rolled it onto my new bill? Guess not, that would require a working brain somewhere...my guess is bills were sent to my attention at a Company I no longer worked for, and they tossed them, but they can't tell me that for sure, because they cant tell me anything more...
First, how can I be liable for a bill that should have been tied to my corporate account? second, rather than damage my credit as they now have, I would have paid the $76 had I ever gotten a bill. (I have literally spent thousands annually, do I look like I couldnt pay $76?). Third, if you know enough about me to place this on my credit now, how could you not contact me on YOUR PHONE ACCOUNT at THAT BILLING ADDRESS to have dealt with this??? Fourth, if I had in fact ever been past due, wouldn't you cut off my phone?
None of that happened, my iPhone (thank God Apple handles it's own customer service) is still on and working great, yet I am now told again there is nothing that can be done, in spite of my current CSR agreeing that I got hosed and this should be correctable. All she could do in the end was give me the phone and account numbers for the collection agency they sent it to. "They certainly wont be able to correct an At&t error", I say. "sorry" she says.
This is not a billing dispute, it is corporate incompetence. To date I have never received a bill for the $76 (now $91 after two years spent in outer space). I want justice. I want a full retraction and my credit rightfully restored. I have plenty of evidence that my only personal account with At&t is and always has been paid on time, they have no documentation to share with me at all, yet I am unilaterally the Big Loser.
It looks like I am going to have to retain an attorney to get my credit corrected as At&t doesnt give a $%^& and the experian inquiry simply came back and said "yep, it's your social" no $&^%, Sherlock.
Surely, there is a department somewhere within the At&t Collective that can correct this, based on my experiences to date, I doubt it's the first time they have done this. Nor will it likely be the last.
Someone please help, before I push this red button over here!