quick question. Dispute with cell phone company

[blackplatano]

Asking in behalf of a friend.


Where do people dispute small amounts of money with large corporations? Like if someone thinks they have been unfairly charged for a cell phone bill?

Background.

The person had two phone lines under a single plan. One of the cell phones died, and the other line was canceled because the person switched plans. This was around sept. 13. The person called the cell company sept. 15 to confirmed everything was fine. They said one cell is canceled but the line associated with the dead cell is still active and since the new cycle started sept. 14, the person is going to have to pay the full month from sept to oct. 14 even though the only line associated will be a non working cell phone. Now the cell company wants a full month's payment (around $100, I think) even though not a single minute was spoken.

P.S Person was not under contract.

 

[blackplatano]

Any body know?

 

[tiecollector]

Best bet is to talk to your CC company, otherwise there is no way in hell you'll ever see that money again.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: No media files are hosted on these forums. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website. We can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. If the video does not play, wait a minute or try again later. I AGREE

TIP: to embed Youtube clips, put only the encoded part of the Youtube URL, e.g. eBGIQ7ZuuiU between the tags.

http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/

 

[DNW]

Originally Posted by tiecollector

Best bet is to talk to your CC company, otherwise there is no way in hell you'll ever see that money again.


Why would talking to a CC company work? He hasn't paid the bill yet. What is he going to do, tell them to not pay the bill he hasn't paid?

In any case, there's really nothing your friend can do. He can take the cell phone people to small claims court, but I'm not sure how that will work out. Or, he can call the cell company and escalate the call to as far as it'll go. Tell whomever it is that he WILL NOT pay the bill, and see what they'll do to settle the matter. They might tell him to not worry about it, or settle the bill for 20 bucks, or go sit on a pole.

But, from a contract's point of view, the new billing period started on the 14th, and your friend didn't call until the 15th. What difference does it make that the phone was dead on the 14th? I don't think they actively monitor to see which phones on their system are dead and not to charge the owners of those phones. For all they know, the sim card was removed to another phone and that phone hasn't been used yet. You sign a contract for the right to use an X amount of minutes per month, and whether you actually use a single of those minutes or not is completely irrelevant.

 

[tiecollector]

oh whoops. I thought you already paid. If you haven't paid, then they will cancel the charges somehow. I actually got a credit to my account for $100 or so with ATT. Basically, they let the payment process, then I waited 6 months to get a refund. It actually did come.

 

[samblau]

Where is the person located? I am not suggesting that your friend do anything, however, if it is a small amount of money many jurisdictions in the US have small claims courts (other names are used). Use Google to find one in the affected persons jurisdiction.

 

[crazyquik]

Sue them and turn it into a nation-wide class action lawsuit