Are we liable?

I signed up with AT&T Wireless and they sent a phone with the service. We were very disappointed in the phone and the service so we cancelled and sent the phone back. They said they did not get the phone and they are sending us to a collection agency because we will not pay. What recourse do I have?

signed up with AT&T Wireless and they sent a phone with the service. We were very disappointed in the phone and the service so we cancelled and sent the phone back. They said
they did not get the phone and they are sending us to a collection agency because we will not pay.

I'm sure they will make you liable for it even if you aren't, and I'm not saying that you aren't because you probably are.

AT&T is one of the worst phone services one can get mixed up with. Their rates are horrible and their service as bad. They get no money from me if I can help it, but they manage to bilk me out of a buck or two anyway. They keep on calling me with ludicrous new rate plans which are usually about double what I am paying and what anybody else should be paying and I get great service too. I just laugh in their faces and hang up on them.

But on to your problems. Tell them to quit bothering you and send you to a collection agency. Tell them the sooner the better. But you should also immediately file a complaint with your state's public utilities commission or whatever they are called in your state that regulates the phone companies. It might not do you any good, but what the heck have you got to lose? If you have any proof of having sent the phone back that might help you some. But if you have to fight with them then you are far better off fighting with a collection agency than you are trying to fight with AT&T. It's a lot easier to fight a collection agency and win than it is to fight with AT&T because once they send you to a collection agency your protections under FDCPA kick in. That gives you lots of weaponry you can fight with, but be sure that you demand validation within 30 days of the receipt of the collection agency's first demand for payment and be sure that you can prove that you did respond in a timely manner.

Don't throw the collection agency letter away. It may contain valuable information that you can use to fight them off with. You need to start learning how to fight and win immediately. It's not hard to do at all.

What recourse do I have?

Recourse? Well that probably depends upon what you call "recourse" because if your definition of recourse is what can you do to AT&T for their treatment of you which you seem to think was unfair, probably not a whole lot. Your prompt complaint to your state's public utilities commission might be one of your better ones. I would not pass that one up. A simple phone call is usually all it takes to get whatever action you might be able to get. Quite often that's nothing at all, but also it happens quite often that one does get action from them. It just depends on the situation. Usually they will do the best they can for you.

Probably the best thing you can do is to start learning what your rights are under FDCPA and how to enforce them.

[email]bbauer1@netzero.net[/email]

Originally posted by BSulli1545
I signed up with AT&T Wireless and they sent a phone with the service. We were very disappointed in the phone and the service so we cancelled and sent the phone back. They said they did not get the phone and they are sending us to a collection agency because we will not pay. What recourse do I have?

Well if you made it all the way past bbaur's lastest diatribe about AT&T let's take a moment to deal with the facts of your contract dispute.

How did you return the phone to them? Did you send it by some method that provides a tracking number? It was your responsibility to make sure it got to them safely - just as when they sent you the phone it was theirs. If you can prove they received it, you probably won't have to pay any collection agency for it. If you cannot prove they received it, and do not have any ability to return it to them now, you may as well pay them before this matter negatively impacts your credit rating.

Good luck.


[email]JASON@LEGISLATOR.COM[/email]

[color="brown"]you may as well pay them before this matter negatively impacts your credit rating.[/color]

What the hot air legislator didn't tell you was that it probably already has impacted your credit rating. They slap you with that little goody about the first pop out of the box. And they are very likely to slap you with several of them before they ever turn it over to any collection agency.

You will need to check your credit reports before you even think of paying them so you can do something about making them take it off before you pay them in the event you should decide to do so. And if it goes to a collection agency they will have to add their 2&#162.

It's sad when left-wing kooks do nothing but preach at you and give you platitudes about what you should have done hoping to lend some kind of credulity to their attacks on others while never giving you any positive suggestions as to what you might do about the future.

The kooks had all kinds of great answers when some nut with now well proven ties to Iraq and quite possibly to Osami as well bombed the Alfred P. Murrah building here in OKC. Klintoon came and told us how he felt our pain and promised it would never happen again.

Americans would be forever protected against these terrible terrorists because he was going to hire 50,000 new cops and put them on the streets to make it safer for all of us. Wasn't all that long before Gov. Frank Keating was on the air, less than an hour after Flight 807 went down, hollering about how we gotta do something about these terrible terrorists.

And now we are shooting $2 million missles into $10 tents and hitting camels. And another Texan trying to pass more laws. We used to be able to get on an airplane and go wherever we wanted to in pretty fair comfort. Now you can't even get on one of the damned things in less than a month and get nearly strip searched in the process. I can outfly them in a piper cub any day of the week because all I got to do is get in it and go. And I don't even have to tell them where I am going, when or why if I don't want to. When they get through with the airlines I will be able to by an airplane cheaper than I can get on one of theirs.
I can right now if I want to put up with an ultra-light.

Too bad the hot air legislator can't tell you what to do about your problem instead of a bunch of holier-than-thou preaching.

Originally posted by BSulli1545
I signed up with AT&T Wireless and they sent a phone with the service. We were very disappointed in the phone and the service so we cancelled and sent the phone back. They said they did not get the phone and they are sending us to a collection agency because we will not pay. What recourse do I have?

First off, you are currently just dealing with so-called collector within AT&T Wireless. The threat of sending you to a collection agency is the worst threat they will make. And of course, given enough time....they will do just that.

Let me tell you how to deal with AT&T Wireless and get your account zeroed out. Set aside at least an hour before you do this. Call AT&T and DEMAND that they credit your account immediately. What will most likely happen is you will get bounced around to a couple of different departments. After you have been on the phone and find yourself getting NOWHERE, then DEMAND to speak to a supervisor. Let me tell you something about supervisors, they're not very good about dealing with irrate customers and more apt to issue the credit just so you will go away. Anyway, DEMAND that your account be credited IMMEDIATELY. If you don't have a tracking # for returning the phone, no big deal. After issuing the credit they will just negative file the ESN and the phone will be USELESS on ANY carriers network. Do what I say, and there is a 95% probability that you will have all of this cleared up within an hours time.