What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland
So here's an odd one for you. I went to do the auto-bill-pay online and as soon as I did I noticed someone elses payment info on my account page, as if someone else was already paying my account. I called my power company about this. I told them that it seems to be being paid and they have sent me receipts of the bill being paid but that I had concerns that the payment never came out of my account. I was told, well you can add your payment info on your account page and choose that payment method instead of the one thats already there. I told them that there was NO WAY I was putting MY payment info on my account since it looked like someone else may have access to my account. I asked them to remove that payment from my account and tell me how this happened. They said they could not remove it, and would call me back with a answer on how it came to be that there was someone else's payment on my account. Well I got NO CALL back, and so I called my power company again and asked for an update. They told me that the money IS coming out of my account. I said but its really not. The customer service rep. said, "listen someone is paying your bill and thats all that matters to us. Do not worry about it. But it seems like its coming out of your (my) account." So I continued to receive payment receipts for OVER A YEAR. All the sudden I get a call from them.
Here is what they said:
It seems like someone else has UNKNOWINGLY been paying your electric bill for over a year. You now owe us over $3400. (!!!) How would you like to pay this?
UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. What?!?!?
So i got escalated up to the higher level customer support who told me she never heard of anything like this. But I still needed to pay. I told them I was willing to pay the last month of which they caught the mistake, but that was it. On account of , I felt I did my due diligence a year earlier by inquiring about this TWICE. I raised my voice to her eventually, asking that they do more that just allow me to make payments over the next two years for it (such as have them pay for a good portion of it). This customer support rep was yelling back at me basically saying "YOU DIDNT PAY SOMEONE ELSE DID!" "YOU NEED TO PAY FOR YOUR SERVICE!" But she did, eventually say she would call me back after she dug up the recordings from over a year ago, of which I spoke to the first two customer service reps about this.
A week went by , I got no call. So i called back and left a message, requesting she call me back. Then another week, same thing, I left a message no call back. Then 2 more weeks, same thing. Over a month later I get a collections call from Delmarva (ops I spilled the beans on who it is..) . I let the rep know of the situation of which I was still waiting on a call from this higher level customer support Supervisor. He left a message for her, still no call back. Then a week later, another collections call from them. This time the girl tells me. Well its not an option to talk to that Supervisor any more. Pay now or have your power shut off in a week!
I should mention in the two months I have been waiting for a call back from this Supervisor, I have been paying what was due ONLY for those two months to keep up on my bill.
The facts:
I did inquire numerous times about this mystery account. Of which I was assured , they didnt care as long as they were getting paid (And looked like my account.)
I have all the receipts stating that the bills in question were paid (although it WAS NOT BY ME)
I have raised numerous questions pertaining to how someone elses payment was able to get on my account, with no answer.
They have told me its MY FAULT for not noticing (or for noticing) that the funds were not coming out of my account.
I feel violated that someone else was able to gain access to my account and cause this much turmoil.
This is really stressing me out.
I dont want this to affect my credit.
I am not looking forward to paying over another $140 per month on something I thought was being taken care of. What, if any, are my courses of actions?
thanks,
So here's an odd one for you. I went to do the auto-bill-pay online and as soon as I did I noticed someone elses payment info on my account page, as if someone else was already paying my account. I called my power company about this. I told them that it seems to be being paid and they have sent me receipts of the bill being paid but that I had concerns that the payment never came out of my account. I was told, well you can add your payment info on your account page and choose that payment method instead of the one thats already there. I told them that there was NO WAY I was putting MY payment info on my account since it looked like someone else may have access to my account. I asked them to remove that payment from my account and tell me how this happened. They said they could not remove it, and would call me back with a answer on how it came to be that there was someone else's payment on my account. Well I got NO CALL back, and so I called my power company again and asked for an update. They told me that the money IS coming out of my account. I said but its really not. The customer service rep. said, "listen someone is paying your bill and thats all that matters to us. Do not worry about it. But it seems like its coming out of your (my) account." So I continued to receive payment receipts for OVER A YEAR. All the sudden I get a call from them.
Here is what they said:
It seems like someone else has UNKNOWINGLY been paying your electric bill for over a year. You now owe us over $3400. (!!!) How would you like to pay this?
UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. What?!?!?
So i got escalated up to the higher level customer support who told me she never heard of anything like this. But I still needed to pay. I told them I was willing to pay the last month of which they caught the mistake, but that was it. On account of , I felt I did my due diligence a year earlier by inquiring about this TWICE. I raised my voice to her eventually, asking that they do more that just allow me to make payments over the next two years for it (such as have them pay for a good portion of it). This customer support rep was yelling back at me basically saying "YOU DIDNT PAY SOMEONE ELSE DID!" "YOU NEED TO PAY FOR YOUR SERVICE!" But she did, eventually say she would call me back after she dug up the recordings from over a year ago, of which I spoke to the first two customer service reps about this.
A week went by , I got no call. So i called back and left a message, requesting she call me back. Then another week, same thing, I left a message no call back. Then 2 more weeks, same thing. Over a month later I get a collections call from Delmarva (ops I spilled the beans on who it is..) . I let the rep know of the situation of which I was still waiting on a call from this higher level customer support Supervisor. He left a message for her, still no call back. Then a week later, another collections call from them. This time the girl tells me. Well its not an option to talk to that Supervisor any more. Pay now or have your power shut off in a week!
I should mention in the two months I have been waiting for a call back from this Supervisor, I have been paying what was due ONLY for those two months to keep up on my bill.
The facts:
I did inquire numerous times about this mystery account. Of which I was assured , they didnt care as long as they were getting paid (And looked like my account.)
I have all the receipts stating that the bills in question were paid (although it WAS NOT BY ME)
I have raised numerous questions pertaining to how someone elses payment was able to get on my account, with no answer.
They have told me its MY FAULT for not noticing (or for noticing) that the funds were not coming out of my account.
I feel violated that someone else was able to gain access to my account and cause this much turmoil.
This is really stressing me out.
I dont want this to affect my credit.
I am not looking forward to paying over another $140 per month on something I thought was being taken care of. What, if any, are my courses of actions?
thanks,
