 SunnyD
join:2009-03-20
Madison, AL | What? Customers should start charging companies "Privilege fees" for allowing the company to service them as a customer.
Wait... hmm... | |
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 | | | Re: What? When ever I get phone calls for ie: wanting to sell me something or survey or donation, I ask them for a credit card as they are on my time and if they want to talk to me it will cost them. | |
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| | SunnyD
join:2009-03-20
Madison, AL | Re: What? I've done that with collection agencies before - asked them for a billing account or credit card number just for the "privilege" of talking to the person they were looking for. Most of the time the polite young ladies that called were hopelessly confused and would end up hanging up rather quickly. The (not-so-gentle)men that would call would tend to argue and become rather belligerent with me as I stonewall them repeating the same request over as they would try to talk through it. | |
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| | |  thegeekPremium
join:2008-02-21
right here
kudos:2 | Re: What? You know, paying your debt on time is the number one most effective way to not get calls from rude collection agency employees. Just sayin. | |
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| | | | | | Re: What? Company's not screwing up and billing for things they have no reason to bill you for is also an effective way to not get calls from collection agency scumbags. | |
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| | | | | | Collection agencies not blindly calling people with the same name or just same last name in the city as you is the best way to stop getting rude collection agency calls.
Especially when they're trying to, rudely, get you to give them your SSN so they can make sure you're not the same person. Yeah, they certainly wouldn't just apply the debt to your SSN since they got in contact with you instead of the other person.
And after you finally get them to stop calling you as you are not that person, all they actually do is pass on the debt to another agent or another agency entirely and the calls start again. | |
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| | | | | thegeekPremium
join:2008-02-21
right here
kudos:2 Reviews:
 ·Suddenlink
| Re: What? The person I was replying to admitted that the collection agents actually reached the person they were trying to reach.
Besides that fact, I never get collection calls. And I have a fairly common name. I'd surely be getting calls left and right if the incidence of mistaken identity is as high as a lot of people like to make it out to be. The truth is collection calls have the right person the majority of the time. | |
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| | | | | | Reviews:
·Insight Communic..
| Re: What? How about still calling a number the debtor has long since changed/disconnected. The best was a debt collector calling my number for the past owner of the number for a phone bill (AT&T). They threatened disconnection, when I asked well then how do you ever expect to reach them by the phone if your going to disconnect the phone. 2nd time they claimed the phone was cut off and to restore service the person they were calling needed to pay them. When I asked how that could be true if I was the person you was looking for, how would you and I be talking. If I was that person, I wouldent have phone service, since the number you called is the numer your trying to collect the bill on.
Common Sence they did not have. | |
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| | | | | | SunnyD
join:2009-03-20
Madison, AL | I never admitted to any such thing. Reread very carefully. Get a new phone number some time, odds are you'll get a collection call sooner rather than later, and repeatedly too even if you tell the same company repeatedly that no such person exists at that number. When it comes to collections, the person on the receiving end of the phone is always guilty until a credit card number or electronic draft is received.
But that's neither here nor there. I knew there'd be at least one of the "Pay your bills" crowd to jump in with blind rage.
fwiw: this is also fun to do with sales calls too. | |
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| | | | | | | thegeekPremium
join:2008-02-21
right here
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Suddenlink
| Re: What? said by SunnyD:asked them for a billing account or credit card number just for the "privilege" of talking to the person they were looking for.
I took that part to mean that they did in fact reach the person they were looking for. | |
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| | | | | | | I found the address of the guy with the same name, and the date (two years earlier) that he moved away, but they would not believe it, or do a credit check or SSN check, and kept calling.
A letter to CPIB (look it up) got me a credit & ID check and a written apology.
Good Luck! | |
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| | | | | I wonder if there is a way to give them a 900 number to call for the person they are looking for, bet they would check their info better after a few huge phone bills. | |
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| | | | RogerD
join:2008-07-15
Sunnyvale, CA Reviews:
 ·Callcentric
| Re: What? said by OSUGoose:I wonder if there is a way to give them a 900 number to call for the person they are looking for, bet they would check their info better after a few huge phone bills.
This is what I love about my VoIP service. I've been getting calls for over ten years for someone I don't know! I tell them that and the calls stop until the debt is sold to someone else and then they start calling. I now keep an address book of these numbers and send their calls to a number disconnected feature. Before that, I sent the calls back to their own number! | |
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|  BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | said by SunnyD:Customers should start charging companies "Privilege fees" for allowing the company to service them as a customer.
Wait... hmm...
Well technically if you're leaving you're no longer a customer. | |
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|  VanPremium
join:2009-07-08
New Orleans, LA | said by SunnyD:Customers should start charging companies "Privilege fees" for allowing the company to service them as a customer.
Wait... hmm...
According to many, any consumer sticking up for itself even in the face of illegal corporate actions...is a socialist who wants government interference in the face of SUPER AWESOME CAPTIALISM! | |
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| |  Sooo.
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| | | Re: Sooo. Anything to get the last money you'll ever get from people, I guess. | |
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|  Smith6612Premium,MVM
join:2008-02-01
North Tonawanda, NY
kudos:22 | Maybe the "Off" button has a copyright on it and they have to pay for it  | |
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| | Something doesn't add up here How does one enforce such a fee? Are you going to cut off my service? | |
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| SunnyD
join:2009-03-20
Madison, AL | Re: Something doesn't add up here Collection activity on your credit record. | |
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| Kalt
join:2012-04-10
Springfield, MO | If you ever want service with them again, that charge will be on your account waiting to be paid before you get service again.  | |
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| | | They ruin your credit if you don't pay. | |
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| | | | Re: Something doesn't add up here It's a non-issue when you pay cash.
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»the53.tumblr.com/ | |
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| | | | | Re: Something doesn't add up here True, it is difficult to purchase houses and cars with cash though, so sometimes credit is needed. | |
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| | Wait, people are surprised by this? This has to be the most ridiculous fee I've encountered with any service provider....in fact this is up there with Verizon's requirement to pay an extra $2 to pay your wireless bill.
I'm not overly surprised that Frontier is the one adding this fee, perhaps if they raise their rates and get enough capital they can actually improve their awful service....I won't count on it though.
At least they now offer "up to" 12Mbps service in my area....not quite the 60/40Mbps service that Centurylink now offers in Phoenix. | |
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| BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: Wait, people are surprised by this? said by daake07:This has to be the most ridiculous fee I've encountered with any service provider....in fact this is up there with Verizon's requirement to pay an extra $2 to pay your wireless bill. Well that was actually cheaper than the $3 Verizon charges to pay your bill in person at a Verizon store. | |
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thegeekPremium
join:2008-02-21
right here
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Suddenlink
| Not Entirely New I remember back when I had Mediacom they started charging a fee if you cancelled part of your service. Like if you had phone and internet and cancelled phone you'd have to pay a fee. But when you cancelled all of your services they'd try sticking you with the fee but never enforced it. When I moved they tried billing me for the disconnection fee. I wrote them a letter telling them to fuck off (but in nicer more civilized language) and I've never heard from them again. | |
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| | How long before... How long will it be before some greedy company starts billing people for NOT choosing their service? And if I get such a bill, and ignore it, how long before same greedy company puts collection info on my credit report for not paying a bill for not choosing a service?
If practices such as this are allowed what is to stop Dell from sending me a bill because I chose instead to buy at Mac? Granted, most businesses don't have the complex service agreements that ISPs have adopted, but given the trend... what's to stop these practices from expanding beyond the ridiculous? | |
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| | | Re: How long before... If they have your SS#, they will do whatever. If they don't they can't really do that. | |
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| | | | Re: How long before... Oh you would think so. Me & dad both have bad checks that were sent to collection agencies on our credit reports. The places listed we've never wrote checks to and never given our SSN to. | |
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| | | | | Re: How long before... I had something like that happen to me in the past. Actually, I had Comcast trying to collect from me in a town that I had never lived in. I had to show THEM proof that I never lived at the address or they were going to send it to collections. Weird world we live in when that's how things work. | |
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| | | | said by jjeffeory:If they have your SS#, they will do whatever. If they don't they can't really do that.
Not true. Back about 17 years ago, I got a letter from a collection agency informing me that I owed Columbia House around $80 for CD's I never paid for, despite the fact that I wasn't a member of their CD club. After a couple of phone calls, I determined that what happened was that I'd moved, and the new tenant at my old apartment had gotten a mailing from them addressed to me and decided to send it in and simply not pay for the discs when they arrived. So, after a while, it ended up in collections. Clearing it up wasn't difficult (one call to the collection agency and a call to a number at Columbia House that they gave me, telling them that I hadn't lived at that address for almost a year), but obviously, Columbia House never had my SSN, yet they sent the bill to collections anyway.
From then on, anything I get like this goes into the shredder. It wouldn't have helped in that case, but I do what I can. | |
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|  cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:7 | said by jus_wonderin :How long will it be before some greedy company starts billing people for NOT choosing their service? And if I get such a bill, and ignore it, how long before same greedy company puts collection info on my credit report for not paying a bill for not choosing a service? I've received "bills" for things that I have never ordered or requested. Often they are for magazines and used as a ploy to attract new subscriptions. I mean, if you got a bill, you obviously need to pay it...
It's deceptive. And may be against the law. Or it may not. Or some grey area in between. But it definitely does happen. | |
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 tshirtPremium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
kudos:3 | For $10, you could... ... buy a nice pair of wire cutters and permanently solve the problem. | |
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| | Legality I don't see how this could be legal. ETFs I understand, but how can you charge someone to cancel their service? | |
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| | | Re: Legality because there is no law on not being able to do so, and one not needed. Simply don't go out to Starbucks a couple times or McD's and the fee is paid for. Or just don't pay it at all. Companies like Frontier don't offload their debit accounts to a collection agency anyway- because they never collect on the amount you owe. | |
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| | CXM_SplicerLooking at the bigger picturePremium
join:2011-08-11
NYC
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| Re: Legality said by hottboiinnc:because there is no law on not being able to do so, and one not needed. Simply don't go out to Starbucks a couple times or McD's and the fee is paid for.
I think we are going to have to start charging you to post here... don't worry though. it wont be much; just don't buy a game or two during the year and it will be paid for. | |
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| |  The LimitPremium
join:2007-09-25
Greensboro, NC
kudos:2 | Because, as Americans, we should be stupid enough to accept sketchy fees.
I guess we really don't need laws at all right? I mean, just don't go outside as much, avoid dangerous areas, and you should never have a problem.
And clue us in on how you seem to have information regarding Frontier's billing practices PLEASE. Lol
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"We will evaluate these integrals rigorously if we can, and non-rigorously if we must".
---Victor Moll, invited talk, Tom Osler Fest (April 17, 2010) | |
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| | |  spewakR.I.P DadkinsPremium
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA
kudos:1
 ·SureWest Internet
| Re: Legality said by The Limit:And clue us in on how you seem to have information regarding Frontier's billing practices PLEASE. Lol
Hottbo's cornered the market on Trolling. Nothing substantive in his/her posts.
My guess, having dealt with Frontier in the past, is that they would insist (send to collection agency) on getting their fees out of you one way or another. They are a cheesy company thru and thru!
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Romney equals Epic Fail! | |
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 morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | Competition is non-existent in big cities, too How does Frontier get away with a constant bevy of rate hikes on service that for most of the company's users struggles to surpass 3 Mbps? They focus on a lot of rural and smaller city markets where broadband competition is virtually nonexistent.
Sadly, broadband competition is nonexistent in big cities, too. Duopolies don't really compete. They pace each other in price and offerings so that consumers have no real choice. | |
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| Reviews:
·Time Warner Cable
·Verizon FiOS
·voip.ms
| Re: Competition is non-existent in big cities, too Well Verizon saddled them with billions in debt through a reverse Morris trust, so they are being crushed under that. Now Verizon comes back in wrapped up w/ the cablecos or cantenna and starts chipping away.
So Verizon +10 for being smart
Frontier -10 for trying to survive and take on a debt monster
Frontier will eventually upgrade equipment but they are in a Sprint-ish problem with trying to inherit all that Verizon debt and their systems. In a dying market, I don't see huge valuation here.
Not saying they are saints, but those fees are necessary when most people compare on "base" price. | |
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Reviews:
·ooma
·Optimum Online
·Verizon FiOS
| won't fly.. these are user fees that generally don't fly with the consumer.. in addition to fees for using a credit card, etc..
the above fees are the COST OF DOING BUSINESS and if you want to cover your costs of doing business, then you RAISE your prices.. but fees quoted as disconnection fees will tend to violate consumer protection laws..
Somebody better read the doing business 101 manual... | |
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|  DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI | Re: won't fly.. They are doing business using the new business 101 manual that states you need to deliver less and charge more so you can overcompensate your executives --who will eventually file for bankruptcy while keeping their benefit packages. | |
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|  RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY | said by tmc8080:these are user fees that generally don't fly with the consumer.. in addition to fees for using a credit card, etc..
the above fees are the COST OF DOING BUSINESS and if you want to cover your costs of doing business, then you RAISE your prices.. but fees quoted as disconnection fees will tend to violate consumer protection laws..
The fees for using Credit Cards is a gray area when you call it the cost of doing business unless you compare them to the cost to the business of being paid some other way (such as by check). The cost of being paid by check is the charge from their bank for depositing and clearing the check (in addition to some prorated part of the cost of the clerk handling the check). Even ignoring the clerk issue, the cost of accepting payment via a credit card is ~2-5% of the charge (ie: The company only gets $0.95-$0.98 on the dollar via cards). Processing a check has a much lower amount being kept by the bank. Thus the fee is supposed to cover the fees that the Bank removes from the total for processing the card. Most fees that I see are much higher than the actual "loss" to the company. | |
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decifal
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·Verizon Broadban..
| bs Um, this is total bullshit.. Hell maybe a gas station should start a "you didn't fill up" fee of $10.00's next... I mean seriously, why not? If this is allowed, heck, I might start charging people to drive by my house and enjoying the view of the woods around me...
Stupid overly abused cronie capitalist greed (buying laws to make sure you don't have any competition so you can get away with crap like this ).. Makes normal fair capitalism look bad... | |
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| | | Re: bs HAHAHAHA.....You didn't fill up fee...
Shhhhhh, don't give them any ideas. | |
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| | greedy as hell Glad my area not Frontier they can stickit, sit and spin. | |
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dkreck
join:2011-02-09
Bakersfield, CA | Disconnect Simple do not pay the $10. At that point all they could do is send you to collection. Who pursues $10? If it goes on a credit report which I doubt it would simply state it was something you never purchased or contracted for. | |
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 GorkOu812ic
join:2001-10-06
Bountiful, UT | What's their next fee gonna' be? How long before they start charging a $10 "you never signed up for our service" fee? | |
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| KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | Re: What's their next fee gonna' be? hard part there would be collecting it, I mean if AT&T told me I owed em money for picking verizon instead I would tell them where to shove it.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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| | | | Re: What's their next fee gonna' be? pirate industry will setup a you owe me for nothing fee that says for not paying someone elseses bill u owe them twice as much ... | |
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| | Cancel Today Than Time to send them to the curb... Thanks for the crappy services over the last 18 years.... | |
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| | | Re: Cancel Today Than How long before the much hated Rogers or Bell gets wind of this and decides to impose it? | |
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| | TIme to bill back Send Frontier a bill for administrative processing of their monthly bill. $10 ought to do it. | |
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