We received a collection notice from afni Incorp., trying to collect more than $550.0 on behalf of their client GTE Southwest dba VERIZON.
Since we have never before received any invoice from Verizon and we have proof that all our bills were paid while we were Verizon cutomers (VERIZON debited automatically our credit card and refunded overpaid amounts when we had received the final invoice after closure of our accounts about 18 months ago), we disputed the collection attempt with afni.
We also called Verizon, who said they have no trace of open balances from our account and referred us back to afni, stating that they would be the only party which could resolve the issue.
afni has now sent the second collection letter, stating that the claim is valid and that our dispute has been denied. VERIZON again stated that they have no claim and referred us (again) back to afni.
We have now asked VERIZON in writing to stop harassing us or to provide evidence of the validity of their claim, and have sent a copy of this letter to afni.
Scary is, that companies like VERIZON are obvisously involved in very questionable business relationships with companies like afni, and worst of all, seem to be furnishing these companies with personal and confidential data like social security numbers, addresses etc.. This is certaily sufficient for afni to get information like credit ratings of their victims and target primarily those which have a reputation to lose.
Dieter
Fort Worth, Texas