Worldcom Wireless ripoff charging me for a phone I returned now has been turned over to a credit co. Newark New Jersey

Back in October of 2000, my husband received a telemarketing call from Sprint and was offering him a free phone if he signed up for one of their plans. Since he already had a Sprint account, he was going to order the phone for his sister.

When we received the phone, the outside of the box said MCI Worldcom. We thought that that was odd and had we known that this had anything to do with MCI, we would've NEVER ordered the phone since we had a bad experience with MCI Long Distance Plan before.

Anyhow, we decided to keep the phone. In the process of trying to activate the phone, we were given several phone numbers from a letter that had accompanied the phone, to call to activate the phone and to set up voicemail. All of the numbers that we had called were voice activated and lead us around in circles with the phone options and when we selected the option to speak to an operator, the line would disconnect.

Since we couldn't activate the phone and we couldn't speak to someone to get a shipping address to ship the phone back, we just boxed up the phone and left it there. (We gave up after two weeks of trying to futilely activate the phone and trying to get in contact with a live person.)

Two months later, we received a bill for over $30.00. We thought that that was ludicrous for us to be charged when we couldn't even activate the phone to put it in use. So I called the Customer "NO" Service number on the bill and after 30 minutes finally got an operator, and explained the situation and was given a phone number to call to get the shipping address and was told that they will "zero" out the account and close it. I then shipped the phone back as soon as they sent me the shipping label.

Needless to say, after two years of me shipping back the phone. I was still getting bills from MCI. Everytime that I got a bill, I would call MCI (and be put on hold for at least 30 minutes each time) and was told that the account will be "zeroed" out and cancelled. I was also told at one point that they had a new computer system installed, and so the bills were being generated automatically so I will still be receiving a bill for the next 2-3 billing cycles. (I've also asked to speak to a supervisor or manager everytime to verify that the account is closed and was told that there is not a supervisor around or there isn't even a supervisor available in the building!)

Finally, the middle of 2002, I got a bill from MCI for over $200.00 and also a letter from a collection agency saying that if I don't pay this amount, that this is going to go on my credit report and that they'll have to take legal actions.

After some researching, the following is what I did to resolve the situation:

1. Created a document of a timeline of all of the bills that I had received and the charges for each bill, the account number on the bill, the name of the person that I spoke to each time that assured me that my account had been "zeroed" out and cancelled, and the date that I spoke to that person. (During this process of going back looking through my bills, when I was told that my account was closed out, they went ahead and opened a new account number under my husbands name for the same phone! They did this three times!)
2. I then sent a "drop-dead" letter to the collection agency and to MCI headquarters via certified mail along with the timeline document. (See a sample "drop-dead" letter below.)
3. I then filed a complaint w/ the Better Business Bureau and included the steps that I've taken to try to resolve this issue. The BBB will follow-up with the claim and will keep you updated with what actions have been taken by MCI to resolve the matter.

I know that this is a lot to do, especially for such a small amount, but I just got tired (and stressed out) of getting all those bills month after month for a phone that I no longer have or have never even used and to be turned over to a collection agency and possibly have my credit ruined.

I hope that you get this situation resolved. So far, I have not received anymore bills from MCI after filing w/ the BBB.

SAMPLE of "Drop-Dead" Letter to Collection Agencies:
------------------------
(Date)

To Whom it may concern:

I have been contacted by your company about a debt you allege I owe. I am instructing you not to contact me further in connection with this debt. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a federal law, you may not contact me further once I have notified you not to do so.

Sincerely,

(Name)

(Account No.)