WorldCom Wireless $1300 of Erroneous Roaming Charges I can't get resolved ripoff business from hell Mississippi

WorldCom Wireless Saga


My story of WorldCom Wireless began the day I signed up for service. Ironically, at the time I worked for WorldCom's Emerging Markets Business Division. I walked down the hallway to where the Wireless Division sales force worked and asked one of the reps to sign me up for a cell phone and plan.

At the time I was aware that I may be moving to Oregon and requested that he put me on a plan that would include Oregon in the home calling area. About an hour later my service was supposed to be turned on. Unfortunately, the phone number I was initially given (415-999-9474 did not seem to work.

After spending some time, approximately an hour or two over the next few days, on the phone with customer service and tech support, they gave me a new number (415-518-6450) and a new phone, and I seemed that I was on my way. Over the next few months I would have to continue to call tech support and customer service to repair such issues as voicemail not working, and caller ID not working. This all began on May 25th when I signed the contract.

In November I moved to Oregon as I had suspected I would. The second month I was living in Oregon I began receiving bills that were way out of range from what they should be due to the fact that they were charging roaming fees for all my calls. It turns out that they had put me on a calling plan that did not cover Oregon.

I continued to pay the amount that I should pay for the service I signed up for. I would include hand written notices when I remitted my payment by mail detailing that the roaming charges were erroneous and they should adjust my account accordingly. That never happened. Each concurrent month the raoming charges continued accrueing.

I finally got on the phone with customer service to get the issue resolved and to get my cell number changed from a 415 number to a 503 number. Initially the CSR told me that in order to change my number and correct the calling area coverage I would need to purchase a new phone as the one I had was incompatible with the network in Oregon. I requested he start working on the changes in my plan and the credits that would follow and I would just keep my 415 number until May when my contract expires and I could get out of this nightmare.

I think that was when they actually did get the coverage changes implemented. I called back the next day to get a different CSR and she was very helpful and informed me that I don't need to purchase another phone to change my number. She said she would make the necessary changes which would be terminating the agreement I was on in California and start a new one in Oregon.

I said that was fine as long as I don't incur any early termination charges and I don't commit to another year of service. She assured me that I would not recieve early termination fees nor would I have to start a new year of commitment.

I thought I was on my way to having the right service in the right area for the right rate. I also believed that the erroneous charges for roaming would be credited back to my account. I was wrong. I continued to receive bills in excess of $250 dollars. I would pay the $79 and change for the amount I knew was the correct charge for services delivered and would always include a note in my remittance envelope explaining that I have credits pending to bring my account up to date.

Unfortunatley those credits never came. At one point, to avoid any further time and frustration spent on this I sent in two checks exceeding $200 each to see if I could just pay my way out of this situation. At that point it was worth it to me to pay extra just to resolve the issues.

My next few bills were in the amount of $1200. This was all from the last account that had been terminated. Around this time also was receiving bills for the new account established in Oregon in the correct amounts.

This is when I began to keep track of all my calls and time spent to get this issue resolved. I cannot afford to pay in excess of $1200 in erroneous charges just to stop the madness! I was also unable to access my voicemail on the new account and had to spend in excess of an hour, twice, with a gentleman named Darrin (fax number 630-795-5962) to whom I had to send a fax copy of my drivers lisence for some reason in order to get him to reset my voicemail. This was on February 6th of 2002.
Shortly after that, on or about April 12th I received a "Demand For Payment" from a credit collections agency with WorldCom Letterhead indicating that my response is required to avoid further action.

The following Monday I called the number on the letter and asked how I can get this remedied. I was informed that I was talking to a collections agency and they had no way of helping me. I had to contact WorldCom directly to get the issues resolved.

I called 800-245-8991 and spoke with Michelle operator #3459. She could not help me. I called back later that day and spoke with Patricia Operator #2590. I then spoke with Adrian Operator #8254 and then Oscar Operator #2828. These calls took place on 4/15 between the hours of 7:45 PST to 8:12 PST when I was disconnected when Oscar transferred me to another customer service center. The recording said, "We are unable to place this call" and I was dropped.

Imagine my frustration level! I eventually found out that I was dealing with the Oregon customer service who could not help me as the problems were associated with the Calornia account which was terminated, incurred early termination charges, and was still incurring additional charges. The balance had reached a total of $1,268 according to the Demand for Payment.

On the 16th of April, I called California customer service directly at 800-745-0255. I spoke with Patricia and Shevette that day and spent about an hour trying to get some resolution. I also spoke with Clint a Collections supervisor and was told that the problem was being taken care of.

No such thing. I called back again at 8am on the 24th of April. I was greeted by Adrian, operator #8254. I gave Adrian the confirmation numbers I had obtained during my last exchange (a credit for $664.16-confirmation number 3491453, a credit for $354.72 Confirmation number 4623037). He informed me that those credits were approved but not applied and would not be applied as they were lost. So if I had not called back I would have never been notified, except perhaps by having a lein placed on my finances by a credit agency.

On that day, Adrian submitted for another credit in the amount of $1290.86. This is the balance Adrian was showing for my account which included $250 early termination charges, and an additional $21.98 in new charges somehow incurred even thought the account had been terminated. The confirmation number for the credits Adrian submitted was 4754384. I was told by Adrian that the credits are now in the correct system and once they are approved they would hit my account in a few days.

I then asked Adrian to stay on the phone with my while I conferenced in the collections agency. I wanted them to hear from WCOM wireless that there were credits pending and that they should suspend any further action on my credit. I think I was on the phone with Anthony Small at the time as well who eventually hung up on me since he was unable to stay on the phone any longer.

I repeatedly requested from all of the people I was dealing with to speak with their superiors. I was repeatedly denied on that request. On 4/26/02 I called again at 9am. I got Tracy Johnson Operator number 2597. She requested that I fax a copy of my agreement to justify the credits. I eventually found the agreement via some contacts I still have at WorldCom.

I faxed a copy of it to Mrs. Johnson at 817-759-5593. Tracy said she would look into it and call me back. She never did call me back. I didn't even know if she received the fax copy of the agreement. I called back again on the 3rd of May, the same day I received another notice from the collections agency. This notice was on the same WorldCom letterhead entitled, "Collection alert" It stated that this was my final opportunity to resolve my debt with WorldCom. I had been desperately trying to resolve it but to no avail.

That day I spoke with S.M. Tamiko who asked me to re-fax my agreement to her and she would place that fax on Mrs. Johnson's desk pesonally. She did so and said that she or Mrs. Johnson would call me back on Friday. I never received that call. On May 6th I called again and was on hold from 7:20am to 7:51am. I called again at 7:56 the same day and was on hold until 8:01. Marcus answered and placed me on hold at 8:04 when I gave him my story until 8:10. I was then put on hold again when I asked to speak to his supervisor.

I was transferred to Shanae Mitchel at 817-759-5132. She said she would investigate my issues and call me back in 1 to 1.5 hours. I still had not heard back from her by 12:42 my time so I called her direct number and left a message. I did that again at 3:44 when I had still not heard from he.

On the 9th of May I called AGAIN and left a message with Shanae. I was handled by a young lady named Lakesha, operator #8279, who informed me that Shanae's supervisor was Thomas Avery and that her own supervisor was Marina Ratmanski. Lakesha asked me to fax my agreement to her at 602-383-1699 which I did (this is the third time) so she could take it home and do a re-rate on my account. She said that she would call me back but never did. She gave me her extension but every time I call in and ask to speak to her she is either unavailable or cannot be found.

I tried to reach her again on the 10th of May at 10:20am but could not get to her. On the 13th of May I called again @ 9:35. I got an operator who said she spoke with Lakesha and told me that Lakesha would call me back as soon as she gets off the call she was on. I had not heard from her by 1:20 that day so I called back and asked to be trasferred to her extension by the operator who answered the phone, his name was Marcus.

Marcus was rude, and irate and refused to transfer my call. I hung up and called back at 1:25 and was put on hold until 1:33. The operator said that Lakesha would call back tomorrow. I called again on the 14th of May, the day I am writing this, and asked for Lakesha. The young lady who answered, Theresa, said that Lakesha had done the re-rate and had input it into the system. I asked what the next steps were and how long it would take. She said that the request has to go to a supervisor for approval. If the amount of the re-rate is to large for the supervisor it would have to go to a manager.

She informed me that the process from now forward could take as long as 2 weeks. I had been told this on numerous occasions throughout this saga but got no results. I informed her that I didn't have two weeks. I needed some resolution today in order to avoid any action taken against my credit. She said that they can't handle that in customer service and that I need to contact Accounting to make those actions take place.

She transferred me to Anthony in accounting with a tracking number for the re-rate (463037), under which she said that the accounting division would be able to pull up my info. Anthony in Account services could not pull up the info under the number given to me by Theresa. Anthony informed me that I need to contact customer service to get resolution. I told Anthony that I was transferred to him by customer service. I then requested that Anthony stay on the line with my while I conference in someone from customer service.

We got Jasmine this time who said that I needed to speak to someone in the New York Accounting department not the one in Florida where Anthony was. I got the number from Jasmine and asked her to transfer Anthony and myself to New York. Anthony refused to stay on the line as we were put on hold. He said he can't waste any more time away from his work. I had spent in excess of 10 hours away from my work up to this point but he couldn't stay with me for more than 5 minutes.

It is now 9:18 on the 14th and I am put on hold again until 9:20 when I am kicked back to the greeting message you get when you first dial the number and then I am cut off. At 11:14 on the same day I call back yet again. This time I get Francie. She informs me that she can't get into my account on the computer because someone else is in it right now. If Jasmine is still in there it has been over two hours. Francie says that I should call another call center, perhaps the one in Florida so someone there can help me.

I informed her that I need to deal with someone in New York. Francie then puts me on hold and comes back at 11:17 and says that she will keep trying to get into my account and will call me back within two hours.

As I write this sentence it is 12:55, approximately 1 1/2 hours since I hung up from Jasmine. I have very little hope that she will call me back today or any other day. This issue has not been resolved to this date. I am still trying to get it resolved.

IS THERE ANYONE IN THIS WORLD WHO CAN GET THIS RESOLVED FOR ME?

Peter
Portland, Oregon

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