Retired Soldier, Screwed By MCI WORLDCOM

I was stationed in Maryland and had MCI Worldcom wireless for five years. I had no problems and payed my bills on time. When I decided to retire in May of 2001 and move to West Virginia I tried to have my service transfered to that state. I was unable to do this because Worldcom wireless does not service West Virginia. I therefore informed them that I was canceling my account.

This is where my nightmare begins. Shortly after I informed them that I was closing the account I received a bill that was higher than usual. I called to find out why. It turned out that I had been charged roaming that wasn't mine. Amazingly they removed the roaming charges and I payed the correct amount. Because MCI WORLDCOM bills in quarters and is always three months behind I didn't receive my final bill until the account was closed and I had moved.

When I received this bill I was shocked to see that it was three times the amount that I had been averaging and expected. When I tried to find out why, I could not be helped on the phone unlike the previous time and was told I would receive a breakdown of the full three months.

Weeks past and I received nothing from them except another bill telling me I was late. After talking to a representative and giving them my new address and phone number again, I was again told I would be receiving a breakdown bill. This happened two more times before I recieved my first threatening letter from there bill collecting department. I called the phone number listed on the letter and explained the entire situation. This person ensured me that he would print out the breakdown of the bill and send it.

Just like clock work I did not receive a breakdown but another letter. I called again and was told again the same thing. I waited patiently only to receive a third threatening letter saying this was my final chance before it would be sent to a collection agency. By now my patience had worn out and I demanded to speak to a supervisor, or should I say STUPIDVISOR! This moron told me that they could not help me with my problem because it had been more than four months and that it was my fault not theirs.

He then explained that only customer service can send me what I needed and transfered me. Believe it or not I actually got a human being that understood and felt my pain. He tried several times to retrieve the three months of billing that I needed but couldn't. Frustrated he asked if I would be satisfied I he cut the roaming bill part in half and close this matter. I agreed and he transfered me to a person in billing. I trustfully gave this person my checking account information for an electronic withdrawal.

Weeks had passed when If you can believe it, a bill came with the corected amount that I thought was taken care of. Amazingly it had to be forwarded from my old address again. Every time I had to talk to them I had to correct my address. Of course I contacted them and was told not to worry that sometimes it can take a few weeks. What actually happened though was I received a letter from DUN and BRADSTREET, a collection agency. I of course called MCI to find out what was going on and was told that for some reason the payment did not go through and that they would be happy to try it again. I told them that I would prefer to pay it through DUN and BRADSTREET and that way I would be assured to keep them from harassing me any further.

DUN and BRADSTREET told me that I had made a wise decission that MCI only had one person to handle the turning them off part and it could take months. I bet you thought my nightmare would be over right? Not Hardly, not only did I pay this bill through the collection agencey but MCI also collected from my account and now are saying I owe the original amount. Can you believe this? I have payed this bill twice now, and my bank acount reflects this, but they have the nerve to tell me I still owe the original amount.

What has made this even worse is that I had kept my account in Maryland open until I setteled this matter. Thinking it was over, I transfered what was left in that account to my new bank in West Virginia. Unfortunatly, I did not close the acount waiting to insure the transfer went through. The Transfer went fine but as you can guess so did the withdrawal that MCI told me had not. This has caused my account to be overdrawn incurring a $25 dollar fee.

This has been and continues to be a problem that has been going on for nine months. I don't know if MCI long distance service and worldcom wireless are actually the same company but as of this month I am ending my long distance service with them after 16 years of service. Just the thought of them being the same company is to much for me. I don't know when or how this will be resolved but if you are even considering using MCI Worldcom Wireless do yourself a favor and don't.

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