Arch Wireless - trouble closing account - after closing it, told to return pager

# 33 for August 26, 2003

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on August 25, 2003:

From:

RE: Arch Wireless - trouble closing account - after closing it, told to return pager After a responsible paying record as a customer of Arch Wireless for a few years, I attempted to close my account last Feb of 2003. Despite my having done so, Arch Wireless continued to bill me. Further, despite my numerous communications and repeated efforts to clear up the account, Arch Wireless has ignored my letters and phone calls for months.

I do not owe them any money, and in fact, I repeatedly tried to close that account (I had ceased using it long before I even closed it, so I certainly did not use it after I tried to close it). Despite my letters and phone calls, no one in the company has ever contacted me, except to continue billing me as though they have received no communications from me. I wrote, again, a month ago, Cc-ing copies to my attorneys, and instructing the company to end the harassing billing and to clean up my account, with no negative consequences to my excellent credit record. Instead of responding, Arch Wireless turned my account over to a collection agency, Collecttech Systems. As I explained to Arch Wireless in writing and by phone, I closed the account but continued to receive bills. Each month, I continued to express that I had closed the account, and I therefore did not pay. I was finally

told by a Customer Service rep on the phone (I called them) that I had not returned the pager and I would be billed until I did return it. I explained to the Customer Service Rep, and again last month in a letter to Arch Wireless, that for years, customers returned pagers to Arch Wireless in containers that the company required we use, and we were instructed to wait for the company to send them to us. I did not know Arch Wireless changed its policy. In fact, I had returned a pager that had ceased to work, because it was old, just a short time before I decided to close the account. I was required to send the old pager back in a package that Arch Wireless provided. When I closed the account, no one in the company informed me of the change in policy. In fact, I would like to know the date that policy change took effect. Finally, after a phone call to the right person, I was told that I

had not returned the pager and that is why I continued to be billed. I was told that as soon as I returned it, the matter would be cleared up.

I told the Arch Wireless Customer Service person that I had not been informed of the change in policy, and that I had not been using my account, but instead had put the pager in a drawer and waited for the Arch Wireless package to be sent to me. I am a busy person and I did not dwell on why I had not received the container, but I did think the company was taking responsibility for their own policies. Therefore, I expected the bill to include only the time until I initially ended the account, and I had responsibly paid that amount already. Further, after my conversation with the Customer Service employee, I immediately returned the pager. I was a dependable, responsible customer for several years before I tried to close the account. Please, why would someone with my stellar credit record refuse to pay a measly $21.36 if I owed it? It is due to Arch Wireless' dismal customer service and poor management that I continued to be billed, with no indication that I had ceased being their customer months before. They have never responded to my letters to explain why they think I still owe them $21.36. I am sick of corporate America fleecing Americans for every penny that can be squeezed out of us, often quite unethically and manipulatively, while we can’t communicate with anyone who even knows anything in the companies, given that they are people in warehouses, and/or overseas who are merely repeating lines they have been taught, but they can provide no real customer service. That is why I have refused to pay what I do not owe, even if it is a small amount. However, I now have a collection agency after me, and I am sure this is a negative mark on my stellar credit record. Barb S