I'm so upset right now that it is literally making me ill!
After almost a year of trying to get them to let me out of my contract due to poor to no coverage, I finally won the battle in November. The lady I spoke with promised me that I would have no final bill, no additional amounts owed, everything was free and clear and good to go, right? Not right. We had done a warranty exchange in October on a phone that had been smashed to smithereens, and our insurance wouldn't replace it for the amount the store said they would. The lady who did the warranty for us didn't mention that we had to return it. Regardless, the relative of mine who used that phone (when it worked, which was hardly ever due to where we live) boxed it up. Our lines finally get cancelled and two months later, I get a bill for $500. I call in and am told it is for that exchange and they didn't return the phone. I thought it was returned, though, and told them that much. The rep said they would look into it and make sure it wasn't hiding somewhere but in the meanwhile, I should look into it, too. I asked if I could still return it, in the case that it wasn't, and said I would even double check with UPS. Her exact words: When we have it in our hands, we can refund the charges. Turns out the boxed up pie of shards was on a bookshelf, so we got it from my relative and mailed it in. When it showed as received in the docks, i spoke to a rep who got the tracking number from me, confirmed that they received it, and said he would "take care of the bill" when I asked him to make sure that the bill is waived. This was early January.
Now, yesterday I got a second and final notice. I call in and the lady, who this time is American, tells me that there will be no waiver. I returned the phone after the 60 day window. I'm screwed. I explained all of this to her and she refuses. I talk to her supervisor, who tells me that since neither rep noted the account saying that they would waive it, she won't. I'm like, of course not! If you lie to make the customer get off of the phone, why would you document it? And if they didn't tell me to return it for the waiver, why would I have even bothered returning it? She also said we would have gotten phone calls and texts about it, but I didn't have service on my lines most of the time. This is documented in my account, too! And she said nothing would have gone out by mail either. So we get no reminders, we aren't told that it ad to be returned in the first place, they refuse to pull calls since apparently outsourced calls are rarely recorded, and despite having the phone in their hands, they get to continue on charging me?!
I was promised a call back from a manager, and nothing. I can't do this. $500 is almost half of my paycheck. I can't just pay that because someone says I have to. What can I do?