Earthlink is the WORST COMPANY EVER!!!

[Jiggerachi]

Over the last month or so I have been fighting Earthlink over a bogus charge - a billing issue they refuse to resolve. At this point I am a week or so from having this bogus charge on my credit and have yet to talk to anyone that gives a shit. Anyway, here's my rant..err..story. Its a long one, but maybe someone here has some ideas to help my cause...

It all started this August. I recieved a letter at my parents house, a bill from Earthlink for a totall of $410, the services field was blank...just a $410 balance & a due date. I thought it a little odd as I cancelled my earthlink dialup account almost 3 years ago.

I call their customer service dept, get a nice lady that researches the problem for me. Apparently someone wrote a check back in March 06 for $410 that somehow ended up getting credited to my account (how the hell that happened on an account that was cancelled 3 years ago I dont know). When whoever wrote the check realized that it hadnt gone to their account, they cancelled it. Well the smart computer apparently assumed that Brandon Fields cancelled this check and that Brandon Fields must have owed Earthlink $410, so the system cranked out a bill for $410...with no services rendered. The nice lady told me that she would clear this up and I should disregard the bill. I asked for a confirmation number and anything in writing but she could not provide me with anything. My mistake, but I was just starting the school semester so I didnt have time to worry about it.

All was fine and dandy untill late October when I get a letter from a collection agency stating this charge was sent to them. I called them and told them my story but of course there was nothing they would do. So I call back to Earthlink.

I get ahold of a customer service rep who doesn't speak a damn bit of english...and got nowhere. I call back another day and the same thing. After a few tries I get ahold of someone who says they will take care of the situation for me, gives me a confirmation number. I wait a week and call the collection agency back, nothing changed. So this time I call and ask for a superviser...the superviser tells me that I have to talk to the collection agency. I tell her that I have already spoken to them and it is Earthlink's problem. She then (in broken english) begs me to please please call them, I tell her no. She says she doesnt understand the problem, if I would just pay the "small balance" everything would be taken care of. I ask to speak with her manager. She tells me that that is not possible. I ask again, she tells me that this is my problem and that I was basically making this up to get around paying them. At this point I lose it...then magically the manager popps up on the line.

I explain my case and he procedes to laugh and say "come on, all you have to do is pay the balance, what is the problem?" I kept my cool and got him to bring up my account. He tells me that I must have wrote the check for a past amount that was due. I asked him to tell me the name, date, and information on the check...to prove that that was my check, and to prove that there was a previous balance on the account. He had no response...then he said he would personally take care of this for me.

I called this week and again nothing. I have since talked to many representatives, caught them in numerous petty lies and have been accused of lying to them to get out of this balance. Today I finally talked to a seemingly competent 'manager' and found out that the previous manager I spoke to actually submitted a form for dismissal of the balance, but it was refused by the accounts payable dept. I asked him if I could speak to the department that was responsible and he could only give me a fax number, and that if I fax my number to them, they would call me back. I asked if he could transfer me and he agreed, but transferred me instead to the damn collections agency...that bastard.

Well I once again pleaded my case to the lady at the collections agency, she was real nice but said that basically there was nothing I could do. She said she has been dealing with previous Earthlink customers in similar siuations and has yet to see any charges dropped by Earthlink. She says there is no way that I can win this. Im sure this is another ploy to get me to cough up the 400 bucks, but I cant help but think I am not alone in this situation. There has to be something I can do.

I am at my wits end here, I have no idea what I can do at this point, I cannot find any other contact numbers other than freaking 1800 Earthlink, and have yet deal with an english speaking representative.



I'm not paying them a damn thing, I plan to fight this untill the bitter end, but I have no idea where to start or who to talk to. I dont want any money or free services out of this, I just want to clear my name...and possibly get some people fired along the way. This is absolutely redulous. It reaks of a scam and im sure it is not legal.

Anyway, thanks for reading my rant. If anyone has any ideas, I am open to anything, or just a "damn Jiggy, that sux" will do fine as well.

[blackzx3_13]

damn jiggy, that sucks. Have you threatend a lawsuit or a lawyer on them? I don't have any experience with situations like that, but threatening a trip to court is what I would do. If you alredy havent done it. Of course, I don't have any experience with situations like that, so I might be wrong.

[Titus]

I have an old friend who's wife works for Earthlink (at least she did several years ago ). Let me send them an email to see if she still works there.

[altiain]

I wouldn't threaten a lawsuit unless you're willing to follow through. Customer service reps hear that threat so often that it doesn't really hold any weight with them.

Here's what I would suggest - go somewhere that you have simultaneous access to a phone, a fax, and a computer. Then call Earthlink, stay on the line, and keep working your way up the chain of command until you get someone to send you something by fax or email stating that you are clear of the charges. Don't get off the phone until you get something in writing. In addition, I would suggest writing down the full name and direct contact number of everyone you speak with. If someone you reach won't provide this information, make them connect you with someone who will. Be patient, but be persistent, and don't forget to get something in writing!

The biggest obstacles in situations like this are:

• Failure to get something in writing. Until you have a written communication from Earthlink - either by fax or email - that states you are clear of the charges, you've got nothing to stand on.
• Make notes of who you are talking with and how you can reach them directly again. If they can't provide this information, have them transfer you to someone who can. If you can't call these people back directly in case of future problems, you have to start the whole song and dance over again. In addition, if you have someone's direct contact info, they have a greater incentive to help you, because you know how to bother them again. In most large customer service call centers, the individual operators have no incentive to help you once they get off the phone with you unless you can reach them directly, because the chances of them ever hearing from you again if they don't follow through are slim to none. You'll just call back and become someone else's problem. Sad, but true.

[channelmaniac]

You should also call the Texas Attorney General's office and one of the local TV stations to see if they have one of those Consumer Investigation type people that can apply public pressure to them as well. Negative publicity is something those companies like to avoid.

RJ

[wrxmr2eater]

I have had similar issues with other communications companies. I found it is easy to make a complaint to the FCC for "improper billing practices" or something of the like, explaining the issue in detail in the FCC complaint. Get the complaint number, contact both Earthlink and the collection company and inform them that complaint XXXXXXXX is lodged with the FCC and that it is being activley investigated. Since this is internet access it is even more core to the FCC in recent years as Internet access has been given a "Infrastructure" status with them.

In every instance the FCC has cleared the issue. The collection agency usually will notify you that they are no longer handling the account for Earthlink and to contact Earthlink if there are further questions.

Just my experience.

[POS Racing]

You also need to mail off a few certified letters, since the Collection Agency is in the mix this crap is more than likely a nice note on your credit report. Make sure you do this so you have a paper trail on your end.

Make sure you get names and employee numbers when you talk to people it will simplify the entire process.

I had some ass clown bill up a bunch of crap on a fraudulent Discover Card account and was able to get it all rectified, but it was a time consuming PITA.

This is a good baseline for the letters you need to send : http://www.cj.msu.edu/~outreach/iden...exist_acct.pdf

[cone-cerned]

I saw a TV news piece about a web site that helps with situations like this. You go to the site, tell you story, and an e-mail is sent to the company explainning that you have gone public. Then, every time some one reads your story, another email is sent letting the company know another person is aware of the situations. It seems to have been effective in getting the problems of many people resolved.

Now, the bad part. I don't remember the URL and I did not bookmark it.

Has anyone else heard of this web site?

Maybe this web site could help Jiggy.

Oh, and this whole thing sux.

[Monkey of Death]

Good advice from everyone, especially about getting it in writing. Once you do get a resolution, keep any and all paperwork. Collection agencies (in my experience) are notoriously lazy about removing errors they've reported on your credit (it's not their problem and they're not making any money from correcting their mistakes). We still get hits on my wife's credit from an identity theft from over ten years ago. If she hadn't kept all the letters stating the errors and resolutions, we'd have had to go through it all over again every time someone checks our credit...

[tailchaser]

Heh. Interestingly... Just spent 30 minutes on the phone with the cancellation department to close out an Earthlink DSL account...

I'm losing my patience with off-shored telephone support centers. I suppose it's particularly sad when the support center in question used to be about 3/4 mile from where I'm sitting right now and used to keep a local restaurant in business... Not to mention the 500 folks employed there.

[Mingle]

I used to work for earthlink as one of their techs, when it was a primarily US based company things were better. the company has pretty much gone downhill and there are numerous reasons for that. im lazy and dont want to type all of that out.
my suggestions are to speak with a supervisor and plea your case. get a ticket number for documentation.
if they have given no help get a lawyer and speak with their legal department.
also when i worked there i thought it was funny that they had hundreds of people for activations and hundreds of techs and hundreds in collections, but almost no one worked in cancelation. when i worked there the hold times for cancelation were about 1.5 hours.
oh yea another number is 1.800.890.6356 im not sure if that only goes to the tech support though.

[gabkwong]

Hate to say this, but is true. You pay cur rate price and get cut rate service. No free lunch! Sorry that you have to learn it the hard way!

[Jiggerachi]

^ Thing is, when I had the account and when I cancelled it 3 years ago they had some of the best customer service around.

Thanks for all the advise guys. Unfortunately though, I cant go up the chain any farther, I dont think the chain actually goes anywhere. The normal peons lie to you everytime and tell you that they are unable to transfer you to their supervisor due to different reasons, some even told me they didnt have a supervisor. All they do is tell you to talk to the collections agency. When you finally get them to transfer you to their previousely non existant supervisor, its the same story...you need to contact the collection agency, our system is unable to do anything, I cant transfer you to anyone because I do not have a boss...yadda yadda yadda...

When they finally transfer you to a manager he usually mocks you and calls you a liar, when you pin him in a corner he either promises to fix the problem, with no possible guaruntee in writing, or tells you that he will transfer to the offending department which ends up to be the collections agency...

Ive been through this stupid process too many times now, it's the same thing with all of them. They all give you fake names (like there is really an Indian guy named "Lenard")...one guy actually told me that he only had a first name, and that he was never given a last name (i'm not making this up guys). Every time I call the damn company I go around with them for an hour and a half. Anytime you give them any info they take 5 minutes to "check your account" probably hoping you will hang up, or your battery dies.

This all leads me to believe that the customer service department is a joke...it is not actually attached to the rest of the company, just a bunch of retards throwing the phone around with no job titles or structure. I doubt they even have the access to change anything if they wanted to. Im telling you talking to the customer service reps, supervisors, even managers doesnt get you ANYWHERE.

In order to get something done I need to get an inside line to the company somehow...the customer service department will not do anything.

But once again, thanks for all of yall's help, im willing to try anything at this point.

[POS Racing]

I'd get the certified letter off the the collection agency so at least you can get them off your back.

[Treibenschnell]

I'm trying to find a corporate number you can call... here are some you may try.

[Jiggerachi]

Yea I am definatley going to do that ASAP before this damned thing hits my credit.

WRXMR2eater...that FCC complaint thing sounds interesting. I think I will look into that.

Cone-cerned...that website sounds like a nice way to piss off at least someone in the company...I like it. I'll poke around for it, if you find it let me know. Edit: any idea what news channel or paper you saw the website from? Maybe I could find it on their website if I knew who did the story.

[Treibenschnell]

Here's a direct number you can start fishing at...

[cone-cerned]

Here is one to look at. http://www.ripoffreport.com/

It don't say anything about sending e-mails, but does say something about getting search engine listings as rip offs.

I'll keep looking.

[Treibenschnell]

Here are some folks that you could email... perhaps they'll respond, perhaps they won't... but it's a shot.

[POS Racing]

You sure Bean I found an adress in Georgia??