It’s on purpose I think. I’ve been trying to cancel my alarm system for a house I no longer live in, and every time I call I wait on hold 1-2 hours minimum.
If I get through, I get transferred for some reason, five times once.
Twice now they just hang up on me.
I can’t issue a chargeback to the bank because they said they’ll just send me to collections.
They claim there is no way to cancel via mail or email, even though I know there is, the thing is you have to navigate the shitty tree and escalate it in a way where they will allow you to cancel that way.
Send them a certified letter, wait a week and then call. Record the call, tell them it’s recorded and mention the letter. Tell them that your account is cancelled and you’re no longer paying. Then don’t pay, and or charge back. If they threaten to send you to collections, let them. If they actually do, just tell the collection agency the debt is invalid and send them proof.
Just don’t pay. I have had to do this a handful times in my life, and it has never hurt my credit score or went anywhere, never even needed the evidence I collected. Collections will just give up after a while, and if it somehow ever does become an issue you have all the proof you need to show its not valid debt. But, it likely won’t actually go anywhere.
I did have one really annoying collection agency one time that really didn’t seem to want to let it go. So I started generating invoices for my “research time” and send it to them. When they would call I would start the call by saying “by continuing this conversation, you agree to pay for research fees”. Not sure if that did anything or they just coincidentally gave up… I was kind of hoping their AP department would just blindly pay the invoices for my time haha.
That sounds like the kind of conversation worth recording and taking to a lawyer. I can’t imagine a call that goes “Hi, I’d like to cancel my service. What do you mean you can’t do that? No one at the company can help? I’ve been on the phone with 4 different reps. Fine, I’ll just call my card to stop paying. What do you mean you’re going to send me to collections?!” wouldn’t get done kind of positive movement.
Absolutely. I’m actually working with a lawyer now and am involved in correspondence with the company. Hence why I haven’t named and shamed them (yet). It’s progressing slowly, but positively in my favor. It’s just annoying that it had to come to this.
It’s on purpose I think. I’ve been trying to cancel my alarm system for a house I no longer live in, and every time I call I wait on hold 1-2 hours minimum.
If I get through, I get transferred for some reason, five times once.
Twice now they just hang up on me.
I can’t issue a chargeback to the bank because they said they’ll just send me to collections.
They claim there is no way to cancel via mail or email, even though I know there is, the thing is you have to navigate the shitty tree and escalate it in a way where they will allow you to cancel that way.
Fuck companies that do this.
If you’re in the US: https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2022/11/tried-cancel-service-couldnt-learn-steps-take
If not, maybe your government has similar steps?
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Did that article have steps when you read it? For me it just says Vonage sucks and got sued and check out cancelation policies before you sign up.
Could you please name the company, so we all can avoid them in the future?
Once things are settled with my current legal crap, I’ll gladly share it. But I’d rather not right now, just in case.
Stop paying
Did you read my comment? I tried and they threatened to send me to collections.
But that same person couldn’t cancel my account, but they could transfer me! Rinse, wash, repeat.
Send them a certified letter, wait a week and then call. Record the call, tell them it’s recorded and mention the letter. Tell them that your account is cancelled and you’re no longer paying. Then don’t pay, and or charge back. If they threaten to send you to collections, let them. If they actually do, just tell the collection agency the debt is invalid and send them proof.
Just don’t pay. I have had to do this a handful times in my life, and it has never hurt my credit score or went anywhere, never even needed the evidence I collected. Collections will just give up after a while, and if it somehow ever does become an issue you have all the proof you need to show its not valid debt. But, it likely won’t actually go anywhere.
I did have one really annoying collection agency one time that really didn’t seem to want to let it go. So I started generating invoices for my “research time” and send it to them. When they would call I would start the call by saying “by continuing this conversation, you agree to pay for research fees”. Not sure if that did anything or they just coincidentally gave up… I was kind of hoping their AP department would just blindly pay the invoices for my time haha.
That sounds like the kind of conversation worth recording and taking to a lawyer. I can’t imagine a call that goes “Hi, I’d like to cancel my service. What do you mean you can’t do that? No one at the company can help? I’ve been on the phone with 4 different reps. Fine, I’ll just call my card to stop paying. What do you mean you’re going to send me to collections?!” wouldn’t get done kind of positive movement.
Absolutely. I’m actually working with a lawyer now and am involved in correspondence with the company. Hence why I haven’t named and shamed them (yet). It’s progressing slowly, but positively in my favor. It’s just annoying that it had to come to this.