<p>D lost her apartment to hurricane Katrina and the following week had to call FEMA on the “toll free” number while in an evacuation center. She was on hold for 45 minutes and Verizon Wireless charged her $198 for the call. NICE. When I called to complain and look for a bit of compassion—it was pointed out to me that “unlimited” minutes did NOT include “toll free” calls.</p>
<p>JeepMom - the lowest rate I could get would be probably $30 for the first phone, and $10 for each additional phone, total $70/month, $840/year, very close to $1000. The problem is that I am using those numbers with the new carrier now.</p>
<p>Oldfort, for $1,000, they really cannot appreciably harm your credit score and position, considering that you almost certainly have the standard stuff - mortgage, paid off auto loans, long standing revolving credit that is always paid on time, etc. </p>
<p>I had a $500 situation that I just flat out refused to pay - long, irrelevant story, but, I wasn’t gonna pay it, not in this life or the next. I won dispute after dispute with the CRAs, and got it removed, but, somehow the creditor always managed to get it right back on in a month or two. Finally, I gave up and waited out the seven years for it to fall off (statute). It didn’t cost me any credit or cause me any problems - I was asked about it once or twice, and, I explained I was never, ever going to pay, no matter what, etc., people accepted my explanation. There’s a long history of “good stuff” to counter it and I am sure your reports are the same.</p>
<p>What can be harmful however is how it looks from a reputational perspective. If I were you, I would never, ever pay this (sorry JeepMom but this strikes me like extortion) - but - is it possible to reach someone at the executive level at T-Mobile? Typically the higher level execs have a great deal more common sense, as well as the authority to fix this quickly. </p>
<p>Musica - that’s horrible. Never in a million years would I assume that a toll free number would be treated differently by a cell phone carrier…how ridiculous…</p>
<p>To give everyone an update:</p>
<p>I did ask the collection agent to stop calling. Last month when we applied for a car loan, our credit rating was 100 pts lower at Trans Union. We were orginally denied better rate, but after we let the bank know the reason, we were able to get their better rate.</p>
<p>We did challenge the negative rating. The collection agent tried calling again to settle. We refused. Now, 30 days later, the negative rating was removed. It was a very easy process. We used Trans Union’s online despute.</p>