Consumer complaint received 2015-03-28
Company: ERC
State: MI
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not mine

Complaint:
XXXX changed their cell towers from XXXX to XXXX. My phones no longer got XXXX. XXXX was horribly slow and inconsistent. I tried for months to get them to give me free new phones which would work with XXXX. They would not. I pointed out that their service agreement specifically addresses this situation ( I will include the documents as attachments, if possible ). Still, they would not give me new phones. I told them I would have to switch carriers because I effectively had no cell service. Still no help. So I switched to XXXX. They then tried to charge me a {$490.00} Early Termination Fee ( ETF ) because I cancelled before my contract was up. I pointed out to them that their Terms and Conditions state the following : " New Agreements on the XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) Network : Your Service on a device activated on the XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) Network may require a new XXXX two-year Agreement per line. XXXX expressly reserves the right to migrate your Service during this Agreement term from the XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) Network to the XXXX XXXX XXXX network to complete your Agreement term. Reasonable advance notice of the Service change will be provided to impacted customers, who can then select XXXX of the following options : ( a ) Choose to complete the Agreement term using your existing device Terms & Conditions without XXXX ( XXXX ) capability ( b ) Elect to complete the Agreement term by contacting us after receiving notice from XXXX to transition to the XXXX XXXX XXXX network with no additional term commitment required ( Transition Option ) ( c ) Deactivate service. Deactivations because of this Service change will not result in an Early Termination Fee ( ETF ). Transition Option : If you select the Transition Option, you will receive a free standard XXXX XXXX capable device and can maintain your existing Service plan, if available. During the Agreement term, XXXX may provide other offers that are separate from the Transition Option, and these offers will be subject to a new two-year Agreement per line. '' Since XXXX did not honor its obligation under the " Transition Option '' ( b ) I exercised my option to deactivate under Option ( c ) with the belief I would not be charged an ETF, AS IS CLEARLY STATED IN THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ( " Deactivations because of this Service change will not result in an Early Termination Fee ( ETF ) '' ). Again, I tried, for months, to get them to honor Option ( b ) but they would not. SO I went to XXXX and they sent my account to a series of collection agencies. I promptly responded, in writing, to any written communications I got from these companies. I fully explained the situation to each and told them I would not make a payment because the debt was not valid. The first XXXX firms dropped the matter. However, the XXXX/current one ( Enhanced Recovery Company, LLC, " ERC '' ) reported this matter to the credit reporting agencies with the result being an approximately XXXX point drop in my XXXX score. Needless to say, I consider this unacceptable as well as inaccurate. I 've tried to resolve it with ERC but they keep referring me to XXXX which, as expected, has proven useless. ERC is acting on behalf of XXXX, XXXX will not honor their obligations under their own Terms and Conditions. My only recourse is to file this complaint with the hope the matter will finally be resolved in my favor. This whole situation should never have happened in the first place. XXXX needs to honor their Terms and Conditions, even if there 's a cost to doing so. They changed the cell tower technology to something that no longer gave me service. I paid my bills and fully honored my obligations under the agreement. This matter is their doing yet I have been paying the price. This needs to be corrected ASAP.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief