Dear Verizon, if you want me to pay the final bill, you have to send it first

December 22, 2008

RE: acct # 00XXXXXX6428

Verizon Communications

140 West Street, New York, NY 10007

To Whom It May Concern:

If you want me to pay the final bill you have to send it first.

I have been your customer since 1999. I paid on time every single one of the 100 plus bills you sent me during our agreement. After my move last summer, your customer service technicians were unable to establish a connection in my new area leaving me without service for over a month. I had lost business while waiting for the connection, which inevitably could not be provided for me. This is why I am no longer your customer. I finished our relationship in July 2008.

I had spent hours on the phone with your staff trying to make sure that our relationship has been terminated properly. Well, mostly with your automated call handling system asking me idiotic questions over and over again, but who really cares? Finally Ms. Customer Service Rep. assured me that everything had been taken care of.

A couple months had passed and I started to forget that once I was once in a relationship with you. However, in late September 2008 I received a letter from North Shore collection agency stating I did not pay my final bill and now they want to collect $73.37 on your behalf for a bill I never received.

Of course the bill could have been lost in the mail etc. but then somebody could have tried to contact me before sending it to collection to make sure I received the bill. You have my current street and email address but no one made any effort to contact me! You just sent it to collection. Well, I showed my good will to resolve the issue and called your company once again.

I had to spend several more hours on the phone with your automated system and several staff members that had no idea what I was talking about whatsoever until finally I got hold of Miss Williams. I asked her if she had any kind of personal identification other than just her name and she explained to me that she does not and this is your company policy.

Miss Williams was kind enough to understand my case and find my file. She confirmed the unpaid balance and she assured me that I would receive the bill in question in the mail within a couple of weeks. She did not give me any details on the phone however, and I am still waiting for that bill to arrive.

On October 27, 2008 I received an email from you in my inbox informing me that I owe you $73.37 and have to pay it by November 19, 2008. It also said that this bill was available online for my convenience and I could pay it online. However, when I tried to follow the link provided it required me to request a PIN first that would be sent to me by ground mail, for my own protection of course!

I requested a PIN that very day. I saved and printed the confirmation screen for this very occasion. Now it's the middle of December 2008, a month and a half has passed and I am still waiting for that PIN to arrive...

I may pay that bill or I may dispute it but I have to see it first. I will not pay you my money just because you demand it. I wasted several hours in my attempts to resolve this situation. I am not going to waste a minute more. Send me the bill and we will take it from there.

Sincerely,

Mikhail Alexandrov

cc: North Shore Agency, Inc., PO Box 8922, Westbury, NY 11590