SENT TO COLLECTIONS WHEN IM THE ONE OWED MONEY

In September 2025, I contacted my internet service provider to negotiate a lower rate on my internet plan, which was renewing at a higher cost. During this call, the representative told me that the paperwork he was sending was solely for internet service renewal, and mentioned a promotional tablet device that would be included at no cost. Based on this verbal explanation, I signed the emailed paperwork. I later discovered that this paperwork had also enrolled me in a mobile phone line and device agreement that I never knowingly consented to and was not clearly informed about.

Within days of receiving the promotional tablet device by mail, I attempted to return it. I visited a physical retail store location for the company, where an employee provided me with a box and a pre-printed shipping label, and told me this was an acceptable return method. I shipped the device back using the materials provided directly by the company's own store employee.

Despite this return, the company began billing me monthly for the mobile line and device. Between September 2025 and June 2026, I called the company numerous times, approximately monthly, to dispute these charges. On every single call, I was told that the issue would be resolved and that I would receive a follow-up email summarizing the details of the call and next steps. I never received any such follow-up email, on any call, at any point during this nearly ten-month period. I also drove to physical retail store locations in person multiple times to try to resolve the issue, but was repeatedly passed between different employees, none of whom were able to actually resolve it. On one recent call, the representative disconnected the call before resolving the issue.

This pattern, being told the paperwork was for one thing when it was not, being given a return method by the company's own employee that the company later refused to honor, being repeatedly promised follow-up documentation that never arrived, and being passed around in person without resolution, reflects, in my view, a broader pattern of misleading and unfair business practices rather than a single isolated error.

This situation has caused significant mental and emotional distress. I have spent nearly ten months trying to correct an error I did not cause, with no resolution, and the debt was ultimately sent to a third-party collections agency despite documented proof of the device's return.

I am seeking the following resolution: removal of the collections account and confirmation that no further collections or credit reporting will occur; written confirmation that the disputed debt is invalid and closed; and a full refund of all monthly charges billed since September 2025 for a service I never knowingly agreed to.