Erik Reuter wrote:
<snippage>
> Equifax had a way to dispute the entry, but I haven't heard back from
> them about the dispute I filed. I will try calling them this week.
>
> So, that's the story. I didn't realize before now that it was so easy
> for a dishonest or incompetent company to totally screw up a person's
> credit record and for the person to have so little recourse to fix it.
> This is costing me some money now, and I certainly hope it doesn't cost
> me more money in the future (hopefully it doesn't cause problems if I
> apply for a home loan in the future, but I guess at a minimum it will
> probably make it harder for me to get the most favorable interest rate)
>
> I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what I might
> do? Should I argue with the collection agency (that seems unlikely to
> help)? DirectTV? Some consumer group? Forget about it? I hate to let
> DirectTV get away with this crap, but I'm not sure what is the best way
> to proceed.
Call Equifax again. I think the easiest way to clear it up is to deal
directly with the companies that issue credit reports.
Whatever you do, don't just forget about it.
In the future, hang onto any paperwork like that for a year, and any
time you make a phone call to try to resolve an outstanding issue, make
some sort of log entry for it; if you have a way to record the call, do
so, and in *any* dealing like that, always, always get the name of the
person you're talking to. (And employee badge number, if you suspect
they have them. Anything to uniquely identify the person you're dealing
with.)
It may be possible that you have some legal recourse beyond that, but I
have no idea what it would be. (If the problem had occurred in Texas,
I'd recommend calling the Public Utility Commision about it.)
The other thing you can do, which doesn't help you directly but
certainly doesn't help DirectTV, is let other people know by
word-of-mouth that DirectTV has a less than stellar customer services
department, and maybe some people will think twice before entering into
business with them. I know that I, for one, am going to let this story
influence *my* choice of satellite provider if I'm ever in the market
for a satellite dish.
Julia
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