Bill non-payment effect on credit

[El Sapo]

I am about to be and have already been charged incorrect / fraudulent charges by Sprint. It is entirely too much to get in to but I am considering refusing to pay this business any of the fees they are now trying to charge me.

I have good credit (in the 750 range) and am concerned about the negative impact this might have on my credit report. Anyone have an idea how many points a delinquent mark like this would lower my score?

 

[chango]

More than the impact on your credit scores, it will just be a big pain in the *** for you. Sprint will hound you about it, then they'll sell it off to a collection agency who will call/mail you .. Its a messed up situation because you are in the right but you're screwed either way..

 

[l00p]

I agree that they will bug you a bit but if you have fun with it you will win in the end. Time Warner tried to stick me with bogus charges in the past. I refused to pay and cancelled my services with them years ago.

It fell off my credit rating/score two months ago, they never got their money and I have cost them thousands and thousands of dollars. I made it my goal to have as many people change or drop their service from TW to include two apartment complexes. If you ring up the monthly cost of these in the years this went down it is hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The calls were met with sarcasm, long extended holds where they finally hang up or basic silly things. In the end the calls ceased and it dropped off my credit history. Story over. They did not get the bogus money they wanted and I have it off my credit.

 

[Bookman]

Pay it and then sue for a refund in small claims court.

 

[zzzz]

Because credit collection tools are so automated now, some collection companies routinely work unpaid debts that are decades old -- even though they pass off the person's credit report after 7 years.

 

[El Sapo]

It's an unfortunate position to be in ; they made repeated mistakes that have cost me money and to get my money back I'd have to endure even more b.s. (phone calls, collections, etc). I sued a former employer once for federal wage violation and it was a similar situation where I had to work like a dog to reclaim what was rightfully mine to begin with.

Here is what I am considering doing, instead :

If I will not get my money back from Sprint then my goal will be to cost them 10 times what they have charged me. To accomplish these ends here is my plan :

1. I am going to register an anti-sprint domain name (it is available)
2. I am going to host a very simple site that sells anti-sprint bumper stickers
3. The stickers will be $3.50 a piece and the price will break down as follows :
$2 for the cost of the stickers
.50 to support hosting fees
$1 of each sticker will go into a fund. Every time the fund reaches a certain dollar amount, one site customer will receive $100-$200 to help them buy out of their sprint contract. They will need to provide appropriate documentation to verify their change of service and early termination fee to redeem their prize.

 

[wolfman]

Sprint tried to screw me on a bill for $40 when I dropped them 3 years ago. I talked to them on several occasions, but they still think that I owe them. They still send me a bill every month. I just throw it in the trash.

The irony is that if their service didnt suck, I would have remained a loyal customer to this day. **** Sprint.

 

[El Sapo]

Sprint is the worst company I, personally, have ever dealt with. But don't take my word for it....

Sprint Loses 1.09 Million Customers in 3 Months

Hmm.. maybe I can sell a bumper sticker to wolfman.