Hey all.

I contacted my bank today to apply for credit, and they advised that the only thing stopping me from qualifying was an account in collections for Rogers Home Phone for $280.00.(here in Canada). As I've never had a Rogers Home Phone account, this was confusing.

I called the collection agency responsible, they advised this was an old Sprint Canada account from 2003.
Rogers purchased Sprint Canada several years ago, and after never contacting me, they sent my account to collections, claiming I owed them $425, but they were willing to settle for $212.00.
When I asked for more info, they told me I should call Rogers, and could make arrangements to settle the account with them.

Now, I canceled my Sprint account in 2003 when I moved from their service area, but they didn't shut down the account for another 2 months (and evidently someone was using that line and making long distance calls after I moved).
I called almost daily asking when they were going to shut off the line - never heard from anyone about it until now, and frankly, the whole thing slipped my mind.

I called Rogers, who was able to find a record that I had an account, but no specific info because it had been purged from their system.

So, my question then, is what recourse I have. Sprint was a royal pain to deal with when they were around, and now they're coming and biting me years after they disappeared.
I know I can make the problem go away by paying the settlement amount, but I don't want to do that just on principal.

Any suggestions? Is there another way to deal with this, or do I have to pay what is essentially extortion money?

Thanks.

Shaft.

It all boils down to one thing: did you pay off the bill in full prior to it going to collections? If yes, and if you can prove it, then I would fight them on it. If no, or if you have no proof, then I'd pay the $212 and get something in writing that states they are settling the account for that amount and will report it to the credit bureau.

I had the same thing. Old Sprint phone from 2004. Moved and cacelled it. Collection agency put it on my credit record as of 2008. I still have Rogers services and no one ever contacted me. This is so old I can't remember anything about it. Rogers says because it was a different division they didn't have my info to contact me. Strange since I've has a rogers cell phone since 2001 and have it to this day.

Something fishy here.

I would contact all the credit reporting agencies and dispute the validity of this collection. It will then be on the collection agency to prove that this is accurate. If they can't, this negative entry should be removed.