Dealing with a collection agency over a 6-year old account that I paid.
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.