Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania
I have a contract with Verizon. The bill got too expensive for me so I elected to cancel my service. I was told I had to pay 775 to buy out of the contract. So last week I get a bill in the mail for 1200. So I called them and asked they said I had a outstanding balance of 500. So I asked them for copies of the contract I signed and they provided 2 current contracts and 2 that expired in July. I called back and asked for my updated contracts for the 2 lines I updated in March. They said they would email me them in a couple minutes. I never got them. I just received a contract in the mail that had my info on it but not my signature. Is this contract still a legal binding?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Verizon has its terms of service online and Verizon, like most cell phone companies, charges an early termination fee whenever you terminate a contract prior to its end. So that does not surprise me. My question is why do you have to pay so much for a termination fee and why is your bill so high?
Why do you need 4 contracts? Bottom line is that you had the benefit of the phone service and you will have to pay for that service as well as the termination fee for 4 contracts.
Why do you not have signed copies of your contracts? You should have received a copy.
However, Verizon has a signed copy somewhere. I would not be thinking that you do not owe the money because Verizon could not send you the correct contracts.
Write to Verizon - do not call. If you updated your agreements in March then this would have extended your contracts such that they would not have expired.
I would suggest that if you can afford a lump sum see if you can settle this for a lump sum payment. Otherwise, this may go to collections.