DoodleArtist
New Member
Here is the long and short of my problem....
I used to have cable television service at my apartment. Back in 2002, I cancelled the service and got satellite television service, which I still have today. About one month ago, I called the cable company to get Cable DSL service for my computer. They came out and installed the cable modem and everything was fine. Later the same day of installation, the cable modem service went dead and they told me they cut off the service because they claimed I owed them about $282.00 for unpaid cable television services from when I last had them in 2002. I NEVER EVER received a bill from them since 2002 claiming that any amount was owed or anything of the sort. No collection agency ever contacted me on their behalf, NOTHING! I told them that I never received any bills claiming that any monies were due and owing so they reinstated my service until they could go back in their archives and find out what happened. Just the other day, they again shut off my service, claiming that I do in fact owe them the $282.00 and stated that I would have to pay that amount if I want my DSL modem turned back on. They further stated that it would take them another 12 weeks to unearth the alleged bills from 2002 to prove to me that there was an amount outstanding from back then.
Here are my questions...
1. I know that to legally collect on this 2002 bill, they need to prove an existence of an 'account stated.' How likely is it that I can win an argument to not pay the $282 based only on my word that I never received any bills from them going back to 2002?
2. The only way to reinstate my DSL service is to pay the bill. If I do this, can I still dispute the amount? I was thinking of just paying the bill so that my service can be reinstated and then filing a small claims suit against them for the return of the $282 based on the lack of an account stated and also for the fact that they have waited until now to claim they were owed any money. Im just not sure if there is a statute of limitations that would prevent them from collecting now if the amount is valid, and if the amount isn't valid I'm not sure that paying the bill will allow me to retain the right to dispute it. (I would imagine that had I never contacted them for DSL service, I would never have heard from them about this alleged $282 outstanding bill.)
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
I used to have cable television service at my apartment. Back in 2002, I cancelled the service and got satellite television service, which I still have today. About one month ago, I called the cable company to get Cable DSL service for my computer. They came out and installed the cable modem and everything was fine. Later the same day of installation, the cable modem service went dead and they told me they cut off the service because they claimed I owed them about $282.00 for unpaid cable television services from when I last had them in 2002. I NEVER EVER received a bill from them since 2002 claiming that any amount was owed or anything of the sort. No collection agency ever contacted me on their behalf, NOTHING! I told them that I never received any bills claiming that any monies were due and owing so they reinstated my service until they could go back in their archives and find out what happened. Just the other day, they again shut off my service, claiming that I do in fact owe them the $282.00 and stated that I would have to pay that amount if I want my DSL modem turned back on. They further stated that it would take them another 12 weeks to unearth the alleged bills from 2002 to prove to me that there was an amount outstanding from back then.
Here are my questions...
1. I know that to legally collect on this 2002 bill, they need to prove an existence of an 'account stated.' How likely is it that I can win an argument to not pay the $282 based only on my word that I never received any bills from them going back to 2002?
2. The only way to reinstate my DSL service is to pay the bill. If I do this, can I still dispute the amount? I was thinking of just paying the bill so that my service can be reinstated and then filing a small claims suit against them for the return of the $282 based on the lack of an account stated and also for the fact that they have waited until now to claim they were owed any money. Im just not sure if there is a statute of limitations that would prevent them from collecting now if the amount is valid, and if the amount isn't valid I'm not sure that paying the bill will allow me to retain the right to dispute it. (I would imagine that had I never contacted them for DSL service, I would never have heard from them about this alleged $282 outstanding bill.)
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
