Fotzlid

We used to have AT&T for our long distance carrier for about 10 years. We also had cell phones and a credit card with them.
When we moved, we carried over everything. About that time, her brother got sick and required major surgery. He lived overseas so she was making a lot of long distance calls to him daily. One day, she tried to call but it wouldn't go through on the house phone, so she resorted to using the cell. The next day we tried again but couldn't get through. When I called AT&T, they told me that because of the sudden frequency of long distance calls and that we didn't have much of a history with them, they had shut off our long distance till we paid the current bill in its entirety. When I asked him what he was talking about, he said that we only had a few months of billing at our current address. When I pointed out that we had used them for over 10 years at the previous address, it fell on deaf ears. The stance was pay up or no phone.
I asked them what the exact payoff number was, hung up, wrote a check for that amount, then called Comcast to sign up for their VOIP long distance. Immediately called them back and cancelled their service and told them to note that the check was in the mail. 2 months later, I got a bill for $30-something from AT&T. Several phone calls later, they were still insistent I owed them the money. They couldn't/wouldn't tell me how they came up with that number 2 months after I cancelled my service. At that point, I refused to pay it. The bill went to a collection agency. After I explained to them why I wasn't paying, I never heard from them again. It went to a collection agency again about 4 years later. I explained again why I wasn't paying it and never heard from them again.
I changed cellphone services,which I had had for several years as well, to Cingulair and promptly changed to T-Mobil when Cingulair was bought out by AT&T. I paid off and cancelled the credit card, which I had also had for years, as well.