A Valley woman said a tech company sent her to collections after she wouldn’t pay a nearly $200 cancellation fee.
Maria said she was having problems with her laptop and needed a computer technician to help troubleshoot the problem. “I thought that it maybe had some malware or something,” explained Maria.
She said a family member found Karl’s Technology online, sent her the information, and she submitted an online inquiry. She then received a call from a representative.
Maria said, “Before the call was over, I wound up just having a bad feeling about it and so I called right back like less than 10 minutes later and canceled the appointment.”
Maria thought that was the end until she received an invoice from the company stating she owed $187.50 for canceling her appointment.
“I was like this is absurd!” Maria said the appointment was made for the same day she called, but insisted she immediately called back to cancel the appointment within 10 minutes of scheduling.
Maria said the emails and phone text messages saying she was past due for the fee kept coming. Two weeks after receiving the invoice she said she got a letter in the mail from an Arizona-based collections agency.
The letter said she had an outstanding debt with the tech company. “To already see that in the mail, I was just kind of shocked,” explained Maria. “It was just really upsetting to me that he was trying to charge me that much money for canceling the appointment and not having anything in writing.”
Not sure what to do, Maria reached out to Let ABC15 Know for help. The tech company wouldn't return the team’s calls or emails so we contacted the collection agency.
The manager immediately canceled Maria’s debt, saying if she had disputed what was owed it would have been eliminated. According to federal law, a debt collector cannot argue or harass a consumer about a debt.
They must also provide information that shows the consumer owes the debt.
The manager of the collections agency also said in Arizona, there’s no specific time a company is supposed to wait before sending a consumer to collections. Maria said, “I felt really relieved that you were able to get that reversed and that it didn’t go against my credit.”
We reached out again to get answers from Karl’s Technology. We spoke with a customer service representative who explained the cancellation policy and stated that we make sure all customers are aware of the cancellation policy over the phone.
Customers have the option to cancel and pay the fee or reschedule. The fee includes the company’s hourly service rate of $125 per hour, and $62.50 for gas and the cancellation fee.
The representative also stated that the business has had a lot of problems with clients cancelling and that as a business they have the right to charge the fee.
Yes, as a business, they do have the right to charge any amount they’d like, but is it fair? Is it good customer service? What are your thoughts?
