<prompt> Human: I have had an account with Verizon wireless for many years. I have always been in good standing, and have generally had no issues with them. Over the last year my service has degraded to the point that in a 30 minute phone call with my wife, we would be disconnected 5 or 6 times, not that it matters much. Our contract with them was up on November 4th of this year. On November 8th we switched to ATT. Our billing cycle with Verizon runs from the 27th through the 26th of the following month.When we cancelled our service, it was a quick call. Service done, please wait for an updated billing statement. We got an email today that we had a past due amount of 165. When I finally got in touch with customer service after several times being disconnected and transfers to the right department it was explained to me that under the terms of the contract we had agreed to pay through the end of the billing cycle in which we terminated. Were expected to pay for service from 118 to 1126 which we did not receive. Our phones were shut off on 118, and we lost access to our online account 4 days later.My issue is that they are stating that under the terms of the contract... We were no longer under the contract. We were 4 days past the end date of the contract when we made the change. I can understand their position if we had cancelled before the end of the contract. The customer service agent agreed that our contract was over on 114. My stance is that since the contract was over, we are no longer bound by the terms of the contract. No one, after several calls, has been able to explain to me anywhere in the contract that states that the terms of the contract extend to the end of the current billing period.I refuse to pay for 18 days service that I did not receive. If Verizon is no longer bound by the contract as of 114, why should I be?At this point Im willing to let this go to collections, dispute it from there, and take it in front of a judge if need be. I cant see that Im bound to the terms of a contract after the stipulated end date, and I cant see that Im responsible for paying for service I never received nor had the option of receiving after my phone number was ported, and access to the online portal was disabled since my number was no longer in Verizons system.Where do I go from here?Edit: We ported our phone numbers to ATT on November 8th. Once the port was completed, I called Verizon to ensure that service had indeed been canceled. There was some confusion as to how we canceled our service.  <response>: You say you were off the contract, but thats not accurate. All that happened was you passed the 2-year period where an ETF would be charged for cancellation. Youre still on a month-to-month contract after that, which is pretty standard. Youre still bound by certain terms as is Verizon, they cant arbitrarily raise your rates or something.Your only recourse really is to complain about the dropped calls, and say they were at unacceptable levels. If you bitch enough, they might let the outstanding charges slide. But you have no legal standing. 