<prompt> Human: This started back in April. My friends and I merged our individual accounts into a family plan to save money, and there have been non-stop problems ever since. We noticed the first problem when we were issued our first bill; it was almost 400. I called T-mobile and asked them why exactly the charges were so high. Their response was that the original agent who handled the account must have misunderstood and instead of a family plan with 4 lines, created a single account with 4 individual lines. The agent on the phone laughed and said he couldnt understand why anyone in their customer service department would ever think this was a customers intention. The next problem occurred on the next bill. The amount due was higher than the invoiced statement that was generated. There was a discrepancy of about 80, so once again I called T-mobile and asked what was going on. The customer service rep couldnt figure it out either, and transferred me to a billing specialist. The billing specialist figured out what the charge was I cant remember what it was anymore , but told me that there was currently no way for me to verify it. Even though it was included in the current balance, it would be invoiced on the next statement. The billing specialist apologized and said it didnt make any sense. She said that a flag would be put on the account, and we could pay the 80ish dollars when it was actually invoiced. That flag didnt get placed on the account, and our phones got disconnected for not paying the uninvoiced amount; though we paid the difference in full. Once again I call customer service looking for answers. I got lots of apologies and our phones were turned back on. The amount shows up on our next bill and is paid. At this point, Im thinking that everything is in order. I couldnt be more wrong. Its now July. I get a phone call from T-mobiles internal collection agency. They inform me that I have an overdue balance that needs to be paid. I immediate log into My-Tmobile and it says my balance is zero. Confused, I tell them that thats incorrect. They tell me to call customer service if I think theres something incorrect. Following their advice, I call customer service to try and piece together whats going on. I learn that the charge is for the cell spot thats on my desk at work. It turns out when you merge accounts, their internal process is to create a new third account, and close the previous accounts. When they did this, they moved over my cell line, but not the cell spot attached to my account. The result is that the cell spot on the now closed account was flagged for return, and never got returned. This caused their system to generate a charge for the cost of the cell spot ON MY PREVIOUS ACCOUNT. This charge being generated on my previous account is of utmost importance, because it in essence created a phantom debt that I had no way of knowing existed. I never stopped being a T-Mobile customer, I simply merged lines with my friend. Im on e-billing and I never lost access to My-Tmobile. In fact, as I said previously, I logged in and it said I had no balance at all. Thats because my login was associated with my current post-merger account. I completely lacked the ability to interact with or view my previous account. I had no means of knowing this was a problem until I received this first phone call. The customer service reps one front line, and once again a billing specialist were seemed to be very helpful. They apologized for the inconvenience, and said that it probably wasnt moved with the cell line because I didnt explicitly tell the original rep who merged the accounts to move over the cell spot. I asked how many customers do they think would do that, shouldnt the process be to move everything? They promised that it would all be resolved and I shouldnt get any more phone calls. I didnt get any more phone calls for awhile, and I thought all was well. Then I got another phone call from a collections agency, only this time it was a third party agency. They informed me that T-mobile had written off my account. I told them that this shouldnt be possible, that it shouldnt be in collections to begin with. They said I had to take that up with T-mobile. I once again call customer service, and I once again get apologizes. Someone didnt follow through, and the problem never got corrected. My cell spot was still associated with my previous account. I was told that this time would be different, that it would be fixed, and I need not worry. The phone calls stopped. Now its October 14th. I have exact dates now, because at this point I start recording my phone calls Though Im missing some due to Wi-fi calling. I get an alert that my credit score has been updated from Capital One, so I check it out while Im paying my credit card bill. My credit score has dropped from 780 to 705. Theres an alert that there is a new negative record. Its the charge for the cell spot. I call T-mobile once again to figure out whats going on. Its the weekend, so the main customer service department isnt in. I get the phone number of the collections agency that currently has the debt. It turns out this is a different third party agency from the first one that I talked to. I give them a call and try to explain the situation. They basically say that its none of their concern. They just collect on the debt that they have. I need to contact T-mobile. Now its October 16th. I once again call T-mobile, this time during the week during normal business hours. I explain the entire ordeal again, and the rep Janessa, who was very helpful is dumbfounded that its gotten this far. She goes through all of my records and confirms that this was suppose to be handled, but nothing ever really happened. She promises to get this fixed, and scheduled a call back on October 27th. October 27th is here, and I get my update. The update is that another team is looking into it, and theyll get back with Janessa is 3-5 business days. We schedule another follow up on November 3rd. The 3rd is here, and my update is that there is nothing that can be done. The team thats suppose to handle these sort of credit related disputes, has bounced my case back to them, and said it looks correct to them. Im given two possible next steps. The first is to pay T-mobile for the cell spot, and they should be able to mark the charge as paid in their system. The second is that I can ship the cell spot back to them. This is a special shipment though, because as far as their system is concerned the device is lost. Ill have to include a special note in the box, and call customer service back and give them the tracking number so they can remember to update their records. This device doesnt really exist to them anymore, so returning it is a lot of manual effort. Their theory is that either of these actions may make the collections show up as Paid on my credit report. I inform them that thats not good enough. The record shouldnt be there to begin with. I get escalated to a manager. This manager, Hunter, says that this is definite breakdown in their protocols. That this is a once in a million situation that their procedures arent designed for and hes only seen something like this happen once before. But he tells me that his hands are tied, and theres nothing else he can do. The credit team doesnt deal with customers directly, and he has no number that he can give me. T-mobile has no way that theyre willing to use to remove it from my credit report. His advice is that I dispute it with the collection agency directly. I ask why I have to do this alone, given that its their mistake. Cant T-mobile contact the agency on my behalf, given that theyre the source of truth not me. He informs me that the agency wont discuss the matter with them. Its privileged information, and that the collections agency will only work with T-Mobiles credit department who doesnt interact with customers. I asked if I can get some sort of documentation that outlines that this was their mistake and not mine. After all, you need some sort of proof if youre going to dispute things. He informs me that he has no way whatsoever to provide me with anything of the sort. They use to have that ability but it was abused, so it was taken away. I then ask if I call them myself, could I get someone from T-mobile to conference in to help explain the situation. I get told thats very unlikely. I got more apologizes and promises that theyd insure that this didnt happen to anyone else, but there was nothing they could do for me. So here I am, with my credit score lowered by 50 points, right when I want to refinance my house. Ive had various T-mobile representatives admit that this was their own mistake, but Im being told that I have to now live with the negative consequences for 7 years. My next planned step is to dispute the records directly with the credit bureaus, but I have no written records or proof of the mistake. What am I suppose to submit with my dispute? The dispute will likely be rejected with any proof. At that point, will my only recourse be suing T-Mobile? TLDR: T-Mobile screwed up merging my account with my best friends. I tried numerous times over many months to have them fix it. They repeatedly dropped the ball and now theres a negative record on my credit report for a charge that not only shouldnt have existed, but I had no way of knowing it existed. T-Mobile reps claim responsibility for the screw up, but say theres nothing that they can do to fix it and they cant help. What should my next steps be?  <response>: Comprehensive post on what you should do:1. Start by submitting complaints to the CFPB, FCC, and BBBIn each case, T-Mobile will have 30 days to deal with your complaint and provide a response, if they do not rectify the issue after having received these official complaints, go to step 2.2. Dispute the negative charge with the major credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax:Generally, if you file a dispute, it is up to the company that attached the negative report to show that that report is correct, even if the false report does get dropped, you may want to consider step 3.3. Consult with an attorney specializing in Credit and Debt Law, most state bars have a find a lawyer service which will put you in touch with a lawyer, set up a free to low cost consultation where youll be able to lay out your case. Its possible that T-Mobile violated the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, and that they are liable for any damages as well as attorneys fees.I am personally shocked that they didnt advise you to dispute the claims and offer you a few months of free service for your trouble, because if you sue them 