Someone had a utility bill in my name and the light company told me they cant do anything about it?

Question

the said i still have to pay the whole bill and its like a thousand dollars and its not mine please somebody tell me what i can do. they gave me the number and city for the people and ive been tryin to do a reverse lookup for free but every site i go to you have to pay for. oh and they also told me the people had the service in my name since last year so ive been payin my bill and theirs but it was never on the bill that they sent to my house so i had no idea until my recent bill came and had a diff phone number on it, thats when they decided to let me know i had to services at to dif adresses in two dif cities. no info about the other address was on any of my bills. i didnt even know you could have light service at different adresses at the same time. or at least they would confirm it PLEASE HELP WHAT CAN I DO?

Answer 1

DO NOT PAY THE BILL!  Chances are you will not get reimbursed or it will be a long time before you are.  This is fraud.  If someone was able to do this to you, chances are they can get a credit card in you name just a s easy.  You need to report it to the right people.

Check out this site- good luck.

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/con_step...

Answer 2

This happened to a friend of mine with her cable bill.

They wanted her to pay for it.

She had to go to the police and prove that this is fraud. Then with that you are able to put the account like "on hold" where you do not have to pay it anymore (but you need the police proof of fraud).

Answer 3

Ask them to verify the information used on the application:  full name, dob, ssn, etc.  If it is the same as yours, then it's identity theft.

Answer 4

well you should have the address to the other house, i'd go and check it out. i'd contact the company and demand it be canceled and to have a note put on it saying it is not to be opened in your name again!

i would also see if you can file some sort of small claims case. that may be the only way to recover your money if the utility company is saying they can't do anything.

best wishes

Answer 5

go to ur local bank and police officers and see what they can do....and id cut ur service with whomever and start somewhere else...also talk to your credit card company.

Answer 6

you are a victim of identity theft

here are some websites to help you.

(you might want to get a copy of your credit report to see if anything else has been done in your name)

http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/identi...

http://www.occ.treas.gov/idtheft.pdf

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/id...

Check out these sites-they tell you just what to do and how to do it--good luck to you!

Answer 7

First this is a case of identity theft and you need to file a complaint with the police department.  Since the value is so high that makes it a felony so they should want to prosecute this case.  The police will want to find out these people and arrest them.  Make sure you give them copies of the paperwork (keep originals in case if something gets lost).

Second call the Attorney General’s office and ask them what you need to do to prosecute this case.  It is identity theft and they are the ones who are supposed to help you in this case.  Their first question will probably be “Have you filed a complaint with the police department yet?”

Their office varies with each state; but you can start with this list of links:

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/repair/s...

You can also start credit repair procedures through this website.

Next read the fine print on the bill and find out the address of the billing company.  Many companies contract out their billing to someone else.  This is why the power company won’t help you.  The billing company has to have the address where the power is going to and that is the address they should be charging.  Get on the phone with them and tell them that you are not going to pay the bill, because it is identity theft and if they want to get their money they had better talk to the people at that address.  Then tell them that if they call you again about this that it will be harassment and you will file a law suit against them.  Give them the police case number and tell them that you have contacted the State’s Attorney General.  Furthermore if they report this nonpayment to the credit reporting agencies then you will have even more of a basis to sue them on for defamation of character.  Don’t get mad at them about, the more scary person is the one who is calm cool and collected and telling you that they are going to ruin your day.  Tell them that you are sorry this happened, but it is not your fault.  It is the power company’s fault for not making sure the billing address and the address that has the power connection are the same.

Remember to keep your head and be cool the whole time.  You want to give the billing company all the information that they need so they can prosecute the case and get paid.  They only want to get paid and don’t want to hassle with anyone.  So the threats you make are in a nice calm tone and are what measures you will be FORCED to take if they go after you.

Then make sure the police have arrested the people at the address, call them and stay on the case.  After that or if the police don’t arrest the people then have the power cut off at that address.  You are supposed to be paying for this so you can control if the power is on or not.  Again give them the police case number and the person you contacted at the attorney general’s office so they can follow up.  Then tell them that if they ever make another power connection to any address that you are not living at that you will take them to court.  Americans love to sue, because often it is the only way to get things done.  The mere threat of suing will help push things along.  If you do it calm, cool and collected then you will make a better impression on them.  Getting angry and losing control only lets them win.  The power company won’t help because they don’t control the billing, but if you tell them that you are officially notifying them that the bill will not be paid, that the case is a fraud, and you are not taking responsibility for the power being delivered to that address.  Tell them that you have contacted the police and if they do not cut off the power then it will be coming out of their own pockets.

Then call a lawyer and ask them for their help.  Here are some numbers for free legal advice:

Sites for Free legal advice in the US:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=na...

http://www.lawhelp.org/

http://www.freeadvice.com/all_topics.htm

http://www.lawinfo.com/

http://www.lsc.gov/about/grantee_links.p...

http://www.thelaw.com/

http://www.flac.ie/

http://www.legalsurvival.com/

You may have to end up paying the lawyer, but it is better to do that then let your credit rating being ruined.  It is a crime and as a victim you have to deal with it.  YOU are the one who has to settle this because no one else wants to; the simplest thing would be to force you to make the payments.  If you file a police complaint and talk with the Attorney General’s office then you have taken the first steps to protecting yourself.  Also write the credit reporting agencies and tell them what has happened and give them the police case number so they can check up on this.  You probably haven’t been reported to them yet since they bill just came, but you want to be proactive here and make sure that you aren’t harmed.  Once again be nice to them, keep records of when you contacted and who, make sure to do it by mail and over the phone so you have a written record and proof that you have made a good faith effort to stop any problems from occurring.

Most credit reporting is not done until AFTER the company has made a few attempts to collect and contacted a bill collection agency, so it probably won't appear on your credit report yet.  If you report the fraud quickly then it never will.

Do NOT deal with Free Credit Report.com; it is a scam and they were sued for it and canceling with them is almost impossible; I had to do it 4 times before it finally took.

Experian Credit Reporting Agency

- CUSTOMER CARE

For general information, product questions, fraud alerts, Credit Report disputes, billing information, and similar issues, please contact our Customer Care representative using the following options:

- PHONE

Contact us toll-free at 1.888.888.8553. For your convenience, our Call Center is open Monday-Friday, 6am to 6pm, and Saturday-Sunday, 8am to 5pm (Pacific Time).

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For general information or product questions, send us an e-mail at [e-mail].  Don’t use email unless you HAVE to.  Most companies are flooded with email and don’t give it a second look.  If it is mailed through the post office and you have a written record then they have to pay attention.

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I had this happen to me one time and the power company wouldn’t help me.  The billing company did though because they wanted to get paid.  I only had to notify the billing company and they took care of the problem.  It wasn’t as bad as your case, just a mistaken phone number.

If you already paid for the power then you will probably never get your money back; sorry.

The final step is to contact your bank and make sure that they don't make the payments from your account, they probably won't do it without your permission, but you want to be sure.

Answer 8

Call and ask for a supervisor. Explain to them that you never have lived at that address, nor owned the property there.  They have your bill confused with another party and you want this cleared up.  If you can't get a supervisor to resolve this, then call the main number for the utility and ask for a Vice President in charge of customer service.  Explain your problem.

The people at the bottom who answer the phone really have little authority outside of specific guidelines.  Going to the supervisor usually solves the problem, but when all else fails, you hassle an executive and they wantcha out of their hair as fast as possible.