Problems with customer service - I feel your pain!

Anyone who's had problems with customer service - I feel your pain!

I'm trying to get a mistake cleared up on my credit report.  AT & T turned in that I owed 20 dollars and never paid (never mind the fact that I still have their service and my account is current).  So all I need from them is a letter saying I'm not delinquent so that I can send it to the credit reporting agencies.  Sound simple enough - right? 

After being on the phone with AT&T customer service for 2 hours, being transferred to customer service, to accounts receivable, to the collection department, to final billing, and then back around again, I still don't have a letter.  Each department told me that my account was good, but it was another department that has to write the letter.  Finally, someone at AT&T told me they couldn't write a letter or get me that information because the bill in question is older than 12 months and I should have called them sooner.  Believe me - I wanting to scream!  If I knew about it sooner, I would have taken care of it sooner.  Every person in customer service was nice - but transferring me from department to department does not sit well with me.

Tomorrow I'm going to call the Consumer Credit Counseling Service and I'll post their advice on clearing up a credit report mistake.  Because if I'm going through it, there are others out there going through the same thing! 

And let this be a good reason to check your credit report once a year - it's free.  Go to www.annualcreditreport.com