Verizon says...

[trillium131]

My girlfriend has an outstanding debt owed to Verizon Wireless of over $800.
She unwisely dodged them for a while, but at my urging attempted to make it right. She called Verizon's collections department, and they said they'd drop some of the late fees, etc. if she could get them $100 within 24 hours.

She did. They said "We will contact you to set up a payment plan to resolve this." That call never came... Instead, she got a call from the same person one monday morning, demanding $100 by friday. I can't explain her financial situation here, because it's quite complex. However, I assure you it was not possible for her to scrape up that $100 in five days. Her paycheck for that week was spent before it was earned.

She asked the woman on the other end "You said you were going to call me back to set up a payment plan. What happened?" the lady on the phone claimed that (and I quote) "her notes got cut off".

I have been assured that all of those phone calls are recorded and kept for a while, and I believed it to be so from the start.

Now, there is an unknown number calling my house, not her cell number, speaking of an "urgent business matter that must be resolved". I googled the number. Reports online spoke of having to enter data such as your name, social security number, etc. as soon as you dial into their system. However, those reports claimed that it was a collections agency working for Verizon Wireless.

Someone who I trust, someone who has dealt with issues like these before told me the following:
"Since they didn't call her back to set up a payment plan, she's not obligated to pay any set amount, she just has to pay the debt that she owes. Until a payment plan is set up, she can send them $50 a month, you know, whatever she can afford, and they can't do anything about it because they are being paid back."

I want to know if that is in fact correct. If so, she will contact them and send them money.

Thank you for your time.

You need to set up a formal payment plan. If you are able to afford to repay $50 per month on a $700 debt, it is likely that this may be acceptable.
To pay irregular amounts on an irregular basis is likely to lead to the debt being transferred to a debt collection agency.
My advice would be to make contact with Verizon, clarify whether the debt has yet been passed to a collection agency, and if it has not, get an agreement to repay the debt arranged.

aee