A couple of years ago, we ordered Verizon Fiberoptic and therefore gathered up all the Time Warner Cable gear and took it to the local office; I got a dated and signed receipt for everything...and this was about a week before the due-date for the next month's advance billing.
Less than a month later, we got a demand letter from a phocking COLLECTION agency demanding something like 40 bucks because we'd cancelled after the due date....I copied everything and sent it to them, TW local and corporate and threatened each and every one that I'd own their collective asses if any such bullsh*t got reported to the three bureaus.....I guess it got resolved, because the one and only reply I got was a check for about 15 bucks for the week's refund that was in fact due me.
Wifey still gets pissed at me when I go off on any TW rep who sets up at the local home shows - probably because I've got my spiel well rehearsed, and get it done very loudly in about 45 seconds....perhaps it's the profanity.
Your experience is “Standard Operating procedure” for many companies.
They charge you or over charge you in error.
Most people won’t even realize it and pay.
For those that do, it is a “Customer service” issue.
Since you had cancelled the service you actually realized the charge was erroneous and were willing to fight back. I think there are many folks that would just pay the charge to be done with it.
The fact that it went to a collection company so quickly leads me to think they where up to something a little different.
I had a situation with Comcast many years ago. They were charging me late fees on late fees. I had all my paper bills from the first day I started the service and was able to get a rep on the phone that had access to my entire history.
They wanted to “Start” with the current month and work backwards. I said NO. Lets start at the beginning, since this is the ONLY place where we can agree.
After an hour they ended up owing me two months worth of service.