GREENSBORO, N.C. — Debbi Bruegger enjoys the occasional television show or movie, but she doesn’t need 130 channels and several movie packages. So when her boyfriend signed up for a massive cable package Bruegger told him she wouldn’t be splitting the cost and that he would pay the bill himself.
“The TV was a bone of contention, I did not want several hundred dollars’ worth of bills, so he didn’t tell me how much the bill was, that was his bill I didn’t know (anything),” Bruegger said.
That was the start of separating a bill, as Bruegger and her boyfriend lived together and split the other expenses. The system seemed to work well but sadly her boyfriend passed away and Bruegger was left with having to put all the bills in her name. One of those calls was to the cable company.
“They said we can just switch (the account) over to you, (I said) okay,” Bruegger said.
The switch seemed simple enough, but Bruegger quickly discovered a problem. Her boyfriend owed $200, and the cable company expected Bruegger to pay the balance before switching the account to her name. Bruegger refused but the cable company started sending her payment notices and eventually had a collection agency call her.
“They were harassing me billing-wise, (the collections agency) was relentless,” Bruegger said.” I told them it was not my bill, I did not agree to it, (and) if that was the case stop the whole thing.”
Unfortunately, the collection notices and calls kept coming so Bruegger reached out to WFMY News 2 for help. We contacted the cable company and after a few conversations, it agreed to stop all collections and close the account.
“I (watch) you guys on the news all the time, (I was) hoping you could help, (you) help a lot of people and you did, so thank you very much,” Bruegger said.
Bruegger has since started her own account with a cable provider, but she did not get the top-of-the-line package.