HAW RIVER, N.C. — Della Nickerson is what you’d consider a loyal person. This applies to her friendships and business dealings. Nickerson also isn’t a huge fan of change, so why fix it if it isn’t broken?
For the past 40 years, Nickerson has had the same phone provider. Nickerson has both a landline and a cell phone. She is also very diligent and pays all her bills on time. Unfortunately, a change in billing caused Nickerson to miss some payments.
“They cut off my house phone and left my cell phone on,” Nickerson said.
The company stopped sending Nickerson a paper bill in the mail and started billing her online. The problem is that Nickerson doesn’t have a computer and doesn’t do any billing online.
“It was a big problem for me,” Nickerson said.
One of the bills was more than $400 including late fees and penalties. Nickerson was able to get the phone reconnected, but her son had to help.
“So initially mom called and let me know her bill was higher than normal,” Jesse Nickerson said. “We realized she wasn’t getting her bill in the mail.”
Jesse Nickerson spoke with a representative and sorted out the bill along with setting the account up so his mom would be sent a statement in the mail.
“The paper bill did not come for a second time, we got a big bill,” Jesse Nickerson said.
At this time, loyalty went out the door and Nickerson decided to cancel her contract and switch carriers. Jesse Nickerson spoke with an agent from the new company to make sure his mom could keep her old phone numbers and be sent a bill in the mail.
“We had it all set up. The lady assured me we were good to go,” Jesse Nickerson said.
It took a couple of months, but Jesse Nickerson and his mom eventually discovered the switch never happened and Nickerson was still with her old provider and still being billed online.
“That’s when we reached out to (News 2). We had exhausted all other means,” Jesse Nickerson said.
We contacted both phone companies and explained the situation. Both representatives told us they would investigate the issue and reach back out to Nickerson to get the issue resolved. Nickerson wanted to switch carriers, keep her old numbers, have all the late fees waived, and get a paper bill from the new company.
“I received a call (from the companies) like you said I would appreciate their customer service,” Jesse Nickerson said.
It didn’t take but a couple of days after that before the switch was completed. Nickerson was with a new provider and the old carrier did allow her to keep both numbers and agreed to waive the late fees.
“We greatly appreciate 2 Wants to Know helping us, if not, we’d probably still be dealing with this situation,” Jesse Nickerson said.