Think AT&T just bought themselves alot of bad publicity then the $2000 is worth with this story.
An Oklahoma Marine contends a bill collector is hounding him while he's fighting in Iraq.
The Marine is in a military hospital, recovering from wounds he received on the battlefield. But, he said he's more worried about the bill collector than he is about his health.
So his mother, here in Oklahoma, asked me to go "In His Corner."
If you've watched even a few minutes of news recently, you know that the serious action in Iraq is in a town called Fallujah. And that's exactly where Sonya Christmon's son is serving with the Marine Corps.
The Corps called her two days ago to say Robert had been wounded again by shrapnel, but that he would be all right.
Sonya was anxious to hear those words from her own son's mouth when he called later that same day.
But what was he worried about?
"And he said, 'Mom, I got a bill here on my cell phone.' "
"And I'm like, 'what?' "
"And he said, 'It's like $2,000.' I [have to] get this paid. Because you know his credit.' "
Robert had received a threatening letter from a bill collector for AT&T Wireless saying pay $2,000 or they would take legal action. Robert claimed he had shut off the service before he got shipped out from the U.S. again, but it wasn't shut off.
Sonya couldn't believe someone would trouble troops about a bill when they face death on a daily basis.
"But he's tough, he's tough," she said. "The only thing is I want him to concentrate on getting through this. Because this is very dangerous where he's at."
Sonya called and questioned the San Diego AT&T office because Robert's cell bills were normally $75 to $100. But they would only talk to Robert. They hung up on Sonya and her family.
Army National Guard attorney Capt. Michael Mannes said bill collectors can send letters to GI's in war zones, but soldiers, like anyone, can write and demand the letters stop. It's federal law. But if they persist, GI's can fight back against bill collectors, too.
"There are certain provisions that allow for a service member to bring civil action against them and in some cases there is even criminal penalty," Mannes said.
Now, I contacted AT&T corporate affairs and they have apologized.to Robert and his family and also said they deeply regret that a collector hounded Robert in a dangeroous combat situation.
A company executive told me they will work as hard as possible to get this bill resolved in the next few days.
That's a great relief to Robert's family. We'll check back for results.
I'm Brad Edwards, In Your Corner.
Most overseas units have access to military lawyers who are assigned to their unit. They're there to help with legal matters just like this.
