Action: Verbal promises difficult to enforce

On April 12, I made a written contract with a company for one large window installation costing $1,927.26. Within minutes of signing it, the representative orally amended this contract by offering me the window for "free" if I could find three window companies listed in the phone book that had been in business for five years. After much research, I found five window companies that satisfied his requirements.

The owner of the company has refused to honor this, in spite of the fact that another company employee witnessed the representative orally amending this written contract. I wrote to the owner that although the cost of the free window I was promised was $1,927.26, I would be willing to settle this matter for one small free window. He never responded to that letter nor to any of the others I sent. Nancy Bradley

Response: Unfortunately, verbal promises are (nearly) impossible to enforce, so we're sorry that we can't help you.

Your situation has us puzzled, though. A company sells you a window for nearly $2,000 and then turns around and tells you you can have it for free if you meet an easy-to-fulfill requirement? This seems like an odd way to stay in business and certainly meets Action's if-it-sounds-too-good-to-be-true-it-probably-is requirement. But look at it this way. It's not as though this peculiar offer was the reason you signed the contract in the first place. Perhaps if you can forget it was ever made you'll be able to simply enjoy your new large, paid-for window.

Bill problems solved

We have been having a problem with VoiceStream for nearly a year now and have tried everything we can think of to get the issue resolved. We need your help.

Our contract with VoiceStream is up in December, and the company thinks we owe it more money, while we believe we have already overpaid. We opened our account in Denver, Colo., in December 2000, before moving to Palm Harbor in January. We specifically chose the VoiceStream "Get More Shared" plan because it includes 2,000 shared minutes of "Free Weekend Long Distance." Since we were moving from Colorado to Florida this plan was perfect because we would be making a lot of long-distance calls back to Colorado on weekends. This was the one and only reason we selected VoiceStream. We were assured, first by a VoiceStream representative in Denver, and later by one in Florida, that this plan was transferable. We are enclosing ads for this plan from newspapers in both states.

In just about every month since February, we have had to call VoiceStream about our bill, trying to get it corrected. In February, after a difficult time in January getting the phones and account properly transferred to Florida, we were promised January free because of all the problems we had. It is difficult to determine from our bills if this in fact happened.

We received two bills in March, dated March 3, and March 9. The VoiceStream representative indicated that some people did get double billed in March, and she would post a note for customer service to correct that for us. As far as we can tell, that has never been corrected. Also, the March 9 bill had a new account number on it. We do not know why. Then the bill we received on April 3 reverted back to the old account number, but all the bills starting with May 2001, have had the new account number.

We developed a spread sheet to help us understand exactly where we stood with VoiceStream. The net result on that spread sheet is that we believe we have overpaid VoiceStream by approximately $110.99. Why? All along VoiceStream has been billing us for the calls we make to Colorado on weekends, even though the bills indicate we are on the "Get More Shared" plan. In addition, the bills show us as having "2000 Weekends Free Nationwide."

Each month we call VoiceStream to dispute our bills in a long, drawn out process. The representatives provide only a first name, saying they cannot provide their last names, which makes it impossible to verify exactly with whom we spoke or to get the same representative twice. Because of these continuing problems, we stopped using VoiceStream for long distance calls in August, in spite of the fact that that's why we had it in the first place.

We do not know what to do from here and are turning to you in hopes you can get this matter resolved for us. Thanking you in advance. Charles Closs

Response: We wish we could tell you exactly what was going on with your bills, but VoiceStream never responded to our two letters, the second one sent by certified mail. However, that no longer seems to matter. Thanks for letting us know that VoiceStream's executive consumer relations office called you with some good news.

Your account is going to be canceled with no penalty, any outstanding balance wiped out and the overpayment refunded. We're glad we could help.

- Action solves problems and gets answers for you. If you have a question, or your own attempts to resolve a consumer complaint have failed, write Times Action, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or call your Action number, (727) 893-8171, or, outside of Pinellas, toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 8171, to leave a recorded request.

Requests will be accepted only by mail or voice mail; calls cannot be returned. We will not be responsible for personal documents, so please send only photocopies. If your complaint concerns merchandise ordered by mail, we need copies of both sides of your canceled check.

We may require additional information or prefer to reply by mail; therefore, readers must provide a full mailing address, including ZIP code. Names of letter writers will not be omitted except in unusual circumstances. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

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