Woman Receives Nearly $200 Cancellation Fee From Tech Company

A Valley woman said a tech company sent her to collections after she didn’t want to pay a cancellation fee of nearly $200.

Maria said she was having problems with her laptop and needed a computer technician to help her resolve the problem. “I thought maybe it had malware or something,” Maria said.

She said a family member found Karl’s Technology online, sent her the information and she submitted an application online. She then received a call from a representative.

Maria said: “Before the call ended, I ended up having a bad feeling about it and so I immediately called back less than 10 minutes later and canceled the appointment.”

Maria thought that was the end of it until she received a bill from the company stating that she owed $187.50 for canceling her appointment.

“I felt like it was absurd!” Maria said the appointment was made for the same day she called, but insisted she immediately called back to cancel the appointment within 10 minutes of making it.

Maria said emails and texts saying she was late on fees continued to come in. Two weeks after receiving the bill, she said she received a letter in the mail from an Arizona-based collection agency.

The letter stated that she had an unpaid debt with the technology company. “Seeing this already in the mail, I was just a little shocked,” Maria said. “It was really upsetting to me that he was trying to charge me so much money for canceling the appointment and not writing anything down.”

Not knowing what to do, Maria contacted Let ABC15 Know for help. The tech company didn’t respond to the team’s calls or emails, so we contacted the collection agency.

The manager immediately canceled Maria’s debt, saying that if she had disputed the amount owed, it would have been eliminated. Under federal law, a debt collector cannot argue with or harass a consumer about a debt.

They must also provide information demonstrating that the consumer owes the debt.

The collection agency director also said that in Arizona, there is no specific time frame a business is supposed to wait before sending a consumer to collections. Maria said, “I felt really relieved that you were able to reverse this and it didn’t hurt my credit.”

We reached out to Karl’s Technology again for answers. We spoke with a customer service representative who explained the cancellation policy and stated that we ensure all customers are aware of the cancellation policy over the phone.

Customers have the option to cancel and pay the fee or reschedule. Fees include the company’s hourly service rate of $125 per hour, plus $62.50 for gas and cancellation fees.

The representative also said that the company has had a lot of issues with customers canceling and that as a company, they have the right to charge fees.

Yes, as a business they have the right to charge whatever amount they want, but is that fair? Is this good customer service? What are your thoughts?