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fantomesq
July 3, 2009 6:22 PM
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Re: I'm contacting Time Warner's benefits department to let them know they need to warn people!

I think you just did. :)

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Skaperen
July 3, 2009 8:14 PM
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Instead of warning people that a free perk as an employee becomes a chargeable account when they leave, they should actually ask the ex-employee if they want to keep the account. Give them a form at the exit interview, or send it to them at home, that lets them opt-in to a paid account (with signature on usual customer terms). If they are leaving on good terms, let them have the account for free for 30 to 60 days (sans any employee privileged access). If they don't opt-in to the chargeable account, then close it at the end of those days. If they are leaving on bad terms, shut it off and don't even allow them to pay to keep it.

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pdxguy
July 3, 2009 9:27 PM
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@Skaperen: So what do you do when the sides don't agree as in the employee thinks they are leaving on good terms or at least non-bad terms, but the company thinks differently?

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sonneillon
July 5, 2009 10:39 AM
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@pdxguy: Then the employee has bigger things to worry about when they have to fight the company for unemployment.

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cortana
July 3, 2009 11:36 PM
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When it was AOL, employee accounts were always closed upon leaving employment, and the names were taken out of the list of names that are ever available for use, even if they do eventually purge your account after awhile (mail, for instance, never EVER lasts more than 28 days without being read)

Maybe that's changed since AOL bought Time-warner, then was overthrown from within... wouldn't surprise me at all.

(ex AOL email group employee here, so yeah, I know the score)

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PLATTWORX
July 4, 2009 3:42 AM
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I have never worked for Time Warner, but got collection notices suddenly claiming I owed $22.00 for an AOL account YEARS ago. Many large firms use \"fake/internal\" collection agency letters to shake people up.


I had no such account and it seemed there were not charges for months prior or since this one odd bill in 2007... never heard from them again, threw it out and nothing is on my credit report as I suspected.


I take it these ramdom threats bring in some extra needed cash. SAD!

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trixare4kids
July 6, 2009 3:42 PM
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GET IT IN WRITING

Chiming in late here because I was on vacation -- but I wanted to warn Jennifer because something similar happened to me. I cleared something from collections from a case of identify theft. Five years later, I got a collections notice from another collections agency for the same debt. Sometimes collections agencies sell their accounts to other agencies and they either erroneously or deliberately sell closed accounts. If I had not kept copies of everything, it would have been very difficult to prove.

1. GET IT IN WRITING that the debt is cleared up. Do not just take the AOL rep's word for it.

2. Double check your credit reports in 30 days. If the debt is still not off the credit report then you have something in writing to PROVE that the debt should be removed when you dispute it.

3. Please make a file and KEEP all your records of this issue, including what you got in writing to prove that the debt is not valid for at least 5-7 years.

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