In article sEupe.2499$2H2.654@trndny08,
Joe wrote:
I know, and IM ****ED !
Both my phone and Pager (PRI Paging) were shut off.
I spent all day on the phone, its no use. Both Cingular and PRI dont care
demand re-payment, faxed me a new contract and bill and a note "Electronic
City defaulted"
I was then transferred to there legal department who basicly said:
"Electronic City defaulted and never paid us, your contract was with them"
This shouldnt be but it is, it was THERE vendor that left everbody holding
the bag.
My lawyer wants 20X more $$ then the bills just to start a case, these
Monopoly companys clearly know this.
Its like fighting Ma Bell and City hall

I have to ask:
_Who_ was your contract with?
_Who_ was billing you for the service?
_Who_ were you sending payments to?

dig out the paperwork and look it up.

It makes a *big* difference if Electronic city was acting a _agent_ of
Cingular, or as a _reseller_ of Cingular's services. Ditto for the paging
Company.

If agent, then your contract, etc was with Cingular directly.
if reseller *your* contract was with EC, and they had a separate contractual
arrangement with Cingular.

If agent, Cingular _is_ responsible for their actions.

If 'reseller', then _as_far_as_Cingular_is_concerned_, EC is the customer.
-you- are not even a part of the picture. Cingular could care less if
you paid EC, EC is still required to pay _them_, even if you default.
(As Cingular sees it, in _that_ situation, EC is acting as _your_
'representative' to them.)

Now, if this was the 'usual' phone billing, where the base monthly charge
is billed "in advance", and EC billed you -- _and_you_had_paid_ -- for a
period past the point which service was cut off, you have the basis for
_criminal_ charges against EC -- 'theft by deception' or something similar.

On the *remote* possibility that the contract was actually with Cingular
you would have a slam-dunk *big-dollar* punitive damages suit against them.
Something that would have any 'contingency fee' lawyer _drooling_ over.

Given the fact that your lawyer has put such a high price tag on _starting_
things -- which by they way is a fairly common tactic when they don't wish
to out-and-out contradict a client by saying 'no' -- *and* postulating that
he did review the contracts before offering advice; it seems *VERY* unlikely
that your contract is with Cingular. That EC was not operating under a
'delegation of agency' from Cingular.