The process was simple and only required an ID, which motivated Samira Molina to have a conventional line 20 years ago. It accepted that line and signed a contract in the sector north of Guayaquil.

He rarely used it because he didn’t have much experience with other phone lines. I would pay a $10 or $20 spend. Until one day several technicians visited his neighborhood and removed the cables. They told me that I was losing my line and that if I wanted another one, I should go to the office and buy it,” says the citizen.

Molina went to the offices of Pacifictel, which is now the National Telecommunications Corporation (CNT) after the merger of Andinatel and Pacifictel. One of the workers told him that the conventional line no longer belonged to him and that he had no debt, but he could request another one. Then she decided not to and withdrew.

Already in January 2023, Samira received a message – via WhatsApp – from the CNT Collection Department, in which it was written that she had forced trial and to access the Kennedy Norte offices. The citizen went to the address and a group of lawyers explained conventional line debt for $613.77.

“The 24th In January 2023, I found out about this debt, order on embargo, ban on leaving the country. And I told them that no one contacted me“, says Molina, who later had to go to other offices in the city center to get a copy of the contract.

“I’ve never been a user, I’ve never set foot on the CNT, and it looks like I have a debt”: citizens complain about services they say they didn’t ask for

“When I went and asked for information, I asked them, when did they inform? and I told them that was the first message I got. They told me that there were other lawyers before and they didn’t deal with it. And from there they sent me to find out about the contract at HNK”, he recounts and adds that he didn’t go because he had to look after his newly born daughter.

Back in May he entered his bank account to cancel the internet service and couldn’t. I didn’t even have a linden anymore. “I am reviewing the movements and received a hold for the court case in the amount of $482.14″, he points out, explaining that he went to CNT’s digital customer channels and the debt had already risen to $648.22.

The balance was then debited from his account. “The bank confirmed that the money was not in my account, and CNT didn’t have it either”points out Molina and assumes that they keep their money “in limbo” in order to continue generating interest: “It is in their interest that the debt is not paid”, he emphasizes.

Georgina Rodríguez, Legal Analyst of the Guayas Mass Customer After Sales Department at CNTconfirms that Samira Molina was a client of Pacifictel and that your line has been canceled due to non-payment.

According to Rodríguez, the customer owed invoices from November 2003 to February 2004. In November it owed $56.24, in December it owed $49.83, in January it owed $57.77, and in February it owed $31.27, giving a total of $195.11. After that, the conventional line was discontinued. The former subscriber assures today that the staff at the time told her that she had no debt and that the line no longer belonged to her.

The user is surprised that 20 years later they charge her without informing her. Rodríguez mentions that failure to comply with the terms has generated a forced judgment to date. “That value caused the process to start where the objects are generate default interest until the date of fulfillment of the obligation, as well as the professional fees of external lawyers who promote this type of procedure and the VAT charged for the services. Once the line is terminated, the out-of-court collection phase occurs, which means what Pacifictel has done is outsourced these collection efforts to outside lawyers and as the current CNT is doing. In 2020, the billing order begins for Mrs. Molina and there are different ways of notification through the press, website“, also says the lawyer.

So, you can sign up for a payment agreement offered by CNT to pay off your overdue debts

And it’s worth noting that there were a lot of changes when Pacifictel switched to CNT. “It is an overdue portfolio that is currently still required by the current administration and these are the procedures that are in place and are being processed,” says Rodríguez.

EL UNIVERSO had insight into the contract signed by Samira Molina and it was noticed that the citizen’s second surname was incorrect. The letter also appears that among the contract clauses at the time, Pacifictel stated that in the event of three consecutive forms of non-payment, the company would continue to withdraw service and other equipment. That in case the company changes its name, the subscriber agrees to keep the contractual clauses. And that the duration of the contract is for an indefinite period.

Rodríguez assures that discounts to Molina’s bank account for debt collection do not yet exist in the CNT database. “What she had on her bank account is a hold that (generates) a block, implemented by the bank, but these are not values ​​attributed to the CNT,” Rodríguez points out.

Molina is resigned that the money will not be returned to her, but he wants to be sure that the interest rate will not increase because the bank tells him that the money is held by CNT, otherwise it is CNT.

Rodriguez claims that this This is not the only case of debt collection since Pacifictel has been working and it is recommended to ask for confirmation from CNT after cancellation.

And on June 9 Molina went to the CNT and they told him that this institution had issued an order for the bank to keep $601.22 and that he had to apply for the seizure of the securities. She did so, and the person accompanying her explained that she had to wait a month and a half to collectthen three business days for CNT to contact Molina and pay the remaining $47. When this happens, eight days must pass for the ban to be lifted.

Molina feels powerless, because in more than two months, he assures that Interest rates will continue to rise.

It is not the first time that such cases of debt appear. This newspaper, for example, last year in April reported on complaints from citizens who claim that they have never borrowed money from CNT.