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So... What Are You All Doing on 13/~1/2020?
Kris Asick
Member #1,424
July 2001

My ex-water heater rental company from before I moved out in early May has been pestering me to pay an amount which I don't owe them (nor are they telling me why I supposedly owe it, even after I asked them to) and just today I got a "Final Notice" from them with a date of "13/~1/2020" on it...

...yeah... ::)

...I think even the collection agency is gonna laugh at that one when they eventually call. ;D

I haven't scanned it yet but obviously I need to because how do you screw up a date that badly?? :P

--- Kris Asick (Gemini)
--- http://www.pixelships.com

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
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It's the computers fault, naturally.

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

Matthew Leverton
Supreme Loser
January 1999
avatar

On January 13, 2020, I'll be drawn out of retirement to resurrect this old thread. I'll be a young old man wondering how we ever elected an orange turnip for President and wistfully thinking back of our glory years when the eloquent statesmen G W B ruled our lands.

I predict Shenmue III will have recently been released for the PlayStation 4 and it will be as gloriously terrible as the first two installments.

Bob Keane
Member #7,342
June 2006

So after 13/~1/2020 they'll stop pestering you? Or your service will end on that date? And how do you rent a hot water heater? Just buy an on demand system and pay a plumber to install it. As to what I'm doing today, I just installed FF7 on my notebook. All I need is a usb keyboard or a copy of ff7_input.cfg to play.

By reading this sig, I, the reader, agree to render my soul to Bob Keane. I, the reader, understand this is a legally binding contract and freely render my soul.
"Love thy neighbor as much as you love yourself means be nice to the people next door. Everyone else can go to hell. Missy Cooper.
The advantage to learning something on your own is that there is no one there to tell you something can't be done.

Kris Asick
Member #1,424
July 2001

Assuming you mean Jan 13th, 2020

Actually, in all the things they've ever sent me over the years, the month comes first. So chances are they mean the ~1st day of the 13th month of 2020 as the date upon which they sent me the letter I have. :P

There's no other dates or such on the letter.

Bob Keane said:

And how do you rent a hot water heater?

It's a surprisingly common thing in Ontario, Canada... unfortunately. I forget how the practice took off originally, but it's such a stupid and silly thing to do now that these rental companies are doing everything they can to squeeze every last penny out of current and ex customers until they eventually go bankrupt since people tend to know better nowadays.

When I ended my rental with them I paid off my final bill properly and everything, and then after a couple months they sent me a "past due" amount (not an actual bill) of nearly $200. (Keeping in mind that my quarterly rental rate was about $40.)

I told them I would be willing to pay the amount owing if they could provide me with a breakdown of what these charges were for as well as proof that I signed a contract indicating these charges would be owed for those reasons. They've yet to do either.

Even when I initially called them up months ago to ask what would be involved with ending my rental with them, the person on the other end was trying to rush me off the phone, so not only did they fail to explain if any charges would be involved, but they had neglected to record the address to send my final bill to, so if I hadn't called them back immediately following to provide that information they would've had a heck of a time sending me supposedly past due amounts for anything. :P

Water heater rental companies are a dying breed in my part of the world... and considering how badly they're run nowadays it's probably for the best.

--- Kris Asick (Gemini)
--- http://www.pixelships.com

BAF
Member #2,981
December 2002
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So chances are they mean the ~1st day of the 13th month of 2020 as the date upon which they sent me the letter I have.

Does that mean approximately January 1, 2021? ???

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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It's a surprisingly common thing in Ontario, Canada... unfortunately.

I didn't know [or forgot] that you were in Ontario! \o/

When I moved into my own place I had the unfortunate luck of getting a recycled phone number from some guy that apparently owes money. Creditors started calling daily for him, leaving messages on my answering machine. It's been about 3 years, give or take, and they still call. The amount of resources wasted on harassing the wrong person probably outweighs the money owed, and even if it doesn't there should be some legal stance that I can take to make them stop (since they are harassing the wrong person). It's frustrating as Hell. For a while I had an offensive answering machine greeting that basically called them all bad words. Eventually a friend of said person called the number, apparently equally oblivious to him having changed his, and starting lecturing me on a message about how rude my answering machine greeting was. She hung up when I picked up the phone assertively. :D Anyways, fuck this guy, and fuck "creditors", is all I have to say.

Hopefully they don't start harassing you. Or if they do, hopefully there's something that you can do to stop them. Perhaps it would be worth seeking legal representation. I imagine this can hurt your "credit rating" if you don't address it.

Personally I don't believe in credit. If you can't pay cash for it now [and it won't be worth roughly the same amount later] then you shouldn't buy it.

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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bamccaig said:

Personally I don't believe in credit. If you can't pay cash for it now [and it won't be worth roughly the same amount later] then you shouldn't buy it.

You know the value of your bike dropped in half the second it came off the sales lot right?

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
avatar

I think he was talking about the value of the money itself (a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow) because of the ability of money to earn more, in addition to politicians counterfeiting inflation.

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

Kris Asick
Member #1,424
July 2001

bamccaig said:

Hopefully they don't start harassing you. Or if they do, hopefully there's something that you can do to stop them.

Oh, that's easy, believe it or not. :o

If you truly owe money to a company, creditors will harass you forever until you pay it back. If you don't actually owe anything (as is my case) you simply tell the creditor the very first time they call that the amount owing is an error. It's then up to the company who wants this money out of me to either figure out that they've screwed up, or take me to court. Over the amount of around $170 I seriously doubt they would even attempt to do that as it would probably cost them a lot more money to make the attempt than they would get back... but considering how inept they are to not even print a proper date on a letter they sent me I wouldn't completely put it past them. :P

--- Kris Asick (Gemini)
--- http://www.pixelships.com

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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You know the value of your bike dropped in half the second it came off the sales lot right?

You know I paid cash for that, right? Even so, I have heard that these bikes apparently hold their value quite well.

I think he was talking about the value of the money itself (a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow) because of the ability of money to earn more, in addition to politicians counterfeiting inflation.

I was referring more to the fact that certain items don't really lose value the same as others. For example, a computer, or a car, or indeed a motorcycle will not return the same that you paid for it. You lose money on those even if you do pay cash. Paying credit means you're also going to lose the interest. At least with certain items, like houses, they should ideally hold relative value so that you're only really losing the interest and fees and can turn around and sell for nearly what you paid (depending on the market when you sell).

That said, I'm still not really comfortable buying a house on credit which is why I am living in an apartment for now... Of course, arguably that's even worse because you don't get to keep any value... I digress.

Oh, that's easy, believe it or not. :o

...If you don't actually owe anything (as is my case) you simply tell the creditor the very first time they call that the amount owing is an error. It's then up to the company who wants this money out of me to either figure out that they've screwed up, or take me to court.

I have called back two or three creditors and explained to them that they have the wrong person. They just say that they can't take my word for it and keep calling. It's absurd, but what can you do? Aside from taking them to court, I don't think there's much that I can do about it. If I do take them to court I'll probably lose a ton of money on it. It's bullshit. The whole system is fucked.

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
avatar

Post the info about the company etc. on a widely viewed public forum, when they try to sue you, they'll be looking for Joe Shmo instead of Brandon McCaig.

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

Sue me for what? Posting their information on the Web? First of all, they don't tell me their company details when they call, and they don't answer questions if you ask them. They are calling to harass you, not to be harassed themselves. You can reverse look-up their phone numbers though. Secondly, there's no reason to sue me for posting public information in public. Thirdly, if the intention is to shame them into behaving that won't work because consumers don't choose to do business with them. It's private companies that choose to do the business with them. Consumers have no control over their successful or failure (aside from maybe refusing to pay, but then they'll just harass you or whoever else ends up with your phone number... I doubt it really affects their bottom line much at all). The system built on credit is insane. The USA is worst for it, it seems. That needs to be fixed. It's no surprise the US government is living on credit when the entire country is doing the same.

LennyLen
Member #5,313
December 2004
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bamccaig said:

I have called back two or three creditors and explained to them that they have the wrong person. They just say that they can't take my word for it and keep calling. It's absurd, but what can you do?

Buy a phone with a blacklist feature.

edit:

I just remembered that my sister had the same problem. She bought a whistle, and when debt agencies called for the wrong person she just blew on the whistle down the phone line.

They stopped calling pretty fast.

Neil Roy
Member #2,229
April 2002
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bamccaig said:

I have called back two or three creditors and explained to them that they have the wrong person. They just say that they can't take my word for it and keep calling. It's absurd, but what can you do? Aside from taking them to court, I don't think there's much that I can do about it. If I do take them to court I'll probably lose a ton of money on it. It's bullshit. The whole system is fucked.

Call your phone company and demand a new phone number and explain to them the situation.

---
“I love you too.” - last words of Wanda Roy

Bob Keane
Member #7,342
June 2006

I had a similar problem when I got my cell phone. I just ignored them, I didn't want to waste minutes on them. They eventually stopped calling. Most likely the callers bought the debt from a bank and are trying to collect something before it becomes uncollectable. Either ignore the calls or change your number.

By reading this sig, I, the reader, agree to render my soul to Bob Keane. I, the reader, understand this is a legally binding contract and freely render my soul.
"Love thy neighbor as much as you love yourself means be nice to the people next door. Everyone else can go to hell. Missy Cooper.
The advantage to learning something on your own is that there is no one there to tell you something can't be done.

Matthew Leverton
Supreme Loser
January 1999
avatar

bamccaig said:

That said, I'm still not really comfortable buying a house on credit which is why I am living in an apartment for now... Of course, arguably that's even worse because you don't get to keep any value... I digress.

I wouldn't buy a house on credit either...

pkrcel
Member #14,001
February 2012

I wouldn't buy a house on credit either...

Well yeah, I'm better off having someone gifting it to me >:(

It is unlikely that Google shares your distaste for capitalism. - Derezo
If one had the eternity of time, one would do things later. - Johan Halmén

furinkan
Member #10,271
October 2008
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My electric company has stopped allowing me to make automatic payments in part because of a check they never attempted to cash (according to my bank) that they claim bounced.

I've resolved to pay my bill by certified-mailing them loose change until they reconsider. I'm not sure how solid such a threat is...

On January 13 2020, I'll be wishing my brother congrats on his masters degree from Purdue and a happy belated birthday. I'll be discussing what to do with our sister, who having went to Indiana University, is still unconscious in a gutter somewhere smelling like bambam on a bad day. I still will have contributed nothing useful to this community, and the little bastards I will have spawned will be causing hair loss.

type568
Member #8,381
March 2007
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I had been repeatedly asked to pay a med insurance bill of 0 Shekels 0 agoras*.. I wonder how much was spent on the monthly mail delivery.

*
Shekel(ILS)- Israeli Currency
agora is 0.01 a Shekel.

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
avatar

So send them a check in the requested amount! You deadbeat! >:(

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
avatar

bamccaig said:

You know I paid cash for that, right? Even so, I have heard that these bikes apparently hold their value quite well.

The two parts of your assertion sounded separate. Vehicles halve their book value when driven off the lot. Even if its got 0km on it.

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

pkrcel
Member #14,001
February 2012

Vehicles halve their book value when driven off the lot. Even if its got 0km on it.

While technically correct, the truth is that we simply overpay the damn thing.

It is unlikely that Google shares your distaste for capitalism. - Derezo
If one had the eternity of time, one would do things later. - Johan Halmén

Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
avatar

pkrcel said:

While technically correct, the truth is that we simply overpay the damn thing.

It happens with many things (except most real-estate). Buy a new TV, and see if anyone will be willing to buy it, even if still unopened in the original box, for the original sale price. It's unlikely.

There's something in the human psyche that makes you not want to pay anywhere near retail for something you perceive as "used".

--
Thomas Fjellstrom - [website] - [email] - [Allegro Wiki] - [Allegro TODO]
"If you can't think of a better solution, don't try to make a better solution." -- weapon_S
"The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree" -- https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/592870205409353730

Kris Asick
Member #1,424
July 2001

bamccaig said:

I have called back two or three creditors and explained to them that they have the wrong person. They just say that they can't take my word for it and keep calling.

I find that bizarre for two reasons:

1. The moment you tell them they have the wrong number when they ask for someone other than you, they should stop calling it.

2. How would you even know they're creditors unless they introduced themselves as such prior to asking for the person they're trying to reach? They would ask for the person they're trying to reach first, THEN reveal who they are... unless they REALLY suck at their job. :P

Actually, something I got in the habit of doing several years ago: When someone calls me and asks for someone who's not me, I don't just say they have the wrong number, I say, "You must have the wrong number, what did you try dialing?" I do this because it helps the person on the other end figure out if they simply dialed wrong, and I can correct them, or if they DO have the right number, I can say, "Well, that's my number but there's no one here by that name." Sometimes in the case of someone clearly calling from an office or call centre, they'll ask how long I've had the number for, and sometimes they'll even ask if I know the person they're asking about, but they never call back following.

I've also noticed that it's really important to never be rude with anyone who's got the wrong number, no matter how ridiculous they are, because it makes it seem like you're hiding something and may just get you a call back from them in the future.

In terms of collection agencies though, most don't have a ton of money to work with, so if they continue bothering you for completely unfounded reasons, just tell them that their information is wrong and that you will file a complaint and subsequently a lawsuit if they continue to harass you about it. That should shut them up since, if you followed through with those actions, it would more than likely shut them DOWN instead. :P

--- Kris Asick (Gemini)
--- http://www.pixelships.com

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