Friday, November 06, 2009

In the Mail Thursday Thoughts #25

About eight months ago I started to receive in the mail a billing notice from a collections agency regarding $113 that they say I still owe from the time I rented an apartment in 2005 through the summer of 2007. About two months after I checked out of that place I sent them that amount as they had raised the rent that month and I forgot to include the increase in my last month's payment. I do not have access to that bank account as it was closed and so do not know the exact number of the check sent. I have called the leasing office and the accounts receivable office and left at least 6 messages with no return to my calls. I even drove up there several months ago and met with the accounts manager who said my account appeared paid in full but they were re-doing the books and that they would get back to me. This "unpaid debt" now sits on my credit reports as an unresolved issue and no one returns my calls.

At my local post office there are several large blue recycle bins in the lobby. These are used by 80% of patrons to immediately dump without reading all those ads from various stores. The rest of the patrons are too stupid or too lazy and just leave their mail detritus on the window sill or the floor. These paper products for landfills is what is keeping the Post Office afloat. I would even accept this junk by email if they agreed to stop printing it on paper.

I subscribe to a newsletter "Consumer Reports: On Health." I have found it interesting for the most part, except the October issue had this brief paragraph: "Hugging Laundry. Dirty sheets, towels, and clothes can harbor bacteria and other germs, so use a basket---not your arms---to gather and transport laundry. And wash your hands after loading it into the machine." ??? While this might be good advice for those who are hired to do other's laundry, I think we are getting a little too germicidal in our lives...how in the heck do I get the laundry into the basket and out of the basket...rubber gloves? Does this mean I shouldn't hug those who wore the clothes?

I must be richer than I know on my fixed income. I also got a card in the same mail telling me I was pre-qualified to receive the exclusive Visa Black Card. (It appears that silver, gold and platinum have peaked in swankness.) If I get the Visa Black Card I am assured the highest caliber of personal service and concierge services. This card is limited to 1% of U.S. residents (how exclusive is that?), and they say it is guaranteed to get me noticed! No duh, so does a really bad hair day. Since it has an annual fee of $495 ($195 for each additional user) and an APR of 13.24% I guess I will pass. Swankness has its price and its level of stupidity.
Unfortunately, what I rarely get in the mail is letters.

( This post was written before the tragedy at Ft. Hood yesterday. More troops suffering from being exposed to trauma and tragedy will be coming home and resolving their issues by using either violence or suicide. War is a nasty disease.)

8 comments:

  1. Oh that line "Does this mean I shouldn't hug those who wore the clothes?" made me laugh so much I coughed for a couple of minutes hahaha.

    I'm so sorry though about the shooting in USA ...very sad.

    xxx

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  2. You're quite right about how germophobic we've become. We go overboard and create all new problems.

    The news is so incredibly sad.

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  3. Aren't billing disputes maddening? I think the problem has gotten worse with computerized records. I have had several and nothing is more stressful for me.

    The Ft. Hood tragedy should be a lesson that we cannot fight two wars with a small military. The stress on those poor soldiers is nothing short of torture. Violence and suicide are happening more frequently with the returning military. It is so sad and cruel.

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  4. It is very frustrating to have credit disputes, especially when your calls aren't returned.

    I agree that we are becoming too germophobic. Pretty soon we'll all have OCD where we're neurotically washing our hands until they bleed.

    I wish I would get a letter in the mail. A real one.

    The Fort Hood news is very sad.

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  5. We are beginning to be germaphobes and it is getting sillier and sillier!

    I hope you can get that account cleared up soon. What a mess.

    The black card? Count me OUT. What's so exclusive about that yearly fee? Ridiculous!

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  6. War is awful.

    Yes, I found a little bill from Macy's on one of my credit reports. What? I cancelled that card ten years ago. Macy's agrees, so I was able to fill out a form with the credit report folks that got it removed. What a fuss.

    Yes, basket. Put on my arm braces, grab the basket, inch backwards down two flights of stairs, and be appalled at the whole scenario. Or....grab a hug of laundry and off I go. I think I will go for the easier, softer, way that might possibly make me sick.

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  7. Not afraid of germs but of war, yes.

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  8. Have you considered suing the rental agency for their inability to keep accounts straight?

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