1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

My first call from a collection agency

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Jones, Nov 28, 2007.

  1. Rosie

    Rosie Active Member

    If you don't pay the bill, it gets reported to the credit agencies and stays on there for something like seven to ten years. How that works across the border, I don't know.

    Collection agencies are paid a percentage of what they collect, and some are very persistent, even if the bill isn't legit.

    I don't know if this works in CA, but in many states you have 30 days to dispute the bill. Two years after I refused to pay a vet bill (I wound up with a dead cat, long story), I received a nasty-gram from a collection agency. I called them, raised holly hell with them and the guy apologized, he was just cleaning out old files. I re-sent the letter I sent them two years ago and that was that. Never showed up on my credit report. And I also have sterling credit.

    Write them a letter, telling them that the bill is in error and not your responsibility. Keep a copy for your files. But I would also contact the pathology department. It's very common to receive bills from 50,000 different clinics and departments for a hospital stay.
     
  2. John

    John Well-Known Member

    You didn't call him Jericho did you?

    If your insurance company asks you to pay the $132, I'd go ahead and do it. No point fucking up a good credit rating over the equivalent of one night's bar tab.
     
  3. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Someone else didn't like Grant Weber collection agency
    http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=16895

    their website
    www.grantweber.com
     
  4. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    At least you got a call. I was checking on my credit report one day, for the first time in months really, since I hadn't been given any reason to anticipate something was amiss. Then, I saw my number was much lower than it should have been. Turns out I had an unpaid tax bill from three states ago. And it was getting forwarded to another address I've never even been to in another state I never ever ever lived in.

    So I called them up and within days had the check sent to where it had to be since the bill was at least legit. But there's a certain tax office in a certain commonwealth that isn't nearly as fucking splendid and efficient as they'd like to think.
     
  5. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    $48,000 for a gall bladder?

    And just out of curiosity, why did you have it removed in California? Emergency?
     
  6. John

    John Well-Known Member

    On a similar note, the IRS a few years ago somehow got me confused with my brother Jack, who is two years older than me.

    I know Jack is a nickname for John, but I thought that was the whole point of social security numbers.


    JR -- Jones was out there to interview Clooney, I believe. Esquire ran a wonderful photo of Jones in the hospital.
     
  7. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Grant Hill and Chris Weber's careers have fallen further than I realized. Who's the muscle? I'm guessing Weber.
     
  8. Jones

    Jones Active Member

    Yeah, JR, it was an emergency. I just happened to be in California. I was in there for less than 24 hours (time enough for photos, John so kindly remembers). God help you if you need open-heart surgery.

    Rosie, that's good advice. I think I'll call Cedars directly tomorrow, too, see if I can cut this off at the source.

    I'm really pissed off, the more I think about it. Who wants their kid to grow up to be a collections agent? What a bunch of dirtbags.

    If Hill shows up at my door, I'm going for his ankles.
     
  9. Big Buckin' agate_monkey

    Big Buckin' agate_monkey Active Member

    Next time he calls say you'll pay a buck for every bj he gives you and he has to swallow
     
  10. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    My first instinct in this situation is to ask this: Are you sure this wasn't a scam artist wanting your credit card number? These dudes can be pretty slick.
     
  11. BigSleeper

    BigSleeper Active Member

    With the way the Canadian dollar is rising against the U.S. dollar, wait a couple months and the $132 will cost you like $20 Canadian. ;D
     
  12. John

    John Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page