question about a contract - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

mgburg · #31 11-06-2013, 04:15 PM

Credit, Schmedit.

First, look at any paperwork that may have obligated you to sign for their service.

In the small print, most companies, now, provide a point for them to poke into your credit. It's the "If you want something from us at our teaser-rates, we want your mother, first born or anything left dangling from your torso" provisions.

I don't get involved in anything that gives them access to my life for their little bottle.

That said, be sure you're not on the hook in that direction...that's the paperwork that comes back to bite you on the @55.

Now, if they don't provide you with the materials you request, YOUR WRITTEN REQUESTS FOR SAME will be your ammunition for presentation to any credit firm that pinches you on their behalf. It will be a small p!ss!ng match for about 60 days, but that's the time-line you'll have to deal with when protecting yours from them.

It all comes down to small print and paperwork.

The worst I ran into, MANY YEARS AGO, was Sprint, when they were first starting out...

"Great rates, fantastic quality...yadayadaschmack."

Signed up (over the phone), got the "Intro-Kit" in the mail with the "Travel Card" and all the dial-up access-codes and secret handshake/whatnots...

I went traveling (work related) and used the card for about 3 months.

After 40 days, I hadn't receieved a bill.

So...I waited another 30 or so days...

then I waited some more...

...and I waited...

...and I waited...

...then I tore up the card...

...and waited 3 months more.

Then, I forget. Not that my life was hanging on getting this bill, but anything would have been better than nothing, Again, I STILL didn't get anything that said "PAY US OR DIE."

Then, I forgot what I was waiting for.

One, stinking bill?

Any bill?

Now comes the time. It's now been over 13 months since I got the original "Kit" in the mail. I'm in the process of moving to the other side of the state. AND THEN, I FINALLY get...not the bill...but a collection call...from YKW...

COLLECTION PERSON: "You owe us $xxx.xx and penalties."

ME: "Yeah? When and who awarded this to anyone?"

CP: "You've haven't paid anything and we're collecting a debt."

ME: "Let's go back a bit. Who the f*** are you talking about and better yet, what debt and to whom is this supposed debt owed to?"

(Nothing like picking up the phone handset and having this bit of Ear-Armageddon going on instead of "Hello. I'm from the Armpit HairPluckers Collection Agency and were just outside your door" to get your blood flowing...)

After a bit of verbal sparing (brain matter wasn't harmed during this part of the "conversation") I mentioned that NO BILL WAS EVER RECEIVED AT MY ADDRESS, nor any phone calls to this point about anything related to this "card" - nada, nothing, zilth, the big egg, gone.

I asked the caller to send a copy of a proper bill, with numbers called, dates of said calls (the usual details you'd get on a normal phone bill) to the address that they would read to me to confirm that they were even talking to the proper "Burg" on their list. The address was right and I said I'd wait for it.

Their response? "Well, we don't have those details on our billing."

I said, "Show me, then, that I even made calls on "such and such a date" and then, we'll discuss if you're even in the ball park. I've got work-slips that show where I was and what days I was traveling...so if anything matches, you might be in luck..."

Never heard from them again, but I did document the call, the person I was yammering with and the time the call came in and when it finally terminated.

And, of course, what was said...including the "french" at the beginning of the call...just in case someone's feeling were hurt.

Nothing ever showed up on any credit report.

But, your results may vary.

GL with the deadheads. Just remember, courts love paper...if not the small printing on the stuff...