So Good She Wanted Seconds
Joelle said in the early afternoon on February 8, 2008
The phone rang yesterday afternoon while I was reading the comments on my post about the alleged “bill collection”. Irony dictated that it was the same 800 number with the same perky-voiced recording urging me to call for a “very important message”.
Of course, before the message even ended I’d hit “Talk” to call them back. A few moments later I was graced with a voice that only 30 years of Pall Malls can provide and lo, it was Mrs. Meyers.
Me: To whom am I speaking?
Mrs. Meyers: This is Mrs. Meyers with Acme Agencies.
Me: Oh good. Mrs. Meyers, hello. This is Joelle Reeder, we spoke yesterday? I asked you to send me any information you had by mail and never to contact me by phone?
Mrs. Meyers: [silence, then...] Yes, ma’am.
Me: Wonderful. Then you can imagine my dismay when my phone rang just now with yet another recording asking me to call you.
Mrs. Meyers: [already exasperated] It takes 48 hours, ma’am.
Me: 48 hours to what? Remove me from your database of potential scams? It takes that long to hit delete?
Mrs. Meyers: You know we can’t do that, ma’am. You’ll just have to wait to be added to the No Call List.
Me: I know an easier way. Do not call this number again, Mrs. Meyers. If I hear from you or your company again without receiving any kind of valid documentation by mail, I will contact my attorney. See how easy that was?
*click*
I’ll admit that was kind of fun. I wonder if she’ll call today…
Moxie Design Studios™
from Pasadena, CA
Teehee. Good job giving them some grief. Heaven knows they’ve earned it. What a crappy line of business to be in. Yuck!
from Seattle
sassy! nice response.
from Chicago
I cannot stand those people. Good for you for standing up for something! I wonder how many people they are actually able to intimidate into paying?
from Drowning in Seattle
This, my dear, is some fine good reading.
I have been complaining all day about not having a good book to read, when I can just log on and read your words.
Hilarious!
from Northern NY • Cocktail: Harvey Wallbanger
LOL - you handed that really well… now can you come handle the endless phone calls (mostly during supper) I’m getting from a guy running for State Senate?
from san diego • Cocktail: margarita
i love that you did that.. .LOL
from Santa Barbara, CA
Awesome!! I do sometimes feel bad being mean to those people because they are just doing their job, but then when you think about it, their job is to intimidate, annoy, and inconvenience you! They rely on the fact that we have been raised to be polite and not rudely dismiss what they have to say. Good for you for not fitting the mold and telling them what’s up!
Kinda reminds me of my brother-in-law. His cell phone got stolen and used for 100s of dollars worth of phone calls to Puerto Rico by some woman who cleaned the airplane he left it on. He refused to pay the bill. In the last conversation he had with the creditors who tried to collect on the bill, he told them repeatedly to lick his a**. That was the end of the phone calls.
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@icyshard: yes, I know what you mean… but I think the best part was that I wasn’t mean. I was really, really nice… I think that made a better impact than ranting and raving and yelling.
And, of course, I refrained from telling her to lick my ass like Lani’s brother in law. haha!
Mother was the Queen of essentially telling idiots to “lick her ass” without actually saying the words. Her southern drawl just added to the whole thing. Killing them with kindness is a good thing. (I wonder what she would think about me having her say “lick my ass.” She would have never said that in real life.)
I love that you immediately make them go completely off-script. They have no idea how to respond, and then they have to listen to the meat of your point and try to craft a response. Which, of course, they can’t do because they’re trying to get money out of you that you just don’t have to pay. Love. It.
You could call the “West Coast Phone Company” and ask them about the debt—they’ll verify whether the account closed with the debt and whether (and when!) they sold the debt to the Collection Agency… should give you some additional ammunition for the next time Mrs Meyers calls (you know she will.....)