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Comcast Hounded By Collections Agency
Bob the Super Hamste writes "According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Comcast is being taken to court for non-payment by a bill collection agency it used to collect past-due payments from customers. The suit alleges that Comcast agreed to pay $5 for each account it closed and that for each account the collection agency handled Comcast would pay 33% of the collected funds. The suit is seeking $314,210 for account cancellations and estimates Comcast owes them $50,000 for delinquent funds collected."
As much as I generally hate the practices of various collections agencies (and I've worked collections), I'm rooting for a Comcast loss on this one. Serves them right with the way they treat customers, and their attempts to destroy the Internet.
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
Why doesn't this debt collector just use normal debt collection tactics, and call Comcast several times a day every day with threats of legal action? It's a lot cheaper than actually filing a lawsuit.
I had Lindy's collection service calling my house with a robodial at all hours multiple time a day for over year...even after I explained to them that I have never had comcast and never will because they aren't even available where I live. Apparently that was some kind of confirmation to them that it was my debt. I ended up having to get an attorney friend of mine after them to get them to stop. It turned out to be someone with the same first and last name that lived in the same area code but not the same town.
I for one, appreciate it. After all, if the Slashdot crowd--supposedly a little brighter than the average Joe--can't get it together enough to know the difference between they're and their then we are indeed in trouble.
I suspect that the same people who complain about spelling and grammar 'Nazis' are the same ones who would deride a liberal arts major for not knowing calculus. Perhaps next time I write down an equation I'll just substitute some of the "+" signs for "-" signs and then deride anyone who corrects me as a math Nazi.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
If English required technical accuracy to work, your analogy would make more sense.
Agreed, these discussions are far too rife with self-righteous stupidity like that. If you make a mistake and don't want to know about it, you probably don't belong on slashdot -- real nerds care about knowledge and would rather know the truth even if it means they are wrong!
Yes, the same ones who call gentoo users "ricers" because belittling is easier than doing. The tyranny of the moronic has become ubiquitous on slashdot.
Caveat Utilitor
I beg to differ. Penis-length superiority is the only kind of superiority that really matters!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I can tell you they hold all the cards. They can call as often as they want and say damned near anything they want. There is even a state law that specifically allows the people making the calls to use false names to identify themselves, as long as the company name is legit. One effect of this is that after you are called by "Elvis" or "Kirby Puckett" or any other bogus name, you try to call them at the number they left and you'll never get ahold of that person because whomever answers the phone won't know who used that false name.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
...we're Xfinity. Come on, let's sing the Xfinity theme song! It's fun for you! It's fun for me! Everybody do... so you're not buying it, eh? You say we're the same damned service with no quantifiable differences except a different logo and higher monthly bills? Well damn, does that mean you're going to rectally ream us out in court still?
N.B. - I'm a different AC, not the GP.
I for one, appreciate it. After all, if the Slashdot crowd--supposedly a little brighter than the average Joe--can't get it together enough to know the difference between they're and their then we are indeed in trouble.
If you, as a member of said brighter-than-average crowd, cannot distinguish between an honest-to-goodness typo and an inability to distinguish between "their" and "there", I think that's a much bigger sign that we're in trouble.
The GP really has a point, though. Pedantry really doesn't buy us anything. Somebody made a mistake, but everybody else knew what was meant, so the correct course of action would've been to simply let it rest and focus on the important issues. That some of us here are apparently unable to do THAT is also cause for concern; what's more, it's evidence that while we may indeed be brighter than the "average Joe", we're not making good use of our above-average intelligence. We're losing sight of the big picture, fail to see the forest for the trees, and get bogged down in unimportant details. All that reflects pretty poorly on us - at least those that do these things, like the GGP (and you).
I will never patronize Comcast (ATT, Xfinity, or whatever) unless I have absolutely no choice. They try to get a monopoly and then they exploit it (by jacking up prices) for all they are worth.
Support your municipal cable company!
Comcast is notoriously slow to pay its vendors. If it weren't for return business I'm sure the majority would love to sue them. This vendor probably lost a contract, and doesn't want to wait the normal amount of time to get paid.
If English required technical accuracy to work, your analogy would make more sense.
English requires technical accuracy to work well, just the same as math. If I start Taylor-expanding something for a few more terms than necessary, but mess up the signs on the higher order terms, my answer could still be qualitatively right; however, it introduces some ambiguity -- "is this dude doing something tricky that I don't understand, or is he just wrong?"
Both "OR maybe they're employees?" and "OR maybe their employees?" make sense, but mean very different things (I realize the original mistake used "there," but still...).
Personally, I just find it difficult to "decode" certain botched sentences. For example, "on sundae I went two the store and wile I was they're aye red a book (vary suite!) and blue my knows," is...well, tricky to read (reed?). I know, an exaggerated example...
No, because they assume that it is the right number and your probably the people they are looking for; your just not admitting it.
I had a collection agency almost a decade ago now actually call my inlaws and say "I'm looking for Sean Vaandering, i'm actually an old relative of his and just looking for his current phone number so I can call him up and wish him a happy birthday and send this present to him? Did you happen to have his current phone number?"
Oh that was brilliant. Here I am, unlisted number and they come calling one day and i'm racking my brains on how the hell did they all of a sudden get my phone number!? Then my wife talks to her mom that evening and she admits that someone called earlier today asking for our phone number and wanting to ship us a gift. Thanks mother-in-law! Appreciate that. Needless to say, we settled that debt, but we were so damn close to 7 years, that it literally would have dropped off and became unreported on my credit report and a noncollectable debt. I actually had someone who used to work at a collections agency tell me in confidence that I shouldn't pay it back because once the debt falls off your credit report, the collection agency legally cannot collect it and cannot enforce any legal action against you to collect it.
That little act cost me 7 more years of low credit score because once I actually paid it, the collection agency updated my credit report stating the R9 was paid in full - but that now means the R9 remains on my file for ANOTHER 7 years, needless to say I paid dearly when I financed a car I absolutely needed at the time (new baby, taking the bus was not in the cards).
Today, the bank who originally sent the file to the collection agency over 15 years ago now just sent me another mailing asking me to sign up for a pre-approved Platinum $10,000 credit card. Please. Never ever in a thousand years, and i'd love to be able to blast someone there for sending me this crap, but alas, I don't want to blow a hole through some front line lackey, for something that happened probably when he was in diapers. Things are different today, and it was a very long and expensive lesson on collection agencies, but the moral of this story is:
Do not fuck with collection agencies, they are paid for one thing and one thing only: To collect unpaid debt at any cost.
Pay your bills on time and every time - especially if the company updates your credit report. It really is that simple. Not paying at all should NEVER EVER be an option your considering.
Yeah, sure it is, Tuna Can Tommy...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.