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Paging Franz Kafka...


Anderton

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Since my mother's death, I've been handling bills for her condo and such. Today I got a notice from the electric company saying that the account would be terminated immediately, and has been turned over to collections. With it was the payment stub, which emphasized that payment was required immediately and to "Pay this amount: $0.00."

 

Can't decide which is the better option: send a check overnight for $0.00 and see if their accounting system blows up, or sit back and watch a collection agency trying to harass a very kindly, but also very dead, little old lady.

 

She would have thought this was hilarious.

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Send them a check for $0.00 written on a brick. Postage due.

 

About three years after my father died, a letter addressed to him came from New York City informing him that if an eight year old parking ticket wasn't paid within 30 days, the Virginia DMV would be notified to withhold renewal of his driver's license. I thought I'd be helpful and wrote them that Mr. Rivers was dead, would neither be renewing his license, nor paying the parkig ticket. They wrote back asking for a copy of the death certificate so they could close the file. For all I know, it's still open, though they never sent another letter about it.

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I knew your Mother was sick, but did not realize she had passed on. Sincerest condolences My Man....

 

I had to handle all the paper when my mother died and it's weird and hard. She had dementia and was literally absent as a person the last three years of her life. She'd gone through all her money way before she passed over, so I paid up all her bills over a year's time, except for 7 bills from a neurologist I'd never seen or spoken to who had supposedly had these 7 "Consults" with her. I called his office several times and spoke with everyone in it except him, trying to get an explaination on how he never consulted with me, her conservator, or how on earth he could have spoken to someone who could neither speak nor understand in the slightest anything said to her.

 

So, I made an appointment with him using my brother's first name. Filled out all the paperwork and after an hour they called me in to a examining room. He came in and smiled and introduced himselff and asked me what my health concerns were. I told him I was concerned about his health and his rights to practice medicine if I had to turn over these bills and my beliefs that he was defrauding Medicare. He turned white as a ghost and said there must have been a mistake. I stood up and said, the mistake would be me getting another of these bills.

 

I walked out and the nurse at the desk said, "Sir! You need to check out!" Meaning a bill I suppose..I said "The Doctor will take care of it" and went about my life.

 

I was 50 years old at the time, and it had been 25 years previous to that the last time I had actually gotten in a fist fight with someone. The Doctor was the first person since then I wanted to punch. But I'm glad I didn't. Also glad I never got anymore statements from him.

 

It's hard enough watching someone you love die, getting their remains where they are going and dealing your own and other;s grief at their passing...But dealing with all the paper and possesions etc. is wrenching.

 

I wish you peace Craig..And hope you can come up with a solution to that zero sum bill that makes you smile...and mebbe sticks it to the bean counters at the power company.

 

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