it's a collection agency
So that's what's happened, the alarm company sold the "auto renew" contract bill, around $300 to a collection agency. Every morning at 8am Annette gets in to work and makes her calls to the various households she's supposed to pester for money. She's got the right temperment and maybe works on commission, or it's a job she can stand and works for a salary. Maybe she owns the company and has a law degree. I'll never know because I don't plan on answering her. She plans on hassling me. I plan on turning off the phones because frankly there's nobody left who phones in to me. They text me or PM me on social networking. Mostly the latter. So I'm going to turn the ringers off. I've dealt with collection agencies before. They're like pitbulls guarding someone else's yard. They don't stand down but they don't bring the fight either. They just wear away at you like time or a water torture test. The fact the alarm company sold the contract so quick adds to the question of whether these charges would hold up in court but I still can't be bothered to pay a lawyer to sic on them. I mean, the lawyer would cost more than the bill, you know? It's not the money, is it? It's the principle of the thing, right? I mean, for them it's money, but for me, it's denying them ill gotten gains. I feel they're trying to cheat me and I won't co-operate. I know better than to have this conversation with the collection agency so I won't even try. They don't care, they would say "well why don't you pay the bill for now and then sue them for it?" Yeah, uh huh. I think court fees might be more than this bill for them too, even if the place is run by a lawyer instead of paying one. they'd have to be able to stick those fees on me and win the case. I don't know if they would or not. Technically the phrases are in the contract I signed. Logistically, our laws do recognize shysterism (not by that term) and the ways of shady salesmen and their fine print. So I think the court could understand my side and have some sympathy. The contract in question does say we agree to autorenew, but the salesman assured us they'd get in touch with us about it and check. He promised because I didn't want to sign. He was fast talking, he was pushy, and he was at times belligerent when I tried to assert myself. Like those "glass break monitors" he wanted to install. When I brought in an old window from the garage and broke it into a can in the basement to test the thing (and they failed) he tried to assure me the frequency is just different enough on a window in the wall vs one in just a frame. From dog barks to parrot screeches to broken jars to a broken window pane, the alarm never triggered. I made them take it out and refund us for the thing.
From there, the whole relationship was one of distrust and dislike. I never liked to talk to them, they were always too busy, spoke with thick accents, and the alarm system triggered frequent false alarms and phone calls from them (with no sign at home) worrying about what's going on here. It was rotten service, frankly. We paid, it was automatically taken from our account and we lived our lives. By the 2nd year of our 3 year contract we had 2 loud parrots and 3 loud dogs and the alarm system wasn't worth turning on. We quit and I periodically checked the contract's expiry date. About six months after expiry I called to ask about why it was still going and how to cancel it. He told me I had to send him an email with my account number, name and address, and formally request a cancel. I did. No answer. I called again, they said the same thing, I resent, and again nothing.
Now I"m not an executive. I don't have a secretary. In fact, I have terrible executive function by business standards, it's part of why I don't run a business and make money! So I wasn't staying on top of a stupid $36/mth alarm payment. I waited 90 days and said "okay, you're not taking no for an answer" and called my bank for stop payment. Paid $20 for the privilege too.
Well gee, I got a response and the caller spoke native Canadian English too! I mean, she didn't have an accent, you know? They were pulling out the big guns now! She explained to me how they auto renew and I'm on the hook for the full contract whether I use it or not. I told her that was patently ridiculous and it can't possibly be legal to renew a three year contract like that. she said it was, I said she could argue it in court and I hung up.
So she sold me to the collection agency. They want to have another unpleasant conversation and they'll call every morning at 8am on every number they can find for me till they do. Right.
I remember holding one of them off a whole 5 years. Long enough to vanish for us if we play out our plans. Chase us to BC, go ahead, gnat.
Stress. It sucks. We have a stress gnat.
From there, the whole relationship was one of distrust and dislike. I never liked to talk to them, they were always too busy, spoke with thick accents, and the alarm system triggered frequent false alarms and phone calls from them (with no sign at home) worrying about what's going on here. It was rotten service, frankly. We paid, it was automatically taken from our account and we lived our lives. By the 2nd year of our 3 year contract we had 2 loud parrots and 3 loud dogs and the alarm system wasn't worth turning on. We quit and I periodically checked the contract's expiry date. About six months after expiry I called to ask about why it was still going and how to cancel it. He told me I had to send him an email with my account number, name and address, and formally request a cancel. I did. No answer. I called again, they said the same thing, I resent, and again nothing.
Now I"m not an executive. I don't have a secretary. In fact, I have terrible executive function by business standards, it's part of why I don't run a business and make money! So I wasn't staying on top of a stupid $36/mth alarm payment. I waited 90 days and said "okay, you're not taking no for an answer" and called my bank for stop payment. Paid $20 for the privilege too.
Well gee, I got a response and the caller spoke native Canadian English too! I mean, she didn't have an accent, you know? They were pulling out the big guns now! She explained to me how they auto renew and I'm on the hook for the full contract whether I use it or not. I told her that was patently ridiculous and it can't possibly be legal to renew a three year contract like that. she said it was, I said she could argue it in court and I hung up.
So she sold me to the collection agency. They want to have another unpleasant conversation and they'll call every morning at 8am on every number they can find for me till they do. Right.
I remember holding one of them off a whole 5 years. Long enough to vanish for us if we play out our plans. Chase us to BC, go ahead, gnat.
Stress. It sucks. We have a stress gnat.