Have you ever been badly ripped off?

In My Humble Opinion
61

I think I have told this story before, but here goes.

MrPoysyn and I bought a house in early 2002. We were so excited. We were both in good jobs, had just found out we were pregnant and were now getting our first home. We knew things would be tight for a year while we got things paid up (credit cards and stuff), but that was okay. Everything was coming up Milhouse!
I was in a job that occasionally required me to do heavy lifting, so I told my immediate boss that I was about 1 month preggers and wouldn’t be able to pack the cases anymore. He congratulated me and so on. Two weeks later I got a call to come to the main building. Once there I was told I was being laid off. WHA? Unfortunately because I hadn’t done the official I’m pregnant (I was waiting the three months) thing I had no recourse.
We struggled. HUGE. I couldn’t find another job, hard enough normally, extra hard when pregnant. We tried so hard to keep on top of things and stay happy about the baby. I tried temping, didn’t pay enough. Finally I opened an EI claim and waited the pregnancy out. Our marriage almost fell apart about 1000 times that year. In January we had our baby girl. In April Mr.Poysyn was laid off. He was only out of work for a few weeks, but it was enough. We had a fragile house of cards of finance and it came crashing down.
I went to the bank. They were our major debt holders. I sat there in the bank manager’s office with my baby squirming on my lap in my “fat” post pregnancy clothes and tried to hold it together. I begged and pleaded to lower the mortgage payments.
No.
I explained that we were struggling and we just needed a break to try to get our footing. Anything.
No.
We were broke. We talked to a real estate agent friend who explained that with the market the way it was we could make enough on the house to pay off the lion’s share of our debt. We made the very painful choice to sell our home. But wait. We spoke to our bank. They explained they had the choice of penalties. Either the equivalent of three months mortgage (about 3000) or an interest differential (about 6000). They had decided on the differential.
Once again I pleaded. I explained you will be getting this money anyway, we owe most of it to YOU!
No.
We had no choice. We sold the house. We were lucky. We made enough that we would still be able to pay off a lot of debt. It would be tough for a while, but we would be okay. But wait.
The printout of the penalty was expired by one day. What difference would that make?
Our penalty went from 6000 to around 10000.
We sold our house for almost nothing. We still had to declare bankruptcy. The only good thing? The biggest creditor lost the most.
The bank that had screwed us.
Cold comfort as we try to re-build our credit.
Please don’t bank with that bank that sounds maritime-y in the Great White North.

62

I too hired a local man (on the recommendation of another local handyman) to do a small carpentry job. He said he was just starting a new business and gave me a xerox copy of his promotion ad. He asked for the money before the job since he was just starting and I thought, well, I’ll help this kid out. He told me he had been doing carpentry for the past two years for a guy building a summer home, which I thought was a little out of context at the time e.g. explaining to me where he had been for two years, like I cared. He did do the first job and then he said I should replace a window with a new storm, so I gave him the money so he could order the new window. He said it would take about a week. Leaving out all the phone calls to his mother, sister-in-law, and the guy who recommended him; all the promises he made and his mother made, the bottom line is that I never saw him again. When I had the full story I found out that he was in a drug treatment program, got the money out of me and never intended to do the second job. He was picked up for violating his program by taking drugs and went back to jail for two weeks; and if I decide to contact the judge he will go back to jail for 18 months, plus any charges for the theft from me. I live alone so I worried at first that he would come back when I was gone, since he now knows my schedule, and break in. When I examined the work he did do, it was poorly and shoddily done. I just feel so violated, even though it wasn’t much money. I think what I hate the most is that I no longer feel safe in my own house and I hate him for all the time I spent trying to track him down, listening to his promises, listening to his mother’s promises, and taking time to wait for him when he said he would show up and didn’t. It has also caused me to doubt myself because I was always so sure no one would be able to con me. The only thing I feel good about is that he knows all I have to do is pick up the phone and call the court and they will pick him up and put him back in jail. So, I’m savoring the idea that he is worrying about that every damm day, maybe more than the idea of him being in jail lifting weights.

63

Three years ago, I subscribed to TV Guide(damn them to hell). When I moved, I let the subscription run out. After Christmas, I was reviewing my MC bill and noticed a charge for $29.95 that I couldn’t account for. Calling the number I discovered that TV Guide(curse them to the ears of God Almighty) autobilled me to my old address and have been doing this for the previous year too. :mad: :mad: :mad:

64

Airline tickets. I don’t know if I really paid that much more than the market price given that it was a busy travel season, but I’m still pissed at the way the price was misrepresented. Had I known what the full price was ahead of time, I would have rescheduled the trip for later.

My wife and I went to America in August to see my family, and my boss recommended that I use the travel agency that our office always goes with. He said they charge roughly what the ‘discount’ dealers charge, plus they fill out all the extra tax and customs forms for you ahead of time. Sounded good.

To avoid language problems, all our correspondence was by e-mail, so I got everything in writing. In every e-mail they sent, they said “Mr. Sub and Mrs. Sub, $1700.” I though that was a little more than I’d paid the last time I flew ($700 for just me), but still reasonable. Time passes, and I haven’t received my tickets. My boss says that since they usually plan business trips, they typically deliver the tickets one or two days before the trip. Since we’ve worked with them before, I’m not too worried.

The day before we’re supposed to leave, the guy shows up with my tickets. I have the $1700, when he hands me the invoice: “Mr. Sub and Mrs. Sub, $1700. Total: $3400.”

Mo. Ther. FUCK! er. Of course, it’s 18 hours before we’re supposed to take off, we’re already packed, family and friends have already flown to Boston to be at our wedding party, so what am I going to do?

Of course, now if I happen to be the one who picks up the phone when that agency calls, I make sure to hold the receiver near my mouth as I announce “hey, boss, it’s that scam-artist-motherf******, piece of s*** c***-scraping a****** from NOE Travel on the phone for you” before pressing the hold button.

And those were economy seats, by the way.

65

sleestak, your first story was so sad! But as far as the second story, I wonder how the guy pulled that off. I work at Macy’s, and when we open credit accounts for customers, they have to jump through a lot of hoops: fill out a form, including mother’s maiden name, enter their SS#, verify their address and other info, and sign the POS gizmo. Unless that store has a vastly different way of doing things than mine does, I don’t see how he could have opened an account for you, that you would be held responsible for, without your full cooperation. And FTR, at my store, our incentive is between $1 and $5 (depending on stuff that’s too complicated and mundane to go into), and although we’re encouraged to open as many as possible, no one’s job hangs in the balance if they don’t open enough.

Okay, my ripoff story. I was in first or second grade, and my school was having a Fun Fair. There were games which paid off in tickets, which could be exchanged for prizes. I was doing pretty well at the games, and almost had enough tickets for a bracelet, when an older girl came up to me, acting very falsely-friendly, and picked my pocket. She didn’t take any money, just my tickets. Like soulmurk, I knew something wasn’t right, but I was too intimidated and she was too fast.