A few months ago I sent a payment to a mail-order company for a video of the TV series Emergency! They kept sending me notices that I had not sent payment for the video. I paid this one with a U.S. Postal money order, bought (and mailed) on June 2.
Since then I have sent them several letters and faxes to inform them that I did in fact send the payment. After I got one labeled FINAL NOTICE, I went to the Post Office. The clerk called the Postal Information Center in St. Louis, which affirmed that such-and-such money order had been cashed on June 6. About a week later I got a photostat from the Center–which had my account number (which that mail-order company had issued me) on the back, along with an endorsement stamp from a bank in the city where I send the payments. I faxed this to the mail-order company.
They sent me a letter, which I received yesterday, asking if the money order had been traced! Duuuuuuuuuh!!! :rolleyes:
So I photocopied the page the Postal Center had mailed me. When I mailed this last letter, the postal clerk said that if this mail-order company continues to harass me about the payment I can get the Postal Inspector’s office to handle the matter.
Any Dopers out there who have dealt with such incompetence from mail-order companies? And wound up having to get some agency such as the Postal Inspector to step in?
Can’t say I have but, have had similar situations with credit card companies and a cellular provider.
Now I go to the store and pay my bill in person or do the
on-line banking thing, which is pretty easy after you get it set up.
Columbia House finally acknowledged my Postal Money Order, and said “You now owe us $5.35.” For which I promptly sent them a check.
The last time I was at a post office window, the clerk confirmed my supposition that, if someone you paid with a Postal Money Order fails to acknowledge it and harasses you about it, you can sic the Postal Inspector on them.
When I was still in high school (1966) our parents had been buying stuff through the Spiegel catalog: My Mom bought some clothes for herself and baby/toddler/little kid clothes for my younger brother (age 3 in June 1966). At one point Spiegel sent them a notice saying they hadn’t made a payment to the company that was due. I even saw a letter with the word LAWSUIT! in big bold letters across the page.
A few weeks after that Spiegel sent them a notice saying their acccount was not delinquent–but not including, apparently, any apology for the previous notices. If I got something like that in the mail myself, I would take it to the Post Office and make a complaint about a threat sent through the mail.
USPIS is great:
Who gives a crap about the money order, did you get the videos?? It’s not the whole series, is it? Details! Details!
Emergency!
One of the best shows ever.
Zette
I give a “crap” about the money order: I don’t want Columbia House harassing me with their Collection Agency and maybe screwing up my credit. But I know that CH is not going to want to have the Postal Inspector’s office on their backs.
As for the videos, I did get all 20 of them. Columbia House sent me that number of videos–all that are available so far. They include the Pilot Episode from 1972, and the unsold pilot for the animal-shelter series with Gary Crosby, David Huddleston, Robert Popwell and Mark Hammill.
You are not alone.
Hey, dougie- I was just kidding. I care about the money order too. I just got a little excited when I heard about the Emergency! videos. You’re a lucky man. I will attempt to buy them also, but not through Columbia House!
Zette