Careful with those credit cards!

[Rob LaMoy]

TAKE SPECIAL NOTE:!



Motto: Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die.........

This is just so priceless....and so easy to see happening,

customer service being what it is...........................



My aunt died this past January. CitiBank billed her for February and

March for their monthly service charge on her credit card, and then

added late fees and interest on the monthly charge...the balance had

been $0.00... now was somewhere around $60.00



I placed the following phone call to CitiBank:



Me: "I am calling to tell you that she died in January."



CitiBank: "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply."



Me: "Maybe, you should turn it over to collections..."



CitiBank: "Since it is 2 months past due, it already has been."



Me: "So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?"



CitiBank: "Either report her account to the frauds division,

or report her to the credit bureau...maybe both!"



Me: "Do you think God will be mad at her?"



CitiBank: "excuse me?"



Me: "Did you just get what I was telling you.... the part about her being dead?"



CitiBank:

"Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor!" (Supervisor gets on the phone)



Me: "I'm calling to tell you, she died in January."



CitiBank: "The account was never closed the late fees and charges still apply."



Me: "You mean you want to collect from her estate?"



CitiBank: "... (stammer)" ! . "Are you her lawyer?"



Me: "No , I'm her great nephew." (Lawyer info given... )



CitiBank: "Could you fax us a certificate of death?"



Me: "Sure." ( Fax number is given )



(After they get the fax)

CitiBank: "Our system just isn't setup for death..."



Me: "Oh..."



CitiBank: "I don't know what more I can do to help..."



Me: "Well... if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep

billing her...I suppose...don't really think she will care...."



CitiBank: "Well...the late fees and charges do still apply."



Me: "'Would you like her new billing address?"



CitiBank: "That might help."



Me: "Odessa Memorial Cemetery

(address and plot number given. )



CitiBank: "Sir, that's a cemetery!"



Me: "What do you do with dead people on your planet?!"

 

[gone bye bye]

Now thats funny right there.....



Mini

 

[Ken Neeley]

Rob,

That it some FUNNY stuff!!!



My dad died last August, and my father-in-law passed away last April.

I've had to make a ton of these types of calls, and have experienced some of the same stuff.



The hospital where he died is STILL sending surveys to my dad asking how he enjoyed his stay there, was he treated well, etc....

 

[gone bye bye]

Ken maybe you should fill it out and send it back with all negative comments....maybe then they will get the hint!



I too have done this (father and brother)....my brother STILL gets stuff in the mail.



Mini

 

[Ken Neeley]

Mini,

Good idea....I'll put Heaven as a return address!!!

 

[Michael Snow]

I'm surprised you had such a hard time. I once sold a car to a dead man. Well, we agreed to terms, but his credit bureau showed him as dead, so he couldn't finance the car. I figured a debt collector called and they said "he's dead" or something like that to get the guy to stop calling. Seems getting yourself reinstated into "alive" is NOT easy.

 

[Brian Feist]

Rob,



I've had to deal with people like this too. The latest kicker I add is the question "what country are you in"? When they tell me India, Bangladesh, or a few others, I ask them to transfer me back to someone in the United States because it's obvious that they didn't pay attention in the "common sense" lesson that went along with their "how to speak American" class.