Saturday, June 27, 2015

Fear Of The Unknown

It all started on April 27th when I received a letter from a collection agency, Global Credit Collection, saying I had opened a credit card with J C Penney in 2012 and that I had not paid the bill. They were insisting that I pay $174.62. I knew I had not charged that amount. I responded with a phone call and asked for a review of where, when, and what the amount was charged. I was told by Calvin that I would receive my answer in a week. A month later I received a packet with the original $27.58 charge and the remainder of the $174.62 was interest. Calvin also said I had moved in 2012 and therefore maybe I didn't get the bill from J C Penney. I informed him that first class mail was forwarded for a year and I never received a bill.
In the meantime, I checked my records and found that I had paid the original amount with a check the same month I opened the charge. I wrote a letter to the collector on May 6th stating that he charge had been paid. I sent the check number with which I paid.
I received another notice from Global. I decided to visit the J C Penney store and speak with a manager. I was able to tell my story to a supervisor. I took a copy of the letter I had written to Global. Proof of forwarded mail where we had moved and she made notes on all of those, plus copies. She said she would speak with her manager and get back to me or I could call her in a few days. I called her after several days and she had not gotten with her manager. She would call when she got with her manager. I made several attempts to reach her and left messages. The last message I left was to let her know I would not call again as I was contacting the FL Attorney General regarding this issue.
I asked my cell phone for the number for the FL Attorney General. I got a number and called. That's when more trouble started. The phone was answered by a foreign speaking female who said she would put me through to her senior officer. This senior officer, James Jordan, a foreign speaking man,said he was in Washington, D C and I was being investigated on three charges: 
1. Suspicion of violation of U S immigration in 1989.
2. My taxes were not properly filed in 2012 and 2013 and I owed the government money.
3. I had taken a loan out and had not repaid it.
He said I was going to be arrested in 17 hours and all of my bank accounts and credit cards would be lost to me, unless I paid the amount owed for taxes,$1,286.85. I told him I never heard from the IRS about being in arrears. He assured me they had sent mail and I ignored it.
Being caught up in the moment, thinking this is a legitimate call, I offered to pay taxes with a credit card. He said that would not work because it had to be paid in cash today to avoid the arrest. Then my brain kicked in and I realized I was with a scammer. He said I should go to WallMart and get a government form. I asked for the form number and he said I should call him when I get in the parking lot with the cash.
I informed him the Federal Government did not work like that. He hung up, as I told him my daughter was on the phone.  I was trying to call her on the cell.
Paulita got the real number for the FL Attorney General. I told my story to them regarding the scam plus the Global Collection. I spent two hours filling out forms for all of this trouble.
What a mess I got myself into. I'm glad we have agencies to help us. Global is not licensed to collect in FL or in MI where they were billing me. I had just planned to relax in the pool all day. Life has surprises. Today I'm going to Verizon to find out why I got the scam number instead of the real one.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Fantastic Week-End

What a delight to have all three of our children together! On Saturday we gathered at Kevin's for a cook out and games with the children and two in-laws. We were blessed to have three of our grandchildren join us plus our granddaughter -in-law (our grandson was deployed, Navy) and our great granddaughter.

On Sunday we gathered in Miamisburg for the family reunion. It was such a pleasure to see my two sisters and two brothers. Although the health of one brother and one sister is not the best, they were ready for visiting with all the in-laws, nieces and nephews plus the great nieces and nephews that attended. There were over fifty in attendance for the carry-in dinner and getting reacquainted with each other since last year or maybe the Christmas get-to-gather. 

We are from a large family and we continue to meet regularly since the early 1950's. Our dad saw the need for our family to stay in close connection and communication with each other. He went to Heaven in 1963 and we still carry on the tradition he started. We hope our children and grandchildren will continue the tradition long afterwards.

It is impossible to express in words the enjoyment of this great week-end. Keith had just gotten released from a hospital stay due to food poisoning and was feeling well enough to make the trip to Ohio. We had such fun visiting and catching up on all the latest with each other. We keep in touch with text and phone but there is nothing like real life visits, hugs, and kisses.

On Monday we said "good-bye" to Craig as we left him at the Cincinnati airport and headed to Columbus, where we would go to the airport with Paulita to meet Grace, getting home from Europe after five weeks. Grace was ecstatic to be home. We enjoyed seeing her and learning all about her travels.

On our return trip we visited Nana in the Nursing Home in KY. We were happy that we could see Maxine and Dolly also. One of our happiest moments with them was being able to bring each of them a chocolate milk shake. Such a small gesture on our behalf meant so much to them. It was a pleasure to see their eyes light up and their mouths turn into smiles. What a blessed safe trip!