Hopefully none of you have had to deal with the IRS and never have to. Making this a long story short, (NOT) I will begin with...it is a TERRIFYING thing that the people who run/work/affiliated with the largest governmental entity are paid to do what they do. After an hour wait on hold listening to the same dreadful tune repeat itself over and over and over again, I am shocked by the time a human voice was responding I was not in some kind of hearing induced coma. Upon getting a human, like most calls to highly important places like the IRS, that could at any time destroy your financial well being, there is immediately something wrong. First thing the nice gentleman says to me is, "Oh I am so glad YOU called". Things like that SCARE the poop out of me. In other words, if I had not called.....THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN SOMTHING DRASTIC!!!! Of course it is NEVER their responsibility to call ME, even though this was NOT my mistake, we had done all that was asked of us. Apparently the paperwork we had submitted to address some rears had not arrived, and there was no documentation or notation in the computer regarding why or why not. So he transfers me to another person, who when I report my date of birth joking say's "he he" "Don't worry I wont tell.." Should I be insulted???? I decided to laugh along with her as my objective was not to be offended about my apparently hush hush age, but to rectify my tax debt. I hear computer keys being pushed and yes indeed, there is no verification that the office of the IRS received so said paperwork, is it possible that we had forgot to send it? Really??? No I am pretty sure it was sent the day after we spoke with the representative over a month ago. My concern is NOW WHAT? I am told "he he", that it is possible that it has arrived and just has not been opened yet, they are quite backed up with the Holidays etc. When that became my problem I will never know, but it is NOW. What then do I need to do to rectify YOUR error and prevent MY money, bank account, employment...from being DAMAGED by YOUR employers HOLIDAY? "He He", you can make a payment via credit card; which will cost me an additional fee (These bastards have had enough additional fee from my penalties, and interest), send a check or money order, (MAYBE their office will open it in the Spring), or you can pay online. Online seems like the best option, no fee's and it is immediate right? Well no, it takes about two weeks to acquire a pin number for computer access. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? DO YOU WANT YOUR MONEY OR DON'T YOU??????? Next.....
Next call was to follow up with my potential NY State employment. The YES letter I had sent had indicated that it must be received by 21/27/13, and since I had not heard back I wanted to follow up. A much shorter wait then the IRS, although the first time I called it went immediately to a busy signal then disconnected; THIS IS NOT THE 1980's just when was the last time anyone heard a BUSY signal? Human answers after the second ring on my second attempt. I ask if such letter had been received by the NY State office. Nope can't seem to find me even in their computer system, did I happen to have the ID# from the canvas letter? (I knew I should have made a copy). NO, because the letter clearly stated...return this letter with intent of acceptance to the Office at NY State. There was no, detach here and keep for your records, send this page to, or anything for my personal records involved in this paperwork. "oh" more heard computer keys heard typing...silence. "oh yes, we found you and the information has been sent to the correct people. Now you just have to wait patiently." (When has patient ever been in my vocabulary.)
Feeling on a roll, I decided to address the next phone call I needed to take care of for the day. Boost Mobile. My daughter's boost phone had suddenly died, and by died I meant DEAD DEAD DEAD. Nothing happened, no charge, no nothing. With the Boost plan I had her phone on a month auto plan and every month there was a deduction. No phone..why have the service? No need, it was time to Cancel it. Sounds easy enough right? After trying the only Boost mobile phone number I had and not getting anywhere except with prompts and mechanical voices, I finally gave up and googled get a human on Boost phone number. It ended up being product service, but I did get a human. They transferred me to the proper department and I explained my situation. I got through the steps until he asks what is the four digit pin number. Well I have no idea and no way of finding out. I suggest that I seek out the paperwork; thinking or rather hoping the pin # is written somewhere on the payment contract. I ask for a specific phone number to reach him or at least another human, and I am told a number and what prompts I will need to enter. After some searching in our important papers drawer I did find my payment contract and read the details of canceling the auto pay. I could easily CA by going online and CA the agreement myself. Wonderful. So I go online and guess what.....I NEED MY PIN NUMBER. Great, here we are again. I could easily get my pin number sent to me via a text. GREAT right? Well not when the freaken phone is DEAD. So back to a human. I call the number and begin the prompts indicated by the human voice I had spoken to earlier. No luck, I went around and around and around with prompts never getting a human voice or even hearing a prompt that was in the area of what I needed. Back to using the product service number. After some wait period I did get another human and finally get things settled. This human allowed me to CA without a pin. Why couldn't that first guy? All set. No ID number no code no pin....I have to assume that this is the case and hope that I do not get another charge in Jan. What really got my panties in a wad was..the payment for Jan. was taken out that day. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT. talk about bad luck or scammy companies.
WOW!!!! It all sounds like a big pain, but it really makes me think about those people who don't call or don't follow up with things like this, myself included. Many years ago I agreed to a FREE three month trial of American Online (now I am really dating myself). Sometime during the three month trial my computer died. This was a time when we were all not so dependent on computers so I didn't run out and quickly get another one. It was several months (nine months to be exact) later that I noticed an odd $30- charge on my bank statement. Investigating further, I found that this same change had been applied to the previous five months. The charge was from AOL. I was so heated. For six months after my FREE trial I had been being charged for this service. I know it was partially my fault for not noticing on my bank statement five months before, but how did FREE become $180- charge. I did sort it all out and they repaid me part of the money. But it just goes to show you that these things can happen. I already blogged about the endless monthly payments I was making to Pro active, and couldn't seem to get out of.
My day did get better when I took a ride with my son out to Auburn, NY to visit my Girlfriend Kelly visiting from Florida and her family.
It was great to catch up and hang out doing a whole lot of nothing. We did end the evening with a real Horror Show...
After the movie, Gavin and I took the long trip back home with plans to meet up again on Sunday. Despite the crazy phone calls earlier in the day it turned out to be a fun evening. Both Kelly and Katie (her younger sister) got a BIG laugh about the Horror in my phone calls earlier that day. By then I could laugh about it. Sometimes you just got to roll with it and look at what is really important. Somehow it all works itself out.
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