Last night, before I went to bed, I did a little bit of bill paying/banking sorts of things. I'd gotten our new mortgage statement in the mail, and for some reason, I hadn't ever entered the mortgage payment into the bank's electronic payment system, so I wanted to take care of that. It was late, but I took care of some things, and in doing that, I discovered that a check we'd written to the old apartment complex for replacing the carpet (we had a blue area rug that bled onto the carpet, and so it had to be replaced) hadn't ever been cashed. We had a payment agreement with the old place, and made the first payment late last month-
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zedrikcayne dropped the check off in person. This morning, after a bit more investigating, I give the management office a call. No idea where the check is, but call the company that used to own the apartments, (it was sold officially at the end of October) and see if they know anything about it. Still no luck. Call Cayne. He did drop it off, but he didn't write down the check number. Circles, circles, circles. Phone calls here, phone calls there. Finally, I figure out what the only mising check number is, put a stop on the check (for 31 dollars!!!) and reissue a new check to the apartment complex, this time directly through the bank's website, which may make it easier to track if it fails to get cashed in a timely manner.
A phone call to Mom, because I know that she's had similar issues with my Dad failing to write checks down in the checkbook, to ask what her solution to the problem was. (She didn't really have any suggestions, though she did have some interesting ideas that had worked for them, and Cayne's next checkbook will have carbons-I don't know why this one didn't.)
Then a fruitless phone call trying to track down the $28 the water company that managed billing at our old apartment owes us. All the phone numbers I have for them are to automated billing, so I sent an e-mail. If they still don't respond, I will have to start writing letters.
And then, the really irritating part of my morning. Which has been an ongoing irritation since we got the new phone number here. When you get a new phone number, you have to deal with the dregs of whoever had the number previously. You just do. Most people (including me) also promptly register the phone number with the Do Not Call list. Which I did. Dealing with the holdover from the person who previously had your number might mean a few wrong number calls, or it might mean some collections calls, or whatever. So, apparently, the people who had this number previously (who were not the previous owners of the house) had some outstanding debt. Most of the time, when I've dealt with the calls, they've called once or twice, and stopped when I explained that no, we weren't Margaret or James Hipp, no, we didn't know who they were or where they lived, and that we'd gotten this number early in September. They're polite, considerate, and reasonable. With one exception. And I'm hoping someone who has better resources for dealing with this information or knows how to find information that I'm not finding, may be able to help.
We get frequent, repeated phone calls from a particular number. And I'm going to put the number out there, because well, perhaps someone has some better ideas than I do. Most of the calls from this number are hang ups, though four times, I've actually spoken to a real person. The number that appears on the caller ID, is 716-566-9598. It comes up as "Unknown Name." Calling the number back gets me an automated "this number cannot be dialed" type message. Google tracks the only links back to
here, which is largely useless. (If you don't feel like looking at the whole document, the summary is that the information comes back to a link to the Irving Rambler, to the police blotter, and lists it as a "possible telephone scam".) Using whitepages.com tells me that the number belongs to
Paetech Communications who tell me that the number isn't even in their database.
Four of the phone calls that appear to come from that number have put me in touch with a live person. I believe one of them claimed to be collecting for Blockbuster Video, which involved threatening me, and telling me that "If I was Margaret Hipp, he'd come after me." Two involved arguing with me about being Margaret Hipp, and why wasn't I interested in their services, and refusing to put me through to a supervisor. One of those involved claiming he was from a company called "National Security." (Ha! You try googling for that one!) And then this morning, I was again threatened, lied to, hassled, called a bitch, and put through to a fake supervisor. This morning, they called and claimed to be from a company called "Paystream" which turns up links like
this. Paystream also does business as Banksafe, and I spoke to someone at their office this morning, about the phone calls. I've also filed a complaint with the FTC, but they can't do much, since I have no idea who this company actually is, or where the calls actually come from. I'm frustrated, and angry, and completely not sure where to go next. I may take a ride over the the police station, or give the non-emergency number a call and see if they have any suggestions. The phone company can probably trace the number, but it will cost an arm and a leg to do it, and since I've twice been threatened, it may become worthwhile.
This afternoon...going to try and buy new jeans (though I think if I don't find them at the first store, I'll go tomorrow to the other, since I'm getting a much later start than anticipated), buy some point protectors for my knitting needles, and ribbon for Cayne's sister if they have the one she wants, go to the bookstore (yay coupons) and stop at Office Depot to buy a new chair and a laptop pouch. I think a quick grocery run for the stuff I forgot yesterday and some butter to make cookies for Sunday with, too. And tonight, the guy who will watch the cats while we're gone will come by for dinner, though, he's kind of anti-social. I'll make food, and he'll eat and hang out with the cats.
How was your day?
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