SEE BERTHA SLAP SOMEONE SILLY! Good Christ, NOW what do I do? *SCREAM*

[bertha katzenengel]

I swear to god, I'm this close to going to the county treasurer's office and slapping the first six people I see silly.

We recently refinanced and included an escrow to pay our real estate tax. Upon closing, the title company sent the check for our first tax installment to the county treasurer -- god knows when. The check was dated 9/13/05 and is marked "void if not cashed within 90 days."

When we got back from Thanksgiving vacation in CA we found that the treasurer had returned the check because it was short some interest. $59.13 to be exact.

They returned the check.

When we sent it back, along with our own check for $59.13, we included a letter stating we were mystified by their action, asking why on earth they hadn't simply deposited this time-sensitive check and billed us for the interest. We further wrote that if they did not deposit the title company check before it expired, that we would consider them responsible for obtaining a replacement check from the title company.

In today's mail we received both checks back! along with a new bill. Also enclosed was a form letter -- a horrible 20th-generation reproduction of a form letter -- marked thus (italics show what was written by a human being):

The enclosed tax bill is being returned to you, together with your check, for the reason checked below:

Interest of $59.13 is due but not included. Total tax amount of $X,XXX.XX is due by 12/31/05 to avoid further interest accruing. Now it is due in full because the first installment wasn't paid prior to 11/30/05.

Mrs. V. was so angry she shook. She turned red. I'm sure she SAW red. She yelled and cussed. For a minute I was afraid she would stroke out. It takes a helluva lot to make her that angry.

My friends, it absolutely boggles the rational mind! They had our payment before 11/30/05! No interest would have been due if they had deposited the god damned check that they received from the title company!

We sent that check back PLUS the exact amount of interest due because they effed up -- and they sent ALL OF IT back! AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

Now the title company's check is worthless! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm so infuriated I honestly don't know what to do. Do I deal with it myself Monday morning, or do I skip rational attempts and call my lawyer?! I don't want to do the latter, but I truly feel completely effing helpless when I deal with ignorant automatons who can't handle the simplest transactions -- let alone read correspondence!

:banghead:

Help!

[China_cat]

1. Call your lawyer.

There's a lot of this shit going around and if you stand up to the bullies, others will pull the same shit on you.

[bertha katzenengel]

2. There's a lot of this going around?

Where have I been?

Mrs. V. actually wondered aloud if this was a scam either to bilk us of extra money (interest) or, in the extreme, to leverage our house out from under us. :shrug:

[China_cat]

3. We've already talked to a lawyer

for debtors that we paid off selling our accounts for collection AGAIN. One of them for the 3rd time. And one of them was the credit union. We had a check meant for payment to American Express returned to us because it wasn't the full amount owed (and this was on an Optima, not one of the cards that have to paid off every month). Our mortgage escrow that is supposed to pay the taxes and insurance haven't for the past 2 years and we've ended up with interest and late penalties. The lawyer says we're not the only ones he's seen and that it's getting worse. It's like the companies know that they hold all the cards and all you have to do is miss one step of the dance and they can take everything.

[Suich]

6. Do you mean you haven't had Homeowners insurance for 2 years????

I would think it would be in the best interest of the mortgage company for your house to be insured.
...or did I read your post wrong?
:hi:

[China_cat]

7. No, we ended up with insurance

but we had to pay for it ourselves because the mortgage company didn't send it out to the insurance company. They did that 2 years in a row and kept the escrow we had paid for the insurance. They DID eventually pay the taxes but it took several threats to make them do it and we ended up paying the late fees and interest.

[Suich]

8. I take it you didn't get reimbursed for the insurance.

I swear, I don't know how these people sleep at night. They have to know that what they're doing is wrong, but why doesn't it bother them as much as it bothers me? :mad: My house was paid off in the '80's so I had no idea this kind of crap was going on. End of rant!

[China_cat]

9. Nope, never got reimbursed for the insurance

or for the late fees and interest on the taxes.

We'd refinance if it weren't for the fact my husband was out of work for 2 years (outsourced) and we just barely hung on to the house and the car. Everything else took a back seat, with the predictable results. That's why I'm so pissed about the credit union selling our loan again after we paid it off once and the other company that has sold the account 3 times (twice after it was paid off). We're down to 3 smaller accounts to pay off. It's been hard to get it done...we haven't had a vacation in so long I can't remember when and we even had to use money my husband's mother left us to do the maintenance on the car. We've been proud of paying these people off instead of filing bankruptcy and sliding out from under the bills so we're pissed.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. I don't know, but it happened to us too

I just think incompetence has run amok.

[blue neen]

4. Actually, what if you would try going to the county treasurer's office,

without the slapping part, though. :evilgrin:

I know it wasn't your screw-up to begin with, but you are obviously not going to get anywhere with these pinheads by dealing with them through the mail.

Show them the check that you wrote before 11/30/05. Show them proof of other checks that you wrote at the same time that have since cleared your bank. It seems to me that it is now their responsibility since they caused the problem in the first place.

Is the county treasurer an elected position? Elected officials like that don't like bad karma!

[bertha katzenengel]

5. Yep, he's elected, and he's going to get a shitload of bad press from us

before the next election.

Thanks for the ideas. :hi:

[radwriter0555]

11. Oh it will be okay! Just go on down to the tax collector's office and be

really nice and polite, and they'll straighten it all out for you.

The secret to dealing with city people is to be really, really nice and to talk to the people in person, like they're your best friend.

See, every day, they come up against angry, upset people, such as you are right now. When someone comes in who laughs about the problem and makes light of it, they love it. It makes their day easir.

If you approach them with a smile and with a "gee golly look at this silly mistake" attitude, with an elbow on the counter, with the gentle assumption THEY have the power to fix it, they LOVE it. It makes their day to be able to help nice people.

I did it for 10 years. The people who got the best service from us were the ones who had a great sense of humor about life.

It will be fine... I promise. It's not the end of the world. They'll work it all out for you, if you're gentle, humorous and persistent.

I promise they didn't do it on purpose, it's just general incompetence.

[bertha katzenengel]

12. I like this advice.

I can do this. If I can stop being so angry.

The only problem is the now-void check from the title company.

[radwriter0555]

13. It will be okay... take it all with you, and maybe even make up a little

timeline note of your best recollection when you did things... backed up by every scrap of paper you can find that's relative.

It really will work out just fine if you attack it with that big wonderful smile of yours.

[Midlodemocrat]

14. I second radwriter's advice....similar thing happened to us.

We purchased a pontoon boat in 2004, but the county didn't take our old boat off the tax rolls, so I couldn't get a decal for my car. I called the office and they were great about it, they didn't even expect me to provide proof of the sale...said it was their fault...then they overnighted the decal to me.

I think sometimes the people who work in local tax assessment, etc., are just as frustrated as we are.

[crispini]

19. Right on.

"You catch more flies with honey." As someone who was also once in a public-facing position, oh YEAH, you'd better believe that's the truth. It pays off BIGTIME to be nice. The people who gave me attitude? Their problems went to the bottom of the pile. Can't help it -- it's just human nature.

[Flaxbee]

15. OK, did the interest accrue b/c the county didn't cash the check?

...or did the title company f*ck up? If the title company sent the wrong amount, it's their fault. The county didn't want to cash a check that is short $$ because then it's easy to argue (if it isn't defacto) that they've accepted that payment as "payment in full". Doesn't matter if you sent in the difference, the $$ is supposed to come from the title co. (who might have been shorting the county on purpose).

You might have a beef with the title company, not the county. It could be in county regs that any check cashed is payment in full, and the county clerk wouldn't do it b/c then there'd be a shortfall (esp. if title companies regularly sent in a little less, the shortfall could be huge).

Or, it could just be that the county clerk messed up, in which case, it'd be helpful if you knew the date the check was first mailed to the county...

and on edit, I agree with radwriter... easier to catch flies with honey, etc.

[bertha katzenengel]

16. Your first question: I don't know.

Tomorrow I need to call the title company and find out when they mailed the check. It was dated 9/13/05 and reads "void after 90 days." We rec'd it in return from the treasurer around the first of December.

Tomorrow I start making calls, one of which will be to my lawyer at least for her opinion.

Why would the title company short the county on purpose?

[bertha katzenengel]

17. kick for weekday-only lizards

:kick:

Any other opinions, suggestions, advice?

[MadHound]

18. Oh hey, if you've got a lawyer on the line, by all means use them.

There is nothing that makes these sort of people perk up and pay attention like a lawyer. If you try this, all that is going to happen is a big fat 0, accompanied by lots of tooth grinding, pressure spiking frustration for you. Throw your lawyer in there and it will all be straightened out, and you probably won't have to pay for all that interest. And just for good measure, get your title company involved too since they have a stake in this.

Good luck, and hope everything works out well.